potatoes Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Lovin' From the Oven

Bacon Mashed Potatoes

June 27, 2013 by kim 1 Comment

You can’t always have beautiful food pictures 24:7. Or maybe you can, if you have a room set up just for food with white lights, reflectors, and diffusers. But I don’t. I just have me, my little apartment, and a camera. Usually, I don’t even have time to take pictures of regular food because my DB’s impatiently waiting for dinner half the time.

This was one of those times. Once the mashed potatoes were done, it was time to eat dinner. If you wait too long trying to get the perfect picture, the food will be cold and dinner won’t be as good. Who wants a cold dinner? You have to know when to pick your battles. In this instance, the stomach outweighs the blog. Sorry, guys.

Fair warning: I’m going to have a couple more mediocre pictures on my blog. For example, all the baking that I’ve been doing at my parent’s house will have ehhhh pictures because I didn’t bring my DSLR down with me from Northern California. I’ve been using my point and shoot. You’ve been warned.

Mashed potatoes is such an easy dish to make. I don’t know why more people make it from scratch. It’s much better than the instant potato flakes that you mix with water. The mixture of sour cream and margarine makes this side dish extra creamy and fluffy. Plus, bacon makes everything better! You can omit the green onions if you want, but I personally think they add more to the dish in color, texture, and taste. Bon appetit!

Bacon Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

6 large red potatoes
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sour cream
5-6 slices thick cut bacon, cooked until crispy and chopped
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse the potatoes and cut them into eighths.
Put the potatoes in a large pot of water and cook until soft, about 15-20 minutes.
Once the potatoes are easily pierced by a fork, drain and put the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
Mix until desire consistency. Add in the margarine, sour cream, bacon, green onion, and salt and pepper. Mix well.

https://lovintheoven.com/bacon-mashed-potatoes/

Oven Baked Fries

March 24, 2013 by kim Leave a Comment

If you were to ask any of my friends from when I was 5-25 years old what they remember the most about my dad, they’ll tell you his french fries. My dad was (and still is) notorious for making french fries whenever any of us had friends over. He’d peel ’em, chop ’em, and fry ’em all by himself. He’d keep making batches of food until our stomachs couldn’t stretch out anymore.

French fries went hand in hand with swimming in the summers. Since my house had a pool, everyone would come over to swim when it was hot out. Whenever that happened, you guessed it… my dad would come out with a platter of golden, crispy fries seasoned with Lawry’s seasoning salt.

They’re dangerously delicious. Even after eating them for twenty five years, I continue to devour them when they’re in front of me.

Although these french fries don’t come anywhere close to my dads, they’re still pretty tasty. They’re just different since they’re baked and not fried. I also cut them into thicker wedges rather than skinny strings, so they taste more like roasted potatoes than anything else.

I felt less guilty than normal for eating them nonstop since they’re baked. That makes sense, right? My DB loved these fries. I wish they were a bit crispier on the outside, though.

I’m also a lot more comfortable making things in the oven rather than scalding hot oil. Have you noticed I’ve never fried anything on my blog? That’s because I’m afraid I’ll burn the house down. That, and get burned everywhere from my waist up. Heck, I’d get my whole body burned throwing something in oil.

Maybe one day, I’ll get the courage to fry something. After all, I do love my churros.

Recipe from Annie Eats

Oven Baked Fries

Ingredients

3 russet potatoes (about 24 oz. total), peeled and cut lengthwise into even sized wedges
5 tbsp. vegetable, canola or peanut oil, divided
¾ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 475˚ F. Soak the potato wedges in hot water for 10-30 minutes.
Put 4 tablespoons of the oil onto a heavy, rimmed baking sheet and spread evenly. Sprinkle the pan evenly with the salt and pepper. Set aside.
Drain the potatoes and pat dry with towels. Return the potatoes to the empty bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.
Arrange the potato wedges on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 5 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue to bake until the bottoms of the potatoes are spotty golden brown, 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes.
Using a metal spatula and tongs, flip each potato wedge keeping them in a single layer. Continue baking until the fries are golden and crisp, 5 -15 minutes. Rotate the pan as needed to ensure even browning.

https://lovintheoven.com/oven-baked-fries/

Smash Potatoes

October 11, 2012 by kim 2 Comments

While doing my weekly grocery shopping today, I was stuck in a slow line. The lady at the front was trying to use a million coupons, pay with multiple cashier’s checks, and arguing with the cashier about the price of every single item that was being scanned.

After about five minutes or so, we realized we weren’t going anywhere for a while so we got comfortable. I started to place as many of my items on the little sliver of black countertop as I could without having anything topple over.

There was the most adorable elderly lady in front of me and she was watching me while I put my four items up. She pointed at my stack of meat and asked, “What is that?” When I told her that it was steak, she examined the rest of my cart and asked me, “Do you have a big family?”

Immediately, I looked at my cart to see if we were looking at the same thing. When I told the little ol’ lady that it was just me and my DB, she looked shocked. I then told her that I sometimes freeze my meat when I find it on sale, so I buy more of it. That seemed to relax her a little bit. Ah, all the food in my cart wasn’t for immediate consumption by only two people (or was it?).

I guess my five boxes of cereal, seven pounds of meat, three bags of beef jerky, four apples, gallon of milk, and fifteen pound bag of sugar looked a little much compared to the lady’s single loaf of bread, baby bok choy, and two bottles of wine.

What can I say, food makes me happy. I love grocery shopping. I love going through every single aisle in the grocery store just to find out what I need or don’t need. I have no shame with my shopping cart. I by five boxes of cereal because I love stocking up. I’ll never pay more than $2.50 for a box of cereal, so when the one I like is on sale, I splurge a little. Nothing wrong with that.

Here’s another recipe from The Pioneer Woman. It’s a great dinner side and easy to make. I may have used potatoes bigger than I should have, so mine weren’t as easy to “smash” even though I cut them in half prior to smashing them. Stick to the small potatoes!

Smash Potatoes

Ingredients

12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt To Taste
Black Pepper To Taste
Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in potatoes and cook them until they are fork-tender.
Generously drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato. With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again.
Brush more olive oil on top of each potato. Sprinkle the top with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available).
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

https://lovintheoven.com/smash-potatoes/

See? I told you mine weren’t pretty:

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