Potato Salad

Potato Salad... or as we say in the South... Tater Salad is a must for any gathering, picnic, church social, pot luck, etc. This is also another recipe that I NEVER measure! It's always by look and taste. That being said, I try to come up with recipes for those of you that comment that you NEED a recipe. LOL

Here is what I came up with... try this recipe, and as always, taste and adjust until it's just right for you! :-)


6 potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed
4 eggs, boiled and peeled
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish*
pinch of salt 
fresh ground black pepper

Cut eggs in half and remove yolks and place. Chop egg whites and place in a large bowl with the cubed potatoes. Mash yolks with fork then stir in mayonnaise, mustard, pickle and salt and pepper. Add the mayonnaise mixture to the potatoes and eggs. Stir all ingredients together well. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

* If you don't like the bits of pickle in the potato salad, or if you have a little one that doesn't like pickle, just add 1 tsp of sweet pickle juice from the relish jar. They will never know. I do this for my church crowd, and they always tell me that they love it! Onion is also optional. If you like the flavor, but not chunks of onion, grate the onion and add about a teaspoon to the salad.

Greek Chicken and Poatoes

This recipe is so delicious! The lemon and spices and herbs make my house smell so good! This is so simple, but it can make you look like a master chef in the kitchen. The key is to use the Cavender's Greek Seasoning and a whole chicken cut into pieces with the skin ON! Please don't use skinless or it will dry out. If your diet dictates that you can not have the skin, you probably should not be eating a dish that calls for half a cup of oil. OR! Maybe you can forego the diet for one meal! It is so worth the guilt.

Greek Chicken and Potatoes

• 1/2 cup butter, room temp

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

• Cavender's Greek Seasoning
• 2 lemons, juiced or 1/4 cup juice

• 1 (4 pound) chicken, cut into pieces

• 4 or 5 baking potatoes, cubed
• 1 large onion, cut into thick slices
• 2 lemons, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix the butter, garlic, 1 tbsp Cavender's and lemon juice. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers or with the handle of a spoon. Be carefull not to break the skin. Loosen as much as you can even down the legs. Place a scoop of the butter mixture under the skin and rub down, spreading the butter under the skin. Repeat this process until the butter is covering the entire chicken. Dust chicken with Cavender's Greek Seasoning. Place the potatoes, onions and some of the lemon slices in a 13X9 casserole dish. Drizzle with oilive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle the Greek Seasoning over the potato mixture. Place chicken on top of potatoes and onion. 

Bake uncovered for an hour and a half 

or until chicken is golden brown and potatoes are tender.

Southern Style Green Beans

Usually in the South, when you see green beans on the holiday table, they are in the form of a casserole. You know the one... cream of mushroom soup with the crunchy french onion topping. I never liked the french onion stuff. I changed the casserole to a cheese topping with the cracker and butter crunchy topping, but it seems that my kids kind of skip over the casserole. When I serve them plain, just heated through with salt and pepper, they don't get much attention either. Sooo, this time I dumped them in the crockpot and let them simmer all morning. These turned out to be the best green beans I've ever fixed! (I would have used fresh beans, but I didn't have any available. Use fresh whenever you can.)

2 family-size cans Green Beans
4 slices Bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
2 tbsp of reserved Bacon Grease
2 beef bouillon cubes or 2 tsp beef bouillon granules
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Kosher Salt

Combine the above ingredients in a crockpot and set on medium. Simmer beans for 2 or 3 hours or until the beans take in the flavor of the seasonings. The juices will darken as they cook down. This juice is awesome with a chunk of cornbread!

Cornbread Pudding

After my hubby's Grandmother passed away, two different churches in the family brought food over to her house which is a tradition in the South. One of the dishes that was most talked about was the Cornbread Pudding. My daughter-in-law asked me about it, and asked if I could get her the recipe. I decided it was the perfect recipe to share here! It is an awesome casserole!

Cornbread Pudding

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream-style corn

1 stick of butter, melted

1 package Jiffy cornbread mix

Salt and Pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Stir in cornbread mix and seasonings. Pour into a greased 13X9 baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center. Serve warm. 

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

When I went to shop for a catering job, I notice that my local Piggly Wiggly grocery store had Baby Back Ribs on sale for $2.99 per pound. Here, that is an awesome deal. I actually bought 3 slabs of them. I've also been looking at a dry rub and finally decided to try it. I usually just use my house blend of salt, pepper and garlic, but this dry rub has caught my eye several times. I tend to stay away from spice blends that are loaded with paprika because to me, it makes them bitter. This blend has paprika, but it is very well balanced. The flavors blend very well, and none stands out to strong. Willie's Hog Dust is a very good dry rub for these ribs! I heard that the manager of The Pig uses it on his steaks every time he grills out! I'm sold!

1 slab of Baby Back Ribs
Willie's Hog Dust

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. I cut the ribs in half and heavily dusted the ribs with Willie's Hog Dust. Place them on a grill pan or a rack in a pan.

I cooked them for an hour 

and turned the pan for them to cook even. 

I cooked them for about 2 more hours.

Sauce:

1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp butter
1 cup ketsup
1/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Texas Pete hot sauce
2 tbsp worchestershire sauce

Saute onion and garlic in butter in a large pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes. Remove ribs from oven and slather heavily with sauce. Increase the heat to 300 degrees and return them to the oven for about 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and created a sticky glaze on the ribs. (Be careful not to let the sauce burn!)

 I almost forgot to take a picture!

 I did one half with Daddy's BBQ Sauce.

 Potato Wedges on the Side...

This is when I remembered that 

I hadn't taken a picture of the finished ribs! LOL

Pizza Dip

I found this dip on The Slow Roasted Italian and fell in love! My son loves all things pizza, so it was perfect for him. I served it with bread sticks, but you could serve it with crackers or chips. For the complete recipe and instructions, click on the link above.

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and cheese until smooth. Spread in the bottom of an oven proof dish.

I changed and added a couple of things.

I used a jarred spaghetti sauce and added hamburger.

Sprinkle with bacon and add cheese. Sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper.

Add pepperoni and a little more cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 or 20 minutes.

I used canned biscuit dough and shaped them into bread sticks.

YUMMY!

Pizza Tarts

Most kids like pizza, but my son likes anything that resembles the flavor of pizza. I made a pizza dip last night and had plenty of stuff left over. He requested that I make these tarts!

1 can refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
Spaghetti Sauce
Cheese, (I used Colby/Jack)
Pepperoni
Basil
Garlic Powder
Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Flatten out each biscuit and put them into a muffin tin. Top with a teaspoon of sauce, cheese, the seasonings and finally 1 or 2 slices of pepperoni. I added a tiny bit more cheese on top. Bake for 10 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Remove from the oven and use the tip of a knife to transfer the biscuits to paper towels to absorb any grease from the pepperoni.