Oven Fried Potatoes

Here is a quick and easy side dish that requires minimal ingredients.  And if your name is Rachel and you don't like onions, you can leave em out, no problem!

Note:  As written, this recipe makes one BIG serving, or two small servings.  You can easily double or triple if you're feeding a crowd.

Ingredients:

1 large Yukon Gold potato
1/4 large Vidalia onion
Olive oil, to taste
Optional seasonings to taste, such as Ranch seasoning, dried parsley, garlic powder, seasoned salt, black pepper

Preheat oven to 375.  Prepare cookie sheet by covering with aluminum foil and spraying generously with nonstick cooking spray.  Now thinly slice your potato.

And thinly slice your onion.

Arrange potato slices in a single layer on cookie sheet.

Now lightly drizzle with olive oil.  Then give it a brush so that the oil evenly coats potatoes.

Now sprinkle with seasoning of your choice.  I'm using Ranch and some black pepper.

Now layer the thinly sliced onions over the seasoned potatoes.  Feel free to dab the onions with some olive oil.  It'll just help them to crisp a little...crispier.  Sprinkle on a little more seasoning on top of the onion.

Now pop in oven for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

While they're hot go ahead and sprinkle with plenty of salt (I used Seasoned Salt).  I also added a sprinkle of dried parsley at this point.

And there you have it!  Serve with ketchup.  Makes an excellent, simple side for just about anything.

Enjoy!

Jalapeno Bacon Mac & Cheese

Warning:  this stuff is extremely delicious.  If you have an aversion to cheesy, bacony, spicy awesomeness, look away now.

This is so good, in fact, that I made it twice last week, and Brent did not complain one bit.  It's a real crowdpleaser. 

The recipe below is for four very large (or six smaller) servings.  It will fit in an 8x8 baking dish.  If you want enough for a 9x13 dish, or 8-10 servings, simply double this recipe, except for the egg - you'd still use just one. 

Note:  Leave out the bacon and and jalapenos, and you'll have the recipe for regular Mac and Cheese.  It is also quite delicious!


Jalapeno Bacon Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

2 cups dry short-cut pasta  (I used corkscrew)
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp butter
1 & 1/4 cup milk (any kind, skim is fine)
1 egg
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 fresh jalapeno
6 slices of bacon, cooked until crisp
8 oz cheese (I used cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste

 
First, prepare the pasta al dente in salted water according to package directions, minus a minute or two.  Test it, and it should be a little too hard to serve as is.  It's going to bake, so do not over boil.  I used corkscrew pasta.  It looks like this before it's cooked:

I think this is a fun shape, but you can feel free to use elbow macaroni, bowtie, spirals, penne, or shells.  It's whatever you prefer.  Or whatever you have in your pantry. 

Once the pasta's done cooking, drain, and just leave it in the colander.

While the pasta's cooking, you can shred your cheese.  I'm using extra sharp cheddar here.

And dice your jalapeno.  I'm leaving all the seeds in, because I'm very brave.  If you're not brave, you can remove the seeds, since that's where the heat is.  Dice it pretty fine.

In a large pot or dutch oven, melt your butter over medium-low heat. 

Once melted, toss in the flour.

Now whisk together, and allow to cook over medium low, whisking often for 5 minutes.  It should get some color so that it looks like this:

Now whisk in the milk.

Keep adding and whisking...

Til you've added it all.  It will look like this:

Now crack your egg into your milk measuring cup, and lightly beat.  Now scoop in about a half cup of your milk mixture into your egg, and stir together.  Once it's fully incorporated, add the egg/milk to the pot.  This tempers the egg, or heats it up slowly, so that it doesn't turn into scrambled eggs when you add it to the milk mixture.

Add your mustard and cayenne, and your salt and pepper.

Keep cooking and whisking over the medium low heat for about 10 minutes.  The sauce will thicken and look like this:

This is the time to taste again and add more salt and pepper if needed.  Remember, the bacon and cheese will add some salt, so don't add too much. 

Now it's cheese time.  Dump in 3/4 of your cheese you grated...

And in goes the jalapeno...

Stir together until combined.  YUM.

Now add about half the bacon..

And finally, the cooked pasta.   You may need to give the pasta a quick rinse in hot water first if it's stuck together in the colander.

Now this is totally delicious if you serve it right now.  But if you want to make it even better, you can dump it into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese and bacon, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Here's what it looks like when it's finished baking:

Awesomeness in a dish.  I am telling you.

Enjoy!