This Girl's Own Recipe

When I worked at the bank we were constantly bringing in food. One of the staff's favorite things was something so simple and so unusual and kind of gross sounding.
I have no idea what they were called, but it was ham, spread with cream cheese, and a pickle spear. It was all rolled up and then sliced into little nuggets. Yuck...but so YUM!

I was needing a snack the other day and we were out of groceries except for a few things that we usually have on hand. I saw the big jar of pickles and a little box of deli ham. No cream cheese. Oh, but we have tons of Laughing Cow Light Swiss....hum. I spread a wedge over a couple of thin slices of ham and then wrapped a pickle inside. I didn't bother to cut it into nuggets. Just ate the whole thing. I figured if I was still counting Weight Watchers points (which I definitely need to be) this tasty little snack would have only been 1.5 points. I love fattening tasting recipes that aren't!

German-ish Potato-ish Salad

WOW! This is quite possibly one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. It is so incredibly good.

It's vinegary, it's sweet, it's bacony! It's just plain good!

This is what I'm bringing to the next potluck that I go to. It's definitely going to be a go to recipe!

I'm going to go eat some more now. Bye.

Beef Strogataki

This recipe has very good flavor. However the steak that I used was not good, at all. I used chuck eye and trimmed all of the fat away. We use chuck eye a lot, it is inexpensive and tastes very much like Rib eye, but we usually marinate and grill it. I didn't notice until just now that it calls for fillet. That probably would have been better. Maybe. I'm not sure how it would have achieved tenderness or have flavor. Maybe it would. Fillet is tender already. What I used was very tough and flavorless.

If you love mushrooms this recipe is great. It makes this very hearty.

I did different:
Used a different cut of meat...doh!
and added cornstarch. The sauce didn't thicken without it.

My overall thought on this recipe: It has very good flavor. The sauce is very tasty. I love all of the mushrooms. Next time, I'll definitely use fillet meat.


A note on Shiritake Noodles: If you ever try these noodles, when you open them, the smell is very off putting. They smell just like shrimp. I have no idea why, since they are vegan and made of soybeans...but they sure do. P.U. Wee! You must follow the directions to rinse them very well, pat dry, microwave for 1 minute, and then pat dry again. The smell goes away and you would never know they ever smelled like shrimp.