Potato Medley

I used to be a Russet potato kind of guy, choosing the standard, starchy baked potato as my potato of choice. Although, for a while, red potatoes caught my fancy. Now? I'm now hooked on sweet potatoes! One of my favorite recipes involves mixing the Russet and sweet potato in a dish I call potato medley. It's very delicious, good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and can be created, from start to finish, in 30 minutes or so.

Start by selecting equally-sized Russet and sweet potatoes, dicing them into 1/2" square cubes. Next, put the cubes into a bowl and mix in a splash of olive oil and any dry toppings you'd like to use. I'm partial to pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder, although onion powder and breadcrumbs are good ones, too. All that's left is cooking time!

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the coated cubes in a greased pan and bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on how well done you like your potatoes. I usually pull them out every 10 minutes or so and shake up the pan. After 20 minutes in, I test every 5 minutes or so.

After baking, let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy! Goes great as-is and also with hot sauce and/or katchup. Store any leftovers in the fridge and simply microwave them when ready to eat the next day. (Although they are, undoubtably, best right out of the oven.) The sweet potatoes give a fair amount of sweetness to the medley, but if you're wanting a sweeter concoction, replace the Russet potato with a yam.

Greek Potato Salad

If you're heading off to any picnics or BBQs this Labor Day weekend, chances are you, or someone attending, is expected to bring some sort of creamy salad, like potato salad or macaroni salad. These sinfully delicious (and sinfully unhealthy!) salads are a staple at any picnic. Rather than bringing the same old boring potato salad, why not mix things up and make this tasty Greek potato salad? It's easy to make and has a distinctive and alluring taste that will keep the picnic-goers coming back to your dish.

Unlike a traditional potato salad that uses Russet potatoes, the Greek potato salad uses red potatoes. Personally, I prefer these smaller, less starchy potatoes to the Russet. (For more recipe ideas with red potatoes be sure to check out an earlier recipe, Baked Red Potatoes.) Also, instead of using mayonnaise as the main "goup" ingredient in the salad, the Greek potato salad replaces the mayo with olive oil and feta cheese.

The ingredients for Greek potato salad, unfortunately, are a bit more expensive than for a traditional potato salad, but it's worth every penny:

• 2 lbs medium red potatoes
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup black olives, drained & chopped

Start by washing and cutting the potatoes into bit-sized pieces, leaving the skins on. Next, cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender. Part of the art of cooking this recipe is ensuring that the potatoes achieve the right level of tenderness. If the potatoes are not tender enough, the dish will suffer as the potato pieces will taste somewhat raw and be crunchy. If the potatoes are too tender, then when mixing the ingredients you'll find that you end up with a sort of oatmeal-like mush.

While the potatoes are being cooked, mix the oil, vinegar, oregano, and rosemary. After the potatoes are tender, drain them and move the potatoes to a mixing bowl. Then pour on the oil/vinegar/spices mix and gently toss in the remaining ingredients. After all of the ingredients have been thoroughly (yet gently!) mixed, let the salad stand for at least thirty minutes before serving. This dish will keep well in the fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Baked Red Potatoes

I really like potatoes, especially french fried... with lots of katchup. Pity that they're so unhealthy, drenched in oil and loaded with high calorie carbs. While baked potatoes or mashed potatos are a more healthy choice than french fried potatoes, even a baked potato can quickly lose any nutritional value once its smothered in cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and butter, or mashed potatoes in milk, butter, and gravy.



There are healthy potato servings that taste great without slathering on high calorie, high fat items. Today's recipe is such a dish: Baked Red Potatoes. This dish is cheap, easy to cook, and tasty. I wouldn't go so far to call it health food - after all, the two main ingredients, potatoes and breadcrumbs, are both high calorie items - but as far as potato options go, this dish is one that will require less "make-up" time at the gym than most others.



The ingredients are affordable and easy to find at any major grocery store:

• 3 regular red potatoes
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons oregano (or more, if you like)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon regular, table pepper)
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon breadcrumbs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Wash and chop potatoes into 3/4" cubes
• Mix potatoes with olive oil, coating well
• Mix in remaining dry ingredients
• Place potatoes on an aluminum foil-covered baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes, turning potatoes over about half way through

This will make 2 to 3 servings. These tasty baked potatoes work well with any dish where you might normally serve a baked potato. Really, though, this recipe works as a side dish for most any meat-based meal, especially red meats (although it still works well with chicken and pork, in my opinion).



Enjoy!