In the Kitchen

Tonight, we had marinated chicken breasts on the grill, and I had fun preparing some side dishes and dessert, earlier today. I thought I'd share some recipes. I tend to make Steve a bit crazy, because I'm forever tearing recipes out of magazines, or printing recipes off the internet, and he wonders why I don't just refer to my gigantic collection of cookbooks. What can I say, I can't help myself.

Best Potato Salad (from Cooking Downeast, By Marjorie Standish)

Pare and cook eight medium-sized potatoes. Drain and cool enough so they may be handled. While potatoes are still warm dice them in a bowl. Pour the following dressing over them, doing this while they are still warm to insure better flavor:

dressing:
8 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
a shake or two of red pepper (*I omitted this)
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 tbsp. parsley (I used dried parsley)
2 tbsp. finely minced onion

Stir salad with dressing so that each piece of potato is saturated. Cool, then refrigerate. Leave in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, mix with mayonnaise. Serves 8.
**I halved this recipe. Steve isn't a fan of potato salad, but said that he loved this. I added a sliced hard-boiled egg to the top.

Grandmother's Pound Cake (from allrecipes.com)

• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tbsp. + 1 3/4 tsp. milk (I used heavy whipping cream)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan (or spray with nonstick spray). In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the flour alternately with the milk, mixing until just combined. Spread batter evenly into loaf pan. Bake for approximately 60-70 minutes - - start checking around 55 minutes by inserting toothpick until it comes out clean. When done, remove from oven and immediately loosen cake edges from pan with knife. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

(**To serve, I sliced the cake and lightly brushed each side with melted butter, then grilled each side lightly on the grill. I made a warm fruit sauce from blueberries and blackberries, and poured some over each piece, and topped with whipped cream.)