Roasted Potatoes with Thyme

Our traditional Passover meal is roasted lamb, these potatoes, and peas. Additionally we have unleavened bread, pickles and olives, and maybe some salad, but the main meal is relatively simple and oh so good.

Roasted Potatoes with Thyme
Ingredients:

• 1 pound red potatoes
• 1 T. olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions:
Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes in a baking dish and scatter thyme on top. Heat oven to 375° F. Cover and bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about an hour. Several times during baking, give the pan a shake. When done, let the potatoes cool. Serve the small ones whole; slice the larger ones lengthwise.

I usually use two 3-lb. bags of potatoes and multiply all ingredients accordingly - except I probably don't use quite as much thyme. These are so good. And so easy.

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Tuna Tip

Most of you have probably already thought of this, but I mentioned it to my brother-in-law a while back, and he hadn't.

When you use tuna, don't just pour the tuna water down the drain. If you have a cat, give her the water. She'll love it, and you! I usually only give our cat Tillie about half of it and save the other half for later - so she gets two treats from one can of tuna.

If you don't have a cat, well, just go ahead and pour the water down the drain...

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• Camera Critters (#49) (alwaysbcmom.com)

Waffles

I made a bunch of toaster waffles earlier this week, and I realized I hadn't moved my waffle recipe over to this blog. So, here it is. I looked at a lot of waffle recipes before I decided on this one. This was the only one I found that didn't call for beaten egg whites, and since I don't like complicated recipes, I knew it was the one!

Waffles

Ingredients

3 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups buttermilk or soured milk 3 eggs 1/2 cup cooking oil

Directions:

If substituting soured milk for the buttermilk, begin by combining 3 T. vinegar with enough milk to make 3 cups. Let sit at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl (preferably one with a pour spout), mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon with a wire whisk. Add the buttermilk or soured milk, eggs, and cooking oil. Whisk together until smooth.

Grease and heat waffle iron (I use 2). Pour batter into heated waffle iron and cook until done. Serve with butter, syrup, and your choice of fruit toppings.

Note that this does take some trial and error in figuring out exactly how much batter to pour into the waffle iron. Too little and the waffle isn't completely round, or in the case of the toaster waffles, you don't get complete squares. Too much, and batter leaks out the sides.

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... See my Tabblo for this recipe in pictures.

Oatmeal Bread

I've Been Busy (Photo credit: bcmom)

I found this recipe in my favorite cookbook, The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals, and tweaked it to my liking.

Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. dry yeast (or 2-1/2 t.)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 T. salt
• 2 T. butter
• 2-1/2 cups boiling water
• 3-4 cups additional flour (part whole wheat)

Directions:

1. Mix yeast and 2 cups whole wheat flour. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, combine oats, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter. Pour boiling water over mixture and mix well. Cool to lukewarm. Add flour/yeast mixture, and mix well.
3. Gradually add additional flour, stirring with spoon, then kneading by hand. Let rise until double in bulk and punch down. Shape into two loaves and allow to rise again. If making rolls, divide each half of dough into 12 pieces, form into rolls, and allow to rise.
4. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes, or until done. Remove from oven, remove from pans, and brush tops with melted butter. Cool on wire racks.

I usually make rolls instead of loaves of bread. The last time I made them, Cory said I should make them all the time.

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Spicy Potato Soup

We had this for dinner tonight.

Spicy Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 4 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cans (8 oz.) tomato sauce
• 4 cups water
• 2 t. salt
• 1-1/2 t. pepper
• 1/2 to 1 t. hot pepper sauce

Directions:
In a Dutch oven or large kettle(5 or 6 qt.), brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add potatoes and tomato sauce. Stir in water, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until the potatoes are tender and the soup has thickened.

This is so easy! Tonight I only used 1/2 lb. hamburger, because that's what I had in the refrigerator, thawed and ready to use. I also chopped some celery browned that with the hamburger and onions. I used the 1 t. hot pepper sauce, and Jeffrey said it was a little spicy for him, so if you have people who don't like spicy foods, cut back on the pepper sauce and pass it around the table for the ones who like it hot. Serve with saltines.

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