I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

potatoes

Salt-Roasted Little Potatoes

Salt-Roasted Little Potatoes are tender potatoes that are baked in salt. They are fluffy on the inside, with a nice crunchy, salty crust on the outside.

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As I write this, the feels like temperature is 111 degrees. OMG, I can’t. Well, it could be 120, and I’d still never move back up north. Blah to snow!

It just means that once Hunter gets up from his nap, we need to hit the pool, or just watch a movie in the AC. 

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How To Make The Best Baked Potatoes

The Best Baked Potatoes

Since getting our pup Kemper we have been trying to keep things pretty low key at home with him. For example, I’m more focused on the half dozen times we take him out at night instead of making a complicated dinner. But I don’t want that to mean that we are not eating good food. Which is exactly why we have been turning to making baked potatoes quite often to serve for or with dinner.

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I really love baked potatoes. Even when we go to Wendy’s- spicy chicken sandwich thankyouverymuch- I typically pick a baked potato over fries. They are great as a side or as a base to fun toppings. I personally love to pile on chili on them in the winter. Maybe add some cheesy broccoli with some hot sauce. Oh thinking about all these options are making me hungry!

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I hate to admit that when we are rushed that I’ll make a baked potato in the microwave but they are just not the same. The texture is different as well as you can’t get that great crispy skin. So just plan in advance and pop these in the oven and you’ll have a fantastic baked potato to enjoy in about an hour.

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Toppings are really endless but if you decide to keep it simple with some butter I insist you use a really good quality butter like Kerrygold because that is really going to make it just so wonderful.

The Best Baked Potatoes

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 russet potatoes
  • 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • butter, chives, pepper- for serving

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Wash the potatoes thoroughly. Pierce the potatoes all over with a fork, then rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt on all surfaces.
  3. Bake the potatoes on a baking sheet for 50-65 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and you can easily slide a knife into the center.
  4. Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes.
  5. Slice the potatoes down the middle, then carefully pinch the ends with your fingers to fluff the potato.
  6. Serve with butter, chives, and pepper.

Hash Benedict @ Deluxe Town Diner, Watertown MA

As much as I reviewed the Hash Benedict at Deluxe Station Diner I am sharing with you my thoughts about the Hash Benedict from the Deluxe Town Diner, the sister restaurant of DSD. For the most part these diners’ menus are similar but our heart belongs to Deluxe Town Diner. Years and Years ago I was addicted to watching ‘The Best Of…” on Food Network. ‘The Best of…‘ was a toned down version of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was hosted by Marc Silverstein and Jill Cordes and I loved watching it to learn about different places that had great food.* They featured the Deluxe Town Diner since they are so well known for their pancakes. We went the next day.

Since out first time going we have been countless times to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our favorite is breakfast is the menu is so vast

 

 

 

While both Hast Benedict from Deluxe Town and Deluxe Station were awesome, the Deluxe Town Diner is the winner. The hash was on point again with large chunks of fresh corned beef. The egg was cooked better resulting in a perfectly poached egg- set whites and a super bright runny yolk. The hollandiase sauce was velvety and so rich. Perfect indulgent brunch item to carry you through the day (of errands!).

As much as I love the eggs benny on top of the hash the real star of the show is their corned beef hash. It is such a good quality and so fresh. I love that their hash is not just meat and potatoes but there are vegetables, like carrots, in there too. It seems like a great compliment to the potatoes and the salty meat. Lastly, I love that they take the time to shred the corned beef instad of just chopping it up. Shredding it is best as it naturally breaks apart along the gaining in the meat.  (If you also really enjoy hash you should check out this Boston Globe article. yum!)

Rating

English muffin– 20/20 pts

Corned Beef Hash– 20/20 pts

Poached Egg– 25/25 pts

Hollandaise Sauce– 18/20 pts

Side– 9/10pts

Total: 92/100

Deluxe Town Diner

627 Mount Auburn St

Watertown, MA 02472

617.926.8400

*At least I think that is the show I was watching! It has been 7 years so my mind could be playing tricks on me!

Breakfast Burritos

 

One of my favorite things about the weekend is that we can enjoy a leisurely breakfast together. Our Saturday’s are typically crazy so we really savor our Sunday mornings. The paper comes and that is the day when we make breakfast. Before we had a coffee maker Price would leave to get coffees while I cooked. Before we had a coffee maker, Price would leave to get coffees while I cooked. He would come back with a massive hot coffee for himself and a massive iced coffee for me. Now that we have a coffee maker we make breakfast together (if I can pry him away from Sports Center) and sip mugs of hot coffee all morning while we go through the paper. Clearly, we are 80 years old deep down…

 

 

This breakfast came together rather quickly as I had thought about it the night before. We were making dinner and having baked potatoes with it and figured I would throw a few extra potatoes on the baking sheet to use for breakfast hash. Well, when the time came to make breakfast, we decided that breakfast burritos would be fun so we whipped them up quickly.

It is a quick breakfast that only really dirties 1 skillet. The hardest part is not to fill your burrito too much. If that just happens, then grab a fork and take a bit off the top so you can roll your burrito! I would have preferred to have black beans in my burrito, but didn’t feel like opening a can for just a bit of beans so I opted out. We enjoyed these because they were so good, simple, and filling. Plus, they are a great way of using up large burrito or sandwich wraps at the end of a week.

 

 

Breakfast Burritos

serves 4

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of bacon
  • 2 baked potatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 white onion, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 8 eggs: 4 whole eggs, 4 egg whites
  • 4 burrito tortilla wraps
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese, such as chedder or montery jack
  • 1 large tomato or 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • sliced pickled jalapenos and black olives, optional

Process

  1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. When done, reserve 2 tablespoons bacon drippings in the skillet and set aside on paper towel lined dish.
  2. In the same skillet add the onion and potatoes. When they have browned, add in the taco seasoning and water to the skillet. Gently mix
  3. While the potatoes and onions are cooking, beat together the eggs in a large bowl.
  4. Once the potatoes and onions have adsorbed the water, push the mixture to one side and add the eggs to the other side of the skillet. Scramble the eggs together with a rubber spatula as they cook. As the eggs begin to set, combine the eggs with the potato and onions. Continue to gently cook on low until done.
  5. Assemble the burritos but laying out a burrito tortilla on your work surface. Add 1/4 of the egg mixture to the 1 side of the burrito. Break 1 strip of bacon apart in half an place on the eggs. Add the your desired toppings, such as the tomatoes and cheese.
  6. To wrap the burrito, fold over the short ends of the wrap. Your burrito is now longer than it is wide. Begin to roll the end with the mixture over, while keeping the sides in, until you have completely rolled the entire burrito together.
  7. In a large skillet or grill pan on medium-high, place your burritos flap side down so the flap will seal closed. Flip over once to allow the other side to crisp as well. If you burrito was too full, or if you prefer to not have the burrito warp crisp, then wrap the burrito in aluminum foil to help keep it all together.

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Ultimate Healthier Mashed Potatoes

I am of the camp that worships lumpy mashed potatoes. While I have plenty of issues with the texture of foods I am eating, I love the contrast of a bit of firm potato that is cozy with some smooth, velvety mashed potato. I think mashed potatoes is such a great food since it is a great side and a great starter to other reuse recipes, like potato pancakes or soup. Plus potatoes are so affordable that they can help keep you making great dinners and keeping budget.

With the new year upon us, I thought I would share with you a great mashed potato recipe that is a lot healthier than a lot others out there. Now is the time for everyone to resolve to loose weight or save more so a mashed potato recipe is a great way to start the new year. We are trying to do both so I anticipate making some fun recipes with potatoes like this in the upcoming year.

These mashed potatoes use substitutes to make it healthier while still having great flavor. We pretty much only have skim milk in the house so I use that instead of a full fat milk. I do use butter but not too much considering the size of the batch of mashers. The thing that really makes these mashed potatoes thick an flavorful is low fat sour cream.

Ultimate Healthier Mashed Potatoes

*serves 10-14 people*

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds of waxy potatoes, such as Yukon or Red
  • 2 tablespoons of salt, divided
  • 6 tablespoons of butter
  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 16oz container of sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups of skim or low fat milk
  • 1 tablespoon of black pepper

Process

  1. Chop all the potatoes in even sided pieces, approximately 1 1/5″ cubed
  2. Add all the potatoes and 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of boiling water.
  3. Boil until fork tender, start checking after 15 minutes.
  4. Drain tender potatoes, leaving them in the colander while you do the next step.
  5. Put the 6 tablespoons of butter and garlic back to the pot on low. Cook until butter is melted and garlic is golden brown.
  6. Add the potatoes back to the pot and cook for 2 minutes while stirring .
  7. Add the milk, sour cream, salt, and pepper to the potatoes and combine into the potatoes while mashing.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.