There’s something about potato salad that I love, no matter how it’s made. It’s such a comfort food, and since I’m still lacking a stove, I’ve been lacking some of those comfort foods. I was kind of bummed out for awhile, because I like making potato salad, but not being able to boil the potatoes is obviously going to gum up the works. Luckily, I got my head out of my ass and realized I could just roast the potatoes and then treat it like I would any other potato salad.

That realization, along with the fact that I got an amazingly beautiful bunch of dill for $2 the other day, was the impetus for this potato salad. I love dill yet I rarely cook with it, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do something different.

Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad

2.5 lbs baby red potatoes, diced
1/8 cup of roughly chopped fresh dill
3/4 – 1 cup of mayo, to taste
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons freshly cracked lemon pepper seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 425 F. Toss diced potatoes with oil and lemon pepper seasoning, try to evenly cover all the potatoes. Put in the oven to roast, about 40 – 50 minutes, depending on how well done you’d like the potatoes. Thoroughly mix the mustard, mayo and dill. Chill for about 20 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. When the potatoes are done, put them in a large bowl and let them cool for a few minutes. Add in the mayo/mustard mixture and distribute evenly among the potatoes. Best served warm, although honestly, just as tasty room temperature.

Of course, today’s post is actually about something I didn’t “cook” …. and I made it two weeks ago. Oops.

Have you ever gone into Au Bon Pain, absolutely starving in the morning? Because I totally have, and one of those times, I picked up a 4oz container of muesli for about $3. I brought it up to the office to eat and it was delicious. It was sweet, healthy, filling: all the things breakfast should be. However, I couldn’t keep paying $3 for those tiny cups, it was driving me crazy knowing how much I was overpaying for it. I looked at the ingredient list on the Au Bon Pain website and went to work.

This type of muesli is actually considered “Bircher” muesli; it was created by a Swiss doctor who did stuff that I can’t remember back in the late 19th century/early 20th century, but I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by it when you read the Wikipedia page about him. He soaked the oats overnight in juice [which I did not do] and added some fresh grated apples [nope] and nuts [yup]. Modern recipes for muesli are slightly different, although most still soak the oats in juice overnight.

Bircher Muesli
1 cup of rolled oats
3/4 – 1 cup of skim milk
1 tablespoon honey [or to taste]
1 apple, diced
1 banana, sliced thin
2 tablespoons greek yogurt
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/8 cup toasted, sliced almonds

Soak the oats overnight in enough milk to cover them. In the morning, most of the milk will have been absorbed by the oats. Stir, then add in the yogurt, honey, and fresh fruit. Mix to combine. Add dried fruit and nuts. Taste the muesli and add more honey if necessary. Serves 2.

This is really good, but it’s definitely not for everyone. By the time it got to work with me, it looked gross. But it tasted delish; the fruit had sweetened everything up and the apple and nuts added a nice crunch that I would have otherwise missed. It’s exactly the sort of breakfast I’d like to have every day, if I weren’t the type of person that stayed in bed as long as possible as the morning, thus negating the ability to do the last steps of prep on this.

What’s not so nice? Is that I’ve actually had this post kicking around for awhile and just haven’t done anything with it. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to write it. Again with the exhaustion: I’M NOT FUNNY RIGHT NOW. But alas, I have to soldier on and fight the good fight. Or… something.

Lately I’ve seen a lot of slow roasting going on in various blogs, and you know I’m never one to pass up a trend. Or, conversely, see a trend six months ago and decide to try bringing it back now. Either way, it made for some tasty food, so what do you care? The one thing that people seemed to love to slow roast the most was salmon, so since the husband would probably sell my soul for his weight in salmon, I figured I’d give it a shot.

This is really the simplest of recipes: take whatever marinade/seasoning/rub you like best on salmon and slap it on. Preheat your oven to 225F.

My marinade of choice was a basic spicy honey mustard; I would’ve gone for a rub of some sort, but by this point I had stopped going grocery shopping and was just using up what I already had. So, mustard + honey + random spices = marinade.

Put it in the oven for about 25 – 30 minutes, or until it starts excreting moisture. That’s a horrible image, isn’t? The last thing you want is for your food to be described as “excreting” anything. But there it is:

Total excretion.

So even though it doesn’t look done, trust me, it totally is. It is amazingly soft and buttery, very nearly like smoked salmon but just shy of that. If you like a good, firm salmon, this is not for you. Even the husband was somewhat suspicious of the texture, but he of course ate it like the good blogger’s husband he is.

I’d definitely make this again, although I think next time I’d like to try a dry rub to see how it permeates the meat and also if it makes a difference in texture. And then when I get my smoker? WATCH OUT.

I’ll admit I’ve felt that way, and I’m ashamed to also admit that I finally started this blog after I read Julie Powell’s book. It’s something I had wanted to do for a few years but never got up the gumption to do it; finally, I just did and I am pretty pleased with the results. Plus, it’s forced me to rediscover my passion of writing and it allows me to futz around with my fancy camera and hope for the best. It’s got a little of something for everyone!

But the biggest reason I’m so happy I started this blog? I probably would have missed out on some pretty awesome food. Case in point is what I made for poker this week: pulled barbecue chicken sandwiches. It’s something that’s really simple, but the combination of the home made barbecue sauce and the tender, slow cooked chicken made for one of the best poker night dinners I’ve made in a really long time. Which was certainly attested to several times as I was told over and over how good it was. The fact that some people had four sandwiches was also a tip off.

I got the sauce recipe from allrecipes.com and it was amazing. I know I use a lot of superlatives, but for real: this barbecue sauce is tangy, sweet, smoky, with just the slightest kick to it. It’s a perfect fit for so many things.

Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup bourbon whiskey
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the onion, garlic and whiskey. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 8 – 10 minutes or until onion is translucent. Mix in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer about 25 – 30 minutes or until thickened. This makes about 4 cups.

Now, the original instructions say that you can strain the sauce before letting it cool and sit overnight. I, however, was in no mood for that and used my immersion blender on it. The onions were perfectly blended into the sauce and it actually thickened it up enough that next time I’d probably cut back on the tomato paste. Because oh yes, there will be a next time.

I let the sauce sit overnight, and then the next day I put 2.5lbs of frozen chicken breasts into the slow cooker along with all of the barbecue sauce and set it to cook on low for 8 hours. When I came home, the whole apartment [and everything in it, including our cat Paul] smelled like the barbecue sauce. And then? THIS:

A pulled barbecue chicken sandwich. The stuff dreams are made of, if your dreams are filled with juicy, shredded meat with just the right amount of sauce that tantalizingly lingers on your taste buds. Yeah, seriously, it’s that good.

Last weekend we had Easter dinner at my in-laws, with ham [my favorite; down with turkey! except dark meat!], mashed potatoes, green beans and the side dish I am about to show you in all its glory. Also, my husband and brother-in-law made a bet in which it was somehow determined the loser would have to help pay for a turducken. I forget the conditions of it, but I’m glad we’re finally going to have one so my husband stops yapping about it. He’s more susceptible to advertising than I am.

This side dish is really quite basic but it’s tasty and satisfying. It’s from allrecipes.com, which is an amazingly awesome source of recipes. Even if you don’t follow the recipes on there to the letter, there are a lot of great basic ideas. Plus, I love the fact that you can plug in ingredients you have on hand and it brings up recipe suggestions for you.

Maple Dill Carrots
1.5 lbs baby carrots
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon of flour, if necessary
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Add in the carrots and just enough water to cover them. Let the carrots cook for about 15 – 20 minutes or until fork tender; the water may be evaporated depending upon the thickness of your carrots. If the water isn’t evaporated, pour the excess off from the pan. Add in the butter, brown sugar and dill. Toss with the carrots and make sure they’re all evenly coated. Let that cook down for a bit, until the butter and sugar thicken into a glaze; use the flour to thicken up if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

I never realized how much I like dill until I made this recipe. It’s such a bright, clean flavor – somewhere between sweet and savory, that plays beautifully with the brown sugar. This really would go well with just about any meal.