Thursday, March 19, 2009

Small potatoes



Italian Potato Cubes
Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts Copyright 2004

1 large Idaho baking potato cleaned and cut into 1/4" cubes (do not remove skin)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the oil and seasonings. Roll cubes in herb oil mixture until coated. Cook in microwave for about 5-6 minutes or until tender. Or cook in 350 degree oven until tender - about 10 minutes (I think they took longer than this but my potatoes probably could have been cut even smaller. They may have been bigger than 1/4-inch.)
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There is nothing really special about this simple recipe but it reminded me how smart it is to cut potatoes into smaller pieces for quicker cooking. I cooked them until they were soft (this is the stage they were at in this picture), then I cooked them again when I reheated the chicken so they got a bit crispy. I don't know if it means anything but my husband ate a lot of these. He's usually lukewarm on potatoes (besides french fries) and sometimes doesn't eat them at all when I serve them.

It's grocery night tonight. It's been depressing the past couple of weeks. It's depressing because I haven't been buying a lot of specialty items yet the bill stays high. Now that the baby is eating baby food and he's having some formula (I just couldn't keep up with him), my grocery bill is getting even higher. I know I could make baby food for less but I just don't need one more thing to do right now.

Question of the Day: Are you still eating the same as you were before the economy tanked or have you made adjustments?

6 comments:

Annie Jones said...

I haven't made any adjustment to the types of food I cook. But I am making a more concentrated effort to use what we already have on hand rather than buy something different.

That just means that if potatoes are expensive in the store, but we already have a lot of rice in the pantry, then we may have a rice side dish every night for a week. :)

Anonymous said...

No, we're not really eating any differently. Re: Hubby not liking potatoes so much - judging by mine, I didn't think they're were any men who didn't like them. After nearly 45 years of marriage, only the last maybe ten years he hasn't been disappointed if they weren't on the table. Finally liking rice more, and pasta. Still iffy on noodles. Me, I like it all.

Anonymous said...

Okay, that was "Anonymous Jan" who just posted.

Jan

Unknown said...

I'm eating the same! Of course, I only have one person to feed. I do plan a little better and have less impulse buying, though.

MommyProf said...

The grocery store is a nightmare for me, too. Everything is so expensive now!

I don't know if this helps, but we had good luck with Offspring and Bun with just making what we were eating without seasoning (we'd season at the end, and really, everything but salt was ok for the babies, anyway) and then just blending some for the little one. We did the ice cube trays in the freezer thing, that that worked well for individual portions.

If you are still on the one food at a time deal, we made our own with frozen or even no-salt canned veggies. Didn't take long, and we could make two trays of cubes at a time.

I don't know if you want to mess with it, but it might help.

Meretricious Consideration said...

My husband and I hadn't made any adjustments in our cooking and eating until this past Monday, when I was very abruptly downsized out of my job. Our household income just got cut in half. We will be okay, BUT -- we won't eat out nearly as often (maybe once a month instead of once a week), I'm not buying convenience foods to heat up at the office for lunch, and I've stopped buying as many prepared foods. No more seltzer (we already don't drink much soda), so far no more packaged cookies, etc. I'll be baking treats instead of buying them, and cooking more from scratch. My husband and I both enjoy cooking, so we will save ourselves some money by cooking more at home.