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. 

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.  

Winter dinner from the slow cooker!

For my birthday this year Danold and I bought this awesome 3 in 1 slow cooker, pressure cooker, and rice cooker combo. So far it has been the best kitchen contraption I have ever owned.
Okay... second only to the best invention ever... the Ikea, grate into the container w/ lid, cheese grater!!! Which I have sent to everyone for Christmas at least once... maybe twice. It's that well... great!
 Anyway back to the 3 in 1. I luuurve it! I just toss things in and ten minutes or eight hours later, depending on the immediacy of the hunger, out comes an awesome meal that I just pushed a button and ignored for a while. So today's project began last night with Danold sharing the feeling that we need to use up the many squidgy looking carrots that have been taking up valuable real estate in the garden. So hmmm....carrot cake anyone? Sounds... awesome but.. nope just checked and I'm pretty sure I didn't get a fancy food processor to grate up those 3 cups of carrots. I got an awesome slow cooker combo thingy. So, soup it is!

In the pot ready to be delicious .. in 3-4 hrs.

Danny's cheese and cinnamon rolls will go great with BBSoup!

Widgy, wodgy, squidgy garden carrots

Tah dah! BB soup under cheese with cheese bread and... hey how'd that cheese grater get in there? Silly grater always makin' new friends.

 Slow cooked black bean soup baby!
1/4 C. onion diced
2 carrots sliced into coins
2 celery stalks diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1Tbs. chili powder
1Tsp. cumin ( I like half seeds and half powder so you get that zing of cumin when you bite into one)
1 can (14.5oz) crushed tomatoes
1& 1/2 C. Water and chicken bullion
1C dried black beans (or if you want to stove top it.. 2 (16oz) cans)
Put all in slow cooker on high for 4 hours.
Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro.. etc. 
I let you know the pressure cooker time when I try that method. Probably soon because this soup is tasty and we still have more carrots lurking I'm sure.