Seventh Edition (MDW)

Happy Friday!

Welcome to a Memorial Day Weekend edition of Kiki’s. 

Erik and I were fortunate to host some of our closest friends over MDW, and I wanted to share some of the meals we had together. 

Canva is awesome for putting together itineraries! Very helpful for letting guests know what to pack for the weekend, keeping everyone on schedule and organized!

Breakfast

Sweet Potato Crust Quiche

• See our 6th edition for the full recipe breakdown - in this particular version I used peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spinach and topped with crumbled feta and chopped chives from my garden. I promise it looks like a lot more effort than it is!

Homemade Hashbrowns

• One of my all time favorite breakfast foods. Making from scratch is so easy and totally worth the extra effort!

• Simply boil russet potatoes in heavily salted water for 6-8 minutes or until fork tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Store in the fridge until ready to use

• When ready to cook: 

  • Heat up a few tablespoons of a neutral oil in a large skillet over medium heat

  • While skillet is heating, shred potatoes using a box grater (it doesn’t take many potatoes to fill a pan - maybe 2-3)

  • Add shredded potatoes to your skillet when oil is hot (I usually test a few before adding them all in - potatoes should audibly sizzle) 

  • After all my potatoes are added I will drizzle with more oil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and Lawry’s season salt

  • Let hashbrowns cook undisturbed until brown around the edges - that’s how you will know when it’s ready to flip!

  • After flipping, cook until desired crispiness :)

Salty Date & Cheddar Biscuits

• Full recipe here

• Another fantastic biscuit recipe from Molly Baz. I somehow like this one even more than the sour cream and onion version. We’ve been making them every chance we get! 

• If you’re new to biscuit making I recommend watching Molly’s youtube tutorial to learn how to fold the dough 

Dinner / Grill Out / Dessert

Burgers, Brats, Corn Casserole, Asparagus, Pasta Salad

If you’re local to Cincinnati, highly recommend checking out Messmer Farms at the Lunken Farmer’s Market. Awesome burgers and the best brat I’ve ever had.

Corn casserole

• Also featured in our Thanksgiving edition but it’s great year round :)

  

Grilled asparagus 

• One of my favorite veggies to grill 

• Wash your asparagus and remove woody ends 

• Drizzle with olive oil and season with steak seasoning. This one is my favorite

Pasta salad 

• I made a more traditional pasta salad using Olive Garden dressing to save time but we have also been loving this pasta salad from Allison Roman 

• Included tricolor rotini, feta, green and red bell pepper, red onion, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, and cherry tomatoes

• I love my chopper for recipes like this. I believe the one I have is from TJ Maxx but this one is similar 

• Simply chop all your veggies and toss with your cooked pasta. Dress with the full bottle of Olive Garden Italian dressing and season generously with McCormick Salad Supreme 

• Best if you can prepare a day ahead!

Strawberry Shortcake 

• In my opinion, the star of the weekend was the Strawberry Shortcake I made for my friend’s birthday. So simple to make and insanely delicious (in large part due to delicious in-season berries)

• I made the recipe from my Sweet Tooth Cookbook but she has an almost identical recipe on her blog. The only differences I see are specifying ¼ cup of demerara sugar for topping (to me this is NOT optional - the crunch from the sugar really puts this cake over the top) and she added 2 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar to the whip cream in the book version. This is the demerara sugar I got on amazon 

• A quick plug for Sweet Tooth - Between my sister and I, we’ve made 10+ desserts from this book and every single one has been amazing. Highly recommend checking out her book and/or blog

• This cake was so good I made it again the next day for my sister and her husband 

Thank you so much for continuing to read and share. Please reply with any feedback, pictures or ideas for future editions! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christina