Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip

"Grilled Potatoes" uploaded to flickr by Gudlyf

Okay, so this tip is not exactly a revelation.  But it is a good one I think.

I love to grill in the summer.  Don't you?  Easy clean up, the house doesn't get all hot and smelly from cooking indoors.  Grilling is just fabulous!  But I hate when I have only a portion of the meal to grill and the rest has to be baked or cooked on the stove.  This usually happens when I want to make baked or steamed potatoes.

Well, courtesy of Martha Stewart, the last time we grilled and made potatoes, I followed Martha's instructions to cut a 4 foot piece of foil and fold it in half to double the strength of it and then add quartered red potatoes, some olive oil and seasoning (just salt and pepper for us) on top of the folded foil.  Then fold the foil around the potatoes so you have a pocket of foil with the potatoes inside.  Throw the pocket o'potatoes on the grill, turning the pocket once while cooking.  Cooking time will depend on size of potatoes, but I left mine on the grill for about 25 mins and they were perfect!
What are your tips to cook potatoes?

Weekend Cooking

During the weekend I like to take a little longer with my cooking adventures.  I am usually able to do this because (1) I am not rushing home from dinner to try to feed starving people and (2) The Husband can entertain The Toddler while I am cooking.

One of my favorite things to make over the weekend is brunch.  If people are coming over (like my parents or in-laws), I'll set out fixings for bloody mary's.  There are a lot of good brunch recipes, but these are a few that I love:

picture courtesy of allrecipes.com

 
Baked French Toast (courtesy of AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.
3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

I also serve Hash Brown Casserole.  I originally got this recipe from a co-worker years ago.  Whoever thought of this is a complete genius!  I have gotten raves about this recipe.  It is so easy and so yummy!

In addition to the above, if people are coming over and it is a true brunch, I like to add a protein, fruit and a salad.  The protein can be an egg dish, a chicken dish, or, if you are feeling brave or fancy, you can try your hand at boiling some lobster!  Pop on over to my friend Lauren's blog to watch her cook up some lobsters and give you some tips!