patato patoto

I am a carb-oholic, I would never last on atkins.

This mashed potato recipe is perfect! I subbed 1/2 cup of fat free milk for the 2 tablespoons of light sour cream and achieved great results without altering the calorie count. I left the skins on, but actually think the end result would be better without them. They all kind of clumped at the bottom of my stand mixer bowl anyway. Sprinkled lots of salt and pepper, this mashed potato recipe is not only fool proof but taste proof. You have no idea you are eating a healthy side! And with only 178 calories per 3/4 cup, you could easily sprinkle some cheese on top and not feel guilty.

I usually boil my potatoes with a chicken bouillon cube, but was running low and opted not to. I think it would of given them even more flavor, so if you have an extra one, throw it in!

Mashed Potatoes
recipe and picture courtesy of eatingwell.com

3 pounds baking potatoes (about 8 potatoes), peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
Salt to taste
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, heated
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Place potatoes in a large heavy pot and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes and return to the pot. Off the heat, mash potatoes, adding enough hot broth to make a smooth puree. Stir in sour cream and season with salt and pepper.

PS - this is my 100th post; YAY!

Attention Carb Lovers

You're gonna love THESE!

They bake up super crispy on the outside.... but the inside... oh man the inside... it's like mashed potatoes in there!

It is by far one of the best frozen foods I have purchased in quite some time.

Not to mention, when I googled them to get a picture for this post, I discovered they make all sorts of frozen foods. Can't wait to try some of their other stuff!

http://alexiafoods.com/index.html

what was your first?

Potato cakes were among the first things I ever made. Sauteed onions were also around in the beginning. There is just something about sauteing an onion when you are 5 that makes you think you rule the world. Staying the night at meme's always meant two things - unlimited food network consumption and potato cakes.

Now that I am a little older and know how to decide what add ins will be good for a dish, I have expanded on the traditional potato cake. Although, the basic recipe is still pretty awesome in my book. Bradley has never eaten one and I always say I'm going to make them but we never have left over mashed potatoes. Truth be told, anything made from a potato in this house isn't going to be here long. I used my 45 minute drive home from work yesterday to think about all the things that I love to put on my baked potato and came up with this recipe -

Loaded Potato Cakes
recipe by me

2 cups left over creamed/mashed potatoes - still cold
4 strips of bacon
1/4 - 1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 cup your favorite cheese
1 tbl spn flour
1 egg, beaten
your favorite breading - i used a flour cornmeal mix with special spices
oil for frying

cook the bacon and crumble it into the potatoes. add the onions to the bacon grease and let them become translucent, drain them from the grease and add to the potatoes. stir in the cheese, flour and egg.

heat a pot of oil.

take a spoon full of the potato mixture and form a ball shape , roll it in your breading and drop into the hot oil. cook until golden brown.

~~~~~

something old meets something new

Tonight I decided to try cooking something that I was supposed to cook for the Platinum Chef competition that I lazied out on. I tried cooking leeks.

When I told Bradley what I was doing, he asked what a leek was. I showed it to him and his face fell. I knew what he was thinking so I reassured his onion hating self that, "they aren't nearly as strong as an onion. just be open minded." He was. He described this dish as "excellent". I really loved them, too. It was a sweet and savory mix that was oh so good.

Leeky Potatoes
by me

8 small red potatoes (slightly larger than new potatoes)
1 leek
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper



heat the butter and oil in a large skillet. stir in the red pepper and the rosemary and heat for at least 5 minutes to infuse the oil. i actually added the garlic at this point and i knew better than that, my garlic burnt. please do not make my mistake. do as i type, not as i do.











wash your potatoes and cut a small piece of each end off. then cut them in half long ways and slice them into half moons. make sure all your slices are about the same size so they will cook evenly. (the pieces with the flesh showing are the end pieces i cut off)








crank the heat up to about medium and let the pan get a little smoky. arrange the potatoes in a single layer and cook, tossing and stirring every few minutes.


prepare the leek by cutting the green end and the woody bit on the white end off and discarding. from there, cut the leek in half long ways, and then into half moons.











once the potatoes start to turn golden brown, stir in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. then sprinkle on the leeks and cook just until they become limber. if you overcook them, they turn to mush and aren't good at all.

salt and pepper to your liking, give it one last stir - and plate it up!!!

Different as Black and White

I am continuing to learn about cooking. I learn new things each time I cook and remember to either do it again or never do it again. This weekend I learned an important lesson.

Do you know the difference between black pepper and white pepper?

Let me enlighten you.

Black pepper is the entire peppercorn either ground or finely crushed, based on preference. It does have a kick to it. It is also harder for your body to digest.

White pepper is what remains of the peppercorn once the outer black shell is removed. It is much milder and easier for your body to digest.

When you are in the middle of a recipe and it calls for an amount of white pepper and all you have is black.... do not use the same measure of black pepper. Use about half of what it calls for. Trust me.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can go on to talk about my new favorite kind of mashed potato, the garlic rosemary kind.....

Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
based upon the original recipe found here

2.5 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, washed and cubed (peels remain)
2 tblspns of olive oil
1 & 1/2 tspns of minced garlic - which is about 3 cloves
2 tspns of dried rosemary - is you have fresh, it would work so much better, just mince it first
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn black pepper
8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed

Boil the potatoes. Meanwhile, saute the oil, garlic and rosemary. Once the potatoes are fork tender, transfer to your Kitchen Aid (or you can hand mash, this is just easier) and pour the garlic and rosemary mixture over them. Stir together. Pour the milk, salt and pepper over the potatoes and start the mixer. I kept it around the 2 - 4 speed. Once it is starting to look like mashed potatoes, drop the cubes of cream cheese in one at a time until they are well blended.

~~~~~

SO good! I really wish I had of splurged and bought fresh rosemary, because it wasn't as strong as I felt that it needed to be. The measure for black pepper IS correct in the above recipe, i used double that and really regretted it. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't enjoy the dish, but you could tell they were "over peppered". I plated mine up covered in the gravy from the roast - it was perfect!

I'm grounded.

Grounded? Yes, grounded.

From the grocery.....

It's the other place that my paycheck goes to. Half goes to my car payment, the other half to publix. Car payments make me sad, cooking makes me happy. It's a vicious cycle, really.

So I have been coming up with very inventive dinners based upon what is in my cabinet. Lucky for me I have a gourmet cabinet/fridge. The other night I used the last of my good white wine making a sauce, which I tossed with elbow mac, topped with canned tomato sauce, chopped chicken fingers and shredded cheese. See! Creative, yet.... non gourmet. Eh.

So last night, we had a "fish fry". There was a trio of campfire goodies: baked crunchy fish fillets, "hush puppies" (which were actually mini corn muffins) and the star of the show... twice baked potatoes!


Twice Baked Potatoes for Two
recipe by me

2 idaho potatoes, scrubbed and baked (any potato, i prefer idaho)
4 strips of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup shredded gouda (or any cheese you prefer)
1/4 cup sour cream
pepper to taste
some sort of seasoning salt (i used emeril's) to taste
splash of buttermilk (milk or cream would work too)

Bake the potatoes, cut a weird oval from the top and scoop out the meat into a mixing bowl. Fry the bacon and set it aside to drain and cool. Fry the onions in the grease until they start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer. Drain the onions and garlic and put them into the mix. Add all the ingredients into the bowl, except the milk. Mix well and then add the milk. You want it to be almost too wet. Baking them again takes a lot of moisture out. Stuff your shells and re-bake the potatoes in a 350* over for 20 minutes.

~~~~~

The key to good twice baked potatoes is to actually bake (not in foil) them the first time. I of course did not have an additional hour and a half since it was a week night, so I cheated and used the microwave. It works the same, but it does not harden the skin, which makes it a little tricky when you are scooping out the insides.

Bradley dubbed them "a big hit". I'm glad the fish fry went well.

Can we have a round of applause for me having made cornbread for the first time?! You should of seen bradley's face, "You made what?".

Shake 'n Bake, baby, Shake 'n Bake!!!!

For all those Talladega Nights fans out there!!

Shake'n'Bake was something that the grocery use to sell and now I don't see it!! Mama would buy it and always add cayenne pepper to the shake part... we love spicy foods! Rachel Ray does Cajun Oven Potatoes... and that was pretty close. I tweaked it a little so it would take me right back to that hunter green kitchen table......


Hot Potato!!
a combination recipe featuring me, Rachel Ray and mama

4 idaho potatoes
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoon of tabasco, louisiana hot sauce... any of those variations
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper (not for the faint of tongue)
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Cut the potatoes into wedges, the size is up to you as long as they are all uniform, but bite size wedges work the best. Put the wedges into a big ziploc bag, pour in the olive oil and the rest of the ingredients - except for the salt and pepper. Zip your bag and SHAKE AWAY! Mine marinated for almost 2 hours last night. I would just shake them when I would think about it, being sure they are all covered.

When you get ready to cook them, preheat your oven to 450*. Line a cookie sheet with foil, spray the foil with non stick spray, pour the contents of the bag onto the foil and spread them out so they aren't touching. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and put them in the oven for 10 minutes. Take them out, stir them around and put them back in for 10 more minutes.

To cool them off, mix 2 spoonfuls of sour cream with 2 spoonfuls of mayonnaise, add just enough lemon juice to make it not so thick but not so much that it makes you pucker. (sorry, bad directions!) Try just adding a few drops at a time and taste it each time you add a few drops. Then add about a teaspoon of dill. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the dill soak into the dip. Serve it along side the potatoes as a great dipping sauce.