Smashed Potatoes

My new favorite way to make red potatoes.  I go through phases, this is my current favorite.  And super easy.

This is from the Pioneer Woman.  Usually her recipes are winners, occasionally they're a little too spicy for me...

1.  Boil red potatoes until they are fork tender.
2.  (I cut mine in half in order to make the next step easier).
3.  Place the potatoes on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil and, using a potato masher, smash them.  Not to smithereens, but pretty flat.  (She has some good pictures to help this make sense, feel free to check out the original recipe.)
4.  Now it's time to season them.  I don't remember what she suggests, I used garlic powder and sea salt.  Easy, simple, delicious.
5.  Drizzle with olive oil.
6.  Bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes.

They seriously come out like a mix between mashed potatoes and hash browns.  I could eat like 10 of them in one sitting.

I've already made them twice in a week and look forward to my next batch of red potatoes from Bountiful Basket so I can make them again!

Dutch Oven Potatoes

I am STILL trying to use up all my potatoes from my bountiful baskets.  Fortunately they hold for awhile, because honestly, I have had a TON for over a month now.  And I even gave away half a bag to our neighbors.  I'm probably down to half a bag, so maybe in the next week or two I can use them up.

Tonight's use of potatoes was a HUGE success.  I was afraid that it wouldn't have a lot of flavor since I had to make the soup myself and I didn't use the onions, but it was AMAZING.  Both Callen and I said that several times.  This is DEFINITELY going to be made again.

I found the recipe here.  I'll put my modifications in red.

Dutch Oven Potatoes
1 pound bacon (really I don't think it matters how much you use, just to preference.  I used enough to fill the bottom of my dutch oven in a single layer.)
5-7 pounds potatoes (I used 9 small potatoes, cut into 1/4" rounds)
1 large can (28 oz) cream of mushroom soup (I made my own to have a soyfree recipe.  I melted 4 T butter in a saucepan, then mixed in 4 T flour.  When it was fully mixed I slowly stirred in 2 c. milk, then let it cook until it thickened, about 5 mins.  Then I added about 7-8 minced mushrooms).
2 cups milk (since I uses less bacon/potatoes then the recipe called for, I omitted this.  Plus my homemade cream of mushroom soup tends to be a bit thinner than canned soup, so I didn't want it to be too runny)
1-2 medium onions chopped finely (didn't use per hubby's standing request)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2-3 c. shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 (you can also use coals to do this as the original author did).
Cook bacon in dutch oven (I probably kept it in the oven for about 15-20 mins)
Shred bacon into small pieces.  Add potatoes, soup, milk, onion and salt and pepper.
Mix together in dutch oven, put back in oven.
Let cook for 35-40 mins.
Take off lid, sprinkle on the cheese and more salt and pepper if needed, then cook again until cheese is melted (I did about 5 mins more).
Enjoy!  Definitely 5 stars

Loaded Potato Rounds

I have a TON of potatoes.  Like maybe 15 potatoes.  For 2 3/4 people (2 adults, a 3 year old and a 6 mo. old), that's a lot of potatoes.  So I've been experimenting with all sorts of potato recipes.  This one is a keeper.  Callen called them nachos.  All the cheese made them stick together after they cooked and he went to get some and apparently the rule is, if they are stuck together, you have to eat them all.  So he got quite a large serving.  (Obviously, I use a lot of cheese).

Anyhow, these are easy enough.  Slice the potatoes into 1/4 in thick rounds, and put them in boiling water for about 3 mins, so they are a little tender.  Take them out and pat them dry with a paper towel.

Sprinkle some already cooked bacon on top of them, then load on the cheddar!  Cook at 375 for about 10-12 minutes.  And obviously, serve them with ranch.  Or sour cream.  But preferably ranch.

4.5 stars

Roasted Potatoes

Sometimes I get in a rut.  I find a good way to make something and then just do the same thing over and over again.  I know it's going to be good, so why try something else that might not be good?  I do the same thing when I go out to eat.  I order the same thing all the time because I know it's good.  I have loved getting a bountiful basket each week because it forces me out of my comfort zone.  I have to try new things because otherwise I wear myself out on the same old-same old.

Welcome, potatoes.  I love mashed potatoes.  I could probably happily eat them every meal.  Well, maybe at least every day.  But Callen tends to wear out on things faster than me.  So I had to find a new potato recipe.  Found one here.  Loved it.

Basically, you slice the potatoes into wedges.  Coat them in olive oil, then sprinkle them with a mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.  The recipe called for spices, I chose to use garlic salt (a staple in this house).  Then you bake them!  That's it!  I love easy and I love me some potatoes wedges.

(I was worried that the crumbs mess on the pan would burn and cause a huge disaster later, but it ended up being not a big deal...)

Rating?  4.9 stars.  Almost perfect.  (Especially since I successfully made them without burning them!)

Tater Tots

For some reason, I always want to spell it tator tots.  Maybe because they're potatoes?  Not sure.

Anyhow, this was somewhat of a disaster.

Bake the potatoes, then grate them while they're hot.  I've tried this before and this time it went a lot better.

Then add a few things, flour, salt and pepper.  Roll them into balls, then fry them.  Seems simple enough.  However, I don't think my oil was hot enough and the balls sat in the oil for too long, cuz they from this:

to this:

They didn't stay together.  So I turned up the heat, tried the next batch

And they stayed together much better.  I forgot to take a picture of the ending, but they worked for what I need.  I plan to make a tater tot casserole tomorrow and so these are now in the freezer, waiting to go on top.  Cheese will be spread over it, so even if they are crumbly and frankly just ugly, they still taste fine.

Overall rating:  3.0 stars.  Next time I'll just buy tater tots.  Even if I am trying to save money and use up my potatoes before they go bad...

Potato Rings

I didn't take any pictures of this disaster, but I'll post about it anyway.  I got the recipe here.  You can see pictures on her blog of what it is supposed to look like.

I took potatoes and made mashed potatoes.  Then I spread them out in a cookie sheet and put them in the fridge.

The next morning I cut them into rings.  Well, let me clarify.  I tried to cut them into rings.  This is where the breakdown occurred.  I couldn't get the mashed potatoes to stay together, so I ended up just cutting them into circles and then dipping them into the flour mixture, the egg, and back in the flour mixture.  (See the actual recipe if you're actually interested in what is was).  My second problem may have been that I ended up with way too much flour mixture on the mashed potatoes.  But, anyhow, I finished up and then froze them.

The last step was to then fry them.  Easy, done.

So when it came down to the eating part, they just tasted very... floury.  I guess my expectations were once again different cuz I thought they would be crunchier.  But considering it was filled with mashed potatoes, I don't know why I thought that.  So maybe next time I would use less flour mixture in my breading and maybe make the oil hotter so the outside will be crunchier.  If I ever decide to make it again.

Final verdict:  1 star