Potato Salad with No Mustard

Mustard. It is such a divisive condiment. The person in my household who is in favor of mustard (Kevin) tends to be the one who makes the potato salad so it usually contains mustard. When Kevin volunteered to bring kabobs to a dinner party last weekend, and then decided to make some potato salad to go with it, I was ready to eat first so I wouldn't be hungry when I declined half the dinner. But then he found a mustard-less potato salad recipe and harmony was restored to our fridge.

This recipe is absolutely the bestestest potato salad I have ever had. That isn't saying too much because it is the first potato salad I have ever liked, but it is a tasty side dish. Even Kevin liked it better than the yellow version.

Potato Salad

1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
2 large eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped green onion (scallions)
2/3 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sour cream, optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Boil a large pot of water and put the peeled potatoes in it. Cook until they are almost soft, then drain and cool. They should be a little more firm than you would like them since they will cook a little more while they cool. While waiting for the potatoes to cool mix the rest of the ingredients together, leaving out the eggs. When everything is mixed, chop the cooled potatoes and eggs and mix until coated. The more you mix the more the potatoes and eggs crumble, so stir as little as possible.

Radish Salad

Kathleen brought a radish salad to the 4th of July picnic at the Ashford's. It was fan-tab-u-lous. I told Kevin how good it was, but he doesn't like radishes, so I didn't think he would try it. He took a big handful (there's no use bothering with a plate) and took a bite. His face went from really happy to grossed out in a split second. Then he looked down at his hand - he had the whole rest of his hand filled with radishes. Hehe. I got to watch him put it all in his mouth and swallow as quickly as he could.

So when I made a batch of the salad and brought it on a camping trip, I was shocked to see him walk over, try it, then dish himself a huge helping. Uhhh...what are you doing, Kevin? He said he liked it. The mustard and vinegar really cut the 'hot' of the radishes.

This was the start of a love affair with vegetables. Never before in my very shielded life have I sat down with a bowl full of vegetables and ACTUALLY ENJOYED eating them. Sheesh....I'm gettin' old.

Radish Salad

2 medium shallots (or a couple of shakes of shallot salt)

2 t Dijon mustard

3 T rice vinegar

1/2 C extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups thinly sliced radishes

1 C arugula (or mustard greens or parsley), stems discarded

4 hard boiled eggs, chopped small

Use a hand blender to make the dressing from the shallots, mustard, vinegar, and oil. Then in a large bowl, slice the radishes, chop the arugula, and chop the eggs. Mix in the dressing, and serve. This lasts a long time in the fridge.

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Stacks and Stacks of High Protein Pancakes

Isn't it strange that the most widely accepted breakfast foods are terrible ways to start the day? Like donuts. Nobody would ever think of skipping dinner and eating just dessert. If they weren't so dang tasty they wouldn't fool any of us into thinking they could be called breakfast.

I ran across this recipe several weeks ago and finally tried it this weekend. It looked so interesting to me. Sometimes people talk about wonderful light, fluffy pancakes, and I never understood where they were coming from. I like dense, thin pancakes, and these are just the ticket.

They are satisfying and, as a bonus, Kevin doesn't like them, so I get to eat them all. Are you wondering how I can eat 4 eggs at one sitting? Let's never mention it again.

High Protein Pancakes

1/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C cottage cheese

4 eggs

1/2 C milk or yogurt

Blend everything with a hand blender until it is smooth. Cook like pancakes on a hot griddle. They will be very thin.

Omelet Cannelloni

Mom and Dad are slave drivers. They have been running me ragged every moment since they arrived, and I wish they would never leave. We have been having a blast cooking non stop, and this is one of the recipes we tried, which I have been meaning to try for weeks.

To make a circular omelet, take a silicone pastry brush and spread it into a circle as soon as you pour a couple of tablespoons into the hot skillet.

Here they are lined up and ready to get sprinkled with cheese and tossed in the oven. Everyone loved them, except Kevin, who just isn't a spinach fan.

I definitely haven't eaten this well since....well, since I lived with Mom and Dad.

Omelet Cannelloni

1 box frozen spinach, thawed

1/2 C cream cheese

8 T grated parmesan cheese

grated nutmeg

4 eggs

2 T water

1 T olive oil

Combine the thawed spinach with the cream cheese, 4 T parmesan cheese. Mix well and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Whisk the eggs with the water and salt and pepper to taste. Brush a nonstick skillet with olive oil and then pour in 2 T of the egg mixture and brush with a silicone pastry brush to make a small omelet. Cook for a few seconds until it is set then left it out onto a plate. Continue until you have 8 small omelets, piling them on top of each other.

Spoon a little of the spinach mixture onto the edge of one of the omelets and roll it up. Place it in a shallow dish. Fill the rest of the omelets until the spinach mixture has been used up, placing them side by side in the dish.

Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and bake in a oven preheated to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown on top.

Pan Seared Mushroom Omelet

We have 2 pounds of mushrooms in the fridge and no leftovers. I am starving and don't want to wait to eat. What can be done? An omelet, of course. There is no such thing as an omelet recipe, so just put whatever you want in there.

First cook any vegetables you want in the omelet. This picture was taken a few minutes before the mushrooms were done.




Start with 2 eggs and mix it with 2 T of water, a dash of sage, dill, salt, and pepper. Let it cook in a pan on medium until it is almost set.

Put all the toppings on the partially cooked eggs. I used mushrooms, green peppers, barley, and zucchini.

And, of course, cheese.

The most important step in any omelet is to call Kevin over and have him flip it for you. I skipped that step, and my omelet tore. Dang!

But then I put cheese on it and it was perfect again. Yum-O.


Pan Seared Mushroom Omelet

2 eggs

2 T water

dash pepper

dash salt

dash sage

dash dill

handful mushrooms, chopped

handful green peppers, chopped
handful zucchini, chopped or shredded

Heat a pan to medium and spritz it with oil. When it is hot, cook the vegetables. Alternately, microwave the vegetables until they are soft.

Spritz more oil in the pan, pour in the egg mixture and let the mixture partially cook. Sprinkle the vegetables and cheese on top. Let the eggs finish cooking and fold the eggs over themselves to form a half circle. Top with cheese and devour on the spot.

Breakfast Casserole / Burritoes

You know how I said that for everything I bought, I was going to get rid of something else? Well......that is easier to say than to do. For months I have been looking for a cheap heart shaped ramekin, and I finally found some in Marshalls. Two red ones jumped into my grabby little hands, and then Kevin said I should get the pink ones to have a full set. (They only had 2 of each color left.)

Therefore, we have found room for 4 more things. Being Valentine's Day, I just had to find some things to make in these cute heart dishes.

Amanda makes a hick-hiney breakfast casserole, so it seemed like the perfect yummy breakfast. It was supposed to be justified by my spinning/yoga class this morning, but the class was full when I arrived 10 minutes early. It was only half over by the time I finished my solo workout, and I was tired enough. Who needs an incredibly sexy 50 year old woman teaching me how to work out? Seriously, I am the youngest in the classes I have taken, and by far the most out of shape. These people are incredible!

Start out with cooked hash browns and crumbled bacon.


These hash browns might look like french fries to you. Because they are. That's what we had in the freezer. Once they are cut into serving sized portions, nobody can tell the difference.


Then sprinkle some bacon on top of the fries. Oh, mercy.... What a sight for sore eyes. Since everything so far is cooked, I had to grab handful and chow down.

Then the green peppers get added to the top. Every time I see green peppers I think about Evonne. She told me a story about going on a trip with a friend, and she ate something with green peppers right before the long car ride. She had these horrendous burps, and even though she directed them towards the window, her friend kept commenting on how bad they smelled. So much for a romantic Valentine's meal....

Then add the eggs and cheese. We put it in the fridge overnight and the cheese dried out a bit. Next time I will put the cheese on it right before baking. Amanda's recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup, and I replaced that with a little bit of water. Leave a little bit of room at the top for the eggs to puff up.

When it comes out of the oven and has cooled, cut the pan into burrito sized rectangles and freeze individually. When you are ready to eat a burrito, microwave one rectangle and then put it on a tortilla with some salsa. Don't let anyone watch you eat this; it makes them jealous, especially when they learn that they can't go buy it.

Breakfast Casserole

12 eggs

1 lb bacon, crumbled

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or 1/2 C water)

1 can mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped (or a small handful of dried onions)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 bag hash browns, cooked

2 C grated cheese.

Cook the potatoes and bacon, and crumble the bacon. Put the potatoes in the bottom of a greased pan with the bacon sprinkled on top. Sprinkle with the chopped green peppers. Mix the eggs, onions, and soup or water together and pour over the green peppers. Sprinkle on the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until knife inserted comes out clean.