HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT BAKED POTATO

Long holiday weekends usually mean a big barbecue for my family. And a barbecue isn’t complete without a delicious perfect baked potato on the side! There are a few ways to cook potatoes but my favorite is in the oven. It’s simple, easy and the results are delicious! The softest skins with perfectly cooked insides!

First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Next, wash your potatoes off thoroughly. Use a vegetable scrubber if necessary. Then pierce the skin of each potato with the fork several times. Now rub a good amount (about a teaspoon) of olive oil onto the skin of each potato. (I use my hands to do this) Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt.

Baked Potatoes are easy to make and they are a delicious and fun way to prepare everyone’s favorite spud. Potatoes are baked until the skin is crisp, and the insides are soft, white, and fluffy.

Top baked potatoes with your favorite toppings like bacon, sour cream or cheese to create a perfect side dish (or heartier meatier options to turn it into a complete meal)!

Baked potatoes go perfectly alongside a steak, grilled veggies, and a salad or put everyone’s favorite toppings, and have them dress their own. Everyone loves loaded baked potatoes!

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on size and thickness of the potatoes. (Best way to tell if they’re done is to stick a fork in the center. If the potato is finished cooking, it will be easy to push the fork through with no resistance.)

Back in the day, I was a server at Outback Steakhouse. The servers were expected to cut the baked potatoes right before bringing them to their customers so we were taught a little trick to getting that pretty, fluffy, smooshed potato look.
All you have to do is make a slit with a knife from end to end, longwise then squeeze the two ends together (using your thumb and middle fingers) toward the middle! It makes even the ugliest potato more round and makes it easier to fill with yummy toppings! My favorite toppings are what you see below. I devoured this potato after taking its pictures.
🙂
Soft, buttery skin and all! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 large Russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Wash and dry the potatoes.
3. Pierce the potato 2-3 times with a fork.
4. Rub oil all over the potatoes.
5. Rub salt all over the potatoes.
6. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes. The exact baking time will depend on how large the potatoes are. The potato should be tender inside if you poke a fork into it.
7. Serve with butter, cheese, chives, sour cream and all of your favorite toppings!

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Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower - best cauliflower ever, baked in oven with butter, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. A perfect side dish!

This Parmesan roasted cauliflower recipe is from Bon Appetit magazine, a recipe that I have wanted to make for a long time. I love cauliflower, especially cauliflower baked in the oven.

Cauliflower is sweet in nature, and after roasting and baking in the oven, the cauliflower caramelizes, making it one of the best roasted vegetables ever.

Fresh off the oven, these cauliflowers tasted utterly delicious. They were slightly burned and caramelized, I could taste the fresh and natural sweetness from the cauliflower. The savory Parmesan cheese completed the taste. I devoured them.

Ingredients

• 8 oz cauliflower florets sliced horizontally
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 3 light dashes of ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon chopped parsley leaves

for instructions please see: rasamalaysia.com

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KETO NACHO CHEESE CRISPS-

INGREDIENTS:
Cheese Crìsps ìngredìents:

• 1 ¼  cup shredded jack or cheddar cheese (or a mìx of both)

Nacho Spìce Mìx ìngredìents:

• 1  tbsp fìnely grated Parmesan cheese (the powdered kìnd)
• ½  tsp chìlì powder
• ¼  tsp garlìc powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprìka
• ½ tsp fìne ground sea salt
• ½ tsp tomato powder * optìonal but adds much flavor (how to make your own homemade tomato powder)
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat Oven 400 F (204 C).
2. ìn a small combìne: parmesan cheese, chìlì powder, garlìc powder, smoked paprìka, sea salt, and tomato powder. Mìx together to combìne and set asìde.
3. Place about 2 tbsp of the shredded cheese ìnto the bottom of each cup of the sìlìcon muffìn pan (can also use a lìghtly greased muffìn tìn).
4. .....
5. .....
6. Get full recipe >> CLICK HERE

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AVOCADO EGG ROLLS WITH SWEET CHILI SAUCE

These avocado egg rolls are fried to crispy perfection and served with a tasty sweet chili sauce. This recipe is vegetarian and a crowd favorite for party appetizers.

Every time I visit the Cheesecake Factory, I always order their avocado egg rolls as an appetizer. It’s crazy good and I can’t get enough of it. I’ve also ordered their egg roll sampler, which consists of tex-mex, crispy cuban, firecracker salmon, and of course avocado egg rolls.

This recipe is my recreation of their avocado egg rolls using as few ingredients as possible; all you need are egg roll wrappers, avocados, tomato, and oil for frying. I’ve also included one of my favorite sauces to date: a red sriracha-based dipping sauce that’s both spicy and sweet with a sticky texture.

What’s not to love about hot and crispy avocado egg rolls? It’s hard to imagine a more satisfying snack than creamy avocado tossed with fresh lime juice that’s rolled and fried until golden. And given the success of the chicken egg rolls, I figured it was about time I recreated this restaurant favorite in my own kitchen.

The accompanying dipping sauce is crucial to ensuring this DIY version matches the sweet-meets-savory amazingness of the restaurant version. And enter, Thai sweet chili sauce.

Thai sweet chili sauce is right up there with hoisin sauce in my world of condiments. It’s like ketchup around here, pairing perfectly with, well, everything. Chicken wings? Of course. Stir-fry? You bet. Avocado egg rolls? Absolutely. So skip dining out tonight and take on the takeout with egg rolls, Mongolian beef and fried rice (featuring my secret trick used by the pros!).

When I first started making avocado egg rolls, I really wanted to cook them any other way than frying. I tried baking them, and they tasted terrible and did not even come close to fried egg rolls. There’s really no substitute for frying. To be exact, I deep fry the egg rolls, which means that the egg rolls are submerged in hot oil in a large stovetop pot.

To gauge how much oil to add to your pot, you’ll want to pour in oil until it’s about 2 inches deep. The oil is ready for frying when it has reached 350 F. Note that the oil does not boil when it has reached temperature, so you’ll definitely need a thermometer. When the egg rolls have been added to the hot oil, they should be submerged but not touching the bottom of the pot. I fry them in batches of about 3-5 egg rolls at a time, and for this recipe, I used a 3 quart pot.

You can find egg roll wrappers at most large supermarkets. They’re stocked in a refrigerated section, typically near items like tofu. Check the label so that you don’t accidentally buy wonton wrappers, which are different from egg roll wrappers.

Ingredients

• 12 egg roll wrappers
• 3 avocados halved, peeled and seeded
• 1/2 cup tomatoes diced
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lime
• For the cilantro dipping sauce
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves loosely packed
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 jalapeno seeded and deveined
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. To make the cilantro dipping sauce, combine cilantro, sour cream, jalapeno, mayonnaise, garlic and lime juice in the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat.
3. In a medium bowl, gently mash avocados using a fork. Gently toss in the diced onions, tomatoes cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper.
4. Working one at a time, place avocado mixture in the center of each wrapper. Bring the bottom edge of the wrapper tightly over the filling, folding in the sides. Continue rolling until the top of the wrapper is reached. Using your finger, rub the edges of the wrapper with water, pressing to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers until your done.
5. Working in batches, gently place the egg rolls in the oil and fry until evenly golden brown and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
6. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.Enjoy!

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Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower

Cauliflower florets coated in a crispy spiced crust, served with hot buffalo sauce and a side of Vegan Blue Cheese Dip? Oh, hi there good lookin’. I know exactly what you got cookin’, and I like it, I like it a lot.

Hot dang theses are good little dudes. I made sure of that for you by testing them three times, just to be sure, for testing purposes only, clearly.

There is just something about eating with your hands, sauciness dripping down your arm, flavour punching bar food deliciousness that I just NEED every now and then. The need is real.

I love diving into a plate of ooey gooey nachos, snacking on crispy baked French fries, feasting on a giant BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwich, OMG getting so hungry, I just love it all.

When it comes to this recipe, I must admit that I am the first one to take the first bite as soon as it’s finished! Haha. I LOVE spice and this is a nice kick, so it’s only inevitable. The amazing thing about these bites are that you don’t miss meat at all. As many of you may know, I love eating Vegan dishes a few times a week, therefore, this works for those days that I juts want to do so. Simply omit honey and opt in for maple syrup or agave instead.

To start, Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your baking sheet with parchment paper. Then in a medium bowl, add water, flour, sea salt, black pepper, paprika, dried parsley, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder and whisk together until fully combined. Set aside. In a separate bowl, add bread crumbs and set aside also.

Now dip each cauliflower into batter (shaking off any excess) and then toss into bread crumbs. Then lay each cauliflower side by side on the baking sheet (about an inch apart). Repeat until all cauliflower are coated. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and “crunchy” looking. **NOTE: Be sure to flip each cauliflower on opposite side half way through baking time**

Then this happened. And by this, I mean Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower. Now I’ve had cauliflower bites in various different ways, and they are delicious, but these crispy buffalo cauliflower bites just went from delicious all the way up to why am I not eating these every day, good. Yeah, I know, it makes me really excited too.

In the meantime, combine buffalo sauce, honey, and BBQ sauce in a small pot and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat (until bubbly). Remove from heat and let cool for 2-3 minutes before adding cauliflower. Once cauliflowers are crisp, remove from oven and toss them in the sauce until fully coated. Add coated cauliflower bake to baking sheet and place them back in the oven (turning oven on broil) for about 5-6 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup buffalo sauce (see note below)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces discarding the core.
• Combine milk, flour, garlic powder, pepper and olive oil in a large bowl. Place batter and cauliflower in a large Ziploc bag and toss until cauliflower is coated.
• Pour cauliflower into a large strainer letting any excess batter drip off. Sprinkle with Panko breadcrumbs and gently toss.
• Place on a foil lined pan and bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently toss with buffalo sauce. You want the cauliflower coated but not soaked.
• Place back on the pan and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until cauliflower is tender crisp.
• Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.
• Recipe Notes
• Note: You can purchase store bought buffalo sauce or mix 1/3 cup melted butter with 2/3 cup hot sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot). Whisk until combined.

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Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

INGREDIENTS
For the Breadstìcks:

• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 packet yeast (.75oz - or 1 Tbsp)
• 2 tsp fìne sea salt (and a bìt extra to sprìnkle on top)
• 2 Tbsp butter (softened)
• 4-5 c. bread flour (you can also use All-Purpose flour, but they wìll turn out denser)

For the toppìng:

• 1/4 c. butter
• 1 tsp garlìc powder
  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. ìn a large bowl, mìx the warm water, sugar, and yeast
2. Let ìt proof for 10 mìnutes, and get nìce and foamy. Then, mìx ìn the 2 tsp of salt, 2 tbsp of softened butter, and about 3 cups of the flour. Keep addìng the remaìnìng flour untìl you get a nìce, soft dough that pulls away from the sìde of the bowl and ìsn't too stìcky.
3. .......
4. .......
5. Get full recipe >> CLICK HERE

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5-Ingredient Garlic Parmesan Tilapia

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tìlapìa fìllets about 8 ounces each
• 2 tablespoons butter melted
• Juìce from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon garlìc powder
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lemon wedges for servìng
• Mìnced fresh parsley for servìng
  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to BROIL.
2. Place tìlapìa on a large, rìmmed bakìng sheet that has been sprayed wìth cookìng spray.
3. Combìne melted butter, lemon juìce, and garlìc powder ìn a small bowl. Brush the butter mìxture on both sìdes of the fìsh.
4. ......
5. ......
6. Get full recipe >> CLICK HERE

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