my new knife

not for a scary Halloween costume but for cooking!
after watching every single Food Network tv chef use one of these, i finally went out and bought a Santoku knife.


my life now rules. as does Thurston's since i will be using this knife as often as possible and, thus, he will have more homecooked dinners than ever before! and don't even get me started about the meals that will come forth from the slow cooker currently en route to our home (thanks for the idea, Jolie!):


using my new knife i made the recipe below. which is entirely unrelated to Halloween but i made these last night and they a) ruled and b) were of minimal Weight Watchers points value.

Smashed Potatoes with (Turkey) Bacon

1 bag of baby red potatoes (28 oz.)
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
pinch Kosher salt (or to taste)
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth/stock
Pam spray
2 slices turkey bacon (i used Louis Rich)
1 medium shallot, diced

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add kosher salt and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are fork tender.

While the potatoes are in the pot, cook together in a skillet bacon (according to package directions) and shallots. You could also microwave the bacon and just cook the shallots alone, if you want. Once bacon is crispy, remove from heat and shop bacon into small pieces.

Once potatoes are fork-tender, drain them in a colander and return them to the still warm pot. Add the sour cream and chicken broth and mash around with a fork, spoon, spatula, masher, whatever, leaving as many chunks as you like. Near the end of the smashing process, toss in the bacon and shallots and kosher salt. Serves 6.