German Style Tater Tot Salad

Potato salad is always a great accompaniment to many different dishes.  Likewise, tater tots just kick butt.  Why have they not been combined into a dish?  Good question.  I asked myself this and decided that I must find out.  I decided to make a German style salad which usually uses oil and vinegar instead of the usual mayo and is also served warm.  I will tackle the cold tater tot salad at some point but this was a great start.  Rage on!

Ingredients

1. 1/2 Bag of Tater Tots(16 oz.)
2. 5 Strips of Bacon, diced
3. 1/2 a Small Onion, diced
4. 1/4 C Sugar
5. 1/4 C Vinegar
6. 1/2 C Water
7. 2 Tbsp. Brown Mustard
8. 1 tsp. Salt and Pepper
9. Vegetable Oil

Quick Directions

1. Preheat oven according to directions on tater tot package.
2. Spread tater tots on a baking sheet.
3. Bake until about 5 minutes are left for tater tots.
4. Smash with fork and then finish baking them.
5. Pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a sauce pan.
6. Add bacon and cook on medium high stirring frequently.
7. When bacon is almost done, add diced onions and cook till translucent.
8. Add water, sugar, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper and mix well.
9. Bring to a boil and then simmer till begins to thicken.
10. Add tater tots and remove from heat.
11. Mix together.
12. Enjoy!

Detailed Directions

This dish is quick, easy, and delicious!  Start by spreading your tots onto a baking sheet and getting the oven preheated to the temp. the package calls for.  Toss them in and start dicing your bacon and onions.



Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into your sauce pan and add the bacon.  Cook on medium high heat for 5-8 minutes or until almost cooked through.  If you need to, add a little more oil to keep it from sticking.  Next, add the diced onions in and keep cooking till they begin to be translucent, about 5-8 more minutes.


Make sure to stir frequently.  This will help them to not stick and to make sure you don’t over cook them.



When there is about 5-8 minutes left for the tots, take them out of the oven and smash them with a fork.  You don’t need to do this step, but I felt it made for an interesting final product.  In other words, it is what I did so it is the rage style?


Good, you made the right choice when you smashed them too.  Stick them back in the oven and cook them till they begin  to brown and get crunchy.



When they are done, pull them out and set aside unless you have finished with the dressing steps already.


Once the onions are translucent, add the water, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper.  Bring this to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook until it begins to thicken up which doesn’t take very long, about 3-6 minutes.  Make sure to stir often.


Remove from heat and toss those cooked tots in and stir well.  And that is pretty much it, go enjoy this tasty dish with whoever you choose to share the rage with.  Rage on!







This dish is designed to be easy and tasty.  Removing a few steps like using potatoes and replacing them with tots.  If you decide to, you can also do this same recipe with regular potatoes.  I would probably use Yukon Gold potatoes but russets would work great too.  Decide whether you want to remove the skin or not, then dice them into a fairly even medium dice.  Boil them until fork tender, then add them to the sauce and mix like the tots.

Granola

I’m still munching on this delicious treat so I’m going to make this post short and sweet!  Munch…I mean Rage on!

Ingredients

1. 2.5 Cups Rolled Oats(Sometimes called old fashioned oats)
2. 3/4 Cup Wheat Germ
3. 1 Cup Mixed Nuts(Any nut works here, but I like to use a mix)
4. 1/2 Cup Honey
5. 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
6. 1.5 tsp. Vanilla
7. 1.5 tsp. Cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp. Salt
9. Brown Sugar(about 1/2 a cup)

Quick Directions

1. Rough chop, or pulse in food processer, the cup of mixed nuts.
2. Mix honey, vegetable oil, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. Add rolled oats, wheat germ, and nuts to honey mixture.  Mix well.
4. Spread out evenly on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
5. Bake in oven at 225.  Stir every 15 minutes.
6. After first stir, sprinkle brown sugar over the top.  Cover well, then mix in.
7. Bake till oats are golden brown, about 60-75 minutes.  Don’t forget to stir every 15!
8. Remove from oven and stir every couple of minutes till cool.  Less stirring will leave bigger chunks as it will begin to stick as it cools.  Your choice on how much to stir here.
9. Enjoy!

Detailed Directions

Granola!  The base of a great trail mix or an awesome stand alone snack.  Throw a little milk on it and have cereal?  I haven’t tried that yet but just might!  Right, so lets get down to it.

Start by getting the nuts ready.  I use mixed nuts because it gives a good amount of choice to the granola, but use your favorite.  I think walnuts are the best in granola but the batch of mixed nuts I got this time didn’t have any.  Which…I didn’t realize when I bought them or I would have probably picked some walnuts up to add to it.  Oh well, you live and learn and then rage for a second until you realize the granola is still great!

So chop them up.  I found a really easy method for this.  Put some plastic wrap down, place nuts on top of the plastic wrap, then put plastic wrap over that.  Then use a meat mallet and pound on them(stress released!) or find a frying pan, that works too!  The goal is to get them broken into little pieces.  If you want, use a knife or pulse them in the food processor if you like more traditional methods.

So next get the honey, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt into a mixing bowl and mix well.

 

 

 

 

 

You may be asking about the brown sugar, but hold on and follow directions.  Next add the rolled oats, which let me take a step aside and explain why rolled oats.  They are sometimes called old fashioned oats or rolled because of the method used to prepare them.  Anyways, it is what you want as they cook the best.  Add the wheat germ and the nuts also and mix well.  Then mix a few more times just to make sure its all mixed well!

Next put it onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  You don’t need to use the parchment but I feel like the mix would make a mess on the pan so I played it safe.  Spread evenly and then place in the oven set at 225.  Bake for 60-75 minutes stirring it every 15 minutes.

 

Ok, so now we are finally at the brown sugar part.  After your first stir, sprinkle brown sugar over the top.  Doesn’t have to be a lot, you just want to cover it well.  And then stir again to mix the brown sugar in.  Why do I do it this way?  I can’t really explain it, I forgot to add it one time and did it this way and liked the way it turned out so I say don’t mess with it.  I am sure there is some scientific reason why this is good or bad to do but I don’t have that answer for you.  So if you like, go ahead and mix it in with the honey mixture before adding the oats in.  Probably do 3-4 Tbsp.

So then it is finally done!  It is a little hard to tell because the color your looking for is golden brown oats but this can be hard to see with the honey mixture on them.  What I do is taste a small bite every stir after the first 30 minutes of baking.  Once it is out, continue to stir every couple of minutes for the next 15-20.  The granola will begin to stick and clump up as it cools.  The bigger you want the clumps to be, the less you stir it.  So now it is done, go enjoy!  And rage on!

Other Thoughts

Ok, so this is the base for a trail mix I made awhile back.  I don’t particularly like the raisins and other things I added to it that time so I didn’t do it this time as it is just for me.  But, I can tell you what to do!  Once it comes out of the oven, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and then add in the other goods you want to add.  Such as raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, pretzels, really whatever you like.  The choice is yours, which it always has been when in your kitchen.

Shrimp and Green Beans

I received some green beans from a friends garden and needed something to make with them.  Not trying to do anything I normally would make, I came up with this idea.  Can’t say I was disappointed and I hope you won’t be either.  There is a little bit of prep but the cook time is fast.  Enjoy, and rage on!

Ingredients

1. 1/2 lb. Shrimp, peeled and deveined
2. 2 cups Green Beans(I used fresh but frozen can be substituted)
3. 1/2 Tbsp. Granulated Garlic
4. 1/2 Tbsp. Ground Ginger
5. 1 Tbsp. Rice Cooking Wine
6. 3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
7. 1/2 tsp. Fish Sauce
8. 1 Tbsp. Hoisin Sauce
9. 1 tsp. Brown Sugar
10. 1/2 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds
11. 1/4 tsp. Salt and Pepper
12. Sesame Oil
13. 1 1/2 Tbsp. Corn Starch
14. 4 Tbsp. Water

Quick Directions

1. Wash and clean green beans.  Remove ends and cut into about 1 inch sections.
2. Peel and devein shrimp.
3. Mix together garlic, ginger, rice wine, soy sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, sesame seeds, and salt and pepper.
4. Mix water and corn starch together.
5. Heat wok or frying pan to medium high. Pour in enough sesame oil to coat bottom.
6. Add shrimp and green beans.
7. Cook till shrimp is opaque, or done.  About 3-6 minutes.
8. Add in garlic and other seasonings mixture and cook till begins to boil.
9. Add corn starch mixture.
10. Mix well and cook till sauce thickens, about 1-2 minutes.
11. Serve over rice if you want to, enjoy!

Detailed Directions

If you are using fresh green beans, which I highly recommend, then you will want to start by cleaning them.  First rinse them and then cut off the ends and cut them into about 1 inch sections.  I found it to be quicker to just break the ends off and break them in half.

If you don’t have fresh then use frozen.  Canned would probably work but it won’t have that slight crunch or crispness to it once it is done cooking.  And I’m really not a fan of canned veggies.
Also, make sure your shrimp is peeled and deveined.  I bought the shrimp that still had the shell on because it was a little cheaper but if you don’t want to mess with peeling it off go with the already peeled.  One thing you will have to do though is make sure it is deveined.  Usually they are cleaned all the way, but occasionally there is something that needs to be cleaned up.  It is easy to spot too, just look at the back side of the shrimp(or where it is split, as if cut…which it was) and if there is anything black or blue in there, remove it.

Great so we are moving right along.  Next get your seasonings mixed together.  This mixture would include everything but the shrimp, green beans, corn starch, water, and sesame oil.  Mix it up well.  And don’t think you can wait on doing this part.  The shrimp cooks fast so before you start doing any cooking you should already have everything else ready to go.


Next, mix together the water and corn starch.  You will most likely need to give it a quick stir before you poor it in, but mixing ahead of time will make it take less time later.



Okay, so we have everything ready to go, right?  Now it is time for the fun part.  Go ahead and get your wok or frying pan heating.  Medium high is what I would suggest.  Pour in enough sesame oil to coat the bottom of the pan and let it heat up a bit.


Dump in the shrimp and green beans and watch the magic happen.  One thing I love about cooking shrimp is watching them turn color.  It happens so fast that I just find it fascinating.  Toss and turn and stir the food around until all the of the shrimp is done, or opaque. A nice orange color I would call it.  It should only take about 3-6 minutes.

I also put in about 1 clove of minced up garlic after the shrimp and green beans cooked for about 2 minutes.  That is an optional step however, I just really like garlic.

Next put in the mixture of seasonings.  Let it cook till it begins to boil.


Once that has happened, pour the corn starch mixture in and stir till well incorporated.  Keep cooking till the sauce has thickened up.  About 1-2 minutes.  This meal is fast!
That is pretty much it.  I served it over  rice but it is optional.  I thought it gave a nice addition to the meal.  Go enjoy it and rage on.


Other Things

• This recipe will leave the green beans fairly crunchy.  If you prefer a more tender bean, I would suggest steaming them ahead of time or start cooking them before adding the shrimp in.  Maybe 3-5 minutes of time alone in the pan before you add the shrimp to the party.
• You can use light soy sauce and remove the addition of the salt to make the dish healthier.  Maybe serve it with brown rice.  This is all up to you.
• It cooks fast, can’t stress enough that you make sure you have everything ready to go when you start cooking.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

There are always the old stand by methods of cooking something.  Today, an easy replacement to the standard boiling  pot of water is on display.  Fresh sweet corn on the cob is a great summer treat, but throwing it on the bbq is a different method of cooking it that will not disappoint and it is easy!  Rage on.

Ingredients

1. Sweet Corn, un-shucked (either 1/2 of one per person or 1 per person)
2. Olive Oil
3. Seasoned Salt

Quick Directions

1. Remove outer layer of husk.
2. Carefully peel back rest of layers and remove silk.
3. Rinse corn and husk well in cool water.
4. Rub corn with olive oil and sprinkle season salt on.
5. Fold husk back into place.
6. Grill on edge of charcoal grill or on medium heat for gas grills. About 15 minutes.
7. Turn corn often.  Corn is done when it  has a nice  golden color.
8. Enjoy!

This recipe is really simple so calm down right now!  Start  by gently peeling back the husk from the corn.  I found it made this process a lot simpler by removing the very outer layer of husk before peeling back the interior ones.  The outer layer is a bit tougher and doesn’t fold back as nice, but feel free to keep it there if you don’t mind dealing with it.  Take out as much of the silk as you can.

You probably won’t be able to get all of the silk off, unless you want to spend all night working on it.  Anyways, the water should help you get off a lot of those pesky last pieces.  Once you have it fairly clean, run it under cold water and scrub well to help free up the remaining silk.  Also make sure to rinse the husk well.  Doing this will help keep it from catching on fire during the grilling process as well as cleaning it up a bit.

Next, pour a little bit of olive oil on the corn and sprinkle some seasoned salt over that.  Then…get your hands dirty!   I found it easiest to just go rub it all over with my hand but if you have a brush and like to keep clean feel free to use that instead.  You can brush the olive oil over the corn and then turn it while shaking the seasoned salt on if you like.  Whatever method you choose, the goal is to get the corn well covered in oil and seasoned salt.

Fold the husk back into place and you are ready to grill.  It should fold back easily enough, but take your time and if it breaks a little bit it is ok.  The husk is only left on to serve as a vessel for cooking.  It protects the corn so that it doesn’t get exposed to too much heat, allowing the cooking process to take place.

 

Throw it on the grill.  If you are using a charcoal grill, try to keep it on the edge.  If using a gas grill, use medium to medium high heat.  Regardless of the grill in use, the steps are the same.  Turn often!  It should take about 15 minutes to cook the corn, but make sure to turn it every couple minutes during that time so one side doesn’t burn.

 

As it cooks the husk will brown or burn a bit, but this is normal.  The corn will turn a nice golden shiny color when it is done.  An easy way to let you know!  I of course was so excited to try  it that it slipped my mind to take a final picture of the finished product so I do apologize for that slight misstep.  If you left the end on like I did, cleaning the husk off is really easy.  Just fold back the husk, grab hold of the end and rip it  off.  The husk should pull away with that piece.  Of course this may not completely remove all of it, so simply remove the remaining pieces.

Your corn is ready to eat and how you go about it from here is your choice!  I put a bit of salt  on and called it good.  You could run some butter over it and add some pepper if you choose.  You can also omit the seasoned salt in the beginning prep, but you should keep the olive oil so that the corn doesn’t dry out while cooking.  Feel free to experiment with seasonings though!  Rage on.

Shrimp Kabobs

Kabobs are an easy approach to grilling.  String a bunch of meats, veggies, or even fruits up on a stick and toss it on the barbeque!  This recipe is pretty simple, doesn’t have a huge amount of prep time, if you don’t count the waiting time, and the results are worth it.  Rage on.

Ingredients

1. 21 Shrimp, peeled and deveined
2. 3 Skewers
3. 1 tbs. Brown Sugar
4. 1 tsp. Granulated Garlic
5. 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
6. 1/2 tsp. Hoisin Sauce
7. 2 tbs. Soy Sauce
8. 3 tbs. Vegetable Oil
9. 1/4 tsp. Fish Sauce
10. 2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
11. 1/2 tsp. Salt and Pepper

Quick Directions

1. Soak skewers in water(if wooden skewers) for at least an hour.
2. Mix ingredients 3-11 together to create marinade.
3. Toss shrimp into marinade and cover.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Put seven shrimp on each skewer.
5. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side.
6. Enjoy.

Detailed Directions

I usually buy the frozen shrimp.  It is slightly cheaper where I live and is the same as what quality I would get at the  fish counter at the grocery store.  Since I don’t live close to a coast I have found it to be a good option.  However, fresh is best!
Regardless of how your shrimp has been acquired, make sure it is thawed, peeled and deveined.  It can be a messy process but you really don’t want to eat those parts so go ahead and do it right.  I usually put my shrimp in a bowl of cold water and let it thaw for about 30 minutes before I peel it and make sure that it has been properly deveined.  And honestly it hasn’t always been so there is a little bit of clean up.  Of course you may ask…why don’t you thaw your  shrimp ahead of time?  Well easy to answer, I don’t always plan to use shrimp and I always have it in the freezer so it is usually a last minute thing, hence the water bath.

So we have our shrimp squared away.  Now make sure your skewers are properly treated.  If you are using the wooden one use ones, you need to make sure to soak them in water.  Nothing special here, just a regular water bath.  The reason we do this is to make sure they don’t light on fire while on the grill.  It won’t really hurt anything if you skip this step but it will kind of ruin the magic of a kabob as the ends burn up.  Keep that in mind.

Whisk together the marinade(ingredients 3-11) and put the shrimp in.  Cover it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  You don’t have to do this if you’re short on time but getting those flavors into the shrimp is worth it.


Once the shrimp has marinated and the skewers have soaked in water, you are ready to start preparing the kabobs.   It is really easy, so don’t go getting into a rage!  You want to put the skewer through the tail side of the shrimp and then through the head side.  Having a little space in the middle part is what you want.  You could run the skewer through the whole piece of shrimp but then it will take up more space and the shrimp won’t get that normal shape once cooked.  To be honest it would be weird!

Hopefully the picture illustrates what we want.  But by all means, feel free to try a different skewer technique if you like.  It is your kitchen, and your decision!


I found seven shrimp fit on the skewer great.  You may find you can fit a few more or a few less depending on what size shrimp you have purchased.  And that is ok!  Fit what you can so that it is nicely filled up, or even put a few less on if you want to only serve so many to each person and want them to have their very own kabob.

Put them on the grill and give them about 4-6 minutes per side.  With the marinade it makes it harder to tell when they are done as they are already dark.  But, shrimp doesn’t take long and you  will know its done when it gets some nice grill marks on each side.  If you are scared of undercooking them, make sure they get the 6 minutes and some solid marks before you flip.


Using this marinade with shrimp doesn’t have to be limited to the grill and a kabob.  Feel free to soak the shrimp in the tasty  juices for a pan fry.  The kabob also doesn’t have to be limited to just the shrimp, I find putting some chunks of fresh pineapple that has soaked in the marinade is also amazing.  I can’t see where this process would fail with other things that may come to your mind.  Just remember that shrimp cooks very fast, so if you are using a thicker piece of meat you will need to cook it longer.  Accept your decisions and appreciate them.  Cooking can be scary, but it isn’t worth a bad rage.  We all can do it, some of us may just need a bit more learning.  Rage on friends.

“Grilled” Cheese

I have loved grilled cheese for as long as I can remember.  Give me a grilled cheese with a bowl of tomato soup to dip it in and that is about one of the best comfort foods I can think of.  But have I ever had one that was actually grilled?  Why no, this food with grilled in the name has never been given such a treatment in my presence.  It almost makes me rage(in all of the wrong ways) now that I have had the opportunity to try it cooked in what I can only assume is the appropriate way.  Go ahead and find your inner rage after you try this tasty sandwich!  Rage on!

Ingredients

1. 8 slices of Italian Bread
2. 1 Clove Garlic, minced
3. 3 Tbsp. Butter
4. 2 Slices of Tomato(4 if the tomato is small)
5. 4 Slices of Pancetta
6. 4 oz. Mozzarella(fresh or sliced)
7. 4 oz. Smoked Gouda

Quick Directions

1. Melt butter in a small sauce pan on low, add garlic and turn to medium high and let cook for about 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat.
2. Cook pancetta on medium high till cooked through.  About 4-8 minutes.
3. Brush butter garlic mix onto one side of each slice of bread.
4. Put about 1  oz. of cheese on unbuttered side of 4 slices of bread, 2 with gouda and 2 with mozzarella.
5. Place 2 slices of pancetta on top of the gouda ones, and 1 slice of tomato on the mozzarella ones.
6. Put about 1 oz. of gouda on top of the pancetta, and 1 oz. of mozzarella on the tomato.
7. Cover with remaining slices of bread, buttered side up.
8. Grill about 2-4 minutes on each side with lid on.
9. Enjoy.

This really is a simple dish, so don’t go and get yourself all worried about the steps.  Start off by simply melting the butter in a small sauce pan.  Low works great here, you don’t want to cook the butter.  Once you have it fully melted add in the minced garlic and turn the heat up to medium high and let it cook for about 1-2 minutes to get the garlic into the butter.

Now, you can get the pancetta going at the same time on medium high.  It will take about 4-8 minutes, turn it a few times and it will cook similar to bacon.  You can use bacon in place of the pancetta if your grocery store doesn’t carry it or you want to save a little money.  It is often considered an Italian bacon because of the different flavors and it isn’t smoked like bacon is.

So your basic prep is done.  You just have to put the thing together.  Start by brushing the garlic butter onto one side of 4 slices of bread.  If you don’t have a brush, don’t worry!  Just simply use a spoon to  gently pour it on and spread it out.  Make do with what tools you have at your disposal.  I placed them butter side down onto a baking pan to make assembly and transport to the grill easier.

Put about 1 oz. of gouda on 2 slices and 1 oz. of mozzarella on the other two.  This doesn’t have to be completely accurate.  Just thin slices of cheese to cover the bread.



Put two slices of the pancetta on the 2 gouda pieces, and 1 tomato on the mozzarella ones(2 slices if the tomato is small, you want full coverage).  Once that is done, put close to the same amounts of cheese on top.

It isn’t an exact science here.  The purpose of the cheese on both sides is to lock in the pancetta and tomato, but if one side has slightly more cheese then the other…it is ok.  Don’t get into an angry rage here!  It’s not like somebody has been making you grilled cheese for all of your life without actually grilling them.  We can handle a slightly different amount of cheese here.

Once you have the cheese on both sides with the goodies inside, you can butter the other four slices and place them butter side out.  You’re pretty much set here.  These can be made ahead of time and hold in the refrigerator for a few hours no problem.  You don’t want to keep them too long, though, as it will dry the bread out.

Transport them to your closest grill and get started.  They won’t take long and be vigilant so that they  don’t get burned.  It really only takes about 2-4 minutes on each side.  This does depend on how hot your grill is though.  I put the lid on the grill so that the heat would circle around and help the top side while the bottom was on the heat.  This creates an oven atmosphere that will really help the cheese to melt and not leave you with charred bread and barely melted cheese.  Nobody wants a barely melted grilled cheese.
So that is basically it.  Go enjoy a grilled cheese for the first time.  I mean an actually grilled cheese sandwich.  Who would have thought.  Rage on friends.



A “Grilled” Cheese
Things line up this day.  We found success in the kitchen that is worthy enough to write home to mom about.  Don’t worry if you slightly burn a side while testing this guy out, I did.  Four minutes on the grill creeps up fast and I wasn’t being vigilant enough!  I did make sure to pay more attention on the second side and it still tasted delicious.  If you don’t have access to a grill, you can follow the same recipe but do it in a frying pan instead.  You will still get a tasty grilled cheese it just will be lacking some of that great flavor a grill imparts.  You can also go with the old stand by of a couple of slices of American cheese if you don’t want to step out of the comfort spot.  Bacon instead of pancetta, another great substitute.  Take your favorite cheese and find your own delicious sandwich.  Feel free to leave it in the comments so that I can try it.  And of course, rage on my friends, rage on.