Crispy Herb Potatoes

ingredients:
- cilantro
- garlic - lots of it
- salt and pepper to taste
- yellow or white onions
- green peppers
- hot sauce
- safflower oil (or other high heat oil)
- potatoes (some kind of white potato)

directions:
- slice the potatoes thinly into rounds
- put safflower oil into cast iron pan or other large pan.
- add potatoes, ideally your pan is large enough so there are only two layers of potatoes.
- cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until they start to soften
- chop up the green pepper and onion and then add them
- cook more until these are brown and the potatoes are soft and somewhat crispy
- then add the garlic (finely chopped) for about 5 minutes and
- add the cilantro (chopped)
- add salt and pepper to taste
- serve hot with hot sauce on the side.

a trick to this recipe is to boil the potatoes beforehand, this will significantly decrease the cook time in the cast iron pan and can be done the night before.

Balsamic Roasted Fingerling Potato Wedges

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ pounds of fingerling potatoes, washed and halved
• 2 ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped fine (optional)
• 2 to3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

How to make it

• Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place your oven rack in the lower third of your oven.
• Prepare your potato wedges. Attempt to cut each wedge into similar sizes for even roasting.
• Toss the wedges in a bowl with the olive oil, sea salt, pepper and rosemary (optional).
• Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until fork tender.
• Sprinkle with the balsamic vinegar, shaking the pan to coat the potatoes. Roast until vinegar evaporates, about 4 minutes.
• Season with more sea salt and pepper and serve.

cold noodles with garlic peanut sauce

serves 1 to 2

i like this on a hot summer day as a quick lunch. some serve this along with julienned cucumbers.

ingredients:

• 2 bundles, or about 1/2 pound fresh shanghai thin noodles (see above pic)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• salt to taste (i usually do 1 to 2 pinches)
• hot water
• cilantro (chopped)

steps:

1. cook noodles in boiling water for a few minutes, or until tender. drain. rinse noodles under cold tap water until noodles become cold to touch. set aside for use later.
2. in a mixing bowl, stir together peanut butter, minced garlic, soya sauce and sesame oil. add hot water little by little to thin the paste and keep stirring until paste is smooth and sauce-like.
3. salt to taste. (i usually do 1 to 2 pinches.) and stir again.
4. finally, toss the noodles, sauce and cilantro together.
5. serve on plate and enjoy with chopsticks.

Annie's Irish Soda Buns

This recipe was given to me by my roomie at UMaine. I tried her mother's soda buns in honor of St. Patrick's day. These buns are delicious hot or cold though I prefer them warmed with hot chocolate or irish coffee.

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 sugar (optional)
1 egg
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup currants or raisins

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut pieces of the butter/margarine into the dry mix. Don't worry if it doesn't mix completely. Add wet ingredients. Stir in currants/raisins. Knead the dough briefly (I just mixed it with a spoon and that worked too). Cut the dough into eighths. Shape into buns. Use a butter knife to make a cross on the tops of the buns. Bake 20-25min. I set my oven to 350 F.

Oh so good banana bread

i LOVE this recipe! it's easy, delicious and is a great use of extra ripe bananas. i'll post the original recipe but i'll put my alterations in parentheses. after making this, you'll never buy banana bread ever again! :)

ingredients:
1.5 cups of all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 very ripe medium-sized bananas = 1 cup mashed
3/4 cup sugar (i usually put less, like 1/2 cup or less)
1/4 cup cooking oil (more oil will make it very cake-y & moist)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

directions:
1) grease the bottom and sides of a 8x4x2 inch loaf pan - set aside.
2) in a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. make a well in the center of this dry mixture - set aside.
3) in another bowl, combine the egg, mashed bananas, sugar, cooking oil and walnuts. add this wet mixture all at once to the dry mixture. stir until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
4) spoon batter into prepared pan. cover the top of the batter with a thin layer of sugar! bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick or knife comes out clean from the center. let cool for 10 minutes. remove loaf from pan and let cool.