How To Enter the Kitchen Aid Giveaway Today:

For today’s entry – Tell me your favorite holiday movie in the comments below.  And just because it is the holiday season you should tell all your friends about this giveaway ( well at least 10 people)  just joking but feel free to do it if you would like.

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Happy Monday to you!  OK, before reading this recipe, slightly unloosen your pants and don’t start calculating the calories.  Just prepare, bake and eat.  Deal?

This dish is very good to say the least.  Not one to eat 4 days a week but if you are reaching for comfort food that will make you smile I strongly suggest you push a fork of this in your mouth and tell me how it feels.  Super easy to prepare with simple ingredients and instructions but the labor of love on the sauce is really what counts.  Take the 10-15 minutes to make the sauce correctly and all will be rewarded with flavor and texture.

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 1/4 Tsp. pepper
• 2 1/2 Cups milk
• 1 small onion, finely chopped, or onion powder/flakes
• 1 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 Cup Bread crumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
3. Gradually stir in milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Heat to boiling. Boil and stir 1 minute.
4. Arrange potatoes in greased 2 quart casserole in 3 layers, topping each layer with part of the onions and 1/3 of the sauce and 1/3 of the cheese.
5. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the microwave and incorporate into the dry bread crumbs.
6. Sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs.
7. Cover and bake until potatoes are tender, about 60-70 minutes. Let stand 5 to 10 minute before serving.
8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: This scalloped potato recipe goes with so much, from ham, to meat loaf to just about anything you want to pair it with.  Will also work well with a nice side of beef or even something as simple as oven roasted fish.

How to Win the KitchenAid Giveaway Today

Just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite HOLIDAY MOVIE  Remember, you can still enter the contest from previous days!

1. Please “like” the Zesty Cook facebook page and come back and tell me you did it. If you are already a “liker,” leave a comment telling me you are already a fan.
2. Tell me your favorite holiday tradition and leave a comment telling me.
3. Tell Zesty your favorite Holiday dish
4. Tweet about this contest and leave a comment telling me you have tweeted.
5. Tell me the first thing you would make with the mixer.

Please be sure to leave separate comments for each entry to increase your chance to win!

Have a super start to your week and i will talk to you all on Wednesday.  If you try these potatoes or make something very similar let me know what you think and your variations.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

How To Enter the Kitchen Aid Giveaway Today:

For today’s entry – Tell me your favorite holiday dish, and leave a comment telling me.

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20 Days until Christmas!  Shopping done yet?  Can you believe it?  Craziness  – I know!   Remember last weekend, we hosted Ella’s birthday party and I stole Aggie’s amazing white bean and mushroom tart idea?  Well if you didn’t, I will remind you today with a full recap and a variation on the tart itself.

By the way – the tart is killer hot and cold.  I tested it both ways just for you guys.  Just because I care.  The original tart calls for a white bean and mushroom base and than topped with tomatoes, herbs and some goat cheese.  Delicious!  Here is the low down on how I built it.

Ingredients

• 8 sheets (9”X12” each) phyllo dough
• For Filling:
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 8 cups wild mushrooms, cut in quarters (approximately 24 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons garlic, diced
• 1 can (15.5 ounces) White Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (thyme, parsley or marjoram), chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• Salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup low-fat sour cream
• For Tart:
• Olive oil spray
• 6 tablespoons whole wheat bread crumbs
• 16 slices Roma tomatoes, ¼-inch thick
• ½ cup goat cheese
• Additional Supplies:
• Parchment paper
• Plastic wrap

Contest Recap

For today’s entry – Tell me your favorite holiday dish, and leave a comment telling me.

Previous Ways to Enter

1. Please “like” the Zesty Cook facebook page and come back and tell me you did it. If you are already a “liker,” leave a comment telling me you are already a fan.
2. Tell me your favorite holiday tradition and leave a comment telling me.

Please be sure to leave separate comments for each entry to increase your chance to win!  

Have a Super start to the week and I will touch base on Wednesday with something else to eat and another way to “GET THAT MIXER”.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

A Friday treat is hear for all! Well not all but everyone who loves potatoes, cheese and bacon. Heck even if you don’t love bacon, I am pretty sure you will still love these little bits of comfort.  Some days when you get home from work or are sitting on the couch taking a breather, comfort food is all you need.  Whether it is your favorite fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, some chocolate cake or baked potato skins and bacon – food can definitely change your mood.

Despite these skins taking a little bit of effort – the end results are well worth the effort.

Ingredients

• 6 Large baking potatoes
• 1/4 Tsp.salt
• 1/4 Tsp. pepper
• 1 Cup Cheddar cheese, Swiss or Asiago cheese
• 6 slices slices bacon, cooked
• 3 Green onions, chopped

Method

1. Scrub potatoes; prick several times with fork. Bake in 450°F (230°C) oven until tender, about 1 hour. Let stand until cool enough to handle. (Make-ahead: Let cool completely; refrigerate in airtight container for up to 2 days.)
2. Cut lengthwise in half; scoop out flesh, leaving 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick walls (reserve flesh for another use, such as soup or mashed potatoes).
3. Arrange, cut side up, on baking sheet; sprinkle with salt and pepper, then cheese.
4. Bake in 450°F (230°C) oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.
5. Top with bacon and green onions and serve immediately.
6. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For an extra kick, you can add some crushed red pepper flakes or chili powder to give it a little heat or you can have sour cream on the side spiked with hot sauce.

I don’t mean to cut this short but let me tell you these potato skins are pretty darn yummy and I would like for you to try them… ok?    Let me know what you think of them after you make them.

Movember Update – Week 2

The Mo is growing… slowly but surely.

I have to go get down to the conference for the final day.  I hope you have a great Friday and a fun weekend.  I will catch up with you on Monday!

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Guess what?  I totally forgot it was Friday and I had to post today!  Can you believe that?  Well I just remembered and I knew I had nothing prepared.  With that said, I thought of this post because hopefully we are approaching the nicer weather where the zesty-in-laws will be calling us up for some pizza.  Whooo Hooo.  Look at this post if you don’t remember it from last year.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to a very special post!

A few weeks back I got a call from a Zesty in Law stating that they were getting a brick oven built in their backyard and I was asked if I would like to photograph the build and feature it on zesty.  Of course my answer was yes as I thought you would love to see it from start to finish. The goal being to see it at the finished stage and taste the food from the oven.  That happened last Friday and we will get to that in a little bit.

One hint: AMAZING

What is a Brick Oven

Now some of you may ask what is a brick oven so I thought I would share a little insight.

These ovens work on retained heat. A fire is burned in the oven for a few hours, the coals are raked out, the oven floor brushed or swabbed with a damp mop and then the food is cooked using the heat stored in the oven mass. Wood-fired bakeovens are used to bake crusty bread, crisp pizza and just about anything else including the Christmas turkey. The oven can have a barrel/vault shape or it can be round. The inner workings of the oven can be of modern firebrick material or simply made of clay like the early settlers used. Plan your oven location, if you can, so it can be used in any weather.

OK.  Everyone is on the same page on the “What is a Brick Oven” so now let’s get to “How to Build a Brick Oven”.  For this next phase I am going to show you a bunch of pictures with very little narrative as I think the pictures will explain themselves.

The Brick Oven

The Final Product

Here is the final oven in all it’s glory!  Notice the sheer size of the structure not too mention how cool it looks in general.

Pizza Pizza

Oh my God or OMG or whatever you want to say when you are super excited and you cannot get enough of something.  This pizza was absolutely insane.  For the night, I was sous chef  Zesty as I was helping with the prep and layout of the pizza.  Also was called upon every now and again to give the pizza a turn in the oven, slice it after completion and call over the troops.

For cooking pizza, the oven was around 850-900 degrees F and the pizzas would literally cook in 2-3 minutes.  It was the first night of pizza cooking so there will be a few tweaks put in place to master the dough levels but overall the crowd loved it.

First off, you have to start the fire and get the oven up to temperature.  Then using a brush, reach in and clean the floor in preparation of the pizza dough.

Zesty in law and myself cooked 11 pizzas including a couple of dessert pizzas that may knock your socks off.  We will get to those in a minute.  First up we have a basic pizza with homemade tomato sauce, some Genoa salami and cheese ( It was for the kiddos but I may have snuck a piece )

As the night went on we switched up the toppings, rolled the dough for a few of them and even picked some fresh basil.

Here is a little olive oil, fresh basil and cheese pizza. This was a huge hit!

On to the Dessert Pizza. How does strawberries, raspberries, chocolate, vanilla sugar and fresh dough baked at 800 degrees sound for dessert? Pretty damn good right? Well if you said “Holy Yum” you would be bang on. These were amazing!

We capped the night off with a Simple Smore done in the oven. I took a marshmallow, sliced a hole in the center and shoved in some chocolate, then roasted it in the oven and placed it between two graham wafers.

Let’s finish the night with a little FIRE!

Special thanks to the Zesty in Law’s for letting me feature this on the blog and  Red Clay for building the oven and doing such a great job.  John over at  Red Clay definitely knows his bricks and it shows in the final product.

Before I go I want to say a special “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to a Zesty in Law who reads my posts everyday.  Hope you have a great day, CAW.  Alright, I better get going here and get some breakfast.  I know this was a long post but I felt it was the best way to describe such an amazing work of art.  Have a super Wednesday and I will see you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Ever have leftover food and not know what to do with it?

I had some beef shank left over from last week sitting in the fridge and I wanted to use it up.  I thought what better way then to make a beef sandwich.  Exactly what I did.

How about fresh cheese baguette, tender beef, spiked relish, hint of jalapeno and mozzarella cheese?  Yeah I know, it was holy YUM!

I used what I had on hand, I think another cheese would have worked better but you do with what you have.  The relish was the star of the show, it was paired up with a little mustard, dash of ginger to give it a kick that goes so well with beef.

Ingredients

• Cheese baguette
• Beef ( cooked and pulled apart)
• 2 Tbsp. Relish
• 1 Tsp. Mustard
• 1/2 Tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 Tsp. Ginger
• Mozzarella cheese ( shredded )
• 1 Tsp. Jalapeno pepper ( chopped)

Method

• Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 Degrees F.
• Slice open the baguette leaving one side still in tact.
• In a small bowl, take relish, mustard, red pepper flakes and ginger and mix together.  Add Jalapeno and toss.
• Smear one side of the bread with the relish mixture, top with the cooked beef and add the cheese a top that.
• Close the sandwich, cover with tinfoil and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.
• ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For an extra crunch, you can remove the tin foil with 4 minutes to go or put the sandwich directly on the grill.  I like to cook it covered for the first little while to make sure I can cut through the bread with my teeth.

I am off.  Big day at the office, must shower and clean up so I look somewhat presentable.  Have a super mid week Wednesday, enjoy the cloudy weather with rain showers for the next 5 days.  I am guessing it is sunny somewhere.  Tell me it is sunny somewhere!  Talk to you Friday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Good day to you!  Is breakfast your favorite meal of the day?  For me, I would have to say yes to that question.  Although I love eating at anytime of the day, breakfast is usually one of my favorites.  Whether it is cereal, oatmeal, bacon and eggs, fresh homemade bread and jam, or an super delicious breakfast sandwich – sign me up because I am ready to go.

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite sandwiches in the morning.  It is strictly just bacon, egg and cheese but it is the combination of flavors and textures that sends me over the moon.  Oh wait, maybe it is the grease from the bacon and the richness of the cheese, followed by the buttery flavored croissant that makes me smile.  Either or, I am pretty sure you will love this sandwich.

Before we get to far involved, let me state that the choice of bread can be endless.  Today I went with a nice fresh croissant ( bakery purchased) but often times I would go with just homemade bread, maybe a fresh biscuit or even an English muffin or bagel.  No rules on the bread front.

Ingredients

• 1 Croissant
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Slice of real cheddar
• 2 slices of ham( cooked )
• Black Pepper
• Mayo ( optional )
• 1 Tbsp. Oil
• 1 Tbsp. Water

Method

1. Preheat pan to medium high heat.
2. Crack two eggs in a bowl, add water and pepper and whisk together
3. Add the oil in the preheated pan and pour the beaten eggs in moving them around.  Waiting about 1 minute, until the underside of the egg is cooked, gently use your lifter/flipper/turner to get under the egg and fold it over like an omelet.
4. Place cheese slice on top of egg and let melt
5. Let cook another minute or so and remove the pan from the heat.
6. Assemble the sandwich: Slice open croissant, add the ham to the bottom slice, top with egg and cheese and complete the sandwich.
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Often times if you want a crunch, I will turn on the broiler in the oven and toast both the croissant and melt the cheese at the same time in the oven.  You could also just toast the croissant by itself and add the toppings once complete.

I hope all the US folks had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Let’s not forget that today is the final day for signing up for the book giveaway.  I will be back Monday with ( if all things go as planned on the weekend) a very cool post to share with you.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Friday!  I went back to an old post for this morning because I know there are a lot of readers who didn’t see Zesty’s twist on some homemade whole wheat pizza dough.  I can still remember sinking my teeth into this pizza – it was so memorable.  There is nothing like homemade dough in my opinion – whether it is pizza dough, pancakes, biscuits, galettes or cheese puffs.  I just feel it tastes better!  And honestly it is not that difficult to do in your own kitchen.  Have a look at this pizza and tell me what you think.

Ever feel like Pizza but do not want to leave the house or order delivery?  It happens to me the odd time.  There are not a lot of great pizza joints around here other than  – what I call the prefab chain pizza stores that really don’t taste the best.

So lately I have been experimenting with some homemade dough to kick things up a notch.  This dough recipe comes from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart.  I really enjoyed this recipe as it turned out really well.  For me pizza is all about the crust!  Toppings are good but I am a huge fan when it’s light on the toppings and sauce but heavy on the crust.

If you are interested in a new whole wheat pizza dough, I highly recommend this recipe.  It is very simple and produces a great texture.  I opted for a thin crust and left the pizza on the stone for a little crunch.  YUM!

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
• 2 Packets (1/4 Ounce Each) Active Dry Yeast
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 2 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Pizza Toppings

• Pizza Sauce
• Mushrooms
• Bacon
• Mozzarella Cheese

Method

1. Place water in large bowl – sprinkle with yeast.
2. Let stand until foamy (about 5 minutes).
3. Brush another large bowl with Olive Oil.
4. In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil and salt.  Stir in flours until a sticky dough forms.
5. Transfer to oiled bowl (brush top of dough with oil).
6. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until it doubles in size (about an hour).
7. Turn dough onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth.
8. Preheat oven to 400°.
9. Prepare in shape of pizza and begin to assemble pizza dough.
10. Spread sauce and then some cheese.
11. Add toppings from above, top with cheese and bake until golden brown and cheese has melted.
12. Time varies depending on the thickness of your crust (12-20 minutes).
13. Top with cheese and bake.



14. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For ease of use, make the dough in double or triple batches and then freeze the dough in either balls or individual shells.  This will save you a lot of time in the future as you have to let one batch of dough rise … so you might as well have 3 batches rise.

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite type/kind of pizza crust?

I hope you have a great Weekend.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Wednesday! Check out these individually topped beef nachos with guacamole, sour cream, green onion, tomato some strip loin beef and a little old cheddar cheese. WOW as I type that I remember eating this plate of nachos and loving every bite.

Pretty simple to make with just a little tedious action of topping each nacho individually. I like to do this so each nacho has the same toppings and flavor and I find my biggest pet peeve with nachos is when they get SOGGY.

Check the photos below to see what you think of these nachos.

Ingredients

• Whole grain nachos
• Strip loin steak
• Guacamole
• Tomatoes
• Green onion
• Sour cream

Method

1. Prepare steak to you either on the grill or in the pan until cooked medium.
2. Let rest for 5 minutes and then slice thinly.
3. Assemble nachos on baking sheet
4. Add steak and cheese toppings and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted
5. Remove from oven and top with remaining ingredients
6. ENJOY!

Have a super Wednesday. I am slowly catching up with consulting work. If you have a job in with me – thanks so much for being patient. I finally have the back log just under 10 now so I hope to knock this off in a timely fashion over the next few days. I am in Virginia and the weather is so nice!!! 31 Degrees Celcius which for me is HOT! Anyway I shouldl get back to the grind and go have some hotel breakfast. Talk to you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

I don’t have a lot of time to put this post together so bear with me and use your imagination on how good this might taste. There are no rules, no particular ingredients – just whatever you have on hand and whatever you like on pizza.

Being the crazy guy I am – I combined spinach and bacon and topped it with some fresh mozzarella and a hint of fresh basil. I didn’t put any sauce on the portabella whatsoever – just some wilted down spinach with a bit of garlic and a way I went. Have a peek at the result and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• Portabella mushrooms
• Bacon ( cooked)
• Spinach
• Basil
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Mozzarella cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees
2. Prepare portabellas
3. Cook spinach in a saute pan for 3 minutes with some olive oil and garlic
4. Place spinach on mushroom top with cooked bacon
5. Add cheese and cook for 10-12 minutes.
6. ENJOY!

Sorry again for the brief Friday message but a couple of unexpected meetings got me all worked up and I forgot to write my post. Have a super weekend and I will see you on Monday! We need a family portrait this weekend! Zesty-in-laws, are you up for shooting it?

Take care
zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Help The Student Event: Day 19

We made it! Survived the weekend!  Is that ever difficult.  I always find they zoom by so fast.  I played 18 holes of golf with the brother in laws and zesty nephew yesterday…. Is it embarrassing to say that of the 206 bones in my body, 196 of them are sore this morning?  I know I know… I am somewhat out of shape ( depending on what shape you are referring too)

However today, To wrap up the final week of “Help The Student Event” I bring to you a very simple yet very tasty quick dish you can make with your friends over or even when you are craving cheese.  5 Ingredients and 45 minutes is all you need.

This all comes back to the fact that I am a huge bread baby and I am always attracted to pastry.

For ease of time I opted to go for the puff pastry. This bake might be the easiest show stopper appetizer I’ve ever made. The look of this dish as it came out of the oven was pure bliss. I could almost taste the warm jam melted with warm soft cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 Pkg. Puff Pastry
• 1 Brie Wheel (1lb)
• 1 Egg
• Sprinkle Sugar and Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. Fruit Spread ( blackberry )

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 325°.
2. Thaw the pastry and put a couple of spoonfuls of the fruit spread in the middle.
3. Cut one side of the rind off the brie and put it face up in the fruit spread.
4. Wrap the fruit and brie with the pastry.
5. Cover with egg wash (egg and a bit of water) and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 325°. You’ll be able to tell when it’s done!



7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For the filling, avoid the pastry from getting too wet from the spread by choosing what I call a tight spread (not too runny).

Have a super Monday!  Stay tuned for something simple yet practical for tomorrow’s recipe/tip.  Does anybody have anything they would like to see for the next three days, if so let me know and I will try my best.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty