Potato, Ham and Cheese Bake

Ingredients:
4 red potatoes, sliced
8-oz cream cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
8-oz cooked ham, cut in bite-size slices
1 pound fresh asparagus spears
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In medium saucepan, cook potatoes, covered, in lightly salted boiling water for 6-8 minutes, just until tender. Drain.
3. For sauce, in same pan, combine cream cheese, milk, 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese, 4 tablespoons mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. Heat and whisk until smooth and cheese is melted.
4. Layer potatoes, ham, asparagus, and sauce in 9x13 pan.
5. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes.
6. Uncover, top with remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Bake 10-12 minutes more.
7. Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes before serving.

I don't generally care for ham, but even I liked this dish! Enjoy!

Family Night

Tonight was family night in the Davis household, and since our favorite past-time is to eat, that's what we did! Homemade hamburgers (which were literally an inch-and-a-half thick!), bratwursts, french fries, grilled pineapple, and milkshakes to top it all off. We were all more than full, to say the least. Actually, dinner was three hours ago and I'm still feeling stuffed!

Of course, everything reminds me of something / someone... while making and drinking our milkshakes, I was happily thinking of my Grandpa Engebretson (yes, I did make peanut butter milkshakes!) and realized that I didn't get one from him this summer. Bummer! Mine are good, but not as good as grandpa's. I still have a few things to learn, I guess. :)

Family night was a success!

Grilled Potato Skins

We tried these the other night with our grilled chicken, and I thought they were fabulous! :)

Ingredients:
2 large baking potatoes
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded cheese
3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
2 green onions, chopped,
Sour cream

Directions:
1. Cut each potato into quarters, lengthwise.
2. Cut away the white portion, leaving 1/4" or so on the skin.
3. Place skins on a microwave safe plate, and microwave for 8-10 minutes or until tender.
4. Combine the butter, salt and pepper. Brush over both sides of the potato skin.
5. Grill potatoes, skin side up, over direct medium-heat for 2-3 minutes.
6. Turn potatoes and position over indirect heat for 2-3 minutes.
7. Top with cheese, grill 2-3 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
8. Top with bacon and onions.
9. Serve with sour cream.

Fair Food

Yesterday we went to a small-town fair before the fireworks... we love fair food! We couldn't decide what we wanted, so we decided to share. I love corndogs, Josh loves turkey legs, and we both love french fries, so we figured we'd share a little of each.

My corndog was a hand-dipped "monster corndog"... 14" long! It was amazing... we passed the stick back and forth more than a half-a-dozen times!

The turkey leg was also huge - we had to wait for 20 minutes for it to cook, and we couldn't even finish it. :) I have issues eating meat off of the bone, so we sat down and Josh peeled strips of meat off of the leg for me. What a guy!

We watched them prepare our french fries; they put a potato in a machine that looked like a drill hooked to a slicer. They ran the drill and the potato was cut into the curls... each batch had three potatoes, so the plate was HUGE! We couldn't finish them, either.

We had plans for chocolate dipped mini-donuts, but couldn't even order them. We were too full! Luckily for us, there are two more fairs this summer that we're planning to go to, which gives us plenty more opportunities to enjoy fair food. :)

Wonderful Day

Today was a wonderful day. When we started the day, we had a few errands to run and then expected to spend the day at home. That's not what happened! :) We had an appointment at 9am to get the air conditioning fixed in the Jeep. After waiting for an hour, we were told that there is a small leak somewhere in the system, and it would need more diagnostic time to determine where the leak was, and then more money to repair the leak before recharging the freon. Ugh. So, still no AC. (That's not the good part of the day).

Once we left the mechanic, we were hungry, so we went to breakfast. From there, we went to pick up a couple of boxes of ammunition from the gun store (tomorrow Josh gets to go shooting for a while), and walked in on a celebration day! We won prizes, got free t-shirts, had some cake, and entered three different drawings for guns. Josh was on cloud nine!

After leaving the gun store, we figured we'd run to Costco for a few things and head home... on the way there, I decided I wanted a haircut. Josh thought it'd be fun to have his head shaved by a barber (like in the old West movies), so off we went. I love my haircut (which I'll post pictures of tomorrow), but Josh's barber experience was not nearly as fabulous; he decided once was enough for the straight-edge in the barber's chair.

Again, we thought we'd head to Costco for a few things and head home... then realized we were starting to get hungry and probably shouldn't go into Costco on empty stomachs. So, we shared a sandwich, and then decided to run into our favorite bookstore ... after we spent a bit of time perusing the bookshelves, we finally made our way to Costco... which was PACKED, as usual. :)

After our Costco trip, we had to head home because we had perishables in the car. We realized it was 5pm, and we have a full day scheduled for tomorrow, so we needed to finish all of our homework for the week tonight. My sweet husband read through a week's worth of chapters in my statistics textbook to help me finish my statistics homework. Once I finished the assignment, and took quizzes in both of my classes, I glanced at the clock only to realize that it was 9:45pm!

So, Josh has our dinner on the grill, and we'll eat soon... but, we had a wonderful day together doing nothing in particular but enjoying one another's company. :)

Tomorrow we're headed to Melba for the fireworks, and will post some pictures of our adventures, and our new haircuts, before the weekend is over.

Sesame Steak Marinade

Ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 sirloin steaks

Directions:
1. In a large resealable plastic bag or container, mix the first 9 ingredients.
2. Add steaks and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
3. Drain and discard marinade.
4. Grill steaks to desired doneness.

We enjoyed very tender, flavorful steaks for dinner tonight!

BTW - for my sister who wants "personal" stuff... life is the same. Work, school, work, school, and more of the same. :) What I cook for dinner is the only thing that changes! :)

Chicken-Broccoli Mac & Cheese

This felt decadent for a mid-week meal. :)

Ingredients:
8-oz small shelled pasta
2 cups broccoli florets
1 pound chicken breasts
6-oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
Garlic & Herb Seasoning
1 tsp olive oil

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli during the last 3 minutes of cooking time.
2. While pasta is cooking, thinly slice the chicken breasts. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic & herb seasoning. Cook until juices run clear.
3. Drain pasta and broccoli. Toss with olive oil. Set aside.
4. In pasta saucepan, combine cream cheese, milk, 1 tablespoon garlic & herb seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Stir often. As cream cheese begins to melt, add 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
5. Once cheese sauce is melted, add pasta, broccoli and chicken. Heat through.
6. Serve hot, adding additional shredded cheese to each bowl for serving.