Zesty Cook » ham

Hawaiian Pizza in the Winter

zesty — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:42:29 +0000

Hi All. New Years eve is upon us. Sorry I have not been cooking much over the past few weeks as I was getting the house ready, unpacked and livable. I promise to deliver some more zesty recipes in 2010.

Are you excited about the new year? I am sure New Years Resolutions will be flying everywhere in the coming days. I never seem to have much luck with my resolutions however this year I am going to make a solid effort to be more organized and time efficient between work, zesty and family. With that being said I wanted to share with you a pretty yummy pizza if you run out of time for supper anytime or just do not feel like cooking.

The last couple of weeks we have been eating take out every now and again… which is bad but just part of life. One day last week we brought in Domino’s Pizza…. Hawaiian style and it was quite delicious.

I have a busy day planned today – at the office for a little while, test driving another vehicle, shooting a campbell’s video and preparing for a huge New Year’s Eve food fest at the Zesty In-laws. I am very excited.

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you – we sold the truck. We need a 4X4 so we are on the hunt. I will keep you posted if we get lucky. Have a great New Years Eve and I will stop in tomorrow with some shots of tonight’s gala.

Take care

zesty

Indeed One Scalloped Potato

zesty — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:00:36 +0000

Lets just say that yesterday was a whirlwind of a day! We found a vanity for the half bath in Halifax NS that we just had to have! So I took yesterday off work and drive over 3.5 hours to pick up the vanity. Along the way, we made a pit stop for a sandwich ( toasted Ham and Cheese- No sauce ) and drove 3.5 hours back. We better like this “vanity”!

I forgot my cds in the truck and I left the ipod at home – so the music was just fair at best. Does anyone else hate when they are driving and the radio never really works with the reception fading in and out? Anyway, we survived and was fortunately home in time for supper.

Scalloped Potatoes… a true classic and it gets me every time. I am such a potato pig.

It was a traditional meal with a nice pineapple ham roasted in the oven and some bubbly scalloped potatoes on the side. A fresh batch of homemade biscuits thrown into the mix and some good old fashion H2O.

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 Tsp. salt
1/4 Tsp. pepper
2 1/2 Cups milk
1 Small onion, finely sliced

Method

Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Heat 2 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.
Gradually stir in milk, 1/2 cup at a time.
Heat to boiling. Boil and stir 1 minute.
Arrange potatoes in greased casserole roasting pan in 3 layers, topping each layer with part of the chopped onions and 1/3 of the sauce.
Dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, broken into little pieces.
Cover and bake until potatoes are tender, about 60-70 minutes.
Let stand 5 to 10 minute before serving.

Zesty Tip: I think a key tip with scalloped potatoes is to let them sit out on the stove once you remove them from the heat. This will allow them to thicken and prevent you from burning your tongue.

How often do you burn your tongue? It seems that I do it far too frequently and I think it’s why I’m not a big fan of hot drinks. I actually took some pictures of the scallop potatoes on my fancy shmancy plate but something happened and they were quite yellow. I had them under a different light and I think it gimped something up. I could not even fix it in Photoshop.

Sorry for the short post but I am on my way out of the house tonight (9:00 pm) to go do some clean up at the house. There is drywall pieces everywhere that has to get cleaned up before the seam fillers. Have yourself a great day and keep smiling.

Take care

zesty

Labor Day Potato Salad

zesty — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:00:58 +0000

Happy Labor Day! How was your holiday weekend? Mine was great where I thankfully got a lot accomplished. My to do list is still as long as my leg but that can be expected. I spent quite a bit of time working on a project that I will announce later in the week. I also was at the house on Saturday doing a little clean up and taking a garbage load to the dump.

I didn’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen but I did have time to make my Mom’s crowd pleasing potato salad. The appearance of this potato salad may not tickle your fancy, however the texture and flavor is where it’s at.

Ever have a potato salad that is sopping wet with mayonnaise? Ever have one that is covered with onions and you cannot taste the potato? Ever have one that is mashed to an oblivion and you cannot feel any texture? I am guessing you said “yes” to at least one of those questions. With this potato salad, you get a nice combination of texture, very little sauce and no over powering onion flavor.

Before starting the salad, I knew I would pair this with some leftover pineapple glazed ham which is really tough to beat. Below I’ve explained how I created this salad. I really suggest you give this one a try in your kitchen.

Ingredients

6-8 Medium Size Potatoes
5 Eggs
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Pepper
Onion Powder
Salt ( at the table)

Method

Boil Potatoes until fork tender and let cool slightly.
While still warm, peel and cut potato into small/medium dice
Add the potatoes into a bowl
Boil eggs for 9 minutes until hard.
Cover with ice cold water and let rest for a minute.
Peel and chop the egg and add to the potatoes
Add Pepper and onion powder.
Stir mayonnaise in gently; sample for flavor
Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours
ENJOY!!

Zesty Tip: When making potato salad, it is crucial you add the seasoning and sauce to the potatoes while they are warm. This will allow the potatoes to absorb all the flavor and make it more enjoyable.

Upcoming on Zesty

Zesty makes a new Purchase
Zesty goes on the road
Zesty hits newsstands
Zesty house update

I will fill you in on everything new and exciting throughout this week. I hope you have a great Holiday Monday and I look forward to reading your comments about this killer potato salad. Keep me posted on anything that is new with you and I will be back tomorrow.

Take care

zesty