Really easy Unmashed potatoes - organic, unprocessed and cooked in the microwave!

This is unpretentious weeknight cooking to be sure, but also very tasty!

1) wash potatoes  (mine were organic from the CSA)
2) cut them up in bite size pieces (don't peel)
3) place in microwave safe large bowl, cover with water
4) cook until tender (took about 16 minutes in my microwave with about 8 cups of chopped potatoes)
5) pour off water (doesn't need to be too thoroughly)
6) mix in some butter, thyme, paprika, salt  (if you forgot to take butter out of the freezer until now, microwave for one more minute)
7) stir and serve in the same bowl!

So easy, so good ... and don't worry about adding some butter - its still MUCH better for you than most processed foods!

Side dish: spinach and artichokes

I've made this a couple of times recently and its fairly easy and really good. Plus leafy greens are supposed to be good for you ....

Take a large pan and heat a bit of oil, lard or bacon grease (a tablespoon or two, though I never measure). Meanwhile rinse about a pound of fresh spinach. Throw the spinach in the pan and stir occasionally while it wilts. Season with a bit of onion powder and a bit of garlic (I used one frozen cube of crushed garlic, but garlic powder or fresh garlic will work as well). Add some squeezed lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Add one can of drained artichoke hearts, preferably the small ones.

Serve warm with dinner!

Almost Homemade Stuffing

Here is how to make bagged stuffing taste really, really good:

Melt one stick of butter in a medium size pot (big enough for all of your stuffing - so if you are hosting 42 for dinner, you might need a large pot). Chop one onion and 3 stalks of celery into a medium dice. Cook these in the butter. Add fresh pepper and sage (fresh or dried). Then replace half the water (as per the bag) with a low sodium chicken broth (or homemade stock). Wala! Yummy stuffing.

If you need to then hold it hot in the oven: spoon it into a casserole dish but make sure NOT to smooth out the top. Dot with more butter, and pop it in. The top will get little crunchy bits.

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Did you know that sweet potatoes are very good when you treat them like potatoes? They don't really need the brown sugar or the marshmallows.

These are pretty easy. And these are pretty good. Leftovers were excellent with a buffalo steak tonight!

Peel and chop some sweet potatoes into bite size pieces:

Layer in a plastic bag, sprinkling generously with paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic powder and thyme, and dried onion (or onion powder). How much? I don't know. Just keep sprinkling over each layer.

Add a drizzle of olive oil, seal the bag, and shake it up baby now ... twist and shout. These are actually better if you let them sit in the fridge overnight before baking. (but if you want to bake them right away they'll still be mighty tasty)

Spread on a baking pan and bake at 450. Yes, I said 450. The heat helps them get crispy. Stir every 10-15 minutes. They are finished when soft enough to stab with a fork AND as crispy as you like them. For me that takes 30 -40 minutes.

Zucchini Oven Fries

Well I had more zucchini, and I started to think about oven fries (both potato and sweet potato) and vegetable tempura, and wondering if I could make something similar. I looked up some recipes on Google, but didn't find one I loved, so I did this:

4 large zucchini, cut in half and then in small strips - about pencil thickness.

whites of 2 eggs

1/2 cup panko (tempura style Japanese bread crumbs)
1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon Ancho chili powder (which is not very hot - use a hotter one if you prefer)
bit of celery salt - just a whim, I'm sure you could skip it
freshly ground pepper (1 teaspoon?)
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder




Preheat oven to 450. Grease a large cookie pan (I brushed mine with olive oil). Beat the egg whites in a mixer to stiff peaks stage.


Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Dip a few zucchini sticks at a time in the egg white, and then roll in crumb mixture. Arrange on pan:

Bake for about 15 minutes, turn the fries, return to oven, and bake another 15 - 20 minutes. (I only cooked them for about twenty-five, but they needed a little bit longer)

I have to say these turned out VERY good. Fairly low fat, but yet very tasty. We had them as a side dish with cheeseburgers.