Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Potatoes


Our homesteading neighbors offered us their still to be harvested, three rows of surplus potatoes for just 
$30.00.
Michael (dear husband) went over with the little ones and dug them all up, brought them home, and lay them out on our porch to dry out for two days.  I am now picking through them, sorting them out - keepers to be stored in our basement in boxes and feedbags, a basket for us to keep in our pantry, and a box of small ones to save for seed potatoes for next spring. 

We harvested about 30 pounds of potatoes ourselves this year from our own small garden area.  We have been busy increasing our garden over the past two months and we hope to harvest close to 100 pounds next year from our own land.

However, we are so grateful for the well over 100 pounds from our neighbors and I am hopeful that they will keep well in our basement which should stay about 40 degrees all winter.

So far I have been making mashed potatoes and oven baked potatoes.  The children all love the oven baked.  I peel, cut into chunks and then mix in a large bowl with olive oil and spices and then bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

What are your favorite potato recipes?

Warm wishes, Tonya


26 comments:

  1. Mmmm! I never met a potato I didn't like...recently we've had Potatoes Anna - which was a very pretty dish of potatoes...

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  2. mmmm! Oven baked is popular around here too!
    We also love au gratin & twice baked alot, oh and hash browns.

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  3. This is wonderful Tonya! I appreciate having the children involved in the process as well! Potato soup is so good (I just read a recipe on Joy's blog) Roasted with other root vegetables, Baked potatoes with sour cream, chives or scallions etc. is really good too! Enjoy your harvest!

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  4. Love potatoes! I bake them with olive oil, rosemary and garlic and parmesan cheese--yummy! Sometimes I make a potato bar, bake them then set out different toppings like sour cream, cheese sauce, broccoli or asparagus, bacon...etc. Goes over quite well as lunch on Sat or Sun.

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  5. best thing you could do to a potato...

    http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/


    they are FANTASTIC!

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  6. Beautiful-the harvest and the generosity of friends and neighbors. I love using Yukon Gold potatoes or sweet potatoes (can't get the South out of me) for recipes. I think we love garlic mashed the most and good old sweet potato souffle. Thanks for sharing. Peace, Angela

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  7. We are new at the home gardening, this is our first year growing potatoes and I didn't know to leave them out to dry for two days. Thank you for that. Our favorite potatoes by far are the purple heritage ones yum and fun together!

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  8. this is wonderful, Tonya!
    we also had a good potato year, harvesting well over 100 pounds. We were going for 200, not sure how close we got. anyhow, last year our storage potatoes lasted well into the winter, kept in paper bags in the pantry (a closet off the kitchen which gets no heat).
    we also got our small red potatoes which we ate as "babies" all through the summer- so unbelievably delicious you hardly need any seasoning!
    We love to make potato pancakes, which also uses our own eggs and onions. Also oven roasted herb potatoes, and fried potatoes for breakfast.

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  9. Wow! That's awesome! I love potatoes. One of my favorite recipes is pilgrim potatoes made with sour cream and whipped, so yummy!
    Have a great day!
    Blessings,
    Jill

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  10. What a blessing from your neighbors and your own harvest sounds wonderful. Our potatoes didn't do well this year, but then there is always next year.

    As for how we like potatoes - well there isn't a way we don't like them. Baked, roasted, fried, mashed, scalloped, in soups and stews, stuffed with chilli, taco fixings, or brocolli and cheese, hadbrowns, potato salad . . . ok I'm hungery now.

    Blessings, Elizabeth

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  11. I just made a yummy pot of cream of potato soup with potatoes donated fresh from my neighbours garden. Soup just hits the spot when the air is cool and crisp, and leaves are blowing around the yard. My family also enjoys twice-baked potatoes, and Cream cheese Potatoes, which are also baked in the oven. I always enjoy my visits with you Tonya. I had to chuckle reading that put your potatoes on the porch to dry. When my husband and I were first married, we rented an old farm house to live in. The farmer was nice enough to plow me a great garden spot which produced very well for us. I dug our potatoes and put them out on tarps beside the garden to dry. Unfortunately the farmers milk cows escaped their pasture, and consumed my several hundred pounds of potatoes in short order. It would have served me much better to have put them out on the porch to dry instead.

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  12. What a marvelous bounty! I'm so excited to hear about everyone's potato recipes, too.

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  13. this is wonderful! we love potatoes in our house - one of the few foods my daughter will eat, actually (not sure where she got her light eating habits, certainly not from our genes :) :) i make them just like you do, they are so delicious that way. i've started making them in tiny pieces for her, in a covered pottery dish for 40 minutes, then uncovered for another 20 - they are really soft on the inside like that, i find.

    have a wonderful day!

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  14. oh boy! that's exciting!!!!
    I love to make a brocolli and cheddar potato soup....mmm.....perfect for fall!

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  15. Yum! Spanish tortillas are my favorite - tasty warm and cold!

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  16. Have you ever read "Timmy O'Rourke and the Giant Potato"? (I think that's the correct title. It's by Tomi de Paola.) I think you should read it! love, Beth

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  17. We love them roasted with root veggies. Karen
    Sippy Cup Central Mom

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  18. Oh I never really enjoyed eating potatoes until we grew our own several years ago. Now I make sure they are one of the first things I plant every year! We like them just like you do, (but I leave the skins on mine, I just give them a good scrub before chopping them up)Then a light splash of olive oil and herbs fresh from the garden. Oregano, chives and rosemary are our favorites.

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  19. How kind of your wonderful neighbour Tonya:)
    Enjoy...
    xo
    Linda

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  20. What a blessing! Your neighbor is really a good neighbor! Enjoy the potatoes.

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  21. I canned potatoes for the first time this year. Super easy and they make great hash browns or almost instant potato soup. 50lbs netted around 35 quarts. Will definitely be doing them again next year this way.

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  22. Oh yeah! Our fave is Latkes (not Jewish so not authentic probably but this is how we do it). Grate potatoes and press out moisture--add chopped onion and one egg for every 4 large potatoes. Salt and Pepper. Drop into hot oil and flatten out. Fry til crispy brown. Eat with sour cream and applesauce!!! YUM!

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  23. I love it!!! We just harvested potatoes this week, too. :)

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  24. Thanks for sharing your story. I have 2 favourites, hasselback potatoes and potato lefse. Being Norwegian lefse is a part of our everyday life...

    EWian

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  25. Question for you...how do you keep the potatoes for the spring to plant. We have some that are right now sprouting from organic bags I bought what can I do with them if I wanted ot plant some...thanks!
    Alisha

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