Potato Salad

OK, today's recipe is brought to you by my Captain Obvious persona.

You see, during the summer, I NEVER buy Potato Salad. I don't trust the stores to have properly refrigerated it upon delivery. If mayonaisse is left out for a couple of hours during the summer, say goodbye pool, hello salmonella.

My family, however, likes potato salad. They especially like my aunt's who was kind enough to give me her recipe. I trust me and my own kitchen, so I make my own potato salad during the summer.

Potato Salad.
Ingredients
*Six large Idaho Potatos (My aunt boils them. I prefer to bake them. It is easier, and the salad tastes more potatoey.)
Three hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
1 cup of mayonaise (Captain Obvious suggests less if you prefer it drier, and more if you prefer it creamier)
1 Tablespoon of Paprika
*Red potatoes are also good. They give an entirely different flavor, as do Yukon Gold. These are smaller potatoes, so Captain Obvious suggests you use more..
Peal the skin from the cooked potato. Cut it into small pieces. Mix in the chopped hard boiled eggs. Add the mayonaisse, and mix. Place the sliced hard boiled eggs over the potato salad. Sprinkle the paprika over it. Refrigerate until serving.


I hope you enjoy this family recipe. As is true of most of my family recipes, you have to use your own judgement to determine your own family's preferences. But then, isn't that what we all do with any of our recipes?

Tater Tot Casserole With Zip

I have been remiss in posting on this fabulous food blog because I've just been so darn busy lately. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this dish, because by the time I was going to take a picture it was all gone. So, I guess you'll just have to make it and see it for yourself. This is super fast and easy to make, but when you pull this out of the oven you'd better grab some quick because if you turn around it's going to be gobbled up!

Tater Tot Casserole With Zip
1 lb. ground beef
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 14oz can cut green beans
2 cans Campbells Fiesta Cheese Soup
1 package frozen tater tots

In a skillet brown ground beef. Add seasoned salt and mix well. Add green beans and soup. Spray a 13 x 9 dish with cooking spray and add beef mixture. Top with frozen tater tots. Bake for 35 minutes at 400°, or until tater tots are nice and crisp.

Enjoy!

Potato Skins a la Velveeta

These potato skins are just flat out awesome. If you are looking for a low fat version, I can not give you one. It would be a travesty to do such a thing to a potato skin. These are filled with butter, sour cream, bacon and two kinds of Velveeta. These will probably just osmosis right to your thighs, but it's worth it. I promise.

I'm going to give you the basics of the recipe and then you can adjust quantities for however many potato skins you want to make. And I don't have to tell you that you will get two potato skins per potato because you are smart that way.

Potato Skins A La Velveeta

Potatoes (either baking or Yukon Gold)
1 pkg bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 16oz carton of sour cream (NOT fat free)
1 pkg regular Velveeta
1 pkg Mexican Velveeta
Real butter
Salt and pepper

Bake the potatoes and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut in half and scoop out most of the inside, leaving some potato on the skin. To assemble, spread a small amount of butter over inside of skin. Then layer, salt, pepper, bacon, sour cream, Mexican Velveeta and regular Velveeta. Repeat until all skins are filled. Bake at 400 until cheese is bubbly, about 10 minutes.

The reserved potato can be made into mashed potatoes. Now that is a win-win situation.