Cuisine Diva

Cheesy Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

Ingredients for cheesy roasted red skin potatoes

On July 14, I posted up my recipe for Herb Roasted Sweet Potatoes. I love anything having to do with taters. Here is another recipe for oven roasting potatoes, this time using baby red skin potatoes and a bit of Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients for Cheesy Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

• 1 1/2 pounds baby, red skin potatoes - approximately 2 inch diameter or less
• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
• 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt to taste

Potatoes coated with olive oil

Directions for Cheesy Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farhenheit.
2. Wash the potatoes well, and remove any damaged spots. Baby potatoes can be left whole, any potatoes larger than 2 inches should be cut in half or thirds.
3. Pat the potatoes dry with a clean cloth.
4. Place the washed potatoes into a large mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the herbes de Provence, Parmesan cheese, black pepper and garlic powder.
6. Sprinkle the herb and spice mixture over the potatoes and toss until well coated.
7. Place the potatoes on a large baking sheet.
8. Bake the potatoes for approximately 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Potatoes sprinkled with herb & cheese mixture, waiting to go in oven

Recipe Hints and Suggestions
Parmesan cheese is very salty. You may not need to add any additional salt after adding the Parmesan cheese to the potatoes.

Herbes de Provence is a combination of thyme, basil, savory, fennel and lavender. You can buy pre-made mixtures of herbes de Provence, in the grocery store, or make up your own mixture.

 

Platter full of cheesy roasted red skin potatoes

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Easy Chili Cheese Dogs

 

ABOVE: Fritos Jalapeno Cheddar Dip

Here's a quick and easy method for creating chili cheese dogs for a crowd. The ingredients, listed below, are enough to make 8 chili cheese dogs. If you don't want your chili cheese dogs to be quite so spicy, use regular cheddar cheese dip, in place of the jalapeno cheese dip. Be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand, the chili cheese dogs can be a bit messy.

Chili Cheese Dog Ingredients

• Package hot dogs
• Package hot dog buns
• Can of no bean chili
• Can of Fritos jalapeno cheddar cheese dip

ABOVE: Grilling the hot dogs on the stove

Chili Cheese Dog Directions

1. Cook the hot dogs using your favorite method. I like to cut the hot dogs in half, and grill them in a frying pan. You could also cook them on your BBQ grill, or George Foreman electric grill.
2. Place the chili in a microwave safe bowl, and heat until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Lightly toast the buns in the toaster oven.
4. To assemble the chili cheese dogs, spread each bun with a bit of the cheddar cheese dip.
5. Add the hot dog to the bun, then spread a generous amount of the chili on top of the hot dog.
6. Eat immediately.

ABOVE: Spreading hot dog bun with cheese dip

For an added bit of decadence, sprinkle a bit of Oscar Mayer real bacon bits on the top of your chili cheese dog. A bit of finely chopped, raw onion, would also taste great sprinkled on top of the chili.

 

ABOVE: Chili cheese dog ready to eat

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Jazz Up Knorr Tomato Parmesan Pasta

On Wednesday I bloggged about my idea for making Instant Broccoli Cheddar soup. Here is another one of my ideas for jazzing up prepackaged food. I like to keep a pantry full of ready-to-make pasta and rice dishes for those times when I don't have time to make gourmet meals from scratch. My 13 year old daughter started making instant pasta and rice dishes a couple of years ago.

I like to stock up anytime these items go on sale. I just purchased a bunch of Knorr Italian Sides at Albertson's last week when they were on sale. Knorr Italian Sides are distributed in the USA by Unilever Food Solutions.

This afternoon, I made a package of the Knorr Tomato Parmesan pasta for lunch. To jazz it up a bit, I stirred in 1/4 cup of chopped, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, right after the water came to a boil. At the last minute, before I was ready to serve the pasta, I stirred in 1/3 cup of finely grated mozzarella cheese. A bit of fresh herb, such as basil or parsley, would have been a nice addition too. Quick and easy way to add a bit more flavor to a pre-packaged pasta dish.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Instant Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I enjoy cooking, but sometimes I don't always have the time to make from scratch meals. I have a killer recipe for homemade Broccoli Cheddar soup, which I will be typing up as an article for Suite101 in the near future. I am the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer on Suite101, and have added many of my original recipes to that site.

But here is a quick and easy method for making broccoli cheddar soup if you are short on time. Stir in a bit of finely grated cheddar cheese into Cambell's V8 Garden Broccoli Soup and heat in the microwave. Only takes a minute or two to heat, and you can enjoy a hearty soup right away.

Not quite as tasty as the homemade variety, but making broccoli cheddar soup from scratch takes an hour or more. So if you are short on time, but looking for a comforting soup, try my idea for instant broccoli cheddar soup.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva