My Monday Munchies - Our Favorite Potatoes!

Today's recipe is one of our favorites! Jonathan maintains a good sized garden in our backyard. We have 2 4x8 beds of potato plants (about 70 plants!) He recently brought in the first harvest of potatoes and we cooked them up for dinner.

What you need: 

A couple lbs of potatoes, diced (I had about 6 cups diced)*

1-2 large onions (if you like a lot of onion, do 2)

6 cloves of garlic (we really like garlic, if you do not like a lot of garlic I would do 4 cloves)

1 stick of butter

1-2 cups of fresh chopped herbs

Salt and Pepper

 1. Chop your potatoes and onions.

2. Melt the butter over medium heat. (You can use your favorite oil if you want. We have used olive oil before. We just prefer the taste of butter. If you use oil, heat it until it sizzles when you put the garlic in. I usually test it with a wooden spoon first.)

3. Press your garlic into the butter. (You can mince it, but I prefer my Pampered Chef garlic press!) Saute the garlic for a minute to flavor the butter.

4. Pour in the potatoes and onions. Cover and let sit on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes start to soften. 

5. While the potatoes cook, chop your fresh herbs. I used basil, oregano, thyme, and chives. I ended up with over two cups. I really don't think you can have too much!

6. Stir, and then continue to cook uncovered until the potatoes are the desired tenderness and starting to brown.

7. Add your fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Toss and let cook for another minute or two.

These are very flavorful potatoes. They take about 30 minutes. I always make enough to have leftovers for breakfast!

*Don't use store bought Russet Potatoes. That is all I had on hand one day, so I diced them and cooked them up. No amount of seasoning and butter helped those potatoes! I love Russets for baked potatoes and mashed potatoes; but this recipe just needs a different texture of potato. The Russets did not hold the flavor like a red new potato, Yukon Gold, or fingerlings. Pick a good potato and you will get the best results!

My Monday Munchies - Making Ground Beef

My aunts gave me the most amazing wedding gift - a Kitchenaid Stand mixer! For someone who likes to bake, this is a great addition to your kitchen. While shopping one day shortly after we were married, I noticed all the accessories for the mixer - juicers, meat grinders, and pasta plates. How cool to be able to make homemade pasta! That one went on my Christmas list. My mom gave them to us, but none of us read the part that said you needed the meat grinder to use the other attachments. Oops!

I had the pasta plates for years before we found the meat grinder brand new and in the box, at a garage sale for $20! I have had the meat grinder for 5-7 years now and have never used it - until today!

We have a grocery store chain in Oklahoma called Crest. Once a month they have a huge meat sale. I can spend $200 on meat and come home with enough meat to feed our family for 2-3 months. 

During one of my last shopping trips I ended up with 3 roasts (the have bags with a variety of cuts - I had 3 ground beef, 2 steak, and 3 roasts). I already had a pork roast and a beef roast in the freezer at home. I also had stew meat. 

When I checked the freezer this week, we still had two roasts! They need to be used soon and I don't really want roast and potatoes in this heat. I hate to spend money when we have food in the freezer. So I decided to test out my meat grinder.

I had no idea what to do! So I Googled "Make your own ground beef" and I found this site. It's so easy! I already have everything I need. So I thawed the roast and got started.

I assembled the meat grinder and attached it to the mixer according to the directions.

I sliced the meat into thin strips. From what I read on the other site, it might be easy to jam my meat grinder, so I wanted to be careful. My Kitchenaid instructions said partially frozen, or really cold meat worked best. Mine was still slightly frozen when I started.

I ran the strips through the grinder with the coarse grind plate. This was quick and easy! (All of the recipes in my instruction manual said to use speed number 4, so that is what I did.)

I changed the plates and reran all the meat through on the fine plate. This took a little longer and I had to use the meat stuffer to press it all through. I was very happy with the results!

I weighed out the meat. I had a little over two pounds. I cooked and seasoned half of it for tacos and froze it. I don't know when we will eat it and I did not want the meat I worked so hard for to go bad! The other pound will become spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.

Here are some helpful hints from my first experience with the meat grinder:

1. Clear a 2-3 foot radius on your counter. It spits. I had cleared a good space, but I had to wash the knives and knife block, the stove, and a few other things that were not far enough away!

2. Wear an apron. You don't want your clothes covered in meat.

3. If you want great taco meat, grind it twice. For hamburgers, I might just run it through once with the coarse grind plate. 

Will I do this every time I need ground beef? Probably not, but the next time I get a good deal on roast I will be stocking up!

Weekly Feature - My Monday Munchies

I have decided to start a weekly feature for - My Monday Munchies! I will share recipes we like - things we create, things we find, methods for stretching leftovers, ways we save money - maybe it will inspire you as you make your meal plan for the week.

One of my favorite things to do is cook. We do all kinds of cooking at our house. Some days we cook for hours to create huge and delicious meals. Some days we go for the quick and easy meal or leftovers. Some days I fill the crock pot and leave it until dinner time.

Cheese burger, potato salad, cole slaw, and cucumber salad.

It is all about balance. I balance the heavy and exhausting cooking days with the quick and easy. If I cooked for hours everyday, nothing else would get done and I know I would grow to dislike the task. If I only do the quick and easy, I start to hate it as well. I get bored, and it feels like I am cheating on our meals.

My weekly plan usually includes some of the following:
1-2 big cooking meals
1-2 crock pot meals
1-2 of our go to quick meals (spaghetti, tacos, etc) - these take 30 minutes or less
2 medium preparation meals - these may take an hour to cook, but take minimal prep time
A meal of "planned overs" - a planned reworking of leftovers

When I actually take the time to sit and plan a full week of meals, I try to plan one new meal a week. If I am in a hurry, I just use our old standby meals.

 I will share a little bit of everything! 

I am not a trained chef. I have never taken a cooking class. I learned to cook from my mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, my mom's friends, my friends, cookbooks, and cooking shows.

I am no expert, I am just sharing what I do to keep my family well fed.