French Potato Salad

Ok so this recipe was requested by a fellow med student and blogger (miss kara :) quite a long time ago, and I'm finally getting around to posting it.  I made it for our Easter lunch, but unfortunately forgot to get a picture of the final project.  In the blogger world, this is an epic fail.  I do have these two pathetic pictures to demonstrate the potential yumminess of the salad....one is what artichokes look like so you won't be scared to add them to this recipe.....

and the other is all the pieces of the potato salad, minus the potatoes and green beans.  Whoops...

Let's talk about potato salad...I hate the traditional kind so many people love.  The gloppy, kinda yellow-kinda white stuff you can slop together with eggs and a frightening amount of mayonnaise (I have angina right now thinking about that), or worse yet, buy by the pound at Walmart's deli (and by the way, it's been sitting in that case for about a day).  I apologize if you like traditional potato salad...but the medical person in me must tell you that as summer approaches and you're headed to barbecues, avoid making things like this with mayonnaise and eggs, or at the very least, keep it super cold (with a truck full of ice).  Otherwise,  we'll see you in the ER with horrible, rapid onset diarrhea from Staph or Salmonella.  I'll give you fluids but not antibiotics, just so you know.

This would be a good one for your picnics...it's made with a vinaigrette, which is much safer to have around, though you'll still want to keep it nice and cool anyways.  It's refreshing and kinda light...being mainly veggies in a yummy tart sauce.  In my humble opinion, it has a lot of flavor and no mayo.  Everyone wins :)

French Potato Salad

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp mustard
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
1 1/2 lb red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into big chunks
5 scallions, finely chopped
1 14oz can water packed artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup roasted red pepper strips
1/2 cup black olives
Parmesan Cheese

Combine vinegar, mustard, oregano and salt and pepper in a bowl.  Whisk in olive oil.  Set dressing aside.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the beans and cook until just tender.  Scoop beans out and rinse with cold water.  Add potatoes to water and cook until potatoes are just tender.  Drain and put potatoes in a bowl.  Add scallions and drizzle with a few teaspoons of dressing, then toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool.

When ready to serve, combine remaining ingredients with potatoes.  Pour on remaining dressing.  Adjust seasoning and serve.

Strawberry Mudslide Pie

Unbelievably, I started the last of my third year rotations, which is internal medicine.  Eight weeks of inpatient medicine, which I really do enjoy.  I'm at Cook County, which is a bit of an interesting place, but there's a lot of cool pathology there (ie people who let themselves get pretty sick, so we see extremes of common diseases.  And yes, we think this is neat...trust me, you want your doctor to think diseases are cool so they will want to help you with yours).  

I digress...what's going on in that mixer, you ask?  Well it's my strawberry mudslide pie.  Yeah, it's as good as it sounds.  Graham cracker crust (store bought or homemade, depending on how much time you have), a cream cheese/chocolate filling, topped with boozy strawberries.  The rum was not part of the original recipe I got from my mom, but I've been into adding a little alcohol to dishes, and it really makes a big difference.  Feel free to leave it out but come on, it's a few tablespoons.  Your liver will be ok.

It's a good summer dessert...refreshing yet still rich and chocolatey.  Yes :)

Strawberry Mudslide Pie

1 graham cracker crust
1 package chocolate chips
16 oz fat free cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 16 oz bag frozen strawberries, thawed
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp booze (rum, brandy, tequila, whatever)

To make the filling, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted.  In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the cream cheese until smooth.  Beat in vanilla extract, then add the melted chocolate.  Whip until smooth, scraping the bowl several times.  Spread the cream cheese/chocolate mixture into the graham cracker crust, and refrigerate until firm.

Meanwhile, smush up the strawberries while in the bag, then place in a medium saucepan.  Add the corn starch, and heat until thickened.  Stir in the alcohol, turn into a bowl and refrigerate.  When cool, spread strawberry mixture over the pie.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Meat and Veggie Kebobs

I feel like we should start talking about "summer food."  Who doesn't love a good grilled feast?  My in-laws were in town this weekend, and we made kebobs on the grill for our dinner Friday night.  Super big hit!  It was summery and light, and super fun to make (Peter might disagree...he was the one standing on the roof, with 20 mph winds and 40 degrees, trying to keep the crappy grills lit long enough to cook the skewers.  Oh well...

This should make your heart and colon smile :)

The best thing about these is that you can make them however you fancy.  Use your favorite veggies (but please use some veggies....you need them) and a variety of meats.  But the trick, I think, is to keep all the "categories" separate and mix them at the end.  Ie, don't load one skewer with 3 kinds of raw meats and veggies.  I see these at the store and I cringe...yucky raw meat all snuggled up to beautiful produce.  Lets keep Salmonella out of this, shall we?  Besides, steak, chicken, and zucchini have significantly different cooking times.

 

I marinated the chicken and beef in two kinds of bottled, store-bought marinade for about an hour before I skewered and grilled.  Then I tossed the grilled veggies in some of the marinade as well.  (ok so obviously use fresh marinade...leave the left over nasty raw marinade in the bag and toss it!!!)  You could google up a homemade recipe for marinades or make up your own (olive oil/citrus or vinegar/seasonings...something like that), but I was status post surgery final and just couldn't muster up the strength to take that last step.  They were still delicious, so there.

Meat and Veggie Kebobs

Various vegetables, like red onion, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini
Meats, like steak, chicken, sausages, or shrimp
Store bought marinades

Chop the vegetables into similar sized, large pieces.  Skewer the veggies on metal skewers (don't mix with the meat).  Set aside.

Slice the steak/chicken/sausages into 1-2" pieces.  If desired, marinade in a plastic zip-top bag for several hours in the refrigerator.  Skewer onto metal skewers, keeping all the chicken together, all the steak together, etc.  Set aside.

Salt, pepper, and drizzle oil on the vegetable skewers.  Preheat grill to medium-high heat, and grill all the skewers until appropriately cooked (until veggies are crisp-tender, until chicken is cooked through, and until steak looks like how you want it to look).  Remove from grill and place in serving dishes.  Toss veggies in a marinade.

Easy Cheesy Lemon Bars

I know, I know, it's been a while.  The good news: surgery is over!  I just have the stupid shelf exam tomorrow (hopefully I'm ready?  yikes), and then it's off to medicine, my final rotation as a third year.
As I re-enter the real world, I'll hopefully spend more time in the kitchen and as a result blog a bit more :)

Today we had a "study day", which consisted of me sleeping in to the late hour of 6:40 (that is LATE compared to 4am...) and some light-lifting studying.  And baking.  My in-laws are headed into town this weekend, and you know I'm making some yummy treats; more on those later.  Here is a recipe I made for our Easter celebration...the best lemon bars ever.

Lemon bars have many variations...I've seen some with blueberries, some plain just dusted with powdered sugar, some with crust, some without.  These are special because they really are easy, and two, they have a great frosting.  They were a big hit with our friends, and the leftovers didn't last long in our fridge (they are best kept cold).

Easy Cheesy Lemon Bars

1 package lemon cake mix
1 stick butter, softened
3 eggs, divided
1 can lemon frosting
1 8oz package fat free cream cheese (I'm trying here...)

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a 9x13 inch pan.  In a bowl, mix together (dry) cake mix, butter and 1 egg.  Pat into the bottom of a pan (it will be crumbly).  Cream together the frosting and cream cheese.  Remove half of it and save it for the topping.  To the remaining half, beat in two eggs for 3 minutes.  Pour the egg/frosting mixture over the crust, and bake for 30 minutes until set but still a little wiggly.  Allow to cool, and then frost with remaining frosting/cream cheese mixture.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, and then refrigerate leftovers.

The Petting Zoo Phenomenon

Have you ever gone to the doctor's office (pick your favorite flavor) and wondered how they decided to do whatever it is they do?  Why family medicine?  Why internal?  Why OB/GYN?  Why surgery? (seriously...why?)  If you're curious, lets talk for a minute about how doctors are born.  And how third year medical students are supposed to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life after a few short months of living in the Petting Zoo Phenomenon.

Imagine it's your first day of third year of medical school, and you just spent (at least) 4 years trying to get into medical school, then another 2 slaving away in some dark closet trying to get good grades.  They just let you loose in a hospital.  Ready; go.

-Babies are flying out of people...
-Psychotics (and your attendings) are yelling at you...
-An old lady is hugging you for helping her...
-You sutured a drunk guy's face by yourself....
-You just intubated for the first time...
-You held a chunky 6 month old who came to the office for a well-baby check...(and then gave her shots)
-You heard a heart murmur for the first time in a 9 year old...
-Somebody's bone was poking out of their arm.
-You personally pushed the last round of epinephrine to revive a crack addict who stopped his heart

Third year is a petting zoo.  It's everything we've learned about, but with a beating heart and perfused capillary beds.  Instead of fluffy camels, turtles, and duckies, we have neonates, bleeding people, cancer patients, and snotty noses.  Everything is new and exciting.  Think of how hard it might be to tease out if you love a certain rotation and field because it's right for you, or because it's intense and fun.  The name of the game is to quick....decide what was the most fun, the most intriguing, the most satisfying part.

I'm lucky because peds has been my calling (I've ignored it from time to time, but I've been able to come back to it and know it's where I'm supposed to be).  But I am not immune to the Petting Zoo Phenomenon.  ER was super fun...it was a mess; fast paced, icky, and random.  Oddly, I really liked all of those things.  It was boring primary care ("umm...I woke up with a sore throat...it's not that bad but I thought I should be checked out...".or, "Umm...I've had chest pain for 6 months..." and then BAM, mega trauma car accident, crack addict, heart attack, laceration-sewing fun stuff.  It was bright and shiny and whew it took me a while to tease out if I could picture my self as a 50-something year old attending going "yes, this is where I should be".  It wasn't (at least I don't think it is...).  I can, however, see myself limping around a nursery when I'm 103, performing my millionth newborn examination and catching that one cool anomaly I haven't seen since 2021.

So why is there so much pressure on third year?  In September, we will all apply for our residencies...ie, what field we will commit 3-7 more years of our lives for training then a long career in peds/IM/ER/surgery/OBgyn/brain surgery/whatever.  Hug your doctor sometime...they made a big decision as a young person in a medical petting zoo to be able to help you.  A lot of us are huggers; it won't be weird.

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

You can't see the chocolate, but it's there :)

How is it Friday already?  Whoopsies, it's been a while since I've blogged...but to be completely honest, surgery is interfering with my baking time.  Priorities...

Whatever...I made this a while ago, and it's one of our favorites.  Banana cream pie has always been one of Peter's favorites, and with a layer of chocolate at the bottom, you really can't go wrong.  If you really wanted to get crazy, you could spread some peanut butter on the crust before you placed the chocolate pieces.  A word of warning though...don't melt the chocolate and spread it on the bottom of the pie.  I know, it seems like a really good idea but it's not.  The chocolate gets super hard and it makes eating the pie really awkward.  As you try to fork though the slice, it will go flying off your plate.  Just keep it in chunks.  

If you don't know by now, I hate bananas...like hate them.  But I find that I don't mind the flavor of banana pudding.  Not the potassium powerhouse that a real banana is, but I'll figure that out somewhere else in my diet.  Don't worry about me.

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie
1 chocolate graham cracker crust
2 Hershey's chocolate bars, broken into pieces
2 packages instant sugar free banana cream pudding mix
Milk
4 oz Cool Whip

Place chocolate in the bottom of the pie shell.  Prepare pudding:  mix both packets with the amount of milk for a pie (on the box).  Spread half the pudding on top of the chocolate.  Fold the Cool Whip into the remaining pudding, and spread on top of the plain pudding layer.  Refrigerate until ready to serve :)