The Easiest Potatoes Ever

Need an easy side dish to go with your dinner? These potatoes are simple enough for a weeknight at home, and yummy enough for a holiday party. You can customize them with any herbs that your heart desires, and serve them with chicken, beef, or fish. Did I mention that they are the easiest potatoes ever?!

Note: Potatoes are on the Dirty Dozen list, so try to get organic if you can find them. My local Meijer usually has organic potatoes, and I can also find them at my local farmer's market.

 

The Easiest Potatoes Ever

(inspired by Ina Garten's recipe)

Ingredients:
Small round or fingerling potatoes, any variety (I used redskin)
Butter (at least 2 T, but as much as you need to coat the potatoes thoroughly)
Salt and pepper to taste
Herbs of your choice (fresh or dried, ie. rosemary & thyme, or fresh dill)

Directions:
Wash your potatoes but do not peel. Melt the butter in a dutch oven. Add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat the potatoes. Cover and cook over low heat until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 20-30 minutes. Shake the pot once in awhile to prevent burning. If using dried herbs, add halfway through the cooking time. If using fresh herbs, add after the potatoes are finished cooking.

We served this with salmon that was broiled until cooked through, and then spread with a lemon parsley pesto. It made for a super-simple but gourmet meal.

If you try these, I'd love to know what you think! 

What are your go-to easy side dishes?

This is part of: Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Keep it Real Thursday, Thank Your Body Thursday

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Real Food Cook-Out Menu

Garlic Herb Potato Salad - my favorite summer side dish!

I'm spending several days at my parents house while my husband is at a big long conference. I'm not doing much cooking while I'm here (what a nice break!), but yesterday my extended family got together for a cook-out, and I just HAD to share with you what we ate. It was so delicious and healthy and real!

Our Family Cook-out Menu

Grass-fed Hamburgers
Applegate Farms Organic Hot Dogs
Trader Joe's 100% Whole Wheat Buns
Garlic-Herb Potato Salad
Green Beans with Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts
Grilled Broccoli with lemon and thyme
Fruit Salad
Gluten-Free cupcakes (for the gluten-intolerant family members, but tasty enough for everyone to enjoy!)
"Bars" (a very unhealthy but totally delicious bar cookie that my family has been making for ages. I'm totally okay with compromising on this one because they are so darn good and it's a once in awhile kind of thing!)

What does your family like to eat at cook-outs? Have any easy and healthy ideas to share?

 This is part of Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, and Simple Lives Thursday.

One Pot Meal: Baked Fish Provençal

Pet peeve: meals that dirty several pots. Or a meal that you start on the stove and transfer to a casserole to put in the oven. Or a meal that dirties the blender or food processor in addition to one or more pots. I hate dishes so I try to keep them to a minimum! Sometimes, when a recipe says to start cooking on the stovetop and transfer to a casserole, I try to figure out if I can do the whole thing in the same pot or skillet. Since my pots are oven safe, that's often a viable option. So that's what I did with this easy fish dish. It's one example of the kinds of simple meals we're eating lately in order to stay sane. Make sure you have a pot with an oven-safe lid, too.

Baked Fish Provençal 
(adapted from $3 Dinners)

Ingredients: 
1/4 c. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes and their juice
3 T. chopped parsley or 1 T. dry parsley
1 T. Herbes de Provence (see note below)
1 bay leaf
2 large potatoes, thinly sliced (or 3 medium or 4-6 small)
1/3 c. chopped and pitted oil cured olives (I find them in the international aisle at Meijer)
unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 lbs fish fillets, such as cod or whitefish, rinsed (make sure it's wild-caught and not from China)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Heat oil in large skillet on medium. Add onion, cook 3-4 min, adding garlic in the last minute. Add tomatoes, herbes de provence, parsley, bay leaf, potatoes, olives, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, 7-10 minutes until potatoes begin to soften.
3. Remove bay leaf, check seasoning. Remove half of the mixture to a dish (perhaps one you will be eating out of later so as to not dirty an extra dish), and place fish fillets on top of remaining mixture. Place reserved mixture on top of fish.
4. Cover and bake 25 minutes, until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork and potatoes are tender.(You can also uncover it for the last 10 minutes or so, see update below.)

I think it's great with a sprinkle of parmesan and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. You can serve it with some vegetables or a salad on the side, but it also makes a pretty complete meal on it's own. Even better!

Note: Don't have Herbes de Provence on hand? Neither did I. There are plenty of recipes online for how to make your own. Here's the one I used. If you're out of something, don't stress about it (unless it's the oregano or thyme). I made mine without savory or lavender. I'm sure it would be extra tasty with those added, but it was plenty good without them, too!

What's your favorite one-pot meal?

[Update: yesterday I heated up the leftovers for lunch in a 250 degree oven for a little over an hour while I was running errands. I turned the heat up to 300 when I got home for 15 minutes or so. These leftovers were even more delicious than the original, which I owe to two things: cooking for so long at a low temperature concentrated the delicious sauce, and heating it uncovered crisped up the potatoes. Our family practically devoured it. I love it when leftovers taste so good!]

This is part of Real Food Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, This Chick Cooks and Simple Lives Thursday. Check them out for tons of great recipes and kitchen tips!

Herbed Potato Salad

The last two weeks we have received the most lovely red-skinned potatoes from our CSA. So I whipped up this favorite of ours. It's a light, refreshing twist on potato salad that I hope you love as much as we do; it's perfect for a summer picnic. And because it doesn't contain mayonnaise, you don't have to worry about it sitting outside in hot weather!

I like to leave the skin on the potatoes, especially when I'm using potatoes that are organic, locally grown, and beautiful! Use whatever herbs you prefer or have on hand; I've sometimes used mint and lemon balm in addition to or instead of the ones listed below.

Herbed Potato Salad

Ingredients:
6 cups potatoes, cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. mini onions (tops and bulbs), minced
¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
chopped fresh herbs to taste (a few sprigs of each): rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley
sea salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Place cubed potatoes in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain.

Combine the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir thoroughly. Taste for salt and add more if necessary. Chill before serving, if desired.

This is part of the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Recipe Swap Friday.

Tuscan Style Potato Soup

I like soup any time of the year. Especially when I can use locally grown produce from our CSA. This soup is the perfect comfort food, and is full of healthy fats. Our toddler loves it. But he pretty much loves any soup. He must have a thing for bone broth, which is a key ingredient in all the soups I make. (And it's no wonder! Broth is an excellent food for babies and toddlers!)

So on to the recipe. Eat it up and don't feel one bit guilty about the butter and cream and cheese and bacon. Your body needs saturated fat!

Tuscan Style Potato Soup

Ingredients:

4 T. butter

5 mini onions (bulbs and tops) or one large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 t. salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 lb. potatoes, cubed (peeled or not, according to preference)

4 c. chicken broth

1/4-1/2 lb. nitrate-free bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 c. whole milk

1/2 c. sour cream (additive-free) or plain yogurt

1 c. grated sharp cheddar

a fistful of fresh parsley, chopped

(optional: a few leaves of kale or swiss chard)

Method:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onions with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes, until beginning to soften. Add minced garlic and cook a couple minutes longer. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender. Puree all but one cup or so of the mixture in the pot.*

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine over low heat. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

If desired, you can add a few leaves of kale or swiss chard to this soup. Chop and add after pureeing the potato mixture, along with the other ingredients. Cook about 10 minutes or until tender. If you want to retain the probiotic qualities of the sour cream or yogurt, add that at the very end.

*A note on pureeing the soup:

The easiest way to do this is with an immersion blender, apparently. Simply set aside one cup of the potato mixture, puree the rest, and add the cup back in. If you do not have an immersion blender (I'm with you), puree in batches in a regular blender, putting the blended soup into another bowl as you go. Leave a cup of the potato mixture un-pureed in the pot, and then pour the pureed soup back in. And then wash the mound of dishes you just created, and tell your husband you want an immersion blender for your birthday, which is coming up in three days. ;)

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Friday Potluck, Food Trip Friday, I'm Lovin' It Friday, and Weekend Gourmet.