Homemade Tater Tots: Fact or Fiction?

Who doesn't love tater tots? They are one of my favorite foods. Never mind that they are probably over-processed, full of chemicals, fried, and frozen. They.Are.Awesome. To be honest, if I have the opportunity to eat tater tots, I'm not really concerned with their ingredients and what makes them so good. What I'm concerned about is ordering and eating my freakin' tots..fast! :)

It's kind of rare to see tots on a restaurant menu. I will order them at any and all restaurants that have them on their menu, no matter what. It's definitely not very foodie-like but I don't care!


A few weeks ago, while enjoying some happy-hour adult beverages, Ryan, our friend Thad, and I were discussing Tater Tots and if they could be made at home. A few questions arose from this very serious discussion:

1. How would you go about making a tot?

2. Is it worth it?

3. Is buying the frozen, bagged kind the only way to go?

I've done a little investigating and there isn't a lot of information on how to make Tater Tots. There are Tater Tot casseroles and Tater Tot bakes, and OMG there is such a thing as Maple Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots....but very few homemade tot recipes. And by very few, I'm saying that I only found like two seemingly legit recipes.

So, my good foodie friends, I'm on a quest to find a homemade tot recipe (Or make one up if it comes to that) and make me some tots!

Any thoughts on some good resources? I'm going to consult some cookbooks and do some online sleuthing and see what I find. This is just the beginning, I wanted to get you all involved so this quest can be truly appreciated and hopefully victorious!

Busy Foodies

hey all, we have been super busy these days!! Between working and wedding planning and studying for the bar, it's been eating out and quick meals for us.
Don't fret...We've got some great posts in the works including some fine dining in our hometown of Sandusky, OH and tonight we are having a dinner party with some of Ryan's classmates! Should be a great night and I will definitely post about our dinner.


FYI- for all Cinci people- every Tuesday at Fountain Square there is a really great open market!! I went during my lunch hour today and it was a great way to spend my lunch. There were about a dozen booths set up and the vendors ranged from fresh lunch choices, bakeries, African Shea Butter, goats milk products, flowers and fresh produce! There was also a wonderful herb booth where I got some great herbs- Herbs De Provence, a Tandoori spice rub, and a Moroccan spice blend. The vendor was so knowledgeable and very friendly. He was even wearing a t-shirt that said "Foodie." on the front which won me over right away. All of the fresh produce were well-priced and looked very tasty. I came back to work with a few ears of sweet corn, my 3 herb packets, and fresh sugar snap peas..All for about $7. Not bad.

Tuesday is normally not a very exciting workday but now it can be!! I believe the market will be going on every Tuesday from 11-2 until the end of August.

Have a great day everyone, stay tuned for photos from the dinner party.

I Win, Ryan Loses...

I'd like to say that I'm the winner this month for posting the most. Ryan can get very Nazi-like always telling me "post! post! post!" "we need so many posts this month" but hmm..I don't see him much on the ole' blog. :) I'm just giving him a hard time. Another reason Ryan loses is that I've made a few dinner for 1 the past few nights (Ryan has been busy with school) and I don't want to brag, but they've been pretty darn tasty.

Last night I made Pesto Halibut Kebabs with steamed spinach and it was a quick and healthy meal. I got the recipe from Cooking Light magazine, I've been perusing this magazine a lot since I've been trying to eat healthy and I'm able to keep track of what I'm eating a little easier because they provide nutrition information. This recipe probably took a grand total of 15 minutes, it was so quick and easy. I bought a 1/2 lb. halibut steak and the fish in to 1 inch cubes. I chopped up 1/2 a red bell pepper in chunks and put the fish and pepper in a bowl and added 1 tbsp. of pesto and a couple splashes of white wine vinegar and some salt.
Now, you are probably asking..did you make your own pesto? And the answer is no..I didn't. I've never made pesto before and I know it's not difficult I honestly just didn't feel like it and the basil didn't look so hot at the grocery. So I bought a jar of prepared pesto. I coated the fish and peppers with the basil and vinegar and then alternated fish and pepper on my skewer. Off it went in to the broiler for 8 minutes. While that was broiling, I just steamed fresh baby spinach in a vegetable basket and when that was done I seasoned it simply with salt and pepper and lemon juice. When the kebab was done I seasoned it with some lemon juice and it was ready to eat! I really liked the dish, the white wine vinegar really complimented the halibut and brightened the whole dish. The pesto was also really great, in retrospect I probably could have added more because in some parts it was a little sparse. The red bell pepper was crunchy and sweet and the white wine vinegar also worked really well with the pepper. My spinach was really simple and wonderful and complimented the kebab really well.Doesn't that look pretty?
It would have been great to have Ryan join me for this meal, but I think this will definitely be a great summer meal where we can be creative and try other veggies and types of fish on the kebab.

Come on Erin and Ryan, be bold...

This is what I said after our dinner we had tonight at Wild Ginger.  This is our second time at Wild Ginger, a great Vietnamese bistro in Hyde Park in Cincinnati.  I have been really craving Asian food lately, I think I've had it 3 times this week so when Ryan asked where I wanted to go for dinner, I decided on Wild Ginger.  The place is always busy and the decor is very modern and "green." For example, our chairs are woven with recycled seat belts and bamboo.  

Ok, back to our dining experience.... The menu at Wild Ginger is really large so it took us forever to decide what to eat.   My method for deciding what to eat is to pick my top 2 or 3 favorites and then close the menu until the server comes back. When they ask me I want I just decide spontaneously between my choices, that way I feel like I get what I really wanted all along.  I had my choices narrowed down to vegetable stir-fry with shrimp, Pho or the fisherman's hot pot.  Pho  (pronounced F-uh) is a Vietnamese dish with white rice noodles in a light beef broth with thinly cut steak garnished with onions and bean sprouts and other seasonings.  I've not had it, nor am I very knowledgeable about Vietnamese dishes, but I read a post on Amateur Gourmet  about his experience with Pho and I was very intrigued.  I was very close to ordering this, but I chickened out and ordered the vegetable stir fry with shrimp.  And don't get me wrong it was good, but pretty standard.  The same with Ryan's dish, he ordered the spicy shrimp stir fry (with a 10 spice level) and it was good, but pretty standard.  And, according to Ryan, not spicy at all (the plight of the white man continues).   So when we got home I kept thinking, "I should have gotten the Pho or sushi, or something new!"  I was getting angry at myself for not being more adventurous.  Especially in light of the fact that we do blog about food and it would have been a much more interesting post if I talked about a new dish or a new sushi roll I tried.  blah.  Next time I vow to be more bold!!  What have I got to lose!?