Monday, September 8, 2008

Hillbilly Deluxe

I've never looked more beautiful then I did yesterday: covered in dirt, my hair up, old faded jeans, work boots, rubber overshoes caked with an inch of mud, a too big sweatshirt that used to belong to Mr 18, muddy gardening gloves and sunglasses. I was h.o.t.t. But I was working in dirt, so that's just the way it had to be, but isn't that quite the image? Plus we were driving along the back roads with a pickup box full of potatoes and onions. Whooeee! Hillbilly Central!

The picture is of Nephew, BabyBrother and SuperSisterInLaw in the back of the pickup. We all drove to our potato patch and picked and dug in the dirt for a few hours. We didn't finish, but we are much closer than we were before. Hubby and I were lucky to have good help. They will be paid in potatoes and onions. Who could ask for more than that? It's a sad state of my life when I tell you that I had a blast dragging them potato picking with us.

It wasn't an overly warm day, but we didn't freeze and the bugs weren't biting, so I won't complain about it. Nephew was a gem, and had so much fun playing in the dirt. I can't believe how he didn't run off, my 3 kids would never have done that. They would have been off across the field and over the hill before I could have turned around.

It's nice to have our own source of potatoes, because at $5 for five pounds it feels a bit ridiculous to buy them at the store when I just feel guilty eating them. But not guilty enough to stop eating them. Instead I try to limit it to once a week, twice in the winter when I need that comfort food. I have tons of recipes for potato dishes, but sometimes the more simple they are, the better. Here's Miss 10's favorite way to prepare potatoes.

Peel potatoes and slice them in half
Pat potatoes dry
Place potatoes on a stoneware brownie pan that has been smeared with a teaspoon of butter. (Use aluminum if you must, but it won't be the same!)
Melt 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter
Pour butter over all potatoes
Sprinkle with Lawry's seasoning salt (Miss 10's favorite) or if you want a little tiny bit more kick, sprinkle also with Montreal Steak Seasoning (Mr 18 dies when I do this, he's a bit of a pansy when it comes to pepper or spices, even Taco John's is too spicy for him)
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour depending on the number and age of your potatoes.


Serve and Enjoy!

2 comments:

Allen Fieldhouse said...

mmm...fresh garden potatoes! my mom was just here & we had the garden potatoes (i won't say fresh 'cause we had to get them at the store) & she fixed them how she did when we were growing up...creamed potatoes. we'd only have them like that in the summer when a neighbor/friend would give them to us. i'll have to try miss 10's favorite way to have them. sounds simple yet yummy.

DeeAnn said...

I love the potatoes the way Miss 10 likes them. They are so good! (but only THAT good if you cook them, if I do it, they are good. just not AS good)

We recently did another simple favorite: Potatoes sliced small, chopped onion, a clove of garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Put it in a bowl and stir to coat, then in tinfoil and on the grill - yuummmm!