Leek & Potato Soup

When Dave and I went to Ireland, one of my favorite meals included a delicious bowl of leek and potato soup. It was fresh, creamy and the perfect consistency. Ever since I've wanted to make a version at home and I've finally gotten around to it. And the timing is great for a beautiful and healthy green dish for St. Patrick's Day next week. This soup is simple to make and has very few ingredients but tons of flavor. I love the flavor leeks give to dishes, so a soup that celebrates the leek itself makes me very happy. This soup seems fancy but uses just a few ingredients and is ready in less than 30 minutes.

Patriotic Potato Salad

This weekend we'll celebrate Fourth of July and I'm looking forward to a cookout with friends. Besides burgers and hot dogs, I'll make up some yummy baked beans and this potato salad, perfectly festive with red, white and blue potatoes. I made this last year and it was a big hit, so I'm looking forward to it again, provided the farm will again have this lovely mix of potatoes. I'm usually partial to a mayo based potato salad dressing, but this combo of mustard and cider vinegar is an excellent change of pace. Quick to put together, you could whip this up on Friday morning just before heading off to your cook out, or make it the night before to save some time.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

I love taters.  It must be the Irish in me, but whatever it is, I can't get enough of them: fried, roasted, baked or mashed.  Mmm, mashed.  It's by far my favorite way to shovel potatoes into my face.  Since we're frying our turkey this Thanksgiving, I wanted a flavor-packed variation since I won't have pan drippings to make gravy.  I have some other gravy-making alternatives in mind, but in case those don't quite work out, at least these potatoes can stand on their own.  Loaded with cheese, sour cream, bacon and scallions, it's like potato skins in mashed potato form.  Creamy and delicious, how could you not want to pile these onto your plate?

Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

Much as I love to bake and cook, when I come home from work, the last thing I want to do is hurry to put together a complicated dinner.  If it's not already finished in the crock pot, the next best thing (besides leftovers), is a recipe that can be pulled together with a few ingredients and quickly.  Ideally it'd be hearty and healthy, but beggars can't always be choosers.  Unless they're begging for this recipe.  I was thrilled with this recipe.  Loaded baked potatoes in general make me happy--stuffed with all kinds of cheese, veggies, seasoning and other fixings, and this sweet potato version takes that all to a new level.  We love sweet potatoes and have gotten an abundance from our CSA this winter, so finding new ways to enjoy them is always a plus.  Lots of veggie and hearty black beans seasoned up with a little spiced up sour cream, salsa, and cheese, this dish is the perfect meal for a hurried weeknight, but it also makes an awesome lunch.  I made the whole batch and saved the leftover filling to shove into newly baked sweet potatoes the next couple of days.  Besides being completely delicious, these loaded baked sweet potatoes are hearty and healthy for anyone looking to keep calories in check.  Load up on all the fiber and protein in one amazing dish.

Hearty Beef Stew

Winter just will not quit.  Supposedly we're getting some more snow today.  For a winter season that was slow to start, it's proved to hit New England with a vengeance in February and March.  I'm just hoping we don't get another April Fool's storm like we did a few years ago.  The moral of this story?  Even though it's technically spring, it's still the season for comfort food and this stew is exactly that.  I almost named this CSA Stew since it's chock full of beef, red and yellow potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and onions from a recent farm box.  And can we talk about how good the house smells while this cooks?   I put it on in the morning and when I came home from work, I couldn't get over how amazing and inviting the scents from the kitchen were as they wafted through the house.  Thick, perfectly seasoning, and probably the most delicious way to get your veggies, this stew will help you forget about the remaining foot of snow in your yard.  And warm you up from the frigid winds and cold night temperatures.  At least for a little while.

Crock Pot Cheesy Potatoes

A perfect side dish!  Toss it together and forget it all day while these cheesy delights cook and are ready when you come home.  Perfectly tender, well-seasoned and lightly coated in a melty cheese topping, these potatoes pair well with chicken, pork, meatloaf or just about anything.  I actually ran two crock pots for this meal--one with a lovely chicken dish and the other cooking up these lovely gems for a hearty, complete meal that literally took 10 minutes to make.

Mini Breakfast Potato Cups

I love breakfast potatoes, specifically hash browns, but they take forever to cook up crispy and crunchy, even if you get the ones frozen from the grocery store.  So I loved this idea of mini potato "muffins" with cheese, baked up crisp, frozen until ready and popped in the microwave for a quick and delicious breakfast add on.  I've been taking these to work in the morning to pair with my yogurt and fruit.  Dave's been adding them to his eggs in the morning for a little more substance and a lot more yum.  These would also be perfect on a brunch buffet and could be made without the cheese, or with some extras like peppers and onions.

Perogies

You know those boxes in the freezer section that claim to contain perogies?  Shh, don't say that word!  Growing up, it was a curse word to refer to the frozen version as actual perogies.  Not that there is anything wrong with them per say, but clearly you just need to know how to make an authentic, homemade version to know why the frozen version just won't cut it.  When we would enjoy these as a family, if it wasn't my Mom making them, the only justifiable alternative was to buy them from the church ladies because at least those were homemade, too. Served coated with melted butter and onions that cooked down and caramelized, perogies are part side dish, part meal on their own and pure delicious.  A perfect, tender pasta dough stuffed with potato and other goodies, it's hard to resist carbs filled with more carbs and smothered in butter.  Delicious, comforting, and tastes like home.

Breakfast Pizza

I enjoy making breakfast on a weekend morning, but I'm usually not a fan of making eggs.  I enjoy eggs, but if that's what's headed to the table, I usually have Dave make them.  Leave the pancakes, waffles, and muffins to me.  Or, something a bit more exciting.  Like this breakfast pizza of a crescent roll crust topped with sausage, cheese, hash browns and eggs.  Now this is a breakfast dish I'm happy to get up and make.  Which is exactly what happened last week when I got out of bed before everyone else and put this together for a hearty morning meal.  Filling and delicious, there is no doubt I'll get requests for this in the future

Salt and Vinegar Potatoes

Just saying--or reading--the words "salt and vinegar", my mouth starts to water.  They aren't my first potato chip flavor choice by a long shot, but when I do go for them, that first bite always has me wondering why I don't eat them more often.  And then I remember that I like to fit into my clothes.  The sour-tart vinegar infused in a heavily salted potato just completely over takes your mouth.  So of course these potatoes are worth trying, even if they still have room for improvement.  They taste awesome and there's flexibility with the preparation whether you want a more chip-like consistency or something more sturdy.

Mashed Potato Gratin

Oh, potatoes, how I love thee.  Seriously, I'm Irish so I'm in love with potatoes just about anyway I can get them.  Fried, baked, boiled, roasted and mashed.  And mashed with loads of flavor.  And a crunchy topping.  Yes and please.  These potatoes are a perfect side dish.  A bit more complicated than regular mashed because of the step of baking them afterward, but absolutely worth it for that deep and delicious garlicky and slightly cheesy flavor.  Every time I make these, it's a struggle to restrain myself from finishing half the dish.  These potatoes are fancy enough for Sunday dinner or to serve for company, but simple enough that your whole family will love them.

Searching for fun new side dishes, I stumbled upon this recipe from Betty Crocker last year and have made in many times.  I cut the butter in half from the original, as well as the bread crumbs.  I use less bread crumbs because I tend to make this in a square baking dish, so there's less surface area for the topping.  If you make this in an oblong baking dish, you may want to up the bread crumbs to a full 1/2 cup.  While you might be tempted to try this recipe by adding in shredded cheddar or more of some other cheese, trust me on this--an Irish girl who loves her potatoes loaded with cheese and other tastiness: the yumminess is in the simplicity.

Mom's Picnic Potato Salad

This is my mom's recipe.  And I'm still kind of shocked that I replicated it exactly enough to spark up memories of my mom elbow deep in a big vat of this potato salad because "it's just easier to use your hands" to mix this stuff.  My mom was a pretty decent cook.  She didn't go over the top (she was far more interested in fun and family than spending all day in the kitchen), but she had a small arsenal of recipes that were just damn good.  Most of which she rarely wrote down or even followed the same recipe twice.  But she got this potato salad down pat and for family picnics or community gatherings, it was one of the dishes she made every time.  It's got a perfect seasoning, a good ratio of chopped veggies to eggs and potatoes to dressing.  And let's talk about that dressing. It's not heavy and you could certainly use a light version of Miracle Whip without sacrificing any flavor or consistency.  Yes, I said Miracle Whip.  It's a must--the fact that it tastes different from regular mayonnaise is exactly what sets this recipe apart from other potato salads.  And again, you're getting a lot of the creaminess here from the eggs after mixing.  It's really not a huge amount of dressing compared to the rest of the ingredients, and you can actually distinctly taste each flavor rather than using the potatoes as a delivery vehicle for mayo.

Twelve years ago Mom, as a board member of a community organization, was asked to put together a fundraiser in the form of a community cookbook.  Mom compiled lots of recipes from the neighborhood and she and I both included some of our favorite, most-asked-for options.  Just before Memorial Day I got a little down thinking that I never got Mom's potato salad recipe.  On a whim, I checked out my copy of A Taste of Greater Hazelwood and couldn't believe it.  The same recipe that my mother never measured anything for was the first one listed under the "Soups, Salads and Sauces" section.  It was worth a shot, but I was convinced it wouldn't taste the same since Mom never measured.  But it's spot on.  I smiled and almost cried when I tasted, eager to get Dave's opinion ("That's the stuff, all right!") and looking forward to sharing it at future family gatherings.  You can double this recipe, no problem.  In fact, you could probably triple or quadruple it, but you'll need a really big bowl to do the mixing.  When Mom had to make more than a double batch, she would make two double batches just to make it easier to mix.  Whatever quantity you go with, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family has.

Aloo Tikkis (Potato Pancakes)

Consider this my adventure in Indian cooking.  Or at the very least inspired by.  The are sort of like potato pancakes, with a twist and some serious heat (that can be adjusted to your liking).  They are made a little differently, but you could also think of these as a spicy latke, with a creamy mashed potato core rather than shredded.  The mashed sweet potatoes are paired with onion, jalapeno and cilantro, then seasoned with cayenne pepper, cumin and salt before getting a bit of bread crumbs to help bind them.  Finally they are fried to crispy and a served warm.

It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day again so I took the opportunity of being matched with Trisha from My Hobbie Lobbie to explore some of her Indian dishes.  Trisha is a baker who makes beautiful cakes and other treats, but also shares a wide variety of traditional Indian foods, including breads and even a whole series of street food.  I've actually only had Indian food once, it's just not something I've been exposed to a whole lot.  So while it would have been easy to just make her Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones or Coconut Macaroons, I decided to live in the spirit of Secret Recipe Club and think outside of the box, pushing my normal boundaries.  So I swore off any of the baked items and instead went for one of the more traditional recipes.  I considered Trisha's Chicken Empanadas, Homemade Samosas and Chicken Frankie, but when I set my mind too it, I really wanted to try this twist on potatoes since I love them any way I can get them.  I adjusted Trisha's recipe by substituting sweet potatoes and adjusting the amount of onion to a bit less.  I seeded my jalapeno and didn't include the chat masala since this isn't a spice I keep on hand.  I used 2 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs, but I would suggest adding more, maybe bring it to 1/4 cup, because the patties kept falling apart on my in the oil.  Also, make sure your oil is very hot so you can fry these quickly.  If you can fry something fast, it will get crisp without absorbing too much oil.  Be sure to check out the rest of the posts from today's reveal by visiting the blog hop below!