Meat and taters….that seems to be the heart of our meals most days so making sure I can make them taste good all the time becomes a challenge.  I’ve baked them with Ranch dip, mashed them with butter and cheese, and done just about everything else I can think.  One of our most favorite ways to eat taters is to pan fry them.

Our secret is to cook them in the same pan a steak has been cooked in!  I knew we had steaks the night before so I covered the pan and saved the goods for the next day.  There wasn’t much grease but all those little pieces are still there and that’s the good stuff!  I simply add some better, salt and coarse pepper and MAN, the taters soak up all that steak flavor, making the taste fantastic!! Simple I know but sometimes that’s all you need……

What is your favorite way to make taters?

The weather’s turning cooler, the leaves are falling, and the soups are cookin’. There’s something about tater soup that comforts me. Maybe because it’s tasty or maybe it’s because no matter how low we get on groceries, I always keep potatoes on hand and that means there will always be food on the table.

There are so many variations of potato soup but keeping with the “ration cooking” theme, I’ll leave it to basics. I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again, Carnation Evaporated Milk is a staple around here and it can add a tremendous amount of flavor to your meals. Most people think desserts when using evaporated milk but it gives even the plainest recipes a savory, full flavor.

INGREDIENTS

• 6-8 potatoes, chunked (I prefer new potatoes)
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
• 5 c. water
• 1 can of Carnation Evaporated Milk
• Salt and pepper to taste (I add extra salt because taters need it)
• dab of butter

DIRECTIONS

Cook in crock pot on low for 8 hours or until taters are done. One hour before serving, add the one can of Carnation evaporated milk.

In keeping with transparency, as always, I did receive a gift card from One2One Network and Carnation for ingredients to create this fine tater soup but in no way was my opinion of evaporated milk bought. It’s always been a staple and if you want to search my recipes for it, you’ll know that’s the truth;)  {{giggle}}

HA HA. I have no clue what to call this but I know there are folks out there who have eaten this and if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a delicious vegetable meal! We were given a whole bunch of fresh okra and squash and I mean a whole bunch and I knew exactly what to make.

My husband used to daywork for other ranches a long time back and I can still remember him coming home telling me about this food. He never knew exactly how it was made but I was able to track it down and was very surprised at the simplicity of it. Isn’t it funny how some of the best tasting foods require very little prep? Every since that day, 9 years ago, we’ve made it a family favorite. In fact, we don’t even eat meat the night we have it. Just the mix.

INGREDIENTS

• Squash
• Okra
• Taters
• Flour
• Cornmeal
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Chop your vegetables.  Mix half flour and half cornmeal with salt and pepper.  Toss your vegetables in the flour mixture, coat, and fry up in the pan.  It’s the easy.   Another version, throw all the vegetables into the skillet to fry, adding a little cornmeal, salt, and pepper; no flour.

We like to use the flour though….seems to come out better.

Nor is it healthy when topped with all that cheese but it’s very good to eat and GREAT to make when feeding a large crew.  I’ve always seen this cooked in this way but would love to hear your variations if you make something similar.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground beef
• ½ small onion chopped
• 6 to 8 saltine crackers, crushed
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup, divided
• 1 cup cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

Combine the ground beef, onion, egg and about ¾ of the soup in a bowl. Add the crackers to the beef and mix till combined.  Put in a baking dish and form it like a meat loaf. Spread the remaining soup on top.
(It is better to have a casserole with higher sides so that when you top with mashed potatoes there will be room)

Bake @ 350 degrees for approx. 1 hour  While it is baking prepare the mashed potatoes.  When the beef is done top with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle the cheese on top.  Place back in oven till cheese has melted.

The lovely dish is Temp-Tations from QVC.  They offer many beautiful styles, including the one below.  The meal itself isn’t a pretty one but it always helps to serve it up in something pretty!

Just another side dish idea.  We try to cook potatoes in a variety of ways and for everything but mashed, we use red potatoes. Basically you throw all this in a bowl, mix and bake. Pretty simple. I chose to use light dressing and no cheese since I’m trying to lose weight but normally we do add cheese.  Another great variation of this if you don’t like ranch, is to chop up an onion, mix it in, and cover with 1 cubed stick of butter.  Ummm, yeah, not so great on the heart but it sure is good.

The casserole pan is Emile Henry, some of the finest bakeware around. I love the way it cooks and if you have the chance to pick up some pieces for yourself, you should!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup Light Kraft Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 cup Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
• 1/4 cup Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits (or real bacon)
• 2 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix dressing, cheese and bacon bits in large bowl. Add potatoes; toss lightly.  Spoon into lightly greased 13×9-inch baking dish; cover with foil.  Bake 40 min. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 min. or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

By Joy into January’s Food Challenge

INGREDIENTS

• 4 medium baking potatoes, peeled and finely shredded
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup corn flakes, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• canola oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

Squeeze out liquid from the potatoes and onions. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, onions, eggs, oats, corn flakes, honey, salt, and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil over medium-high heat. To make pancakes, take 1/4 cup of mixture each and form into patties. Fry in skillet 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and transfer to paper towels. Repeat with remaining mixture. Combine sour cream with hot sauce in a small bowl. Serve pancakes with dollops of the sauce.

Just because I have time to cook all day, doesn’t mean I want to.  Or maybe we need a meal ASAP before we head out the door.  This has got to be one of the coolest pans ever!  Meet the Fissler Blue Point Pressure Pan Set.   You can grill, sear, saute, steam and pressure cook in this one pan.  Whew, that’s a mouthful! It’s no lightweight either!  Very heavy pan obviously built to last.  Fissler is some high quality, German Cookware that is making it’s way to the good ol’ USA with a punch!

This time around, I decided to use the pressure cooker feature.  I read in the manual that when you are releasing steam, it’s not hot.  It was right!  I was leery but I stuck my hand in front of the steam (but please don’t do this at home people) and it’s wasn’t hot at all.  Now that’s a SAFE pressure cooker for sure!

This is a 4.2 quart size skillet and I must say, my Beef Stew recipe was enough to feed 8 so I had no problems fitting it all into this pan whatsoever.  For those of you who don’t know this; pressure cookers not only cook faster, they keep your food’s flavors, minerals, and vitamins where they belong,…in the food! And with the basket for the steamer, you can also cook healthy.  So cool!

Okay, to the recipe!

30-Minute Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5lbs stew meat
• carrots
• potatoes
• Tomato Sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Since my stew meat was thawed and in small pieces right out of the package, I threw all ingredients in together. Yep, ALL of them.  If you have round steak that you are cutting up or even using a little frozen, I recommend you cook the meat, carrots and sauce together first for about 20 minutes and then throw in the potatoes for the final cooking minutes.

I cooked mine for 30 minutes!  No shorter, no longer.  The thing about beef stew, is that it creates it’s own flavors and by using the pressure cooker, even more natural flavor was there.

That’s got to be the easiest meal ever!  The pressure cooker worked like a charm and the release valve worked perfectly and cleaning up was easy as pie.  I couldn’t ask for an easier recipe with a better pan! 

Do you pressure cook?  Would a pan like this fit into your cooking lifestyle and what feature would you use the most?  Steamer, fryer, searer, or pressure cooker?

These mash potatoes are just heavenly.  I love baked potatoes but hate the work so this is a great alternative. I use mash potatoes as a filler for many meals, otherwise, my boys would never be full!

INGREDIENTS:

• Red potatoes
• Sour cream
• Parsley
• Butter
• Bacos – Bacon Bits (optional but SOOO GOOD!)

DIRECTIONS:

Clean potatoes, cube, and boil until done.  Add sour cream, butter, parsley, and mash them up.  Sprinkle bacos if you want and enjoy.  Man, that was easy. 

Well, I could have shown myself dumping sour cream and butter into the recipe but really, is that necessary?  I used these mash potatoe with that shrimp scampi!…Great filler:)