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.

Deviled Ham

I don't think I've ever made deviled ham before. I usually don't have enough ham leftover. This time I made 15 Bean Soup with Ham and now Deviled Ham... and I STILL have ham leftover! I have no idea how that happened! LOL

Ham, cut in chunks (about 3 to 4 cups) 

1 very small onion, quartered

3/4 cup mayonnaise 

1 tablespoon mustard 
4 or 5 drop hot sauce 
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
1/2 teaspoon dill pickle juice

In a food processor, pulse diced ham and onion until finely chopped.

In a bowl, combine ham, onion, mayonnaise  mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire, and pickle juice. Stir until combined well. Refrigerate for about an hour for the  flavors to combine. 

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Mock Ribeyes... Cooking with Elliott

I love it when my son decides that he wants to cook something. Let's face it... I love it when my 14 yr old son wants to do anything with me. (Excuse me a moment!) Yes, Elliott! I know that you will be 15 in 2 1/2 months!

Anyway, he said to me the other day, "Mama, I want to cook something!" So we get into the conversation of what to cook and how. He loves to grill, but our grill bit the dust quite a while back and we haven't been able to replace it yet. He decides on steak, but he says, "Mama don't get anything too expensive. I don't want to waste good meat if it doesn't turn out good!" As a Caterer, Cook and Mama that budgets a dollar to death, I was getting a little teary! He's really been paying attention! Good food is too precious to waste! So, I bought us some little chuck-eyes for a few dollars at the grocery store while shopping for the week, and here goes...

He pulled out his ingredients he wanted to use and started opening the steaks. He then turns to me and says, "What? You mean I'm cooking for you, and you are not even going to put it on your website?!?!?! You could at least take a picture and acknowledge that I cooked for you and maybe even say 'thank you' !" (teenage sarcasm) Sooo, I got the camera and started taking pictures. He had me take the picture at the top of the page, saying that he needed a new profile picture anyway!

He decided not to use the tenderizing mallet that I suggested.

Instead, he decided to go with a fork to tenderize and

get the marinade into the meat! Good choice! 

Poking both sides with a fork...

In the bag, he added several shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, a good squirt of ketchup, a little mustard, 3 garlic cloves mashed through the garlic press, a 1/2 tsp of Black Ops Seasoning and some salt. No pepper. He decided that the Black Ops seasoning had enough spice to round it all out!

He added the steaks to the marinade and 

rubbed it in good, letting it sit for a while to soak in.

The final step was to spray the pan with oil and heat the pan.

Once the pan was smoking hot, he quickly

seared the steaks on each side,

to seal in the juices.

Then, they went into the

oven at 400 degree for about 5 minutes.

Chuck-eyes are not the kindest type of meat to work with, but these were GREAT! Elliott had the perfect marinade and the right amount of seasoning... notice he's just like his Mama when it comes to measuring! (And I guessed that the Black Ops was about 1/2 tsp, but we would use more next time. We weren't sure about the heat, but the flavoring is awesome!!! Click on the link above for info on how to get your own Black Ops Seasonings! Or click here BlackOpsFlavor on Facebook and 'like' them on Facebook.

I'm proud of my son for trying new things and trusting his instincts when it comes to the flavors he likes. Even though he says that he doesn't like cooking that much, he shines when he puts his mind to it... I just love having him in the kitchen with me! :-)

Herbed Butter and Honey Mustard Chicken

I'm always looking for new ways to cook chicken, and I've just about tried them all... Today I had frozen chicken breasts and wanted a way to cook them with flavor but keeping in the moisture. I was just going to used the herbed butter and turn it into Chicken Kiev, but I read a post by Ann from Fountain Avenue Kitchen and decided to add honey mustard to the recipe.

Herb Butter

1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix ingredients in a bowl until well combined.

I took the chicken out of the freezer but didn't let it thaw completely. (This helps it stay moist inside) I tossed it in honey mustard dressing, placed it in a baking dish and added a dollop of the butter on each chicken breast. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I turned the broiler on and left the chicken in the oven to get some color.

Mine!!!

Elliott didn't like the smell of the honey mustard,

so I made him one with just the herbed butter.

Deviled Eggs

For supper tonight, I wanted to cook some chuck-eye steaks. I bought them because they are cheaper than Rib-eyes, but being cheaper, means that they can be tougher also! I used a recipe a long time ago that put the steaks, whole, in a casserole of some kind and baked them in the oven. They were so tender and tasty! But, I couldn't find that recipe, so I improvised.  I heated up the onions and mushrooms that I caramelized in the crock pot the other day, cooked the steaks in the oven, and made deviled eggs.

6 eggs, hard cooked and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish (optional)
pinch of salt 
fresh ground black pepper


Cut eggs in half. Arrange egg whites cut side up on a serving plate and put the yolks in a small mixing bowl. Mash yolks with fork then stir in mayonnaise, mustard, pickle and salt and pepper. Mash and stir all ingredients together well. Spoon a little bit of the mixture into each egg white half. Sprinkle eggs with red pepper or paprika, if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

I sprinkle the steaks with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

I topped each one with 2 pats of butter. I covered them with foil,

and cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I removed the foil and baked them for another 5 minutes.

The steaks cook up to the texture of a good pot roast! 

Turned out really good... juicier than the picture looks!

Swiss Bacon Bread from The Southern Bite

I saw this recipe on The Southern Bite's Facebook page and was bound and determined to make it! Wow! I am so glad I did!!! This is so yummy! How could you go wrong with bacon and cheese??? Click on the link above to get his recipe!!!

 The ingredients... I added minced garlic.

Surprise, surprise!!!

 All wrapped up...

 and ready for the oven!

 All crispy!

Supper is ready!!!

Easter Egg Potato Salad

Last week my friend Debi at Recipes for my Boys posted a blog about a Potato Salad that she came up with... Easter Egg Ricotta Lemon Basil Potato Salad! It is absolutely gorgeous and very tasty! I decided to try it for my Wednesday Night Supper crowd... I had to use the pantry items that I had, so I changed it up a little. I like Debi's recipe better, but here goes!

First, I made up the dye for the eggs...

Then I added the eggs... 

I used clear glasses so you could see them in the dye.

These turned pretty, but the yellow is a waste of time. 

I didn't think about it blending in with the salad, 

so I didn't have enough color!

Not so pretty ones...

I chopped up the eggs. 

They are pretty enough by themselves!

I added mayo, sour cream, a tiny bit of spicy mustard,

lemon, basil, garlic, sweet pickle cubes, and S&P.

I would have added the red, yellow and green 

bell peppers and sweet onion, but my crowd won't eat it!

The result... a big ole 20 lb bowl of

Easter Egg Potato Salad !

Everyone LOVED the pretty potato salad! 

Of course, I had several people make a joke 

about the potato salad that had "turned". (Gone bad)

Ha Ha Ha

Here's a link to Debi's Easter Egg Ricotta Lemon Basil Potato Salad ! It's oh so yummy!!!

I really had my mouth set on a Rueben, but...

A long time ago, my Dad had an old black man that worked a crew for his construction company. Doc had no idea how old he was or when is birthday was. He was born at home and had no birth certificate. He also could not read. My Mama, who ran the office decided to appoint him a birth date and celebrated his birth day each year.
One week, Daddy had the men out of town working. They had finished the job and done an outstanding job. Daddy decided to treat them to supper at a steakhouse. While waiting in line, Doc asked my Dad if the restaurant served fried chicken. He told Doc that he didn't think so, but he'd ask. When it came time to order, Dad asked the lady if the had any chicken. She responded, "No... we only have steaks." Doc looked at her and said, "I really had my mouth set on chicken, so give me the closest thing you got!" He smiled at her and walked away! She stood there absolutely dumbfounded! My Dad ordered for Doc and they enjoyed their meal.

That being said... I've had my mouth set on a good homemade Reuben sandwich for quiet a while now. I just knew when we went to Florence yesterday, I'd find some corned beef! NOT! I found some Black Forest Ham and decided it was better than nothing.

So today, I decided to make a Fake Reuben...

Dummy me forgot the Rye Bread, so I made it on white. YUCK!

I couldn't find my German Mustard, until after I made the sandwich and was putting everything up!

A Fake Reuben in not better than nothing!

I'm going to the store to shop for church supper.
I'm getting some rye bread and corned beef even if I have to buy that processed stuff in the little packets!

Asparagus with Honey Garlic Sauce

I found this one at the National Honey Board!

Makes 4 servings

• 1 lb. fresh asparagus
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup dark ale or dark beer
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Add asparagus to boiling, salted water (about 1-inch) and cook, covered, about 2 minutes or until barely tender. Drain. Combine mustard, ale, honey, garlic, thyme and salt; mix well. Pour over cooked asparagus.

Bubble and Squeak by La Belle Cuisine

I was attracted to this recipe more by the Wow-Wow Sauce than anything. I have never made Bubble and Squeak before either, so I had to give it a whirl. I am so glad I did! This was really yummy and both my reaction and my husband's to the sauce was, if fact, "WOW!"

Sauteing the onion and cabbage in butter... 

Add the meat and potatoes...

Normally, you brown the bottom and invert onto a plate,
but mine stuck to the pan .
So, I put it under the broiler to get some color...

While it was in under the broiler, I made the sauce...

And Voila!
Bubble and Squeak
with Wow-Wow Sauce!

Click on the link below for the recipe and instruction, or just to visit an amazing site!!!
Bubble and Squeak with Wow-Wow Sauce by La Belle Cuisine





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