Potato days! Funeral Potatoes and Potato leek soup.

Ever since Easter came and went without a visit to Ma and Pop's I've been craving some of the traditional Jensen Easter dinner side dish of "funeral potatoes"! I assume we kids dubbed them this because they are not only a great accompaniment to that Easter ham, but also often brought as a moral supporting, carb-loaded, comfort food, to neighborhood funerals. So, last time I had my mom on the phone I got the quick and dirty throw together recipe for these creamy, cheesy, yummy-tastic, potatoes.


Funeral Potatoes

20 oz. bag frozen grated hash brown potatoes
16 oz. carton sour cream
10 3/4 oz. can cream of celery soup
1/2 Cup milk or 1/2&1/2
2 Cups grated cheddar cheese
-Optional: 1/4 of a small onion diced and stirred in at beginning or 1 Cup of french fried onions tossed on top instead of second cup of cheese. 

Stir together all ingredients reserving 1 Cup cheese.
Spread in a 4qt (15"X10") glass baking dish.
Bake at 350° F. for 1hour.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 15 min. before cooking time ends.


My second potato recipe is also a leek recipe!
This is so simple and so delicious. Danny and I were in the garden clearing some space so we can plant some summer squash and so we pulled a bunch of turnips, beets, greens, and a whole lot of leeks.

Potato Leek soup

4 Tbs. salted butter
2 medium or 4-5 small leeks -chop white and tender green parts
4 medium potatoes diced in 1" cubes
1 tsp. fresh tyme
3 Cups chicken or veggi. stock
1 Cup 1/2&1/2
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Saute leeks in butter in pressure cooker or medium soup pot for 2 min. Add the potatoes, thyme, and chicken stock. Lock lid in place and cook on high pressure for 8 min or put soup pot on medium heat or a low boil for 20 min, until potatoes are cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in the 1/2 & 1/2. Add pepper. The butter and stock should have plenty of salt but add more if needed. 

Hot and Sour Soup: Pressure cooker style!

So I was craving something different.
Hmmm.... something brothy... something light... something filled with good veggies.... something with and asian flair? Aha! Hot and Sour soup! This was my first try at this but it turned out soo... well and is so easy. Just throw it in the cooker and let it do it's thing. Nice! I'm getting spoiled and lazy with this machine that does all the work for me.

Fill the pan with all the goodies!

Add a little squeeze of lime and dash more of pepper and yum!

 Hot and Sour Soup

4 C. chicken or vegetable broth
1 small package rice noodles divided in half
1 8oz. can bamboo shoots -drained
1 8oz. can water chestnuts - drained (mmm crunchy!)
4Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1C. diced veggies - carrots, green beans, corn whatever you have on hand
8 oz frozen shrimp
8 oz firm tofu cubed
optional:
Stir in 1 beaten egg slowly pouring in while stirring after soup is done cooking.
Add some chopped dried Shitaki mushrooms.

Combine all in pressure cooker with half of the noodles (These noodles will become very mushy and mostly fall apart. But they give the broth a nice creamy consistency). Pressure cook on high for 10 min. or slow cook on high for 3-4 hours. When time is up add the remaining noodles and let stand for 10 min. Squeeze in a quarter of a lime and a dash of black pepper to each bowl as served. Fresh and spicy!

Freezer food! Butternut & Barley Risotto

From frozen...

..to fab in less than 20 min!

Trying to use up some "freezer food" (Danny's always nagging about the freezer food) and some soon to be sad occupants of the crisper drawer. I pulled out a pressure cooking cook book I found at the library last weekend and "DING!" I came across a butternut squash and barley risotto recipe. So I took a few of the ingredient ideas and the cook timing suggestion and used what I had to make it my own! It was delish and super creamy, just like regular risotto only maybe a little better for you using the protein and fiber filled barley.

 Barley and Butternut squash risotto
1 C. pearl barley (rinse and check for little rocks)
12 oz. frozen or fresh cubed butternut squash
1/4 C. diced onion
4 salks celery diced
3 C. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pressure cook on high for 18min
 Add after cooking is through:
1.5 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. thyme leaves
Stir well to melt parmesan and smash  up squash to make nice and thick.

Nothin in the fridge for dinner? Make Dhal!

Dried split peas? Check!
A few basic spices? Check!
A few sad veggies in the fridge drawer? Check!

Before: Just toss it all in and add the water.

After: Mmm smells good... looks meh.  Just squish and stir and....

Mmmm. Now that's some tasty mess!

The original recipe that inspired this one came from two very cool Couchsurfers Tim and Kat who stayed with us last fall. They were loads of fun and full of lots of great travel stories. But the best part was that they were kind enough to sit down with us one night to share music, stories, a great new card game and to cook us a great meal to thank us for putting them up for a few days. The best part of couchies is the shared cultures and new friends that you make.

Quick weeknight Indian style Dhal

1C. Dried split peas
1/2 small onion
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed garlic ( or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder because, obviously,  I was low on pantry items. )
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp curry powder
2C. cubed potatoes
2C. water or stock
Optional 1 more cup diced random veggies lurking in your crisper, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, etc.

Place everything in slow cooker. Cook on High for 9 minutes. When finished you'll have to smash up the potatoes with your spoon a bit to break them up. This will make the Dahl nice and thick too. 
Serve with rice or a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of a few toasted cumin seeds.