Adri Burk's Funeral Potatoes

       6-8 medium russet potatoes; half-peeled, boiled, cooled, & cubed

      1. c. butter and diced large onions, cooked in a glass dish in microwave

      1  tub Sour Cream 16 oz.

         3 cans Cream of Chicken soup 10 oz each,  OR 1 Family size can 26oz

        2  tsp. Salt

       1/8 tsp. black pepper

        green onions, finely diced

        2 cups grated Cheddar Cheese, topping

Half-peel potatoes under cool water, place in stockpot with enough water to generously cover and add 1/2 tsp. salt. Boil 30 minutes or until tender but not soft. Remove from pot, place in colander and run cold water over potatoes to begin cooling. When cool enough to handle, dice into 1/2 inch cubes. Place in large mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium mixing bowl, place cream of chk soup. Add sour cream. Add diced green onion, reserving a little green onion for a topping.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to combine ingredients.

Pour mixture over diced potatoes and stir gently until all potatoes are well covered.

Place in 9 x 13 pan.

Top with Cheddar Cheese

Bake 350 degrees uncovered 30 minutes, or until bubbly and cheese is slightly golden brown.  Top with remaining diced green onions.  Serve hot.

A favorite at our house and a great make-ahead-of-time dish.

To make it a main dish, add a little diced ham.

Indian Coconut curry DINNER

             by Tabby D

2  cans 13.5-ounce coconut milk

1 can tomatoes puréed 

3 tablespoons curry powder

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 to 3 cloves garlic, grated

1-inch knob ginger, peeled and grated

1 red sweet pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 large eggplant, peeled and cut into chunks

2 medium potatoes

1  can 14-ounce chick peas, drained and rinsed

Tofu (go vegetarian or meat of choice)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook in crock pot. 

Serve over basmati rice cooked with ground turmeric and fennel seeds. 

Garden Cilantro, PurseLane, and cashews to garnish 

Oh baby! So yummy 

Potato Soup

This recipe is courtesy of my good friend, Jean Little.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C. butter
• 1/4 C. flour
• 1-2 cans evaporated milk
• 1% milk (as much or as little as you want to make the soup your desired thickness)
• 3-4 medium potatoes
• 1/4 C. sour cream
• 1/4 - 1/2 lb. bacon
• 1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

Instructions:

• Cube potatoes.  Boil until soft.
• Cut bacon into small pieces and cook.
• In a large pot, melt butter and whisk in flour.
• When the mixture is bubbly, add the evaporated milk. 
• Slowly pour in the 1% milk until desired thickness is achieved.
• Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic.

IT'S DELICIOUS!!

Meat and Potato Pie

I love pie. Fruit pies, cream pies, meat pies---all delicious.  I really, really love savory pies. They are the perfect comfort food. Filling, tasty, warm, and so homey. 

So, today I have a recipe for a meat and potato pie from my handy dandy Harry Potter cookbook by Dinah Bucholz. I promise it is easy to make (some meat pies can be a bit more laborious). If you have never made or even tasted a meat pie, this is a great beginner recipe.

Let's start with the crust, because a crust is really what makes a pie a pie. Store bought crust is over processed and flavorless--so don't bother with it. Making your own crust is super easy. I am not sure why crust has this bad, scary aura surrounding it as if only a master chef can make it, because crust is easy. Trust me, anyone can do it.

My top rule is: only use BUTTER. Don't bother with that shortening gloop. Cut to the chase and use the good stuff. Butter makes for really flaky, rich, eat-it-all-by-it-self crusts.

Next, make your crust by hand, you don't have to, but I prefer it. I know some use a food processor (I don't have one) or their Kitchen-Aid and those work great, but I like using my hands and feeling all old-fashioned and all that.

Third, use cold butter and cold water and chill your dough before rolling it out (most recipes want  2 hours--but if you are running out of time chill for at least a 1/2 hour).

Here is the recipe:

Remember, this crust is for a savory pie, so there is not any sugar in it. Most fruit pies have at least a tablespoon of sugar or two in crust. You could use this for a fruit pie, but I would recommend one with a bit of sugar in it for a sweet pie.

2 1/2 cups white flour

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water, I usually put a few ice cubes in there, since my tap water is not super cold

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Scatter the butter pieces and mix in with your hands (like you would for scones). Mix with hands until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, breaking the butter up with your hands, but not melting it. Sprinkle half a cup of cold water over mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until dough sticks together. If necessary, add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball making sure to get al the dry stuff mixed in. Divide the dough in half, form into disks (one disk slightly bigger), wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

That is it! Was that so bad?

Meat and Potato Filling:

2 tbsp oil

6 oz chuck steak, diced into 1/4-inch pieces

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 medium red-skinned potato, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces

1 medium carrot, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces

1/4 tsp gound sage

salt and pepper to taste 

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water, for egg wash

Heat oil in large skillet. Add meat and sear on both sides until crusty brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl. Add the onions to the skillet and sauté until well browned. Return meat to pan, sprinkle with flour, and mix until combined. Slowly pour in the chicken broth while stirring. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 1 1/2 hours. It really does not have to be that long. I have cooked it for a much shorter amount of time before and it turned out lovely. Plus, if you cook it for this long, I find it soaks up all the liquid before the time runs out and you have to add more broth. Cooking for 45 minutes is fine or you can go the whole time, but you will need more broth.

Next, add in the potato, carrots, sage, and salt and pepper. Cook for another 30 minutes, then transfer to bowl and cool to room temperature. You don't really have to let it completely cool down if you don't have the time. I have transferred it from the skillet to the pie pan and it turned out beautifully.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Get out the pie dough.  One of the disks should be slightly bigger since it is going to be the bottom. One important thing about rolling out crust is: to not over work it! Roll it out one time. Luckily, crust is quite forgiving and you can sort of piece it together and patch it up, if necessary. Roll out your first disk into a circle a bit bigger than the pie pan and then transfer it to the pan. An easy way to transfer your pie dough to the pie pan is to fold it in half, pick it up, lay it in the pan, and then unfold it.  Roll out your second disk  to a circle as big as the top of the pan.

Fill the pie with the filling. Place your second crust piece on top and crimp the edges together, cutting off excess crust where necessary. Cut slits int he top of the crust and brush with egg wash.  Bake for 1 hour.

Serve hot!