In the past week I have had some failures and successes. I made a beef cheddar pot pie that turned out awesome. It was a Rachael Ray recipe that I had set aside. I made a semi successful pulled pork in the crock pot but next time I am going to roast it in the oven because it was a little oily. The success occured when I made quesadillas with the pork and some bbq sauce. This week I am making spaghetti sauce so far and will be experimenting with my crock pot. I will be taking pictures this time. I found a website people should check out: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. Crock pot fun!

Pulled Pork

Pork tenderloin or any roast: Cut into smaller pieces to help shorten cook time.
Apple Cider
Diced Tomatoes
Onion ( a half)
Salt and Pepper
A bottle of beer

Combine of ingredients in the crock pot and cook on High for 7 hours .

Potatoes Recipes that I love.

Roasted Potatoes.

Quarted Potatoes: Think one medium potato a person.
Olive Oil: enough to coat all potatoes.
Truffle Oil or truffle salt: A little.
Salt and pepper: As desired.
Garlic powder: As desired.
cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Wash potatoes and cut into quarters.
Toss the potatoes in a bowl or on the cookie sheet with olive oil, truffle oil or salt, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Put on a cookie sheet and cookie until desired crispness.

And..

Potato Pizza


Pizza crust: premade or homemade but homemade is so much better.
Olive Oil
Potatoes: Sliced Thin, 4 to 5 for one pizza.
Rosemary: One Sprig
cheddar or fontina cheese: Three cups
Parmesan cheese: As desired
Garlic powder.
Salt and pepper as desired.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Roll out pizza dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
Take your knife and poke holes into the crust.
Brush Olive Oil onto crust.
Cut potatoes into thin slices then toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Place potatoes on pizza, slightly overlapping then put cheese: cheddar or fontina first then parmesan on top with the rosemary.
Bake at 425 until the crust is browned and the potatoes are cooked through.

Enjoy!

Till Next time..

Potatoes.

Roasted. Fries. Waffle Fries. Spicy Fries. Mashed. Garlic Mashed. Baked. Twice Baked. Hash Browns. Tater Tots. Scalloped. Home Fries. A root vegetable. Fun to dig up. To dig up potatoes is like digging for gold. But where in Bennington are there good potatoes? Look forward and you shall see.

The Best Potatoes in Bennington/Hoosick.

@Carmody's Irish Nachos consists of waffles fries, nacho cheese, corned beef, cheddar cheese and a few chives tossed in to act like a vegetable. It is the perfect I feel like pigging out or sharing with a friend appetizer or meal.

@ The Old Firehouse in Hoosick Falls rivals Carmody's Irish Nachos with their Sam's fries. Once again it starts with waffle fries, cheddar cheese, fresh bacon, chives ( a little, no worries). Joe thinks that the fries are crispier and have more flavor than Carmody's. I personally enjoy Carmody's better because the nacho cheese and the melted cheese equals awesome. See what you think!

@Man of Kent, I am not sure about their fries, but every potato I have had there has been great. They have twice baked, red roasted, cheddar mashed. Yum Yum is what I say. But what does Man of Kent truly do wrong?

@ The Hoosick Diner, the Garbage platter is the only place in this area, except for maybe Manchester that does hashbrowns. The garbage platter is hashbrowns with cheese, a little egg, bacon, sausage, ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions and awesome. It weighs like five pounds. Plus it comes with toast and coffee! It's 9.99 and it provides like 3 more meals, for me at least.

Well that is it for my picks for potatoes in Bennington/ Hoosick. If anyone has any other places to try with potatoes, let me know!! Till next time with potato recipes, see you on the fry side!

Hey guys! Okay, so I am back after a very long time. This time I will have more posts and I am going to change my name, I think. The thought process isn't all there yet. I am going to write about food I eat, Out and food I make in and also my culinary, domestic and life adventures. My first will be canning!

I canned tomatoes, oh yes I did. It wasn't even that bad, in Sam standards. I had Erin's help which definitely was a God sent. I didn't even get that much tomato on me! Crazy. All you do is blanch the tomatoes first to peel the skins off (during this time I wondered if this could be the easy way to peel grapes to make those fun eye balls?) C'est possible. Then, we added vinegar and salt to the Ball Jar that had been boiled, lid, and all. Then, the tomatoes and off to the canner. It was a success! And with the extra tomatoes, I made a sauce. Look at the pix!!

What should one bring to a party for snacks? Everyone has their usual dish that they are known for like our friend Michelle makes buffalo chicken dip which makes any mouth water and is so good you could eat it for hours. Joe has figured out how to put it on it everything: hot dogs, chili, I like to eat it with celery and carrots to attempt to health it up a bit. So there are dips, a good hot diggity dog: hot dogs in crescent rolls (my old known speciality) and then there is cheese. Personally if you put cheese and a hot dog in front of me, I would choose the cheese any day. I love cheese with fruit, pepperoni, crackers, apples, pears, hmmm. But I mostly like cheese not warmed or baked. Don't get me wrong, I love me some grilled cheese, but the New Jersey in me needs it to be American. What got me started on the this rant (so typically me) is that today at Henry's, one of my favorite places and they had Horseradish cheese. Now, for those who love Horseradish and cheese, this cheese has everything. It is like a mouthwatering horseradish mayonnaise that melts in your mouth and would be perfect on a roast beef sandwich. I guess that I love to bring the most delicious thing I find that day to a party. I love to share the mouthwatering delight.

Out vs. In

Eat Out. One of my favorite phrases that I have found to advertise a restaurant. It comes from the Perfect Wife in Manchester, Vt. I also bought the t-shirt as a souvenir: My boyfriend broke up with me and all I got was this t-shirt and some tasty food! Over the past couple weeks I have been eating out a lot. We have been trying restaurants that we haven't been to ever, or in awhile. So far there has been the Old Forge in Mass on 7: delicious food, wings, good salad bar and an amazing beer list, The Perfect Wife this last Wednesday, which is always delicious with vegetarian options and a 6 dollar burger. Don't also forget the 2 dollar PBR's! Along with all this experimentation we have been missing Trivia and Carmody's West which announced on Wednesday that it is closing. The business is just not there. Less people are going out and more are staying in because it is obviously cheaper. The other day at work a co-worker said: "I almost never go out, I have two kids in tow and a husband who likes to eat steak." I love eating out because I am a foodie, however, I also eat out when I just. don't. know. what. to. cook. AKA laziness. It is healthier to eat in, there is less temptation, but which do I really enjoy more?

Wow, it has been awhile since the last post but sickness and work I haven't had anytime or really haven't eaten out a lot. I do have a few things to discuss or rather proclaim: Baby eggrolls at Lucky Dragon rock. And they are buy one get one free, although that special might have come and gone. We found and explored the 9.95 steak night at The Rybrook Tavern also. With a cozy fire you get salad bar, steak, potato and veggies. Their veggies are delicious too. On Saturday we went to Isabella's: it has been a long time. Their food is still deliciuos but I missed that love tomato sauce ketchup thing. On the home front I baked bread and made lasagna on Sunday. Both were deliciuos and I think I should continue to make bread. At the bar, Joe, Randy and Parker's cider is delicious but dangerous. Sam has taken to not getting sick while drinking anymore, instead she time- travels. Although either one is no good, one glass of cider will be okay for me for awhile. Till the next time, be delicious and make cooking and eating an adventure!
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