Hi All! I know it has been forever, but unfortunately life has gotten in the way of blogging.  Between traveling for work and moving in with Jav, I have been too busy/lazy to write about my favorite recipes.  However, I am back! I can’t wait to share all of the yummy recipes I have been working on the past month or so. 

For Memorial Day, Jav and I went to my mom’s house in Wenatchee to relax and enjoy the holiday.  Here is the view from her house…isn’t it amazing?

 Here she is after we did some wine tasting. 

If you ever go to Wenatchee, you must go to Dutch John’s winery.  It is in a old warehouse/strip mall, but so great!

 My mom got a new job and is working like crazy, so Jav and I made a yummy dinner for her when she returned from work. I love potato salad – I mean I actually love everything with potatoes, but a good potato salad can make a winter day feel like summer.  It is the quintessential barbeque side (I hate coleslaw).  This version is a little different because the potatoes are roasted first with herbs and then smothered with the standard mayo-based dressing.  It adds depth that your average potato salad doesn’t have and with the extra flavor you don’t need to use as much mayo.  Also, I use my mom’s top-secret ingredient (not really, but it is a MUST), pickle juice. 

 We served the potato salad with ribs, green salad and a patriotic tres leches cake.  MMMMMMMMM.

  It felt like summer even though it was cold and rainy.

Hope you enjoy! Go Potatoes!!

Roasted Potato Salad

Serves 10-12

3 Pounds russet potatoes (preferable Idaho born), cubed (you can leave skin on depending on your taste preference).

Handful chopped fresh thyme and rosemary leaves

3 Garlic cloves chopped

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

¾ Cup mayonnaise

½ Cup sour cream

4 Tablespoons yellow mustard

Pickle Juice

4 or 5 chopped dill pickles

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped red onion

4 or 5 hardboiled eggs chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Toss over potatoes and spread on baking sheet. 

 Bake potatoes for 45 – 50 minutes until golden brown but not dried out.  Set aside to cool a bit.  In a small bowl mix mayo, sour cream, mustard and pickles.  Add a little pickle juice to taste (3 or 4 tablespoons – more if you want it tangy). 

Add potatoes, onion, celery, eggs and mayo mixture to large bowl and mix, gently smashing some of the potatoes. 

 Salt and pepper to taste. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.  I serve mine cold, but you could serve it warm too. Garnish with any extra herbies.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

I served this salad twice this past weekend.  Two times when Crissie from Design Eat Play was at my house. Once for Easter and once for a bachelorette party for my friend Julie.  Here she is prior to our cowgirl extravaganza:

 More on her wild party in a later post.

Crissie will not leave me alone until I post the recipe.  Apparently she liked it. She even shot and edited the pics for me in hopes that I would post it.

She sent me this message yesterday:                 

 Dear Cordon Pink,

I was thinking of making your salad as a main dish with steak. Wouldn’t that
be yummy? Like a big, fat steak salad. Or actually I have pork in the crock
pot today…that could be good.

Ah hem. Recipe?

Give it to me or you will never see your dog again…(this part may have been exaggerated)

This salad is wonderful for entertaining because you can make the two parts in advance and just combine them when you are ready to serve.  No worries about your salad getting soggy prior to your main dish being ready etc.  Plus, it is very refreshing and light for spring.

Avocado, Orange and Fennel Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

2 Avocados Diced

3 Oranges Cut into segments with white pith removed

½ Fennel Bulb chopped into small pieces

Citrus Vinaigrette (Recipe below)

2 Heads of romaine or any mixed greens washed and cut into bite size pieces

Add avocados, oranges and fennel to a small container with a lid.  Pour dressing over fruit and fennel.  Let marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

  When ready to serve, remove from fridge and pour entire mixture over the mixed greens.  Mix well and eat!

Citrus Vinaigrette

Zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 Tablespoon White Sugar

1 Clove Garlic Minced

Lawry’s seasoning salt to taste (or any seasoning salt)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

Add zest, lemon juice, red wine, mustard, sugar, garlic and seasoning salt to a small mixing bowl. 

Mix well. 

 Slowly drizzle in olive oil whisking well to combine until it emulsifies. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

What is it about Kale? Everywhere I turn it seems I hear about Kale.  Kale is all over the place!  It is on all the food trend lists and it seems every food blogger is coming up with their own version of kale chips.   The fact that I am talking about Kale being trendy probably means that it has reached its tipping point and it is no longer cool to cook with Kale.  Oh well.  I still thought this recipe was pretty good and thought I would share. 

Awhile back, some girlfriends and I went to a super duper Boise restaurant called Red Feather for dinner.  It is a very cute place with great food.  I ordered the grilled Kale Caesar to start and it was AMAZING.  At least, I thought it was amazing.  Some of the other girls thought it tasted like burnt lettuce, but I thought the smokey greens were fantastic.  Of course, I went home and tried to copy the recipe.  I hope you like the result!

Grilled Kale Caesar

Printable recipe here

1 or 2 bunches of Kale (don’t cut into bite sizes pieces until after grilling)

Shaved Parmesan

Garlic Croutons – Recipe below

Caesar Dressing – Recipe below

Pre-heat grill to medium heat.  Grill Kale over medium for 30 seconds – 1 minute each side. 

 Watch carefully, because it will burn and not be edible.  A few of the edges should be crispy and a little burnt, but the leaves should mostly be green.  Remove from heat and toss with dressing, croutons, Caesar and parmesan shavings.  Enjoy!

Caesar Dressing

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons Mayo (I use this in place of a raw egg)

½ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Anchovy Paste (this won’t make it fishy.  At least I don’t think it does.)

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan plus another ¼ cup for top of salad.

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a food processor grind up garlic, mayo, Dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire and anchovy paste. Salt and pepper to taste, but it won’t need much due to the cheese and anchovy paste.    Pour over Kale.

Croutons

1 Loaf of Fresh Sourdough bread chopped into small crouton sized cubes. (I like sourdough, but you can use any kind you want.)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil, garlic and seasoning salt together in a small bowl.  Put 1/3 of the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of oil mixture over the bread. Mix well. Continue this process until all the oil and bread cubes are used.  Add to a cookie or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until hard and toasty brown.  Watch carefully or you might burn.

Happy St. Patrick’s day!  And happy birthday to my dad! He would have been 66 this year.  As many of you know, my dad passed away about two months ago after a relatively short battle with cancer.  I miss him so much.  I was very lucky to have him for a dad for the amount of time I did.  In order to celebrate his birthday and St. Patty’s day, my fabulous friend and wonderful cook Cristopher Wobbin hosted a little shindig at her house.  She is on the left, Katie is in the middle, and Cortnay is on the right.

She made these fantastically good pizzas.  Here is the fig, pistachio and goat cheese. This was my favorite. So creative.

Also, a blue cheese, fresh mozzarella, beef filet and onion pizza. Holy lord.

Everyone ate a lot.  In fact, I ate way too much and almost had to be carried home by Jav.

Michelle brought her cute little puppy Charlie.

Maverick got scared with Crissie’s huge chocolate lab Gus and Charlie running around, so he got on the table.

He then needed a Guinness to recover.

My contribution to the meal was my dad’s favorite meal ever.  The Caesar salad. Everywhere we went, no matter the restaurant, he would order a Caesar salad.  He judged every restaurant by the quality of their dressing and usually ordered an extra side of dressing.   It was also the first thing I learned to make at my dad’s restaurant when I was 15.  I was also in charge of cooking the chicken on the grill and served many raw in the middle chicken breasts.  I am not kidding.  My dad was always so complimentary of my cooking and really enjoyed my Caesar, which is fairly lemony. I hope you enjoy it too!

The secret is the homemade garlic croutons. Store bought croutons suck.  You can quote me on that.   If you do one thing while making salad, please don’t ever buy store bought croutons.  They taste like cardboard bits of toasted cardboard.  Homemade croutons are very quick and inexpensive to make and keep well in a sealed container.    Thank you for your cooperation in advance of this matter.

Caesar Salad with Homemade Garlic Croutons
Printable recipe here

Salad and Dressing

1 Head of Romaine Lettuce washed and torn into bite size pieces

Croutons (recipe below)

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons Mayo (I use this in place of a raw egg)

½ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Anchovy Paste (this won’t make it fishy.  At least I don’t think it does.)

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan plus another ¼ cup for top of salad.

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a food processor grind up garlic, mayo, dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire and anchovy paste.

Slowly drizzle and mix in olive oil.  Turn off processor and stir in ¼ cup parmesan. 

 Salt and pepper to taste, but it won’t need much due to the cheese and anchovy paste.    Pour a little over romaine and mix up with croutons and extra parmesan.  Taste for flavor and if needed add more dressing.  You can always add more, but you can’t remove dressing.  Made this mistake a few times . 

Croutons

1 Loaf of Fresh Sourdough bread chopped into small crouton sized cubes. (I like sourdough, but you can use any kind you want.)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil, garlic and seasoning salt together in a small bowl.  Put 1/3 of the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of oil mixture over the bread. Mix well. Continue this process until all the oil and bread cubes are used.  Add to a cookie or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until hard and toasty brown.  Watch carefully or you might burn.

Love,

Lindzee

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I would like to tell you a little about one of my favorite restaurants in Boise, Flatbread Community Oven. Have you ever been? If not, GO NOW. It is amazing. I am truly obsessed. Fantastic wood-fired pizza (I prefer the sundried tomato, artichoke, goat cheese concoction), great wine flights for under $10, salads and the best part is that you can finish off your meal with warm homemade chocolate chip cookies and cold milk.

They also make this unbelievably good salad with chicken, apples, grapes, blue cheese and candied walnuts. Of course, the first time I ordered it, I immediately went home and tried to copy it minus the chicken. The result is this recipe, not quite Flatbread status, but it is pretty darn good. Flatbread makes theirs with mixed greens, which Jav hates, so I substituted romaine. BTW, for all you Boise peeps, I heard there is a new Flatbread going in downtown Boise on 6th and Main. Holla!

Apple, Grape and Blue Cheese Salad with Candied Walnuts

1 Cup Seedless Red Grapes Halved

1 Apple Chopped

1 Cup Candied Walnuts Chopped (Recipe Below)

 ½ Cup Blue Cheese Crumbles

 5-6 Cups Romaine Lettuce (washed, dried and Cut into bite size pieces)

Apple Cider Vinaigrette (Recipe Below)

 Mix all ingredients together.

 Pour dressing over salad just prior to serving.

 Candied Walnuts

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Walnuts

Heat sugar over medium heat in a medium skillet until it just starts to melt. You must be super careful and diligent at this point. I have destroyed many of expensive nuts at this point by burning them. Throw in walnuts and let sugar melt, but as soon as you see the sugar turning brown turn down the heat to low. Cook until all sugar is melted and walnuts are evenly coated. Remove from heat and set aside on foil. Set in fridge for 15 minutes. Serve cool.

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

¼ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

¼ Cup Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Mix ACV and mustard together with wire whisk. Slowly whisk in Olive Oil. Season to taste. Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

Many people think that buying store bought salad dressings is the way to go.  But once you make your own you will never go back to store bought.  It is extremely easy and the flavor/quality does not compare to store bought.  Trust me.  Plus, you don’t have to worry about what is actually in the dressing because you made it your self.  In store bought, there are always fillers or preservatives or colorings because the average American consumer is not used to the way things naturally look.  This isn’t a Food Inc. type rant (I work for a large food company), merely a suggestion because you honestly can’t beat the taste of a homemade dressing.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Champagne Vinaigrette

As a general rule, I use the ratio one part vinegar to three parts oil for any vinaigrette.  Then just add in your extras.  I generally try to use a little bit of Dijon too because it makes it creamier and acts as an emulsifier which keeps the vinegar and oil from separating. 

3 Tablespoons Red wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons Champagne

1 Clove garlic minced

1 Tablespoon Mayo (optional for creaminess)

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

½ Teaspoon Sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

½ Cup Olive Oil

Mix all ingredients except oil in blender.  I always blend my dressings – it seems to work. Drizzle in oil slowly and blend until creamy.  

Spicy Chipotle Vinaigrette

¼ Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1.5 Teaspoons Chipotle Chili powder or Adobo powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

½ Cup Olive Oil

Mix all ingredients except oil in blender. Drizzle in oil slowly and blend until creamy.  

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

¾ Cup sour cream

½ Teaspoon dry mustard

½ Teaspoon salt

½ Garlic clove minced

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ Cup mayonnaise

3 Oz. crumbled blue cheese

Combine all ingredients with the exception of blue cheese in a large bowl.  Mix for 2 minutes on low speed.  Slowly add blue cheese and blend 4 more minutes.  Refrigerate 24 hours prior to serving.

Also, here are a few others I have posted in the past:

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

I will post my Caesar recipe soon.  That is the first thing I learned to make in my dad’s restaurant.:)

Hope you enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

And any Frei family holiday would be complete without a lot of red wine spilling.  This year was no exception:

 Fondue? Don’t mind if I do!  I love fondue – I think it might be because I am a sauce person. I am obsessed with sauces.  Fondue is the only meal I can think of where you dip every course and every bite.  In the words of Lustopher Hardy – “A little bit of heaven”. 

We generally setup the fondue around my parent’s kitchen island, which promotes lots of socializing.

Even Mavie (who has severe IBS (not joking) and is not allowed people food) tried to get a piece of yumminess. 

For those of you not familiar with fondue, we have three courses for the party:

The Cheese

The Meat

The Chocolate

Easy to remember since it is the three basic food groups .

I am sure some of you will be able to relate to this, but all of our family’s Christmas recipes have been around for so many years that they are stored in this little messy handwritten card holder my mom keeps.

 I love looking through all these recipes every year.  I even found a couple of Tomato Aspics (sick).   We don’t make that anymore. My favorite was this recipe written on a Goodyear Tire notepad. Hehe.

 Here are the fondue recipes.

 Don’t worry, I retyped them .

The Cheese Course

As previously mentioned, the night begins with the cheese fondue.  I really could just have this course and be fine for the rest of the night.  It is sooo freaking good. I have seen people make cheese fondue with many different types of cheeses and ingredients.  We never stray from the traditional.  Why fix what ain’t broken? 

Important note: When eating the cheese you must be careful.  It has been said that if you drop your piece of bread or fruit into the cheese you must kiss the person next to you.  Generally, this gets a little strange because I am usually eating fondue with my family.

Traditional Cheese Fondue (Adapted from handwritten recipe circa 1972 by Pam Frei)

½ Pound freshly grated Emmentaler Swiss Cheese

½ Pound freshly grated Le Gruyere Cheese (Do not use processed Gruyere.  The year we tried the processed is the same year we tried the chocolate fountain.  It will forever be known as the year of the fondue failure and subsequently the year without a Santa Claus)

1.5 Cups Dry White Wine

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1.5 Teaspoons Cornstarch

1 Garlic clove halved

½ Teaspoon Nutmeg

Salt and White Pepper to taste

3 Tablespoons Kirsch Cherry Liquor

Dippers

Loaf of French bread cubed

2 Apples cubed

Roasted potatoes for dipping (optional)

Rub garlic on inside of large pot with two forks.

 Remove garlic solids.  Add white wine and lemon juice and heat over medium heat.  Heat till air bubbles rise but to not boil.  Whisk in cornstarch so there are no lumps.  Reduce heat to low.  Add a handful of cheese. 

 When cheese is melted add another handful.  Do not boil.  Add in nutmeg, salt and pepper and Kirsch.  The Kirsch adds great flavor.  At this point, we add the cheese mixture to a crockpot on high, so it doesn’t burn.  Use fondue sticks to dip.

 The Meat Course

The meat course is a little different because the eater is actually cooking their own meat. 

There are fondue pots (we have 3-4) of heated beef bouillon and red wine (one year we experimented with peanut oil) and over the years we have tried the different combinations of the following:

Shrimp (peeled and deveined)

Steak (cut into chunks)

Chicken (cut into chunks and generally marinated)

Salmon (cut into chunks)

Mushrooms

Peppers          

 Heat the following over a stove until boiling and add to fondue pot.

2 Cups of Beef Broth

1 Cup Red Wine

We like to use Sterno, not tealights, as a heat source.  Otherwise, it doesn’t get hot very fast.

Now for the dipping sauces – I try to make these the day prior to the party:

Sweet and Sour (my personal favorite)

½ cup Apricot Preserves

¼ cup Catsup (this cracks me up!  Anyone know the difference between catsup and ketchup?)

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 Tablespoons Major Grey’s Chutney

Heat all ingredients until it reaches a simmering stage.

Mustard Sauce

1/2 Cup sour cream

1/3 Cup mayonnaise

1.5 Tablespoons prepared mustard (the French’s kind. Not the Dijon)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Teaspoon horseradish

Combine all ingredients and mix well

Blue Cheese Dressing Sauce

This can easily be used as salad dressing to.

¾ Cup sour cream

½ Teaspoon dry mustard

½ Teaspoon salt

½ Garlic clove minced

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ Cup mayonnaise

3 Oz. Crumbled blue cheese

Combine all ingredients with the exception of blue cheese in a large bowl.  Mix for 2 minutes on low speed.  Slowly add blue cheese and blend 4 more minutes.  Refrigerate 24 hours prior to serving.

Teriyaki Sauce
We take a shortcut and use Yoshida!

  The Chocolate Course

I am usually so stuffed at this point that I can barely walk, but I always make room for just a bit more since the chocolate is so good.  Our recipe is super simple but really yummy!

Chocolate Fondue

2 Large bars of Symphony Chocolate with Toffee Bits – This stuff is the best and adds a little extra crunch

½ Cup Whipping Cream

2 ounces of Bailey’s Irish Cream (optional)

Heat chocolate and whipping cream over double boiler over low heat.  Stir until melted.  Transfer to chocolate fondue pot.  

We have this super cute hot fudge warmer thing we use:

Dippers

Use any combination of the following:

Bananas sliced

Mandarin Oranges

Strawberries

Apples

Pineapple

Pound Cake (bite size)

Cheesecake (bite size)

Leftover holiday cookies

At this point in the party I am generally ready to pass out since I am so full. 

I hope you have all have a wonderful Christmas!  I would love to hear about your Christmas traditions.  Please post them in the comment section. 

Be safe, be merry and eat & drink with reckless abandon!  You can work it off later!

Love,

Lindzee

PS.  I wish Mr. Barrera could have been here!  Hope you are having fun in b-town!

 Iceberg has been a staple in my life for a really long time. I first remember enjoying the company of old Iceberg on my elementary school lunch tray, smothered in ranch dressing with shredded rusty tasting carrots. Iceberg has recently received a poor reputation for lacking nutrients, flavor, color ect. Foodies scoff at Iceberg and tend to cast the pretentious bitter microgreens or the pompous mixed greens as the shining stars of their salads today.

I, however, still have a special place in my heart for Iceberg. I love its crunchy texture, crisp, cold and clean flavor and its ability to play a secondary role to any creamy salad dressing. This is why I am posting my recipe for a Wedge Salad with Creamy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing – a salad that cannot be made with any other lettuce but Iceberg. At least in my mind. So cheers to you, Iceberg, not ever flashy but always dependable and sturdy.

Wedge Salad with Creamy Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Serves 3-4 with extra dressing for your pizza

 1 Head of Iceberg lettuce
5 Strips of good bacon cooked and chopped into bits
1-2 Roma Tomatoes Chopped
2 Green Onions Chopped
Handful of Blue Cheese (optional)

Wash the outside of the Iceberg and pat dry gently. Chop entire head into 3-4 wedges depending on the size. Sprinkle bacon, tomato, onions and blue cheese evenly on each wedge.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

1 Cup Real Mayo
½ Cup Sour Cream
½ Cup Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons minced Basil
½ Clove garlic minced very fine
1 Tablespoon minced Chives
1 Teaspoon of Dill
1 Tablespoons minced Parsley
1 Tablespoon A-1 Sauce (optional)
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Dash of Cayenne pepper or Tabasco
Salt to taste
Peper

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. I blend it in the Kitchen Aid on speed 3 for 3-4 minutes. It gets fluffier this way. Add fresh ground pepper. Poor over the lovely Iceberg and enjoy with a fork and knife. 

Love, Lindzee