Finally, the Delicious Recipes and a Winner!

I keep promising you all kinds of things and then forgetting to post them here!

First - the name of my Season of Giving blog candy winner - congratulations to Sue Brailey! Thank you all for all your lovely comments - I wish I could have sent stamps to all of you!

Second, I owe you two AMAZING recipes. These are two of my faves I've made in a long time. As a matter of fact, they are right up there with my Mac and Geez and the Sundried Tomato Risotto.

In Orlando, we were lucky enough to have dinner with Wendy - an incredible artist and one of the most hilarious people I've ever met! We ate at Flemings, which is my favorite steak joint on earth.

So last week I decided to try their Fleming's potatoes, and oh my CAT were they amazing! I modified the recipe slightly, so here it is.

Fleming’s Potatoes

3 Tbsp. diced fresh jalapeños (for me this was one large one)
4 oz leeks, sliced thinly - green tops discarded. Soak the rings in cold water to remove any dirt
1-1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1-1/2 oz. butter, lightly salted
2 cups heavy cream
1-1/2 cups half & half
4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz. jack cheese, grated
3 lbs. Idaho russet potatoes (for me this was five medium potatoes), peeled and sliced very thinly.

Place butter in large sauce pot set on medium high heat. Add jalapeños, leeks, salt and pepper, sauté for 4-5 minutes or until the leeks are soft. Add cream and half & half and bring to a simmer. When cream is hot, pull off stove, add both cheeses and blend it thoroughly.

Butter sides and bottom of a 9” x 13” baking dish. Layer the potatoes in pan, overlapping, and lightly sprinkle with salt between each layer - I found the salt in the sauce too small for all those potatoes. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350° F for  20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another hour until the top is a dark, golden brown. Your amount of time with the foil on might vary depending on your oven. 

Oh my goodness. Whisper my name when you make it..

Next up - Pioneer Woman's Leek pasta. Yes - can you guess that I had four leeks and needed two recipes? Well I was in luck because while I was stamping on Sunday, she was on TV making this recipe!

Now the recipe that they posted on Food Network for her was very different from the way she prepared it on TV, and since I wanted my pancetta crunchy - I did it the way she did it on TV and it's AMAZEBALLS. A friend of mine already tried it and absolutely freaked out. I changed some of the quantities too. Here is the way I did it.

1 lb bowtie pasta, cooked al dente
Reserved pasta water, if needed
4 ounces chopped pancetta - mine came pre-chopped from Whole Foods
2 Leeks, tops discarded, sliced thin - put slices in cold water and separate to remove dirt
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt And freshly ground pepper, to taste
Parmesan Cheese, grated - I probably used 1/4 C or more

Cook pasta and set aside. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Saute chopped pancetta until fat is rendered and it's crispy. Remove pancetta and put on a paper towel on a plate. Add sliced leeks to pancetta grease - there's not much - and until leeks are soft. Add butter while cooking leeks. After 8 to 10 minutes, pour in wine, then cook an additional 1-2 minutes, until reduced. Reduce heat to low, then pour in cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in Parmesan. Toss in pasta, adding a little pasta water to thin as needed (I didn't do this). Serve with Parmesan shavings over the top.

It's amazing. You will love it.

Now - let's stamp, shall we? Today's card is brought to you via the Splitcoast Inspiration challenge. I really needed this today after some technology troubles early in the morning and a super grey, damp day outside. I'm hiding in here anyway from the cedar pollen, so an excuse to stamp was perfect!

The site she chose today is ADORABLE - it's called Octopurse.

To combat the grey skies, I chose this purse for my inspiration - and pulled out that red and green and some flowers to put onto paper.

Snappy huh? That will brighten my day for sure.

I embossed the Pleasant Poppies with white embossing powder before watercoloring with Real Red and River Rock reinkers.

The greeting is from Vintage Verses - which you can get free during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 order.

Easy, quick card you can make while you're fighting internet gremlins! :)

I hope you have a good...

Loveyameanitbye.