Roasted Roots and Delicata Squash

Last night, to Patrick's horror, I cooked the blue potatoes.  Oh, they're purple, not blue, and I think that might have made it worse.  To his credit, he did try them, and upon discovering that they taste just like "normal" potatoes, he ate them.  Didn't even share any with his dog.

Roasted Roots: Chop up potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic and (if you have it, which I didn't) celery.  Spread out in a pan, salt lightly, add some vegetable oil and toss well, then respread them out and roast with you meat at whatever temperature you're using for an hour or so.

Delicata squash: As Gemma commented, it was wonderful!  Cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, brush the top with butter and add a couple of small pats to the center, salt very lightly, and roast until fork tender.  It cooks faster than acorn or butternut squash (likely because the side walls are thinner), it's softer and less stringy, and it's absolutely delicious.

Of course, Patrick didn't even try it, while Ryan and I both greatly enjoyed it. "Mom, it's squash and you know I don't do that kind of thing."  At least that's much more polite than he was as a kid.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

"These Actually Look Good" Potatoes!

Yes, that is indeed what my youngest son, the perpetual fussbudget, said when I served these potatoes.  I was looking for something easy and a little different one night, and stumbled upon this idea.

THESE ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD POTATOES

Red Skinned potatoes - 1 or 2 per person, plus 1 for the pot
salt
olive oil
minced garlic
fresh ground pepper
parmesan cheese

Wash and slice the potatoes (I used my food processor - the slices needn't be beautiful), and put in boiling salted water.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until partially done.  While the potatoes are cooking, put 1 tbsp of olive oil per 2 potatoes in a small bowl; stir in the garlic (1 clove minced per 4 potatoes or thereabouts), pepper and 1 tbsp parmesan per 2 potatoes, and mix well.  Drain the par-boiled potatoes, return to the pot, pour the olive oil mixture over them, and stir to coat.  Spread out on a greased baking tray, and sprinkle with more parmesan if desired (you can never have too much cheese, after all).  Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes, turning once or twice, until golden brown.  Splendid with roast beef!  Even my fussbudget said so!

I hope my friends to the north and east are doing well with their snow.  It's largely missed us; we might have gotten 4" or so in the last 2 storms, but it's bitter here.  We're talking high temperatures yesterday and today of under 7 degrees, and lows below zero.  I got my garage door unfrozen with Mark's help, but we are staying home until it gets to be at least 15 degrees outside.  Nothing warms up a car when it's this cold.

Happy Monday, everyone!

4th of July Potato Salad

I hate potato salad.  There; I said it.  Now you can all laugh.

But on Memorial Day, my boys pleaded with me to make potato salad ("Don't you know how to make it?  Can you look it up in a cookbook?"), and how could I deny them this all-American picnic food?  Well, they liked it so well that Ryan plopped the bag of potatoes on the counter on the morning of the Fourth, so I wouldn't forget to make it for him.  So, here it is....

THE POTATO SALAD HATER'S POTATO SALAD

5 pounds redskin potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup ranch dressing mix
5 carrots, peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cup pickle slices, shredded

Scrub the potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks, and boil in salted water until just fork tender.  Drain, then cover in cold water and ice to quickly chill them.  While the potatoes are chilling, shred the pickle slices and carrots.  In your serving bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream and ranch dressing mix (I used low fat sour cream and mayo, and no one knew the difference).  Stir in the carrots and pickle slices, then drain the potatoes again, and stir them into the dressing mixture.  If you want the mixture to have more dressing, add more mayonnaise, and stir well to incorporate.  Store in the refrigerator until serving time.

And I didn't take a picture of this, of course, but the boys ate the whole 5 pounds in 2 days - and there were only 3 of them at home.

So, since food pictures are lacking, how about a picture of Brutus getting a bath on the 4th of July, when we actually had sun in the afternoon - a rare event around here for the last few weeks:

No puppy bath would be complete without said puppy soaking his person.  As you can see, Dan had to hug Brutus to get him to stay in his washtub.  End result:  Both smelled like oatmeal puppy shampoo!

Brutus went for his third puppy shots this morning.  I was concerned when he went for his second shots a month ago, because he only weighed 36 pounds.  But today he's up to 53 pounds, at 3.5 months old.  So he is making progress!

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Little Cooking

I'm betting you all think I've stopped cooking, having nearly fallen off the planet or something.  Nope.  It's just that the crap fallout is still swirling about, and won't stop until mid-June.  I may have valuable insights for you all after it's finished, but, meanwhile, let's enjoy the better weather, shall we?

Anyway, dinner last night:

Corned beef brisket, cooked in the oven with 1" of water around it.  Sour cream potatoes (2 pounds sliced redskin potatoes boiled until tender, drained; 1/4 cup butter and 2 good glumpers - about 1-1/2 cups - sour cream, a goodly handful of fresh or dried chives, a dozen turns of the pepper mill, and milk to thin a little, heated, then the potatoes stirred back in); sugar snap peas sauteed in butter with pepper and salt; corn on the cob.

Excitement is coming this weekend; a report on Monday, I hope!

Happy Weekending, everyone!