potatoes!

So first off, food allergies got a shout out at the White House Correspondent's dinner last night:

An extended news-media-as-high-school metaphor: “Fox is the jocks. MSNBC is the nerds. Bloggers are the Goths. NPR is the table for kids with peanut allergies. Al Jazeera is the weird foreign exchange student nobody talks to. Print Media, you’re the poor kid who died sophomore year in a car crash. Cheer up, we dedicate the yearbook to you!”

As a fact, I do listen to NPR when I'm driving sometimes. :)

Anyway, sorry it's been awhile! I've been busy and all I can say is that that trend will continue. The next few weeks are busy with some major events for school, so I'll be hoofing it with food allergies the best I can. Also, my seasonal allergies are flaring right now which has, rather annoyingly, made my food allergies way worse. I've had to be particularly careful recently and it hasn't always worked in my favor. In fact, fritos honey BBQ chips have very nearly the same packaging as the spicy BBQ chips and that meant that I accidentally bought the ones with yeast in them (honey BBQ). Be wary, food shoppers. It's been an opportunity to experiment with what "autolyzed yeast extract" means for me in terms of allergenicity...and it's working out okay.

I wanted to post a simple and very easy to manipulate for your own flavor choices recipe that I made recently. My microwave broke and I had to resort to only having an oven to cook in and a toaster oven to rewarm/reheat. That meant turning to the potato staple. I eat lots of potatoes (and corn, since everyone always asks this--potatoes and corn are what i rely on) and this was a handy recipe to make and eat until my landlord replaced my microwave.

Ranch-Bacon Cheesy Potatoes

http://joyouslydomestic.blogspot.com/2012/10/roasted-ranch-potatoes-with-bacon-and.html

Ingredients:

2 pounds potatoes (unpeeled, washed and cut into chunks)
1/2 cup ranch dressing (bottled, not packet)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping (if desired) (I used more like 1/2c)
1/4 cup crumbled, cooked bacon (I sprinkled more on top with the cheese)
1 tablespoon dried dill weed
3 scallions, washed and chopped
Salt
Pepper
Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add (in a large bowl) the ranch dressing, dill, cheese and bacon.  Add in the potatoes.  Sprinkle in a generous pinch of salt and pepper.  Toss to coat potatoes.

Spoon into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Cover with foil.

Bake for 60 minutes.  Stir gently halfway through to get the bottom potatoes rotated so they don't become burnt and to ensure that the middle and top potatoes get a chance to brown. 

Remove foil.  Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Gently stir again, as necessary.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes, then sprinkle on a little more cheese, if desired.  Bake a few more minutes or until everything is gooey, browned and bubbly on top.

Serve with scallions sprinkled on top for garnish.

Great with a dollop of sour cream.

I didn't end up adding the scallions on top and I've never eaten sour cream with my potatoes, but that's what I mean about this being a great recipe for manipulating for your flavor tastes. I've been thinking about using a ranch dressing--the powder kind--to coat the potatoes and see if the ranch flavor is stronger that way. I'm rather pototoed out right now though, so it'll be awhile before I come back to this. Also, an excellent recipe to share at family dinners!

But don't burn yourself making it like I did....big mistake. The door rebounded onto my arm and I have this fabulous burn on my arm that has three distinct stripes on it that make it look like I've been assaulted--they're exactly the right size, shape, and spacing to look like someone grabbed my forearm. Thankfully, the weather's been cold enough for me to wear long sleeves.