Loaded Slow-Cooker Potatoes

Loaded is an understatement. Made these for a Sunday Dinner hosted by a friend. OMG...just looking at them makes my mouth water. I've not officially tasted them yet, but what could possibly be bad about these.

The key is to have everything done before you start layering them. I didn't and it was a bit of a pain.

Loaded Slow-Cooker Potatoes

Photo from Delish.com

Recipe from Delish.com
Serves 6

Cooking spray
2 lb. baby potatoes, halved and quartered if large
3 c. shredded Cheddar
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 slices bacon, cooked
1/4 c. sliced green onions, plus more for garnish
1 tbsp. paprika
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Sour cream, drizzling

Line a slow cooker with foil and spray with cooking spray. Add half the potatoes, 1 1/4 cups cheese, half the garlic, 1/3 of the cooked bacon, half the green onions, and half the paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Repeat.

Cover and cook on high until potatoes are tender, 5 to 6 hours. (The bigger your potatoes, the longer they'll need.) About 20 to 30 minutes before serving, top with remaining cheese and bacon (this is your moment to make the potatoes look pretty!).

Garnish with more green onions, drizzle with sour cream, and serve.

Butterfinger Brownie Cookies

This year I set a goal to make a new cookie every month. Is completely opposite from my Lighten Up plan. But then again, I also am more interested in chips than sweets.

At any rate, here's the recipe. It was easy and not very time consuming. The cookies are fantastic. At least the first one out of the oven is.

Butterfinger Brownie Cookies
Recipe from Recipegirl.com

Makes 2 dozen

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon All Purpose Gold Medal® Flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chopped Butterfinger candy bars (7.8 ounces)- I used two 6-packs of .65-ounce bars found in grocery store candy aisle

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with silpat mats or parchment paper.

Put butter and chocolate chips in a glass bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, stir, then microwave an additional 15 to 20 seconds if needed until the mixture is melted and smooth. (alternately, you can heat the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a metal pan set over a pot of simmering water).

Stir sugar, salt and vanilla extract into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring until they are completely incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, then add the flour mixture to the chocolate batter. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Give it all you've got for a good 2 to 3 minutes of mixing. The batter should be smooth and glossy and thick. If the batter is cooled off, stir in the butterfingers.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto your prepared cookie sheets- leaving about 2-inches between cookies as they'll need space to grow. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. They'll spread out and puff up. You want to take them out when they've crackled but they're still soft and gooey. They'll sink and become more firm as they cool. Wait a few minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Eat them up within 2 to 3 days (stored in a covered container).

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

My second delivery of Home Chef showed up this weekend. The first delivery went to CH since I was in Arizona unexpectedly.  She said the recipes were just so-so. I really enjoyed the Plated recipes so we'll see how these go. 

This recipe was easy to follow and delicious. Unfortunately the lettuce received in the kit was all wilted and unusable. I had to improvise and use some old lettuce I had. Overall, not lettuce wraps. 

The slaw included had a Sesame dressing that was out of this world.

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from Home Chef

1 head of Butter Lettuce

2 green onions

12 oz ground turkey

3 oz Hoisin sauce

2 tsp Sriracha

3 oz water chestnuts

1 tsp ginger, minced

4 oz slaw

3 oz Asian Sesame Dressing

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Prepare your ingredients by separating the lettuce leaves and washing them. Trim and thinly slice the green onions on an angle, keeping the whites and green portions separate. 

Heat a medium non-stick pan with 2 tsp olive oil (I didn't need the oil) over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until lightly browned and no pink remain, 8-10 minutes. 

Add Hoisin sauce, Sriracha (to taste), water chestnuts, white portions of the green onions, and ginger to pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 

Place a lettuce cup on work surface. Fill with a few spoonfuls of turkey mixture and top with slaw mix. Repeat for each lettuce cup.

Slaw mix is basically the slaw mix you buy in the store. You'll need to find an Asian Sesame dressing or something similar. 

Top with green portions of green onions and devour. 

Caprese Chicken over Warm Spinach Salad

Someday I will learn how to fry chicken with Parmesan on it and not 1) burn it or 2) under cook it. Today was not that day.

My mistake was I didn't pound the breast thin enough I think.

Regardless, this recipe was from the company Plated. I signed up for one of those services that deliver the ingredients and you cook it. I signed up and then cancelled within 30 minutes. Somehow, Plated didn't get the cancellation and delivered the first box (they refunded me the $$ by the way).

The first recipe is Caprese Chicken over Warm Spinach Salad. The chicken was fantastic. I under cooked it, but had to stick it in the oven to actually finish cooking. The Parmesan was becoming too brown in the skillet. I felt like I couldn't cook it in the skillet any longer. Popping it into the oven wasn't a bad idea.

If I make this again, I might grill the chicken to make it lower calorie.

Caprese Chicken over Warm Spinach Salad
Recipe from Plated

Serves 2
800 calories

1/4 oz basil, divided
1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1 shallot, minced
4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 T Champagne vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
3 oz baby spinach
1 c flour (this is actually a bit much for 2 chicken breasts. You could cut this in half.)
1/2 c panko breadcrumbs
1 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
5 T olive oil

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel. Place the chicken between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Season with salt and pepper.

Place flour on a plate. Add salt and pepper to taste. In a large, shallow bowl, whisk egg. In another plate, mix the panko and Parmesan. Dredge chicken in flour, shake off excess. Dip in egg, allowing excess to drip off. Dredge in breadcrumb mixture, pressing to adhere. Place on a plate.

Add 2 T olive oil to pan, heat over med-high heat. When shimmering, add chicken and sear until crust is browned and chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to paper towel lined plate to drain.

Make the vinaigrette. Heat 1 tsp in olive oil over medium heat.  When oil is shimmering, add shallot and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in Champagne vinegar and mustard. Whisking continuously, slowly add 3 T olive oil until fully combined.  Season with salt and pepper.

Immediately add spinach and tomatoes and toss to coat. Add mozzarella and half the basil to bowl with spinach - toss to combine.

Divide spinach salad between plates and top with chicken. Tear remaining basil leaves into small pieces and sprinkle over the top.

Serve warm...and dig in!

Old Fashion Goulash

Apparently this is a comfort food. Anything labeled "comfort food" and I'm all in. Tonight is my last night to each "unhealthy" so I figured I'd go out with a bang.

I don't recall every having goulash as a kid. It seems like something a 70's mom would have made so I'm sure I have had it, just don't remember.

At any rate, super easy recipe and SUPER good. I would not put in the Adobo seasoning next time I make this. I think it made it just too salty.

Old Fashion Goulash
Recipe from MyIncredibleRecipes.com
Serves - a lot

2 lbs ground beef or turkey
3 tsp minced garlic
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2.5 c water
1/2 c beef broth
1/3 c olive oil
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 T Italian Seasoning
1 T Adobo seasoning
3 bay leaves
1 T seasoned salt
2 c elbow mararoni, uncooked
1 c shredded mozzarella
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

In a large pot, cook your ground beef until just done, add garlic and onions. Cook until beef is completely done. Add broth, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Stir. Add seasonings.
Cook for about 20 minutes.

Add macaroni and stir well. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Remove from heat.

Add cheddar cheese. Mix until combined. Add mozzarella right before you serve.

Buckeye Brownie Cookies

Oh...my...God...were these good.

Tradition in my house is the December Sunday dinner is a cookie exchange. This year I made these cookies...and lord were they good.

Make these cookies...

I didn't end up with enough powdered sugar to make real frosting, but ended up with a ganache type texture ... and truthfully I was ok with that. They were tasty.

Found this recipe on a blog called Cookies and Cups. I'll be visiting more often for sure.

Buckeye Brownie Cookies

Photo from
Cookies and Cups blog

Cookies and Cups
Makes 24

1 box 18-19 oz Brownie mix

¼ c butter, melted

½ c cream cheese, room temp

1 egg

¾ c peanut butter

¾ c powdered sugar

¾ c chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl combine brownie mix, butter, cream cheese and egg. Stir until dough comes together, it will be very thick and sticky. I used my hands.

Form rounded tablespoons sized portions of dough into balls, placing on baking sheet about 2 inches apart, making an indentation with your thumb in the center of each.

In another bowl stir together peanut butter and powdered sugar. Form peanut butter into teaspoon sized balls and press into the indentations in the brownie cookies.

Press peanut butter down slightly because the peanut butter won't spread and you don't want the cookies to be too tall.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are set.

Transfer to wire rack to cool.

When cooled top each cookie with about a tablespoon of chocolate frosting.

Note: I tried to use her chocolate frosting recipe...I fell short on the powdered sugar. Here's the recipe for you though. 

chocolate frosting

Argentinean Flank Steak with Chimichurri

So this last year I wasn't great about cooking new recipes AND definitely not adding them to the blog. This recipe was a Sunday Dinner meal I think in ... well, crap I have no idea which one. 

I love Chimichurri and think it and pesto are two of the best things ever created. I wrote on the bottom of this recipe to "make again" which only means that it was delicious. 

Argentinean Flank Steak with Chimchurri

Photo from FoodNetwork.com

Recipe from Weight Watchers Magazine July/August 2016

Serves 4

2 oz fresh parsley, (1 small bunch), stems removed

4 clove(s) garlic clove(s)

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp fresh oregano

1 ¹/₂ tsp kosher salt

¹/₄ tsp black pepper

¹/₄ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

4 tsp olive oil, divided

1 pound(s) uncooked lean and trimmed beef flank steak

2 spray(s) cooking spray

Salt and pepper or to taste

Puree parsley, garlic, vinegar, water, oregano, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper and pepper flakes until relatively smooth. Remove 3 tablespoons chimichurri to a small bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon oil; rub mixture over steak, cover and marinate for 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to remaining chimichurri; reserve in refrigerator.

Off heat, coat a grill or grill pan with cooking spray. Preheat grill to high heat.

Wipe marinade off steak and pat steak dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel; season steak with additional salt and pepper. Grill steak until medium rare, flipping once, about 5 to 7 minutes per side (or longer, if necessary, for desired degree of doneness). Remove steak from grill and let rest a few minutes before slicing against the grain. 

Serve steak drizzled with reserved chimichurri.