Grilled Brats

These homemade goodies came from Patrowski’s down in the city. Because they were special, I wanted to find some nice buns, not Wonder or Hostess hotdog buns. I went to several specialty bread stores that only had big—almost French roll type buns. I wanted to be able to taste the brat and not have it covered up with bread dough.

The last place I stopped was Clayton Bakery and Deli. They will make hotdog buns for you but since I needed them that day, I went with some round buns that they had. I decided we’d cut up the brat to fit the bun.

Grill your meat until done. Ha, how do you like those directions?

If I’m going to sauce my meat like I decided to do with these brats, I want the sauce grilled on so the sauce becomes one with the meat—almost chewy. The kind that sticks to your front teeth after you’ve taken a bite.

That’s what happened when you sank your teeth into these babies. And those buns—perfect match with the brats. I don’t think I’ll want to eat them any other way.



Rating & Type: EE/F

Shrimpy Noodles

I’m sure I could come up with a better name for this dish that I made up. It was one of those days where I had no idea what I was going to cook. I looked in the freezer and saw a bag of shrimp. In the cabinet the bag of noodles jumped out at me. I decided to make a white sauce: 3 tablespoons of butter and blend in 3 tablespoons of flour. Add 1 – 2 cups of evaporated milk and cook until slightly thickened. Add some parmesan cheese. Adjust with more milk or more cheese if needed.

While that is cooking, I pulled the tails off the raw shrimp and added them to the sauce. I boiled some noodles and when they were finished, I added the noodles to the shrimp/sauce. Voila, a tasty pasta dish.

Ingredients:
Shrimp
Noodles

Rating & Type: EE/F

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Sunday is for Soups or Salads or Something Special.

I had eaten a similar salad in a restaurant and it was so good that I decided to make my own. I made a big bowl when I had company, so use portions according to how many you plan on feeding.

Put baby spinach leaves in bowl. Add sliced strawberries. I added sliced almonds and feta cheese. Since I had just bought some blueberries, I added some of those too.

I made some home-made poppy seed dressing from my old Betty Crocker cookbook, but it was really a French dressing with some poppy seeds added. Not realizing that until after I made it, I added some sugar to it so that it would be a little sweet.

It had just enough tang and the salad sang.

Yeah well, best that I stick with salads and not poetry.

Ingredients:
Baby spinach leaves
Strawberries
Blueberries
Almonds
Feta Cheese
Poppy Seed Dressing
Rating & Type: EE/V

Potato Salad

It's Saturday Side Dish featuring Potato Salad.

My mother-in-law was noted for two things that she could cook well—potato salad and macaroni and cheese. The potato salad came from her mother. And now that both have passed on, I carry on the tradition. This potato salad is a lot of work. What potato salad isn’t really? Maybe the kind you pick up at the grocery store, but yuck.

I told you about the story when my uncle made me try my aunt’s potato salad. It’s in the first post about Crock Pot Chicken if you’re interested.

My husband thinks this potato salad is the best ever and had me submit it in the local newspaper when they ran a contest. We didn’t win. But here’s the step-by-step directions I turned in. I’m thinking they thought it was too much trouble to make and just skipped it. Maybe they were looking for easy and good. The recipes that won didn’t impress me any, but then I could’ve been a tad on the jealous side. My hubby was disappointed. I clipped out the other recipes and plan to make them, maybe... some day.

Grandma Della Primeau’s Potato Salad
12-15 servings

5 pounds red potatoes
4 stalks celery, diced small
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 small onions, diced small
½ cup sugar
1 ½ - 2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing
½ pound bacon, diced
3 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
¾ - 1 cup cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
paprika

Boil potatoes with skin in salted water until done. Let cool completely. (Easier if you boil potatoes the day before and cool in refrigerator. Potatoes are easier to peel and slice.)

Peel and slice (do not chunk) potatoes and place in large bowl.

Mix with celery, celery seed, onion, ½ cup sugar and Miracle Whip (start with 1 ½ cups of Miracle Whip) until coated nicely. After the other ingredients [the cooked sauce] are added, then determine if more Miracle Whip is needed. Set aside.

In medium/large skillet, sauté diced bacon until near crisp.

Do not drain grease.

Add 3 TBS mustard and 2 TBS sugar until blended and looks glazy.

Add ¾ c to 1 cup cider vinegar, stirring constantly until well blended.

Pour bacon mixture into the potatoes and fold until well blended.

Add more Miracle Whip if needed and salt and pepper according taste.

Garnish top of potato salad with slices of hard boiled egg and sprinkle with paprika.

****
The last time I made this, I added a few hard boiled eggs chopped up into the potato salad. I also used 1 pound of bacon. I think the original recipe called for ¼ pound bacon and we changed it to ½ pound, but one pound is yummier.

Ingredients:
see above

Rating & Type: NSE/P