Know what those are?

Those are the Mashed Potatoes that won the Tastemaker 2K10 Cook off Challenge at Blissdom.

and they’re mine.

I can’t even begin to put into words how much fun the Tastemaker Challenge was.  Crazy, loud, exhilarating, insane, silly, fun, tasty…

They did such a good job driving us crazy keeping the details secret!  They had great shirts made for us that said “Team (tastemaker’s name)

There might have been a bit of competition between the Tastemaker fans, as you can see with Tanis and Casey

However, no potatoes were harmed during this picture but MANY were consumed by the hungry crowd in the form of the Mashed Potato Bar and the signature Potato Vodka cocktails.

We were given 20 minutes, a secret ingredient, a ’style’ mashed, baked etc… and a table full of possibilities to use as well as already cooked potatoes.

My secret ingredient was fresh basil!  My first thought.. SCORE!  Y’all know that I love me some Basil!!!

I grabbed some of my favorite ingredients:

• potatoes
• greek yogurt (NOM)
• blue cheese crumbles
• tabasco
• kosher salt and pepper
• fresh basil
• a lemon
• butter

And I got to workin’ it

My fellow tastemakers were AWESOME and the competition was fierce!!!   I had more fun with this Tastemaker Challenge Process and the live cook off was like the loaded toppings on a hot perfectly cooked baked potato.

Enough chatter.. y’all want the recipe, right? RIGHT!

K.. tiny side note.. this was a challenge, I was time crunched.. the exact portions are a bit ‘iff-ish’

• 4 medium potatoes (110 calories each) (HOLLA to my Team Rachel girl SARAH who knew that when asked!)
• greek yogurt ( 1/2 C-ish)
• butter ( 2 Tbsp)
• salt and pepper
• fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 C blue cheese crumbles (this may have ended up being a cup……)
• 1 lemon’
• tabasco (y’all know it’s up to you.. I added 6 drops)
• chicken broth to moisten (milk works, too but we didn’t have any)

1. Your potatoes should be cooked (keep in mind that in the pics and for the challenge, I served my mashed potatoes in the skins of more potatoes for aesthetics.. if you want to do this, you’ll need more than 4 potatoes)
2. Finely chop 5 basil leaves (I roll them together and then chop them, much easier) if anyone took a pic of me doing that.. I’d love it!
3. Put your potatoes (yes, with the skin) in a bowl and mash the livin’ daylights out of them.
4. Add in greek yogurt, 1/2 C blue cheese crumbles, 2 tsp salt and pepper, add in basil, dashes of tabasco and some chicken broth, veggie broth or milk to moisten and the juice from 1/2 a lemon.
5. Mash some more and mix some more.. do a little hot potato dance or the mashed potato while you’re at it.

6.  Because this was a cook off challenge and we were being judged on Creativity, Taste, Health, Visual and Crowd Participation (seriously y’all.. the crowd was amazing.  The Blissdom bloggers ROCKED that party).. I purtied mine up by serving them inside the scooped out skin of two more potatoes.

7.  I filled the skins with my mashed potato mixture, topped each with a basil leaf, a bit more blue cheese, some salt and pepper and a teeny squeeze more lemon juice.

They were nommy!!!!!

I have to give a supah star shout-out to my amazing roomie Jo-Lynne because her stupendous videos won her the FAN FAVORITE award at the Tastemaker Challenge!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who came out to support us, to the AMAZING team at Fleishman-Hillard for putting this ridiculously fun event and project together and to the United States Potato Board, this was one of the highlights of my 2009 and a seriously amazing way to kick off 2010!!!

A special thank you to my fellow tastemakers; Melanie., Jo-Lynne, Jen, Melanie, Jodi, Jim, Amy and Lindsay,  it has been my honor, privilege and joy to work with y’all.

If you’re linkin up to Mouthwatering Mondays, YAY!  Say HI, leave a comment and leave your recipe URL in the MckLinky.. visit other MWM participants and make sure to link back here so that others can share in the love.

super thank you to Casey, Jessi, Heather, Sarah and Lotus for taking pictures and letting me use them! xoxo

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

Just take in the yumminess of that picture!

NOM NOM NOM

Okay, I *had* a pasta post planned for today but my internet is fighting with me (still) So, I’m posting a teaser about tomorrow’s recipe that’s an awesome dip for your next get together to watch football, hockey, the Olympics or just because!!

So, in order to get this up before my internet takes a dive again!!!

Y’all know the rules, link recipe, link back in your post, share the love by visiting others.

MWAH

PS: If you’re going to Blissdom, don’t forget your shoes for Soles 4 Souls to send to Haiti!!

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

You could say that today’s Mouthwatering Monday is a follow up to that.

This is a step by step How to Roast Peppers Mouthwatering Monday.

Roasting peppers is crazy easy and the smell in your house, y’all will not believe it.  Your house is going to smell AMAZING!!!!

these are anaheim and poblano

1.  Wash your peppers and place them on a foil lined (ignore the lack of foil) baking sheet and place them in your oven on broil for about 6 to 10 minutes (or until blistering and well roasted and blackened) per side.  (unless you’re lucky enough to have a gas stove and then you, you lucky duck.. can roast them and blister and blacken them over your awesome flame) If the weather allows, you can also roast your peppers on your outdoor grill.

2.  Remove them from the oven or flame and place them in a zip-lock bag and allow them to “sweat” for about 15 minutes

3.  Remove the peppers from the bag.

4.  Put a small slit in the skin, slide your finger under the skin and it will just peel away from the pepper.  Discard the skin and add the roasted pepper yumminess to your favorite recipe

If you’re adding your recipe to Mouthwatering Monday, Thank you!  I love seeing the recipes and finding new food lovers’ blogs!! Please make sure to link your recipe URL and link back here in your post so that others can find and link their own recipes!  I love the comments on my recipes and hearing what you’d do differently for your own palate or your successes with my recipes (that makes my day!)

As always.. use the print friendly button to print the recipe with or without pics!!!

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

These pretzels are soft and chewy on the inside and golden brown and crispy on the outside and they’re so easy to make that you can make them anytime at home.  My dad made these with Princess this past summer when she stayed with them and she has talked about them ever since.  So, I asked my dad to share the recipe and teach us how to make them, too.  And now, I have the deliciousness of these Soft Pretzels to share with y’all! (Thanks, Dad)

• 1 Cup of Lukewarm Water (roughly 105 degrees F)
• 3 1/4 C flour ( I use 1/2 Cake and 1/2 all purpose sifted together.. this gives them a wonderful chewiness)
• 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 packets Active Dry Yeast (1 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp unsalted, melted butter
• 1/2 C baking soda (for boiling)
• 8 additional cups water (for boiling)
• 1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp water
• Kosher Salt

1.  In your mixing bowl, mix the lukewarm water, brown sugar and salt until the sugar and salt are dissolved

2. Add in yeast and stir.  Get rid of any yeast lumps by pressing them to the side and bottom of the bowl.

3.  Let this sit for about 10 minutes or until the yeast mixture is foamy and producing little bubbles.

4.  Pour in the butter and slowly sift in the flour a little at a time

5.   Using your dough hooks, mix on low speed until the ingredients are completely combined.

6.  Change the speed to medium and work the dough until it cleanly pulls off from the sides of the bowl, roughly 5 minutes.  If the dough is too sticky, add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time until it’s the right consistency.

7.  Grease a bowl with oil and put your dough in it, it needs to be a LARGE bowl so that the rising dough has enough room to expand.

8.  Put the dough in a warm place and allow to rise for 1 hour, it should double in size.

9.  Divide the dough into 8 to 14 pieces.. depending on how big you want your pretzels.   Roll the dough until it becomes ropes about 1 1/2 times the length of your forearm.

10.  Create any shapes that you’d like or to create the “traditional” pretzel twist.

1. Make a U shape with your rope
2. twist the ends 1, 2,3 times or however many twists that you’d like
3. Fold back onto the pretzel ‘ base/body’ and press it securely into the dough

11.  Bring the 8 cups water and 1/2 C baking soda to boil.  Drop the pretzels in one at a time and cook each for 50 seconds.  Pull them out and allow the excess moisture to drip off.

12.  Place the pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with the egg yolk, water mixture and sprinkle with kosher salt (or parmesan cheese or whatever your choice of topping is)

13.  Preheat the oven to 450 and bake the pretzels for about 10 minutes, or until brown.

14.  Remove from baking sheet and place on a cooling rack, serve at will and with whatever dipping sauces you and your friends prefer.

You can always get super creative with your pretzels and show off your hobbies and loves, like my dad did.

He loves music.

I would LOVE to hear your stories with this recipe!  What dipping sauces would you use, what toppings?  What shape would your pretzels be?

If you’re participating in Mouthwatering Monday, please make sure that you link up your recipe URL, leave a comment saying Hi or telling me your thoughts on today’s recipe, make sure that you link back to my blog in your post so that others can find this and share their recipes, too and then visit all of the other Mouthwatering Monday participants.

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

Roasted Green Chilies and chopped Chipotle peppers give this Texas stew a smoky, spicy flavor that will have your tastebuds zinging and doing a little happy dance.

I love the sweet smoky heat of chipotles and roasting peppers brings out their natural sweetness and heat and gives your dish a depth of flavor that you wouldn’t achieve by just chopping them and tossing them in.  Trust me, it’s worth it.

If you’ve never roasted a pepper before, stay tuned… I’m going to do a tutorial this week!

Okay, enough chatter, let’s get to the recipe!

Roasted Green Chilies Stew

• 9 Green Peppers/Chilies (I used 1/2 anaheim and 1/2 poblano*), roasted and rough large chopped
  
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce ( you may want to go with one or two and wash them for less heat), chopped
• 4 lbs chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1″ cubes
• 1/4 C all purpose flour
• 1/4 C olive oil, divided 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 Large yellow onion, chopped
• 7 Garlic cloves, minced
• 10 to 12 medium sauce tomatoes, roughly 4 C, chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried Mexican Oregano
• 3 Tbsp ground Cumin

Prep all your ingredients:  Chop the chipotles, onions and garlic.  Trim and cut the roast and preheat the broiler .

Place your peppers on a foil lined baking sheet and place them in the oven to roast, or if you have a gas stove, you can roast each pepper over the flame. Once your peppers are properly blackened and blistered

Place them in a bag to sweat for 15 minutes.

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a dutch oven, stock pot or whatever pot is large enough to cook this stew.

Take half of your chopped roast and dredge it in your flour that you’ve seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper, add this to your pot and cook until browned.  Remove from pot, set aside covered and repeat with the other half of your roast.

In the pot that you’ve just removed the meat from, toss in the onions and garlic and saute about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove the peppers from your bag and rough chop them into 1 to 1 1/2″ pieces.

Once the onions have softened, add in the tomatoes, chipotles, roasted peppers,  meat and seasonings.

Cover and cook all day (why yes, this CAN be done in the crockpot) over low heat.  Stirring occasionally throughout the day, unless it’s in the crockpot.

You can serve this topped with cheese, sour cream, crushed chips, a squeeze of lime or even chopped cilantro.

Nathan nearly fell out of his chair when he took his first bite, he loved it that much.

* poblanos are a bit hotter than anaheims and blending the two made for a nice level of heat.

The longer this cooks, the longer it sits.. day 2 etc… it will get a bit hotter So, feel free to wash the chipotles to lessen their heat, or use fewer.. whatever you need to do.  For us, this was perfect!

Thank you so much for joining in the Mouthwatering Monday Linky! I love food and finding new inspiration for recipes through sharing with others!  I hope you’ll leave a comment, sign the Linky with your recipe URL and visit the others joining the Mouthwatering Fun with us!  Happy Monday y’all!

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

These are not your typical twice baked potatoes… Oh no, these particular twice baked taters… these  are made in the microwave.

Yes.  In the microwave and in under 30 minutes.

These twice baked potatoes are my final recipe and video for the 2K10 Tastemaker Challenge.  This month our challenge was Nutrition in a Time Crunch.  30 minutes being our time crunch.

I went for super simple, super delicious and super quick.  Thus = Twice “Baked” Potatoes

These are MY ingredients.. you could vary them if you’d like.

I also did this with salsa and black beans instead of all that up there ^^^  {drool}

Twice “Baked” Potatoes in Under 30 Minutes

• 2 medium potatoes (remember 110 calories, naturally fat free!!!)
• 1/2 to 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard (how strong do you like the dijon’ness’)
• 1/2 a bunch of green onions, chopped
• about 2 Tbsp bacon bits
• 2 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• salt, pepper, garlic to taste (I keep a shaker of 1/3 salt, 1/3 pepper and 1/3 garlic powder handy)
• 1/2 stick of butter, sliced

1.   Microwave your potatoes.  I used a handy dandy steamer bag and my two ‘large-side-of-medium’ potatoes took 9 minutes.

2.   While your potatoes are ‘baking’ prepare your ingredients:

• chop the green onions
• slice the butter
• grate the cheese
• measure the dijon mustard

3.  Take your potatoes out of the microwave and allow them to cool for a few minutes, then holding one carefully with a hot pad or towel spare t=shirt cut  the “top” off a long ’side’ of the potato

admittedly, not one of my best pictures… but, you get the idea

4.     Scoop the insides of the potatoes out with a spoon, leaving just enough inside so the potato doesn’t collapse, and put the insides into a large bowl.

5.    Add in all but 1 C of cheese to the potato bowl and mix and mash and stir until you have everything well combined and then fill the potato skins with the mixture and top with the remaining cheese

6.    Cook the cheese topped potatoes in the microwave for another 2 1/2 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese.

Take them out of the microwave and give them just enough time to cool off and then devour.

Nathan declared these delicious, tonguegasmic even!

You can watch the recipe in action and bob along to a really fun Potato Song by Cheryl Wheeler by watching my video recipe here and if you’re feeling nice I’d really appreciate you voting/ranking my video by using the stars underneath it.

If you’re linking up your own recipe to Mouthwatering Mondays.. Thanks!  I’m glad to have you participating in the first Mouthwatering Monday linky of 2010!!  Make sure that you link your recipe post url and not just your generic blog url, leave a comment, link back here in your post and visit the other participants!

Welcome to 2010 y’all!!

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.

Jalapeno Cornbread Pudding, Fresh Green Beans with Country Ham and Onions,  Broccoli Cheese Casserole,

Sweet Potatoes, 24 Hour Salad, Beaten Biscuits, Country Ham

Hey y’all.  I actually don’t have a Mouthwatering Monday recipe for y’all today.  It’s been a wonderful but crazy holiday around these parts!  The Monkey has a rampant and ugly case of pink-eye that is topped off with a brutally vicious cough (oh joy)

We’re hitting the road today for our 4.5 hour car ride home.

I would looooove for y’all to link up or leave in the comments your favorite Holiday recipes, Favorite Holiday Food, Favorite Holiday Memory.. etc.

It looks as if I’ll be stuck at home for a few days upon returning, so… great reading material would be much appreciated!

©2010 A Southern Fairytale. 2007 - 2009 A Southern Fairytale. Powered by Jalapenos and Diet Dr Pepper All Rights Reserved.