Impromptu Dinner Guests

So last night my husband was meeting with a customer and offered up our home for him to stay which makes a lot of sense, we live a ways from any hotels and for sure have the space for guests so I was happy to have him stay with us. But that also meant that I was on the spot for dinner for our guest and a couple of friends whom one is also a co-worker of the hubby.

I was lucky enough to have thawed out a pre marinated beef tenderloin from Sam's Club on Sunday to use this week so I just needed to add some sides and we would have a full meal for the 5 of us. I purchased potatoes on Monday at the store which I rarely do because well I love potatoes and I love to eat potatoes so I don't buy said potatoes. But Monday for some reason they spoke to me, call it comfort foods of fall or maybe I knew I had a tenderloin thawing in the fridge but I bought them and I'm happy I did!

So I went straight to Pinterest (visit my Good Fixings board on Pinterest for this pin and many other yummy recipes) and found a great recipe called Melting Potatoes and thought it was worth a try, doesn't thyme, garlic and butter sound great on a potato to accompany a nice rarely grilled tenderloin. The Melting Potatoes were AMAZING!!! They do take some time to put together and you can't just put them in the oven and forget them but they are worth the effort and as my husband said we served a high end restaurant meal in our own home which is better than a restaurant any day any way!

To round out the meal I made red wine and butter poached mushrooms, roasted broccoli, rolls and apple turnovers using crescent roll dough with plenty of red wine (and Busch Light for the non-red wine fans) to go around.

Here is the recipe for the Melting Potatoes from the Spicy Southern Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (I used red potatoes)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (I used 1 tsp dried thyme)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1¼ cups chicken broth
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed and peeled

Instructions

1. Place oven rack in upper-middle position of oven and heat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Combine melted butter, thyme, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
3. Square off ends of potatoes and cut into ¾ to 1-inch thick disks.
4. Toss potato slices in butter mixture and arrange in a single layer in a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan.
5. Roast for 15 minutes.
6. Remove pan from oven and use a spatula to flip potatoes over. Place back in oven for 15 minutes.
7. Remove pans from oven and flip potatoes one more time. Add chicken broth and garlic. Place back in oven until potatoes are tender, about another 15 minutes.
8. Baste potatoes with sauce and serve.

Notes

Be sure to use a metal baking pan. A glass baking dish can shatter in a very hot oven.

Back to blogging (and a FUN recipe)

I have missed blogging, but things have been crazy in our lives (you know like everyone else's lives, when did we all get soooo busy?) but I have missed blogging, the therapy of sitting down at a computer and knocking out some words that reflect how I feel, think, act or whatever at the time. I usually like to have a plan when I am 'back to blogging' but this time I'm keeping it free form...so you have been forewarned that this will be an even more random blog that it has been since inception.

One thing that remains the same is there will be cooking. Here is a fun little recipe that I made last Saturday when we had some folks over to watch the Iowa/Wisconsin Game. Yes I said the Iowa game...I was wearing my Mizzou shirt and there was another Mizzou influence in the mix.

The recipe is super simple and works great in our donut pans we got as a wedding gift which makes me feel a little better about them since they are baked and not fried!

Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Cider Donuts

Even Truman approves!!!