Breaded Lemon Pepper Chicken

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: I really don’t use lemon pepper enough. It’s one of B’s favorite seasonings, but I always seem to forget about it. I used to cook tilapia seasoned with some olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon pepper all of the time, but once I started getting more adventurous with cooking, that meal fell by the wayside, and I haven’t used lemon pepper much since. I suddenly remembered it earlier this week when trying to think of a way to cook chicken breasts to serve alongside some fresh vegetables that I needed to use. A breaded, lemon pepper chicken breast sounded great.

What we Loved: This meal is very simple and easy to prepare, which is sometimes a bonus when I have a busy evening. The chicken breasts are simply coated in a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs and lemon pepper, and then they’re sauteed in some olive oil. Even with the simplicity, though, the flavor of the chicken is really great. The chicken has that nice and crispy breaded texture, with a great Italian flavor from the breadcrumb seasoning, some tartness from the lemon, and a really nice kick of spice from the pepper. I served the chicken with some Parmesan garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed vegetables, and the whole meal was simple and satisfying.

Helpful Hints: Use a lot of lemon pepper! It gives the breading a really nice, spicy kick, and the lemon isn’t overpowering. I butterflied my chicken breasts and then cut them in half to give me something more like chicken cutlets for an easier saute, but you can certainly leave the chicken breasts whole if you prefer. I would saute them to brown them, and then pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes to finish cooking all of the way through.

Other Chicken Recipes: chicken piccata, mushroom and Parmesan stuffed chicken

Breaded Lemon Pepper Chicken
Source: Original recipe to serve 2

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and cut in half
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/8 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs, more if necessary
1 tablespoon lemon pepper (this is an estimate, as I just poured it in. Use more or less to your preference)
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Pour the flour into a shallow bowl. Add the egg into a second shallow bowl. In a third shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs and the lemon pepper.

2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour, then dip it into the egg, and then coat it in the breadcrumb mixture.

3. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan. Add the chicken, and saute until browned and cooked through, approximately 5-8 minutes per side.

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas

Cuisine: Mexican

Inspiration: I’ve said it many times, but B and I both love Mexican and Tex Mex food. If I go too long without a Mexican meal, I usually get an intense craving that won’t go away until I make a Mexican supper or go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Last week, I was really craving Mexican food again, particularly enchiladas. I was happy to find this fairly healthy recipe that, as a bonus, also included seafood, which is something that I always crave a lot during the warm weather.

What we Loved: The salsa verde sauce for these enchiladas has an amazing, roasted pepper flavor. It’s made with a base of roasted tomatillos, poblanos, and garlic, and it really tastes so rich and delicious. I also really liked the flavor of the goat cheese. I’ve never used goat cheese in enchiladas before, but I had some extra in the house so I gave it a shot. It’s my favorite cheese, so I wasn’t too worried, but I was interested to see how it would taste. I ended up loving it. Goat cheese has a great, creamy quality that blends perfectly with the shrimp and the salsa verde sauce. I really liked that these enchiladas were different than any enchiladas I’ve had, with relatively little cheese and a focus instead on the flavors of the salsa verde and the shrimp filling. These aren’t your standard ooey-gooey cheesy enchiladas, but they’re still fantastic.

Helpful Hints: The salsa verde sauce dried up a bit in the oven while the enchiladas were baking. Next time, I think I would bake the enchiladas without the sauce, and instead heat up the sauce in a sauce pan to pour over the enchiladas when they come out of the oven. Also, when I make enchiladas, I use corn tortillas, and I typically heat them in the microwave to make them pliable, rather than quickly frying them as is traditionally done. I do this to save fat and calories, but it has the downside of giving the tortillas a fairly mushy texture when they come out of the oven. I’m starting to question whether this calorie-saving step is worth it, because the enchiladas break open easily and are very difficult to get out of the pan. If you would like to avoid this and aren’t too concerned about a few extra calories, just heat a bit of canola oil in a saute pan, and quickly fry each tortilla (for maybe 5 seconds per side) before filling and rolling.

Similar Recipes: avocado enchiladas with smoky chipotle sauce, chicken chilaquiles

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas
Source: Bon Appetit Magazine

I cut this recipe in half and made a few adjustments. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, cored, and seeded
2 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 cup packed, coarsely chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed (I would use 1 lb next time, but I was running short)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 corn tortillas
4-6 oz goat cheese

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatillos, poblano chiles (cut-side down), and garlic cloves on the sheet. Broil until the tomatillos and chiles begin to soften and blacken, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. Add the tomatillos to a food processor. Peel the garlic, and add it to the food processor. Peel the charred parts off of the chiles, and coarsley chop. Add 1/4 of the chiles to the food processor, and reserve the rest. Add the cilantro and green onions to the food processor. Process until the mixture is pureed. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Saute the onions until softened, approximately 2-4 minutes. Add the shrimp, oregano, cumin, and the remaining chopped chiles to the pan, and saute until the shrimp  are just opaque but not completely cooked through, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the bottom of a baking dish with just enough of the salsa to coat.

5. Microwave the tortillas between paper towels until just pliable, approximately 1 minute. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip the tortilla into the bowl containing the salsa, turning to coat both sides. Transfer to a plate, and add some of the shrimp filling and a sprinkle of goat cheese. Roll up the tortilla, and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

6. Pour the remaining salsa over the tortillas, and bake for 20 minutes.

7. Serve garnished with goat cheese and cilantro.

Cherry Lemonade

Cuisine: American

Inpsiration: I was so excited when I walked into the grocery store last week and saw the first batch of fresh cherries in the produce section. To me, cherries just scream summer time, and there’s nothing like a bag of fresh cherries in my lunch on a sunny day. They’re one of those foods that just improve my mood by being so tasty and so summer. I always just eat them by the handful, but this year, I’ve been thinking of trying some recipes using fresh cherries. A nice cherry lemonade sounded like a perfect treat for a long holiday weekend.

What we Loved: B and I both agreed that this was the best lemonade we’ve ever had. It was tart and sour like you’d expect a lemonade to be, but also so sweet and cherry flavored. It was just delicious. And isn’t the color beautiful? We enjoyed this as an afternoon snack on Memorial Day after a nice bike ride. Perfect.

Helpful Hints: My only advice here is to make a lot! The below recipe just barely makes enough for two 8 oz glasses of lemonade (with ice), but B and I both really wished that we had more. I would double the recipe, or even make enough for a pitcher. This lemonade would be great for a summer party or BBQ.

Cherry Lemonade
Source: New York Times

1/2 cup cherries, pitted
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup cold water
4 tablespoons sugar

1. Blend all of the ingredients together in a blender.

2. Pour the lemonade through a sieve in order to collect the bits of cherry peels that remain unblended.

3. Serve over ice, garnished with fresh cherries.

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: Our Memorial Day weekend was filled with fabulous weather, and there’s no better time to start grilling than on Memorial Day. B and I took a nice bike ride in the afternoon, and it seemed like the whole city smelled like grilled food. It was fabulous.

What we Loved:  This was easily the best meal that we’ve had in months. B grilled everything just perfectly, and I couldn’t believe the flavor. Neither B nor I have ever had grilled shrimp before, and because shrimp cooks so quickly, I wasn’t expecting it to taste that much different than shrimp cooked inside. But the grilled, charred flavor of the shrimp was just amazing, and we couldn’t get over how great it was. It was  like the shrimp soaked up the entire essence and flavor of the grill in the few short minutes that they were cooking. The vegetables were just as good, with my favorite being the slightly crisp and blackened onions. I coated all of the vegetables and shrimp with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, cilantro, and plenty of garlic before cooking, so everything also had a nice, garlicy flavor. We ate this with some white rice mixed with cilantro for a great, healthy meal that we plan to make a staple in our house over the summer months.

Helpful Hints: When I skewered the vegetables, I put the zucchini on the wrong way. Make sure to skewer the zucchini through the skin, so that you can get nice grill marks on the flesh of the zucchini. The shrimp will also cook much more quickly than the vegetables, so be sure to skewer the shrimp on their own skewers, so you can start grilling the vegetables first.

Other Shrimp Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya, shrimp creole

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs
Source: Original Recipe to serve 2

14 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small zucchini, cut into thick chunks
8 baby portabella mushrooms
1/2 red pepper, cut into thick slices
1/2 vidalia onion, cut into thick wedges
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 lime
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white rice

1. Skewer the vegetables and the shrimp, making sure to keep them on different skewers because the shrimp will cook much more quickly than the vegetables.

2. Place the skewers in a dish or on a platter, and drizzle them liberally with olive oil and the juice of one lime. Sprinkle with Kosher salt, black pepper, cilantro, and the minced garlic.

3. Cook the white rice according to package instructions. When the rice has cooked, mix in a handful of freshly chopped cilantro.

4. While the rice is cooking, grill the skewers. Grill the vegetable skewers first, for approximately 7-10 minutes per side. When the vegetable skewers are just about finished, grill the shrimp skewers for approximately 1-2 minutes per side.

5. Serve the shrimp and vegetables over the cilantro rice.

Cucumber Carrot Salad

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: As is often the case when I’m adding vegetables to my meals, my inspiration lies in wanting to make sure that any leftover fresh produce that I have doesn’t go to waste. Last night, I needed to use some cucumbers and carrots before they went bad. Cucumbers aren’t my favorite vegetable, but I really do love them coated in vinegar for a tart, crispy salad. Carrots aren’t my favorite vegetable either, but when making these carrot-flecked dinner rolls, I found that throwing them in the food processor until they are finely minced allows them to be added to recipes without really adding a lot of carrot flavor. So I made this salad with a couple of my not-so-favorite ingredients, and it ended up being one of my favorite salads that I’ve recently made.

What we Loved: This is a fairly simple recipe, but I’ll restate how much I love the flavor combination of cucumbers and vinegar. Coated in vinegar, the cucumbers are sour, fresh, and light, and they’re perfect for a side dish on a warm evening.  This salad is also a completely guilt-free dish, as I can’t think of many ingredients that are healthier and less caloric than cucumbers and carrots. One of my favorite things, too, was how pretty the salad looked with the green cucumbers, the orange carrots, and the red onions. This recipe would be a perfect and easy-to-make side dish for a summer barbeque.

Helpful Hints: There really aren’t a whole lot of routes to take when making a simple recipe like this that would lead you astray. My only suggestion is to use red onions instead of white or yellow, because they make for a pretty dish. I also used red wine vinegar, solely because I wanted the pink color. It collected in the bottom of the serving dish, and it looked nice to drizzle over the salad when serving.

Similar Recipes: cucumber salad, Greek salad

Cucumber Carrot Salad
Source: Original Recipe

1 English cucumber, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
Red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and black pepper
Dried dill

1. Add the carrot pieces to a food processor, and process until finely minced.

2. In a large bowl, add the cucumbers, carrots, and onions. Season to preference with salt, pepper, and dill. Pour a good portion of red wine vinegar over all of the ingredients (I like to use enough so that it pools in the bottom of the bowl), and mix well to combine.

3. Chill until ready to serve.

Salmon Cakes

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: With warm weather finally here, I’ve really been craving a lot of seafood. As soon as summer hits, I think I’d be happy with lighter seafood and vegetable meals nearly every day. I had some fresh salmon out for supper last night, but none of the recipes that I could think of were really grabbing onto me. I finally thought of using my crab cake recipe as a base to make salmon cakes instead, and I’m so glad that I did. I ordered some shrimp and salmon cakes at a local Irish restaurant recently and loved them, and as it turned out, I loved these just as much.

What we Loved: Both B and I really enjoyed everything about this dinner. I adore things like crab cakes, vegetable fritters, mashed potato cakes, etc., so I was really hopeful that this recipe would turn out great, and it did. The salmon cakes have a really soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture, and they were packed with flavor, which was the best part. I used plenty of green onions and spices in the recipe, and I also added in a few tablespoons of Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper spread for some extra flavor. If there had been any eggs in my house, I would have breaded these, but instead, I just sauteed them in olive oil. As it turned out, I was really glad that I didn’t bread them. The cakes got nice and crispy brown, which added another great layer of flavor, and I loved the pink color. I sprinkled some Kosher salt on top of the cakes before serving, which I thought added the perfect final touch. It tasted great to eat a bite of the soft cake with a sprinkling of crunchy salt.

Helpful Hints: The only problem that I had with these salmon cakes is that they didn’t hold together as well as I would have liked while I was cooking. They were very fragile, and I had to be careful not to break them when flipping. To correct this, I would make sure to put the salmon cakes in the refrigerator for at least an hour before cooking, which will allow them to hold together more easily. I always do this when I make crab cakes, but I skipped the step this time because I was hungry. I would definitely recommend making sure to allow for extra time to refrigerate.

Similar Recipes: crab cakes, white bean fritters

Salmon Cakes
Source: Original recipe, inspired from this crab cake recipe

2 salmon filets
Extra virgin olive oil, for sauteeing
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons 0% Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons bread crumbs (I used Italian-seasoned)
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tablespoons Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper spread, or something similar (you can also use finely diced or pureed roasted red pepper)
Kosher salt and black pepper
Dried or fresh dill

1. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a saute pan, and heat over medium heat. Add the salmon filets, and cook for approximately 5 minutes on each side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Put the cooked filets in a shallow bowl or on a plate, and shred with two forks.

2. In a shallow bowl, combine the green onions, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and roasted red pepper spread. Season as desired with Kosher salt, pepper, and dill. Add the cooked salmon, and mix well to combine.

3. Using your hands, form the salmon mixture into patties (it will make 7-8 small cakes), and place them in a baking dish. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

4. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a saute pan, and heat over medium heat. Add the salmon cakes, and cook for approximately 3-5 minutes per side, or until nicely browned. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and serve.

Irish Beef Stew

Cuisine: Irish

Inspiration: When I made corned beef and cabbage back around St. Patrick’s Day, B and I really loved the stock that we ended up with from making the recipe, so I tossed it into the freezer with the intention of making some sort of soup or stew with it later. I’ve been working on cleaning out my freezer, and it’s getting to be that time of year when it’s much too warm for stews, so I decided to make this Irish stew that I found on Simply Recipes as one last stew for the season. I served it with some leftover carrot-flecked dinner rolls for a warm, comforting dinner. 

What we Loved: The sauce in this stew is incredibly flavorful. B commented that it was the best sauce that he had tasted in a dish like this in a really long time. There are so many ingredients in the sauce that I really can’t pinpoint what it is that makes it so good.  I used my leftover stock from making corned beef and cabbage (which contained onions and all sorts of spices, including a lot of coriander seeds, whose flavor and crunch I particularly love), and the sauce also included tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, Guinness, and a myriad of other spices. This stew was rich and hearty like any stew should be.

Helpful Hints: I was really running short on time when I made this, so I cut out a few steps. The original recipe calls for the potatoes, carrots, and onions to be sauteed for 20 minutes before being added to the stew, but I just threw them into the pot and let them simmer. I’m sure that this cut out a bit of flavor, but the stew was still great, and it saved me some time. I also used baby red potatoes and left them unpeeled, both as a timesaver and because B and I both really prefer the flavor of unpeeled potatoes. I think that this stew would work great being cooked in a crockpot all day, giving the meat more time to work its way into the fall-apart tender meat that I really love in stews. As it was, the meat didn’t have that extra-tender quality, so next time I would definitely use a crockpot.

Other Stew Recipes: red wine beef stew with portabellas, pork stew with smoky tomato sauce, potatoes, and avocado

Irish Beef Stew
Source: Simply Recipes

As noted, I made some changes in the preparation of this recipe. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch pieces
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock (I used leftover corned beef stock from this corned beef and cabbage recipe)
1 cup Guinness beer
1 cup red wine (I used a sangiovese)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
6-8 baby red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley, chopped, to garnish

1.  Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a dutch oven or pot over medium high heat. Salt the beef pieces. Working in batches, add the beef and cook, without stirring, until nicely browned on one side. Do not overcrowd the pan, or the meat will steam and will not brown. Use tongs to turn the pieces to brown on all sides.

2. Add the garlic to the pot, and saute for one minute. Add the stock, Guinness, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add the potatoes, onions, and carrots to the pot. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour, until the vegetables are tender. Discard the bay leaves. Serve the stew, garnishing with fresh parsley.

Fisherman’s Rice

Cuisine: Southwest

Inspiration: In February I made this jambalaya, and I ended up thinking that it was one of the best recipes to cross my dinner plate in months. It’s not a particularly complicated, unique, or even authentic recipe, but there’s just something about the flavors of one-pot, rice-based recipes that I just adore. The jambalaya recipe has become one of my favorite meals, so I was very excited last week to find a similar recipe, but with a very different flavor spin, at We Heart Food. This is one of those recipes that has been stuck in the back of my head ever since I found it.

What we Loved: I knew that I’d love everything about this dish before I even made it, and I did. The rice has a great tangy bite from pureed tomatillos that are added at the end of cooking, and I loved all of the different flavors and textures. The great thing about a one-pot dish is that you taste so many different flavors in each bite. There’s a tang to the rice, a spiciness to the chorizo,  a cool, buttery taste to the avocado, and a fresh seafood taste to the shrimp. I could eat dishes like this every day and be a very happy girl.

Helpful Hints: If you’re not concerned about a particularly healthful meal, I don’t think that it would be a bad idea to up the chorizo to about 6-8 oz or so. I used 3 oz and restrained myself from adding more, since this was supposed to be a healthy weeknight meal and all, but both B and I particularly enjoyed the chorizo flavor in this dish.

Similar Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya 

Fisherman’s Rice
Source: We Heart Food, originally from The Border Cookbook

I only made a few minor changes to the recipe. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 oz bulk chorizo
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 bay leaf
8 oz shrimp, cooked as desired (I sauteed mine for about 2 minutes with olive oil, salt, and pepper)
1 Haas avocado, diced
2 medium tomatillos, husked and pureed
Cilantro, to garnish

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, and saute the chorizo over medium heat. When it is just browned, add the onion, garlic, and rice, and saute briefly until the rice is translucent.

2. Pour in the stock, soy sauce, and vinegar. Add the bay leaf, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook for approximately 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.

3. Stir in the cooked shrimp, avocado, and pureed tomatillos. Cook for a few more minutes, and serve garnished with cilantro.

Pork Souvlaki Saute with Tzatziki

Cuisine: Greek

Inspiration: I’ve been going through a phase of having zero motivation to cook. With me, that’s something that never happens, so it’s been strange. I took some pork chops out of the freezer for Monday night’s dinner, and I couldn’t think of a single thing that sounded good to make with them. For that matter, I couldn’t think of a single thing that I wanted to make using any of the ingredients in my house, and I wanted nothing to do with spending time in the kitchen. So, we ended up sitting down to the Cavs game (sweep!) with gyros and tabbouleh from a local Greek restaurant, and it was a nice evening. However, last night I still found myself in my cooking funk, and I gladly would have ordered in again if I didn’t have that constant voice in the back of my head telling me that it’s not allowed. So instead, I used the pork to make this very easy variation on pork souvlaki to eat with our leftover tabbouleh, and it was delicious. I think I’m back on track.

What we Loved: Souvlaki is traditionally marinated meat that is skewered and grilled, but this recipe offers a version of the dish that can be cooked inside in a saute pan. It’s not traditional, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not good. The pork and onions are sauteed with a great marinade that consists of olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and garlic, and my favorite part is the nice brown, almost caramelized flavor after cooking. Tzatziki is a yogurt-based sauce, and it’s amazingly fresh, tart, garlicy, and healthy (even though it tastes like it’s not). It’s something that I could almost eat with a spoon, and it offers a cool, intensely flavorful contrast to the pork. Served with whole wheat pitas, this meal is healthy and delicious.

Helpful Hints: I’d highly recommend letting the pork and onions cook until they get nicely browned and even caramelized. The flavor that comes from letting the ingredients brown was my favorite part of the recipe, and next time I would cook everything even longer to get a browner crust. I used boneless pork chops because it was what I had on hand, but to be more authentic and to get a meat that falls apart, you should use pork shoulder.

Other Recipes: Falafel pitas

Pork Souvlaki Saute with Tzatziki
Source: Food and Wine Magazine

I made a few modifications to the recipe to adjust to what I had on-hand and to my preferences. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

2 boneless pork chops, cuts into thin strips
1 red onion, cut through the root end into 1/2 inch wedges
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 6-8 oz container Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
1/3 cucumber, seeded and finely diced
Whole wheat pitas

1. Place the pork, onion, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and 1 clove of mashed garlic into a bowl, and mix together. Season with salt and pepper, and let sit for 20 minutes.

2. Mix the yogurt, cucumber, and the remaining 1 clove of garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat a saute pan, and add the pork, onions, and marinade. Cook until very browned, stirring when necessary, approximately 10-15 minutes.

4. Serve the pork and onions with the tzatziki and whole wheat pitas.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: I’ve been working on cleaning out my freezer, and I had stashed away a nice package of ham that my parents gave me on Easter Sunday. I knew that I wanted to make my Mom’s scalloped potatoes with my leftover ham, and yesterday was the perfect day. I sat at my desk all day at work thinking about supper, which I guess isn’t that abnormal for me, but it was just the kind of day when what I had planned sounded absolutely delicious. And it was. 

What we Loved: This potato recipe is from my Mom, and it’s amazing. It’s the definition of comfort food to me, and I definitely won’t ever look elsewhere for a scalloped potato recipe. This one is perfect. The potatoes are so creamy and cheesy, with a really rich flavor from the sauteed onions and the Parmesan cheese. Parmesan is quickly becoming one of my favorite cheeses, because it has such a strong, sharp flavor, and its inclusion in this recipe is perfect. I simply added the chopped up pieces of the leftover ham into the scalloped potato dish, and B and I both really enjoyed the great salty flavor that the ham added. My kitchen smelled wonderful as this was baking, and it was hard for me to resist bringing the entire pan to the table and eating the whole thing. My Mom always said that peas go well with ham, so I served this with some sugar snap peas. I’ve only recently found that I really enjoy sugar snap peas, which is odd since I don’t care much for peas that aren’t in their pods.

Helpful Hints: The recipe calls for you to peel the potatoes before slicing and cooking, but I have always really loved the flavor of potato skins, so I left them on. You could go either way, depending on your preferences.

Other Potato Recipes: roasted baby red potatoes

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
Source: Mom

6 small to medium sized potatoes, peeled (or left unpeeled) and sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk (or 1 can evaporated milk and 1 cup water)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded
Ham, thickly sliced and cut into pieces

1. Place the potatoes in a pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 3-4 minutes only. Drain the water, and then add the ham to the potatoes, mixing together. Set aside.

2. Heat the tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan, and add the onion. Cook for 1-2 minutes until tender. Mix in the flour, and then slowly add the milk. Stir over medium high heat until the mixture thickens, and season with salt and pepper.

3. Arrange the potatoes and ham in a greased baking dish. Pour the milk mixture over the potatoes, and then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.