Oven Potatoes

One of the big ways that I cut calories at dinner time is to make oven potatoes instead of using french fries or tater tots with a hamburger or sandwich. Monday night was no different! We at MM favorite sandwich, PW style with a side of my yummy taters.

Not only are they a dinner staple but, I love to make extra potatoes so we can have them for breakfast in a skillet or scramble.

Serves: 4    Prep time: 10 minutes    Cook Time: 30 minutes

What It Takes:

10 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite size chunks
2-3 t vegetable oil
dried parsley, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder

How To Do It:

Preheat oven to 415 degrees.

Place potato chunks on a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle oil over potatoes and toss to coat.
Season potatoes with as much of each seasoning that suits your taste buds. Toss to evenly coat potatoes in spices. If the seasonings look a little sparse, season again and give it a light toss. Spread the potatoes out into a single layer.

Place baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes.

Monday

I bought an already marinated turkey breast from our local Aldi store that I had to pop in the oven for one hour. It couldn't get much easier than that!

As for our sides, I made mashed potatoes and a simple gravy and some steamed frozen broccoli.

Mashed Potatoes:

8-10 bite size Yukon gold potatoes, quartered
2-3 T butter
1/4-1/2 C skim milk
pepper

Boil the potatoes in enough water to cover. Once they are fork tender, drain and leave in colander.
Place butter in potato pot to melt over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 C milk and let it warm through. Add the potatoes back to the pot and mash. Add more milk if they are not creamy enough. Season with pepper.


Gravy:

2-3 T butter
2-3 T flour
1 C chicken stock
1/2-1 C milk
pepper

Make a simple rue by melting the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Let butter brown a little and the add in the flour. Cook the flour butter mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock in and stir well to combine. Add as much milk as you need to make it creamy and the consistency you prefer. Season to your taste with pepper.

Perfect Potato and Corn Chowder with Shrimp

Serves:  10

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

I adapted this recipe from rachelwadsworth and I am so glad I did! It is the most AMAZING potato soup I have EVER eat. I added some sauteed shrimp to the top but did not incorporate it into the full recipe. I'm not a huge fan of things that taste too "fishy". So, you can either use the shrimp or leave them out.


What it takes:

12 small Yukon gold potatoes, quartered (I left the skin on)
3 10.75oz cans cream of potato soup
3 cans of milk (using the soup cans)
4 oz of shredded mozzarella (part skim if your watching the waistline)
8 oz shredded 2% cheddar (save some for topping)
1 14.75 oz can of cream style corn
1-2 teaspoons pepper
1 can of sweet whole kernel corn, drained (I didn't have any but I think it would have made the dish a little better)

How to do it:

Place quartered potatoes in a pot with water and boil until soft. Drain and mash. Leave it a little lumpy so there are nice chunks in the soup.

Transfer mashed potatoes to a large stock pot and add the soup and milk. Stir over medium heat until well combined. Add the cheeses and both types of corn and pepper to taste. Heat soup until bubbly and hot.

Serve as is or cook up some shrimp to top it off....

Shrimp:

Serves 2
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 3-5 minutes

1 cup shelled and deveined, precooked shrimp (large chunks)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons butter
Pepper and Old Bay to taste

Melt butter in a small saute pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and shrimp. Season to taste and warm through.

Half the shrimp between two bowls.

I served mine with pepperoni cheddar bread from Walmart but next time I think I would go with my original plan and buy 2 bread bowls from Panara.

Also, this soup makes a very large batch. I froze mine and from what I read on the Internet, it should last 2-3 months in the freezer.

Potato Dumplings

Serves:  4 (3 balls per serving)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

These were pretty bland by themselves but when topped with the gravy from the sauerbraten, they were pretty darn good! In the future I may play with some additions (cheese, chives, bacon crumbles?). I think served with anything with a gravy or sauce they are a pretty good side dish. Next time I make beef stew, I think these will stand in as my potato!

What it takes:

1 c leftover mashed potatoes
(I made my mashed potatoes that morning and only used milk and butter.  Normally I include sour cream and shredded cheddar. Next time I'll probably make them my normal way. I then stuck the potatoes in the fridge until I was ready to use them that night.)
1 c flour
parsley, for presentation

How to do it:

Boil water in a large stock pot. Add salt to water.

Using a fork, combine the flour and mashed potatoes. Do not knead the mixture. When mashed potatoes and flour are combined, roll the mixture into balls (the size of a golf ball).

When all the balls are made, drop them into boiling, salted water. When they rise, cook an additional 10 minutes. Drain and sprinkle parsley over the top.