Potatoes: I’m running out of ideas.

The good news is that our potato drawer is getting back in check.  The bad news is that I’m starting to feel like a potato and so is Storkbite.  She won’t even eat them anymore, unless of course they contain bacon.

I’m hitting a wall with feeding my toddler.  She needs high fat and high protein foods, and I don’t.  The good news is that she loves eggs.  The bad news is that yogurt is no longer her favorite food group. Yogurt was my easy button.

In keeping with the potato and toddler theme.  Here is what I have come up with to satisfy both:

Jacket Potatoes

There is a lot to love about a twice baked or “jacket potato”.  It’s way better that mashed or baked potatoes because it’s both.  They are simple.

I roasted whole sweet and regular potatoes for about an hour at 400 degrees.  I let them cool, cut their tops off, scoop their innards and throw everything in my KitchenAid mixer.  I mix on low, added 2 tbs. butter, chopped chives, crispy bacon bits and parmesan cheese.  I put that mixture back into the potato shells, sprinkled with bread crumbs and olive oil.  Put them back into a 350 degree oven and let them bake for 15 minutes.

I added some roasted carrots to the side and garnished with sour cream.  Delicious for dinner, even better for lunch!  Storkbite devoured these.  A real hit all around.

Toddler Lunch

I am hoping that any day now my brain will issue forth many fabulous ideas about what to feed my toddler.  Nothing in a box from the store will do.  It’s too expensive and contains too many items I cannot pronounce.  She isn’t eating her green veggies, so I’ve had to get sneaky.  These toddler size omelets were a real hit and so easy.  I made a whole stack of them and kept them on hand for lunches for a week.

It’s simple, saute chopped kale with some olive oil and garlic.  Chop it up again after it’s cooked.  Let it cool, mix in a beaten egg and then spoon a bit of it into a hot oily pan.  1 egg and about  1 cup of cooked kale made approximately six small omelets.

I cut them up in to chunks so she could grab pieces with her fingers. This was brilliant.  I need to make another stack soon with spinach, or carrot, or…

IKEA For Dinner

A trip to IKEA happens once a year and it’s almost always overwhelming.  However, this time I brought home IKEA FOOD in a large bag.  We had the whole experience right at home.  Meatballs and  ligonberries!  This was all just cause to eat more potatoes which in  this case I roasted for about 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I can’t be expected to be clever every night of the week.

Potatoes: Times are hard.

Even though we all hope that President Obama will save us, times are getting harder and harder.  In our effort to eat local all we have are potatoes this winter.  It explains why Storkbite and I have busied ourselves with other things — it’s hard for me to get excited by the 20 lbs. of potatoes festering in my cupboards.   The next several posts will convey my journey through the ups and downs of potato eating.  Even more exciting for the readers will be how to get Toddler Storkbite to also be a potato lover.

Potato and Rosemary Pizza

There is a lot to love about the combination of sea salted potatoes and rosemary.  Then add more goodness, i.e. all the cheese in my dairy drawer.  Yum.  Delicious potato pizza.

Take one pizza dough from your local pizzeria and spread it out on a half sheet pan.  Add some sauce.  Add some cheeses like romano, mozzarella, parmesan.   Add some thin slices of par-boiled potatoes.  Sprinkle with salt, rosemary and parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 450 and bake, reduce heat to 350 half way through and let it go until the crust is golden brown and the center is still when the pan is wiggled.

If you need exact proportions try this:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

• 1 pizza dough from the pizzeria
• 5 small potatoes sliced very thin then par-boiled
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 c. shredded parmesan
• 1/4 c. shredded romano
• 1 c. bechamel sauce (2 tbs. butter + 2 tbs. flour + 1 c. milk + salt and pepper to taste)

Spread the dough, cover it with a light layer of bechamel, sprinkle with mozzarella and romano cheeses.  Lay down a single layer of potato slices, sprinkle with rosemary, sea salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with parmesan.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Big Meat II

My new parenting challenge is having good things ready and waiting when my almost 1 year old Stork is ready to eat them.  I am finding this REALLY hard.  I realized that sometimes during my early parenting days I would snack all day long, have a bowl of cereal for dinner, or let an apple and peanut butter pass for breakfast.  Once Storkbite started eating I realized that I have got to actually feed her food and not do as I have done and limp along on who knows what.   Over the holidays when food was aplenty and at the ready, I was able to observe what Storkbite liked to eat.  Now all I have to do is plan ahead — New Year’s resolution # 110.

Cheesy Eggs

Now that I have determined that Storkbite is made of concrete and has yet to exhibit any food allergies, I started giving her bits of cheese.  She is a smart girl, she likes it.  One of the staples that lasts a long time and is a great conveyance of protein is what I call Cheesy Egg Bake.  It’s positively Midwestern in concept since it’s in casserole form, but it’s darn good, reheats well, and packs a powerful punch in one small slice.

It’s simple – heat the oven to 350 degress.  Cube some day old bread so that it loosely covers the bottom of a lightly oiled baking dish.  While the oven is preheating put the pan and bread in the oven to toast.  Mix / whip one dozen eggs, 1 c. whole milk (1/2 c. milk + 1/2 c. heavy cream), salt and pepper.  I employ the Kitchen Aid mixer for this project so that the eggs are foamy.  Remove the pan from the oven, add eggs, and a meat (browned bacon, ham, crumbled sausage) and complete it with a layer of shredded cheese on top.  Bake for about 20 minutes to a half hour until the edges are browned and it’s puffy.

The delicious sweet rolls are Grandma’s famous pecan and cherry buns that she makes every Christmas.   I ate at least six!

A Big Fillet

I convinced Grandpa to go to the Butcher and get a giant fillet of beef for Christmas dinner so that I could make Yorkshire pudding and potatoes.  He did because he is the best Grandpa ever and he knows that he gets away with things when I’m home assisting with the menu planning.    This piece of beef was one of the best I have ever made.  Grandma had received a cast iron grill pan and we broke it in with this.  I salted the fillet after it warmed up a bit and then seared it on the grill pan on all four sides.  It went in the oven under a tent of foil with potatoes at 400 degrees for another 30 minutes.

Storkbite put away more fillet and Yorkshire pudding on Christmas night that I have ever seen in my life.  My heart was still knowing that my 11 month old can consume a good piece of beef with reckless abandon.  Sigh.