Cajun Sweet Potato Fries with BBQ Fry Sauce

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries
1 bag of frozen sweet potato fries
Rosemary olive oil
Creole seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's)

1. Preheat oven according to sweet potato bag instructions.
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
3. Spread out sweet potato fries in a single layer on baking sheet.
4. Drizzle rosemary olive oil on top of fries.
5. Sprinkle creole seasoning on top of fries.
6. Bake in oven according to package directions.
7. Take sweet potato fries out of oven halfway through baking time and flip.
8. You can add more seasoning at the time if desired.
9. Put fries back in oven and cook for remainder of cooking time.

Serve with BBQ fry sauce

BBQ Fry sauce

Homemade avocado mayo (Recipe below)
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

1. Mix BBQ sauce with homemade mayo.  The proportion should be somewhere between 30-50% BBQ sauce.  Depends on your preferences.

Avocado Mayo
1 large egg yolk
1 T. water
1 T. lemon juice
1 tsp. honey dijon mustard
1 scant cup avocado oil (too much oil will make the emulsion break and not get thick)
kosher salt and pepper to taste

1.  Combine all ingredients and whip with an immersion blender.

HERE IS A VIDEO to show you how to mix it if you are nervous :)

Poppy Seed Dressing and Candied Nuts Salad

To make this salad I like to do a combo of romaine lettuce and baby spinach.  Then I like to top it with fresh cut strawberries, raspberries, candied nuts and of course the dressing!

Poppy Seed Dressing

Recipe from: Susan Peterson

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. salt

1 small onion, quartered

1 1/2 c. canola oil

1 T. poppy seeds

Handful of raspberries (optional)

1. Put vinegar in blender.
2. Add ingredients one at a time.
3. Blend for 10 minutes.
4. Refrigerate after using.

Candied nuts

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup pecans or slivered almonds

1. Put sugar in frying pan over 1 cup of desired nuts.
2. Cook on medium high heat.
3. Stir until sugar is melted. (Make sure to not let the sugar burn!)
4. Remove from stove and pan.
5. Cool on wax paper.
6. Break apart before serving.

Homemade Corn Pops aka Crack

 Trust me you don't want to make these they are too addicting ;)

Candied Corn Pops 

Recipe From: Janie C.

15 oz. bag of corn pops

1 1/4 c. butter

1 1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. plus 1 T. water

1. Warm package of corn pops in 200F oven on 2 cookie sheets.
2. While they are warming, heat butter, sugar and water over direct heat (medium to medium high if stirring all the time).
3. Let mixture come to a boil and cook for 9 minutes stirring constantly (can lower heat as long as it keeps boiling).
4. Put 1/2 of corn pops in very large bowl and pour 1/2 of butter/sugar mixture over it, mixing well.
5. Add te rest of the corn pops and then the rest of the butter/sugar mixture to coat evenly.  Spread out on waxed paper to dry/cool

Restaraunt Style Salsa

This recipe tastes just like the salsa they serve at a lot of Mexican restaraunts, its def yummy!

Salsa (Recipe from: Susan Peterson)

1 can of petite diced tomatoes (I use 28 oz size)

1 jalapeño

8-9 green onions (use the white and green part of the green onion; just not the sprouts)

1/3 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

2 tsp. lime juice

1. Drain the juice from the can of tomatoes into a blender.
2. Scrape the seeds and pulp out of the jalapeño. (Do not touch eyes or any other sensitive parts of your body after handling the jalapeño it WILL burn!)
3. Add jalapeño to blender with tomato juice. Puree jalapeño and juice until the jalapeño is disintegrated.
4. Chop green onions and cilantro. Add to petite diced tomatoes.
5. Add jalapeño/tomato juice to the petite diced tomatoes.
6. Add garlic salt and lime juice. Mix well.

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Dressing

So if you have never been to the restaurant Cafe Rio let me tell you that you are missing out BIG TIME. Sorry East Coasters and Ohioans it's only on the West coast right now that I know of. I know a lot of people feel like they have to take sides between Chipotle and Cafe Rio but I love both of them and their menus and flavors are so different I don't think that you can compare them. Here is a recipe for their famous salad dressing. I love to use it on a lot of things like I drizzle some on my tacos, of course you can use it on mexican inspired salads, and pretty much anything that I think it will taste yummy with! It makes a lot so I freeze everything else that won't fit in my salad dressing bottle. I will post more Cafe Rio copycat recipes soon!

This is a tomatillo just in case you didn't know!

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Copycat Recipe

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not buttermilk!)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tomatillos, remove husk, quartered

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic

juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeño (if you like it really spicy leave the seeds in)

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend it until it is ultra smooth with no chunks. (I probably leave the blender on for at least a minute just so everything is completely pulverized!)

Twice Baked Baby Reds

Twice Baked Red Potatoes

8 Red Potatoes

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sour cream

2-4 T. milk

6 slices bacon, cooked then crumbled

6 green onions, chopped

1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Salt and pepper

1. Bake red potatoes at 350 for about an hour or until you can easily pierce through the skin with a fork.
2. Cook bacon, blot with paper towels and then mince.
3. Cut potatoes in half.
4. Then, using a spoon scrape out the flesh leaving some on the sides to keep the shell stable.
5. Mash potato flesh with butter, sour cream, and add 2-4 T. milk or until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add in half of the green onions, cheese and bacon. Mix.
7. Spoon potato mixture back into the shells and place in rectangular baking dish.
8. Top with remaining cheese, bacon and green onions.
9. Place potatoes back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Serve warm and gooey!

Onion Rings

Yaaa mmmm I like me some deep fried greasy food!

Onion Rings

Onion (Yellow or Sweet), sliced thin

3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 T. cooking oil

Lawry's seasoned salt (I usually just shake a bunch in there)

1. Mix flour, milk, egg, oil and seasoned salt together until it becomes a batter.
2. Dip sliced onion rings in batter than fry them in a deep fryer.

*I like to use shortening in my deep fryer because it doesn't smell as bad and it re-solidifies once it cools so its not as messy.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

We made like 10 lb.. of potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner for about 17 people and we have probably half of the bowl left over. I guess we are going to be eating mashed potatoes for like a month straight ...

My deluxe mashed-potato makin' tool.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes (serves 4-6)

2 lb. Yukon Gold Potatoes (they are the best for mashed potatoes)

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cold butter

Salt (I just keep adding salt at the end until it tastes good)

Directions:

1. Peel and cut potatoes into chunks. You want the chunks uniform in size so the cooking time is even.
2. Place potatoes in a large saucepan or pot. Cover potatoes with water.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer uncovered.
4. Mix occasionally so the potatoes get evenly cooked.
5. Cook until a knife or fork slips in easily about 20-30 min.
6. Warm milk on stove over medium heat or in the microwave.
7. Cut up butter into small pieces and place in serving bowl.
8. I use a potato ricer so that they are extra smooth to mash them but you can use an electric mixer, hand masher, Kitchen-aid, etc.
9. Mix potatoes with butter. Add milk in a slow stream and mix. Add salt until it reaches desired amount.