Loving Big with Potatoes

Tania from Love Big Bake Often is back again to share one of her fabulous recipes, made with love.

Hi there....Tania again! So happy to be guest posting again, thank you Jen.

I have another savory dish here for you....there aren't that many on my own blog (working on that), so I thought it would be fun to come up with a couple for here.

Jason bought a new grill....for himself. He will tell you that he bought it for us, that he even bought a RED one to go with MY red kitchen. And I love him for it. Seriously. It makes me giggle. He loves to grill. He will admit that he is still on the learning curve...especially with chicken. So lately these days (when he is home in time) I work on the sides and he grills the meat. Perfect combination. Just need to get the timing down, like I said - a learning curve. But there is no challenge to these potatoes, they are simple, easy and delicious. You can mix it up with spices, citrus, and different vinegars....but I like to stick with Balsamic. It's so yummy.

Meatless Monday: Three Bean Salad

This is by far one of the top Meatless Monday recipes I've come up with for awhile, if not since I started taking part last fall.  The Boy wasn't a fan, mainly because he just doesn't love beans, but I figure you can't win them all.  Plus it meant there was plenty left over for lunches and snacks all week.   It's beyond easy to throw together and works well with all kinds of spring and summer meals. It's even completely picnic friendly since it's best at room temperature with no dairy AND vegan, something I don't often pull off with out specifically aiming for it.

I came up with this salad to go with some chicken tacos I made with leftover roast chicken. I always prefer the beans part of the rice and beans that are often served with most Mexican meals so a salad made with just beans sounded good to me.  On this night, since I made the tortillas, pickled onions, guacamole and cilantro sour cream for the tacos a simple no-cook side was just what I wanted.  A few years ago when I was still living in LA, my sister and hosted a BBQ for our kickball team.  One of our teammates brought a salad similar to this, so that's what I decided to emulate.  I remembered the beans she used, but not much else.  Since I was making tacos I went with the  Mexican flavors of cilantro, chipotle and lime.

Knitting & Food: Grill Roasted Baby Potatoes

And we're back with our next installment of Knitting & Food.  April is Baby Month at In the Loop and I tossed around all kinds of ideas incorporating "baby" foods.  Not jarred baby food, but things like baby greens or baby peppers.  The thing is here in the Southern Ontario and in New England where the lovely ladies of In the Loop are, alot of those baby veggies aren't really locally available yet.  They will be this summer, just not in April.  We do have gorgeous little baby potatoes that are easily procured year round.  Once I settled on potatoes I then needed to figure out how to prepare them.  I wanted something that was super simple, that would carry through the spring and summer we are all so desperately wanting to actually arrive. 

We had a couple of gorgeous days here in Toronto, where all you needed was a light jacket.  It was during these days that I decided I wanted to try out some sort of grill roasted potato, one where the prep and clean up was super simple and it could easily be made along with other grilled meats.  The foil pouch is the ultimate in easy clean-up, especially when done on the grill.  

Pickled Red Onions

I first had pickled onions when I lived in LA.  They are often served with carnitas tacos and after first having them I became mildly obsessed with their tanginess.  If a dish on a menu called for the onions it was pretty much a guarantee I'd order them.  Since I moved up to Toronto they don't appear on menus quite as much, so I learned to make them.  I first made them a couple years a go when I threw a Mexican Fiesta Birthday for a good friend.  I made them again last year for my own Mexican Fiesta Birthday.  I haven't made tacos at home in awhile and while I was prepping all of the other ingredients I decided to throw these together.  They are so easy to make and if you have canning jars kicking around they look great and will keep really well.

Meatless Monday: Domestic Divas Wild Rice Risotto with Cranberries and Walnuts

I feel so lucky to have the Domestic Diva herself back with a very special Meatless Monday holiday recipe.  It was the Diva who inspired me to take part in Meatless Mondays, and I can't think of a better guest post that this delicious sounding risotto.  What could be better on your holiday table?

From the Diva
I'm thrilled to be back for another guest post on Piccante Dolce! Even better, this special guest post is also a Meatless Monday recipe. How's that for service?

I created this recipe for Wild Rice Risotto with Cranberries and Walnuts especially for the holidays. The wild rice, sauteed with ginger and shallots, doused with white wine, and then slowly cooked in vegetable stock captures that rich, spicy, comforting vibe of this special time. The dish is finished with chopped parsley, toasted walnuts, and dried cranberries.

While this rice makes a great stuffing (try using it instead of traditional bread stuffing -- it's a gluten-free alternative) or a perfect side dish, it's also wonderful as a stand alone Meatless Monday main course. The whole grains and walnuts give it both fiber and protein. Oh, and did I mention that it's healthy, too? That's right! It's a winning recipe all around.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Pommes Puree

There are few meals that are more satisfying on a cool fall, almost winter night than chicken and potatoes.  As much as I love roast chicken and potatoes, sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day to roast a whole chicken, sometimes you're only feeding one or two people and just don't need that much food.  And sometimes, like when the holidays are quickly approaching, money is a little tight and one of the most inexpensive items at the meat counter are bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.

I've written before about my new favorite cookbook Stir by Barbara Lynch, specifically her Fennel, Cucumber, Green Bean & Roasted Potato salad.  It was delicious, fresh and uber easy.  As I was trying to figure out what to do with the some of the plethora of chicken thighs I have in my chest freezer (yes I am a bit of a meat hoarder, especially when things are on sale) I recalled seeing a recipe in Stir.  I quickly turned to the page, looked over the ingredients and realized I had everything I needed to try this recipe out, with a minor tweak here and there.  I love when I have an idea or want to try a recipe and find, that without planning for it, I have all need right in my kitchen. It was Chef Lynch herself that recommended serving the chicken with her Pommes Puree and who am I to question that?  Plus I also had potatoes and since the boy is a fan of all things starch I decided to go whole hog and make a whole meal from Stir.

Unprocessed: Baked Cranberries

For Thanksgiving I was presented with the challenge of making the entire meal unprocessed to fit with my Unprocessed October Challenge.  The boy is not a big fan of cranberries but loved the Baked Cranberries I made last year.  So I set about trying to recreate them in some way without using white sugar.  What resulted was more sauce-like and quite a bit more tart that the former version, but I couldn't stop eating it.  My perfect Thanksgiving plate is a few slices of turkey topped with some cranberries and drizzled with gravy.  While a sweet cranberry works well, the bright, tart flavor of this sauce with just a hint of sweetness actually made this combination ideal.

Meatless Monday & Unprocessed: Jalapeno Red Cabbage Slaw

When I committed to doing Meatless Monday, I promised myself that I would do meatless meals, not just dishes.  But for the past week I was in LA finally packing up and moving the last of my bedroom up to Toronto.  This recipe is a little late in coming as a result of all of that too.  This slaw is awesome on it's own as a side dish to a tasty portobello burger or, on a day other than Monday, perched atop pulled pork like my Pomegranate Ancho Pulled Pork. 

It luckily works along with my commitment to eating only unprocessed foods for the month of October.  Andrew over at Eating Rules has assembled more than 300 people who have pledged to eat only unprocessed for up to 30 days.  There are some guidelines that you can tailor to you whether you want to be more stringent or a bit less.  I think they are great guidelines and I for one am going to do my best to stick within them.  I say right now that I don't think I'll have too tough of a time with this challenge as I make so much on my own anyway, but we shall see how the month progresses.  For more info on the Unprocessed challenge check out continue reading here, but also check out Andrew's blog which I will be guest posting too later in the month.

Cornbread & Sausage Dressing

When it comes to Thanksgiving I feel like there are two camps, those who make stuffing that they stuff the bird with and those that make dressing which is served along side the bird. I grew up in a dressing home. As I began roasting my own chicken and turkey, I held to making dressing rather than stuffing as the bird roasts much faster not being stuffed. We generally have a more traditional dressing at Thanksgiving and in the spirit of trying something different I decided to make a cornbread sausage dressing.