Once upon a time there was... Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps

Wrapping food in lettuce just makes it seem so much healthier. "Yes waiter, I'll have the large soda, fries, and bacon double cheeseburger - but could you sub a lettuce wrap for the roll? I'm on a diet. " That's my kind of diet.

So now take an already pretty healthy meal, like chicken satay, and wrap it in lettuce, and you've got a super healthy dinner! Cornelius and I didn't invent this concept, but we did invent this exact variation. It's a mess to eat, and it's time consuming to make - but it is also delicious and healthy! (it's wrapped in lettuce, isn't it?)

Once upon a time there was... Sage Butter Chicken

Here is a new recipe for a great quick weeknight meal.  We decided it should have a dollop of some kind of sauce - it will be up to you, Castle Farm Cookbook readers, to help us decide what that should be.  We will include our thoughts on future adaptations.  

We saw a few variations of this recipe but we sufficiently changed them so we're going to consider this one our own.  So here it is, Sage Butter Chicken du Cornelius.

Once upon a time there was... French Beef Stew!

I am reminded of an old pig proverb: Sometimes, stews happen.

Today I'll be making a French Beef Stew from AllRecipes. Cal was lured into participating in my last beef stew, but that's because there was beer involved. Today, he refused, so I've asked my friend Millard (the Elephant) to make his Castle Farm Cookbook debut and help. He's great to have around for multi-ingredient meals because he always remembers to include everything.

Millard's note: Actually, I've been here before (scroll to the bottom). I never forget these kinds of things.

Once upon a time there was... Baguettes!

Today, I'll be flying solo and making some delicious French baguettes. Cornelius isn't helping because - let's put this nicely - he doesn't like to wait so long to bake good bread. He'll be back later with a recipe that I am not participating in. A nice home-baked loaf of bread is one of the best things in the world. And this recipe makes 2 loaves! The recipe comes from our Good Housekeeping cookbook. It may not be as exciting as our Beer Bread, but it still is wonderful.

Once upon a time there was... Honey Mustard Egg Salad

You're not going to believe this...we still don't. It's snowing again. After we got 23" (over 3 farm animals) of Snowmageddon, Snowverkill is currently dropping about another foot. It's a dangerous place for a small cow!

With crazy blizzard wind warnings, we are again afraid of what we will eat if the power goes out. So today we will make another one of our cold-meal specials: egg salad. But this time, we will invent a honey mustard twist!

Once upon a time there was... Sweet and Savory Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potato is one of nature's most versatile foods (and we would know). Also, some people call this a yam. We think that's a funny word, so we go with sweet potato in any case. Some people hated yams from their childhood side dish dramas, so we will say this is a sweet potato (even though the orange-fleshed ones taste better). Deal with it!

Here's a great recipe we invented for Yams Two-Ways - or as we like to call it, Sweet and Savory Sweet Potatoes.

Once upon a time there was... Creamy and Lemony Potato Salad

As Snowmageddon 2010 approached, we started to plan ahead for the food we would eat over the weekend. Normally, we would have set up some sort of extravaganza. However, there were two problems: first, there was nothing left in any grocery store in the entire region, and second, we thought we might lose power at some point. Remember, this is Snowmageddon - 2 feet or more of wet, heavy snow.

So, what can you find at a barren grocery store and also eat cold? Potatoes!

We decided to make a quick potato salad, adapting a recipe from our trusty Good Housekeeping cookbook. Here is what you need:

makes 10 side servings

Ingredients
3 pounds of potato (we scaled the recipe down but will give you the full one. Also, the recipe calls for normal baking potatoes, but as you can see we used a mix of small red and yellow potatoes for variety)
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1/4 cup of milk
3 tbsp lemon juice (if you don't want lemon, omit the peel and replace the juice with 2 Tbsp distilled white vinegar)

1 tsp lemon peel
2 tbsp green onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

ground pepper to taste
chopped celery (optional; we didn't have any)

Instructions

1. Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork or knife.

2. Drain the potatoes, let cool. Chop, dice, or slice the potatoes to your desired size. We made a variety of cuts in our small potatoes. Cal always says, variety is the spice of life. (Optional: peel before cutting. We like potato skins, especially the red ones, so we left them this time.)

3. Whisk together the milk, mayo, lemon juice (or vinegar), lemon peel, green onion, salt, sugar, and pepper.

4. Add the potatoes, toss to coat.

5. Optional step: if you want a chunkier potato salad, you are done. That's what Cal wanted, but I decided to MASH MASH MASH the potatoes for a creamier potato salad. Find your favorite utensils and smash away!

6. Serve chilled - perhaps in a powerless apartment during a snowstorm!

Here's the nutritional info. Keep in mind that different types of mayo and milk will lead to very different results. We used 1% milk and Helman's reduced fat mayo.

Pig, out!