Homemade scalloped potatoes taste great!

Even though I am late in life, I’ve never prepared scalloped potatoes from scratch! In the past, whenever the urge hit me, I would just grab a package of Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes from the cupboard and twenty minutes later they were ready to go. But this Thanksgiving, things changed. I had been invited across the street to a neighbor’s house where everyone was to bring a covered dish. My thought was, sure I can do that!

Thanksgiving Day can and I began to have second thoughts, but then came across a simple recipe on the Internet for Scalloped Potatoes. I had all the ingredients and decided what the heck. I would give this a try. You can view the results in my You Tube video.

The problem was, after making the dish, I chickened out and grabbed a box of the commercial stuff so I could make a ‘safe’ dish. You see, never having made this before I was afraid to be serving it to friends. So, I made up a second batch to take with me. Well, while I was making the boxed preparation, I happened to glance at the nutritional label and was shocked to see that the sodium level was through the roof. I think it was something like 600-800 mg of salt per serving (depending on serving size)! My dish was nowhere near that much at something like 173 mg per ‘generous 123 gram’ serving. Also, once I began to think about it, making the recipe from scratch was not really harder to do, but it was definitely cheaper!

So, the next time you are thinking about what to make for dinner. Give scalloped potatoes from scratch a try!

Yes, Potatoes can be considered a survival food!

Mind Your Taters

Of all the vegetables that are commonly grown at home, I would rank the humble potato as one of the most useful. Not only are they multi-talented in the kitchen, but they are also a breeze to grow. If you can make a trench in the ground you can grow tubers. Most nurseries and local markets have starter spuds ready to plant during the springtime. Just take them home and plant each piece about six inches apart in a row of any convenient length. Cover with some earth, then as they begin to send up shoots, just add a little more earth until you have a mound or hill established. The tuber will grow along the buried shoot. A few months later, you are ready for the harvest and the best part is that once dug up and cured, potatoes can last a long time before going bad. If you’re really lazy like me or a little tight for space consider using a plastic garbage can. Sometime in the spring just cut some circular holes in it big enough to admit your hand and then locate it in a sunny spot elevated on some paving stones. Next fill the bottom third with dirt, add a few starter potatoes with their eyes intact then cover with about three inches of soil mixed with straw or even shredded newspaper. After a week or so the tubers will sprout and break the surface at which point you will continue to add more dirt and paper or straw until they are just covered. Keep this up until the foliage has reached the top of the trashcan. Come fall reach in a hole with your hand to grab a potato or two for the dinner table. What could be easier?