Рецепт Out of the Kitchen 10/28/13
It's almost Halloween!
The candy is bought and ready for trick-or-treaters on Thursday!
Admittedly, we broke into the candy to sample. Can you tell which kind of candy is clearly the favorite in this house?
We haven't been able to find time to carve pumpkins yet...hopefully that will get done before Thursday, but I bought these really cool glow sticks for inside the carved pumpkins this year...
and they were only a $1 each! I'm hoping they work as well as candles...
My daughter came home for a day last week and we made her Halloween costume for this past weekend festivities at college. She was a pinata!
We had our first snow of the season last week too...and I was not too happy about that. (Because if you know me, you know how much I despise snow!)
Snow...in October?? No thanks! We get weird snows here in NE Ohio. Lake effect. Sometimes an area just to the east of us (like 20 miles) can get dumped on, while we get little if any. Other times, my area will get dumped on by Lake Superior. It just all depends on what direction the cold winds are coming across the Great Lakes and where those pesky snow squalls persist. We got a little wet snow that stuck to the ground for a very short time...but just east of me, they got 5" of wet snow! This is not my photo and it is of an area to the east of me...but still....there is something very wrong about snow covered trees that still have leaves! Anyone with me on this one?
If you follow me on FB, you might know that Saturday we had so much fun in Cleveland in Ohio City! We enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Great Lakes Brewing Company and sipped on some Christmas Ale (that had it's first tap of the season on Thursday.) Great Lakes is a fantastic restaurant and microbrewery and Christmas Ale is a bit of a tradition around these parts.
After lunch we were off to the West Side Market for some shopping. The West Side Market is a historical landmark (a working food market in operation since 1840) here in Cleveland and it is honestly, a foodie's paradise! On Saturdays, there is a live band that plays music while you shop! How cool is that??
The building has some beautiful architectural features. Each stand is operated by a different vendor and most sell local products. Since Cleveland is such a huge melting pot of different cultures, you can find all sorts of interesting foods here! Lots of fresh meats, dairy, and bakery in this part of the market...and then on the outside...tons of fresh produce!
My son spotted a Dragon Fruit in the produce area, and since we had never tried it, we decided to give it a try! Have you ever eaten Dragon Fruit??
We also got a passion fruit, and I must say, of the two, I liked the passion fruit better. But the dragon fruit was not bad at all. Kind of like a kiwi in texture and sweet.
And lastly, but certainly not least, I've rediscovered an old friend last week...
I'm not sure why I've gotten away from serving up frozen potatoes as side dishes, but boy, they really are convenient on busy weeknights! Allrecipes and Ore-ida® have teamed up this month and the Allstars have been asked to give Ore-Ida® products a try. (Disclaimer: I was provided with product for free for this review, but all opinions are mine.) I was excited to find that Ore-Ida® has a new product line out called Simply. Simply are all natural, skin on, products made with simple ingredients such as potatoes, olive oil, and sea salt and are a great addition to any meal! In addition to the Simply line of products, Ore-Ida carries a wide variety of great tasting frozen potato products. You can check them all out HERE.
As you can see, my family has enjoyed Ore-Ida® frozen potato products several times this month, and I have to say, it has really helped get dinner on the table fast! I think a family favorite here, is the tuna melt sandwich with Simply fries that I dusted with Cajun seasonings as they came out of the oven. A serving of the Simply fries is only 130 calories with 4.5g of fat! We also really enjoyed Ore-Ida Tator Tots. They always brings me back to the days of my youth! :)
Ore-Ida® frozen potatoes are not only for side dishes. I defrosted some Ore-Ida® Tator Tots and crushed them up to form the base of this delicious breakfast casserole. I didn't need to add any fat or seasonings to the tots, because it was already in them. You can find the breakfast casserole recipe HERE. Instead of making "muffins" I made one big casserole in my 10" cast iron skillet and sliced it like a pie!
I'll be making this one again!
That's all I've got for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful, and not too scary, Halloween!
Boo!