Daddy's German Potatoes

 Potatoes and onions...Such a simple dish and yet one with powerful memories for me.  You see my daddy was very proud of his Irish heritage and mighty fond of potatoes.  He told Mama that as far as he was concerned potatoes should be on the table at every meal and Mama did serve them with most meals, including spaghetti dinners.  We were the only folks I knew who had pasta with meat sauce and a side of French fries to go with our salad!  Remember those frozen chicken pot pies.  French fries and salad went with those, too.

One of Daddy's favorite methods of cooking potatoes was German potatoes.  I've no idea why he called it German Potatoes but he did and that is what I called it for many years myself.

 He'd slice several potatoes thin, slice an onion and  heat oil in a heavy skillet.  In would go the potatoes and onion and these he'd let crisp on the bottom then turn them and then turn them again and again, allowing the potatoes to crisp and the onion to mellow.  He'd pop on a lid just long enough to let the heat steam the potatoes to tenderness.  Then he'd salt and pepper. 

The aroma of browning potatoes and caramelizing onions was tantalizing to us kids.  We might have been outdoors playing, or so often in my case, in my room reading a book, but the moment we smelled potatoes and onions cooking we had to go see what was for dinner...or lunch or breakfast, as the case might be.

I carried that simple dish to my first married home.  My ex-husband enjoyed it as much as we'd enjoyed it.  One summer we took a camping vacation to the mountains where we ended up at a primitive campsite.  No running water, no electric hookups and the nearest restrooms and showers were a mile drive down the side of the mountain.  We didn't even go equipped with a flashlight or wood for a fire.  But we did have a pup tent, wool blankets and a portable grill with a cast iron cooktop, food and charcoal.

I had brought along a bag of potatoes and onions and some meats to grill.  I had a single cast iron skillet and into that skillet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, went potatoes and onions.  We were in a lonely place on that side of the mountain, but do you know people literally walked out of the woods to our campsite to ask what I was cooking at every meal.  When I'd reply "Potatoes and onions," they generally said "Is that all?  It smells so good!"  Apparently, as basic and common as I thought the dish was, it was a revelation to nearly everyone who approached us that two humble ingredients could create such a delicious aroma.

All these years later and I must confess that German potatoes is still one of my favorite dishes.  It is comfort food at it's best, requiring nothing more than the most basic of pantry items: oil, salt and pepper, onion and potato.  It's cheap and filling, yet so delicious it never seems like a budget dish.  It is a great accompaniment to breakfast eggs and bacon or ham, or served alongside chops, steaks and burgers or hot dogs.  It is equally at home on a plate with any of them.

And it was to that dish I turned one day this week, when the weather outdoors was rainy and stormy and I was just longing for something comforting and filling but easy.  Two potatoes, one onion, salt and pepper and oil.  John came out of the music room as soon as he smelled the browning potatoes and onion.  "What's for supper?"  Nostalgia on a plate.

Peaches and Cream Pie

 

I'd never had or heard of this pie until a blogger/vlogger offered it as a free download for subscribing to her blog.  I looked online to find another recipe that is similar to hers to share here, so I can't say it's tried and true, but she's not shared hers to the general public and I don't like to share a recipe that isn't public domain or strictly mine.

Peaches and Cream Pie

• 3/4 cup flour
• ▢1 tsp baking powder
• ▢1/4 tsp salt
• ▢3 ounces Cook & Serve vanilla pudding mix (NOT instant
• ▢3 Tbsps butter at room temperature
• ▢1 egg
• ▢1/2 cup milk
• ▢15 ounces canned sliced peaches, drained, reserving 5 Tbsps of peach juice
• ▢8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• ▢1/2 cup sugar

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla pudding mix.  Mix with butter, egg and milk.  Spread mixture evenly over a greased pie pan.  I use a big 10 inch pan to make this recipe.

Now lay peaches out in a pretty pattern on the batter mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar and 5 Tbsps of the reserved peach juice.  Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the peach slices.  Spread lightly over the peaches.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.  Cool completely before serving.  This pie really is best when it's cooler or even stored covered in the fridge.

Mia's Upside Down Peach Cobbler

 

There was, once upon a time, a lovely blog called 'Aspiring Homemaker' and the young teen who wrote it was a lovely girl whom it was my pleasure to meet.   Mia was a homeschooled girl who lived in a rural setting with her family and she shared their journey living in a town house and moving into the country.  The family truly lived in a homestead sort of way.  Mia and her sister wore vintage clothing, practiced doing things in the old fashioned ways.   

Mia loved to cook and often shared recipes.  One memorable recipe for me was her Upside Down Peach Pie.  I never shared it here because it was, in my mind, her recipe and as long as her blog was up where public could read it, I simply linked to it.  However, the blog is no longer live for public views and hasn't been in quite a few years.   I searched online and found the recipe at another source and wanted to share it.   I often use the 'Easy Cobbler' recipe but this one, while similar and using the same basic ingredients is superior to my old tried and true one and come peach season, it was the one I'd often use.   

I'm still going to call this Mia's Upside Down Peach Cobbler because that is what I've always called it but you will probably just call it 'Delicious!'

Mia's Upside Down Peach Cobbler

2 cups fresh peaches (You can substitute drained, canned peaches)

1/2 cup sugar

Place in a saucepan and heat to boiling.

1/4 cup butter

Melt butter in baking dish (2 quart or an 8x8 pan) in 350F oven

Mix batter ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

I like to use a whisk to help remove any lumps but you can use a blender or mixer.  

When butter is melted, remove pan from oven.  Pour in batter mixture.  DO NOT STIR.  Now take hot peach mixture, juices and all, and pour over batter.  DO NOT STIR.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  Batter will rise to the top and turn golden brown while peaches will 

Sarah's Peach Festival Cobbler And Terri's Easy Peach Cobbler

 Peach Festival cobbler

1/2 cup butter
2 cups sliced peeled peaches
1 1/4 cups sugar {I use less if peaches are real sweet}
1cup presifted flour
2 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt ..or less
1/2 tea nutmeg
1 cup milk
1/2 tea vanilla Hubby loves this flour filling and at times I add a bit more of it to the same recipe...I also sub some of the milk for peach juice.
Do it in the same fashion as your recipe with the exception that the peaches go in over the melted butter and the flour mix goes over before baking. fits into 1 1/2 qt casserole. bakes 350 for 30 min till golden. I found this in my first cookbook. America Cooks from the Federation of Women's Clubs 1967. 

(from reader Sarah)

That recipe is Sarah's but I'm going to include my own right here below it.

Terri's Easy Peach Cobbler

1 stick of butter (I often do half a stick often because a whole stick is super rich), 

1 cup of milk, 

1 cup of sugar  

1 cup of flour (if using all purpose add 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)    

Melt the butter in a 7 x 11 baking dish or a 2 quart casserole in a 375F oven.   In the meantime put milk, sugar, flour together in a bowl. I use all purpose flour so I add 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Self-rising flour works just great in this, too.   Don't mix.  Just set aside.  Now peel and slice 2-3 cups peaches. I add extra peaches.  Older recipes actually call for 1 cup of fruit which I find isn't near enough.  And by the way this cobbler topping is excellent over apples/applesauce, oranges, berries...They all taste yummy!

Pour the melted butter into the flour mixture.  Mix quickly with a whisk, just until it's all mixed and not lumpy.  You can, if you prefer, do as my late father in law used to do and blitz it in the blender.  Pour into the casserole and put peaches into batter.  Bake until golden brown and puffy.  I haven't made one in a 7x 11 pan in a long time so I can't tell you how long to cook that.  I use the 2 quart casserole usually.  In a casserole, it takes about 1 hour to bake. It will go quicker in the 7 x 11 pan since it's more shallow.

You can double the recipe and put into a 13 X 9 pan and it too will take about an hour to cook through.  This is how we made it most often when I was growing up.  I like that the recipe can be doubled or halved, and even quartered, easily.

Trisha Yearwood's Mama's Sweet and Saltines

 This recipe was from  a Country Living feature on Trisha Yearwood's cookbook, Mama's Sweet and Saltines.  I substituted the last sheets of matzah from a package we opened during Feast of Unleavened Bread and didn't finish.  These are so good.  They taste like a Skor candy bar.

Ahhhh, no, the pan is NOT full, we'd attacked it pretty shortly after the chocolate chips were melted, lol.

Mama's Sweet and Saltines

40 saltine crackers
1 cup (2 sticks) butter*
1 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a large jellyroll pan with aluminum foil and the saltine crackers.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the eat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly.** Put the jellyroll pan into the oven and watch closely.  Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly. Remove from oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife.  Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store into an airtight container.

*note: recipe noted that you can use 1 stick of butter instead of two if you prefer a harder praline. 
**I opted to use 1 stick of butter.  I couldn't spread the mixture evenly, but I drizzled it as evenly as I could.  It did spread out to cover the cookies while it was in the oven.  I didn't put my cookies in the freezer.  I put them in the refrigerator.  I had no problems with the mixture sticking to the foil at all.  I found it easy to lift the foil and pull the corner back.

These are GOOD!

Mandy's Sausage and Egg Muffins

I love the Youtube vlogger, Mandy in the Making.   She shares dinner recipes and the occasional dessert or breakfast recipe.  This particular recipe sounded good to me.  Then I started seeing other Youtube vloggers and Instagram users commenting on how good they were.  Well, all the rave reviews made me determined to try them.

The recipe is simple, quick and while it does call for what I consider a special ingredient that I normally don't keep on hand, I've found a way around that.  I'm sharing the recipe as I make it with a side note of what Mandy uses.

I've made this twice now.  The first time, John must have been preoccupied, but this time he raved over them.  He told me two or three times how good they were and how much he enjoyed them.  He even mentioned them later on in the morning!  I think he mentioned them again at lunch...

Mandy's Sausage and Egg Muffins

1 cup AP flour (Mandy uses 1 cup bisquick.  If you do, too, then skip the salt and baking powder as well)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pound browned, drained, cooled breakfast sausage ( I use a good turkey sausage and typically cut this to 3/4 pound)

1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese 

4 eggs

Heat oven to 350F.  Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until well blended.  Spoon into greased muffin cups.  My big muffin tin (larger than usual), cups filled just half full, made a full dozen muffins.  If you have a smaller muffin cup tin you might fill them more full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  You can freeze these too but I doubt you'll have to unless you're single. 

Armenian Potatoes

Years ago, when I was still delving the depths of my favorite cookbook of all times, The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook, I found a recipe for potatoes.  It had all the earmarks of what I looked for in a recipe at the time.  It was cheap.  It had flavorful ingredients.  The ingredients were pantry basics.

The first time I made this I was wowed and so were all my guests.  I haven't made these potatoes in quite a long time now.   It's especially good when served next to beef steak, roast, burgers.  I have it on this week's menu...

Simple. Easy. Flavorful.  Cheap to make.  Ticks all the boxes!

Armenian Potatoes

4 cups diced potatoes, 
1/4 cup oil, 
3/4 cup water, 
1 garlic (yes, it's a lot.  I generally use two generous teaspoons of minced garlic), 
1 tbsp of paprika, 
1 tsp salt, 
1 tbsp dried parsley, 
1/4 cup diced tomato.  

Bake in a covered casserole dish, 350f for 45 minutes.

Also, my youngest daughter experimented with this recipe and put all the ingredients in the crock pot along with a seared Chuck Roast.  She texted me later that this was 'THE. BEST. ROAST. EVER.'