Roasted Potato Halves

15 smallish potatoes

3 T. butter

1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 T parmesan cheese

Wash the potatoes without peeling and cut them in half. Melt the butter and mix with spices and parmesan. Pour onto a cookie sheet and spread with a brush. Place the potatoes cut side down, brush the tops with the butter/parmesan mix around them, and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees.

15 potatoes exactly fits my cookie sheets. Adjust as necessary. You can be generous with the butter, and add more parmesan if desired.

Creamy Garlic Pasta

3 T. butter

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 and 2/3 cups chicken broth

1 and 1/3 cup milk

350 g pasta

salt & pepper

Melt the butter, add the garlic and everything else. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes until pasta is cooked and liquid is absorbed. If it gets too dry, add a little additional milk or put the lid on for a few minutes. 

 

This recipe works best with a pasta that cooks a little quicker, like rotini or penne.

Original recipe that's a little smaller:

2 T. butter

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

250 g pasta

salt & pepper

Grandma's Fruit Salad

1 can mandarin oranges

1 can sliced peaches

1 can pineapple chunks

apples

grapes

1 6-serving size Cook and Serve vanilla pudding mix

Drain the juice from the fruit cans (except the pineapple) until you have two cups of it. Add a little water if you're short. Whisk in the pudding mix and cook until thick. Cool. Add oranges, peaches and rest of fruit and mix until well coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This does not work with instant pudding!

Raspberry Yogurt Salad

1 bag frozen raspberries
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 tub strawberry yogurt
1/2 tub Cool Whip

Mix together and let sit in fridge overnight. The next day, stir before serving. This is more of a dessert than a salad but it's so good!

Roasted Vegetables

Vegetables for roasting (I usually do carrots, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower or radishes)

Oil

Salt & pepper

Cut up the veggies and place them into a bowl. Toss them with the oil (probably about 2-3 T.) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread them out onto a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for about 15-20 minutes at 425. Watch them to make sure they don't burn.

This also works great on the BBQ. Put the veggies in a foil pan and put foil over the top. BBQ for about 35-40 minutes or until done.

Stir-fried Cabbage

This is what you do when you have part of a cabbage sitting in your fridge and don't know what to do with it. You turn it into a side dish.

Chop cabbage into small pieces and stir-fry in oil or butter for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and serve.

Works well with green or purple cabbage.

Buttered Egg Noodles (& Chicken Kiev)

When we got married, the meal at our reception was Chicken Kiev and buttered egg noodles. It was really good and I've always wanted to re-create it at home. I finally figured out how to do it!

Step 1: Buy pre-made frozen chicken kiev. Yup, I didn't even attempt to make it from scratch.

Step 2: Make buttered egg noodles. That's where this recipe comes in. I got it online somewhere and modified it to suit us. It's really good, really fast and easy!

Ingredients:

1 package broad egg noodles (340 g)
3 1/4 cups chicken broth (I use water + chicken bouillon)
1/4 cup butter

Bring the chicken broth and butter to a boil. Add the egg noodles and cook covered for about 8 minutes, or until the noodles are done and the liquid has all been absorbed. The original recipe calls for an additional 1/4 cup of butter to be stirred into the noodles at the end, but I've deemed this unnecessary. It makes the noodles greasier but doesn't really add to the flavour. I do however give it a sprinkle of parsley on top before serving.

Coleslaw

1 bag pre-mixed coleslaw (this is cheating but it's easier)
3/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp salt
2 T. lemon juice
1 tsp prepared mustard

Mix dressing ingredients together and toss with coleslaw mix. Refrigerate. If you use a small bag of coleslaw, reduce the dressing recipe to about 3/4 (1/2 c. mayo, 3 T. sugar, etc.).

For a different flavour, no name creamy coleslaw dressing is also really good and very easy. Add grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers for fanciness.

Savoury Potatoes

My family's favourite potatoes. I always make these with meatloaf.

6 potatoes
1/3 cup butter, melted, or a bit more
1 tsp garlic salt or powder
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Peel and cut up potatoes, place in a small roaster. Combine butter and spices and pour over potatoes, toss to coat. Cover and bake for 45-60 minutes at 350.

I double this recipe for our family.

Parmesan Potatoes

6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 T oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic salt
salt & pepper

Toss cubed potatoes with oil, then with the cheese and spices. Spread onto a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake 30-40 minutes at 400, until golden brown.

You can add a lot of variety to this recipe. I've done it with only oil and seasoning salt. I've also added some cayenne pepper to add some spicy kick. You could even just do oil and plain salt & pepper.

Seven-Layer Salad

lettuce
carrots
onions
frozen peas
1 cup mayonnaise
2 T sugar
shredded cheddar cheese
bacon bits

Layer shredded lettuce, grated carrots, diced onions and frozen peas in a glass pan or bowl. Mix mayonnaise with sugar and cover salad. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and top with bacon bits.

One of my favourite salads ever!

Festive Garden Salad

6 cups lettuce
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 cup slivered almonds
small amount chopped red onion
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Mix together and toss with Creamy Poppyseed dressing. The amounts don't really matter! Toasting the almonds makes this even better.

Potato Salad

4 large potatoes, boiled or baked, chopped into small pieces
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
small amount of diced raw onion
salt & pepper
squirt of yellow mustard
bit of sugar
sprinkle of dill weed

Combine the chopped potatoes and eggs in a bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and stir together. Don't be afraid to be generous with the mayo and milk for extra creaminess! Pour over potatoes and eggs; mix well and refrigerate.