Guest Blogger: Comfort Potatoes From The Mom Chef

I first started writing this blog mainly because I needed a good excuse to feed the husband new dishes. I was tired of serving the same old, and I wanted him to hop on the healthy wagon with me. Never in my wildest dreams would I start reading so many blogs, bookmarking so very many recipes and truly looking forward to other bloggers' posts.  

Today I'm happy to share the words of one of those bloggers with you. Christiane, aka The Mom Chef, tests out magazine recipes on her hubby and beautiful little girl, always offering up her honest opinion and often with a bit of humor. I can still remember the first post I read of hers about making a blue igloo cake. She cracked me up - and made a pretty impressive dessert that I'd never imagine tackling. I was hooked.

I have a feeling you will be, too.

Country-Style Potatoes - Comfort From Things That Go Bump in the Night

di·chot·o·my: division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups.

I am a dichotomy. I love sunlight. I love Mary Poppins and Brigadoon. Many things make me cry; videos of returning soldiers surprising their children, Lassie being kicked, Folgers commercials. I could never go hunting because I couldn't kill anything. Even spiders are sent out of the house, unsquashed, though I loathe the critters. And I never, I mean never, watch horror movies because they scare the bejeebers out of me.

And yet, that contradictory flipside of me relishes reading the king of horror. Sitting directly behind my desk sit two bookcases. One entire case contains over fifty Stephen King books.  I'm entralled with his writing style and I adore his humor. The fact that he can make me laugh in the midst of scaring my pants off is amazing. In print. 

Actually, here is one little piece of a horror movie that I have inadvertantly seen. It's stayed with me my entire life. I was working at a camp in Wisconsin at the time. A few friends and I wasted the evening by driving around. We ended up parked behind the drive-in theater and caught this one glimpse of film.

Picture a high school girl getting into the bottom bunk of her bed. As she lies there, she feels a drip on her, puts a hand up and realizes it's blood, seeping down from the top bunk. In that moment, as she realizes what it is and what's happened, a blade thrusts up through her stomach from below.

That's it. That's all I saw. I soon as I saw that, I forced the driver of the car to leave (lots of screaming works every time). That night I went to bed and didn't sleep. I spent the whole night not sleeping. I lay there absolutely aware of every sound and movement around me. I lay there waiting for the monster under the bed to get me. 

Thirty-one years later, my arms and legs still never, ever hang over the edge of the bed. If I hear a bump in the night I don't recognize, I'm awake and watchful for a long while, sometimes the rest of the night. While I'm not sleeping, I'm trying to force the logical part of my brain to recognize that a blade that long could never have been thrust up from under the bed because there just wasn't enough space to do it. And then I continue not sleeping.

Do you know what scene that little snippit of movie was from? C'mon, there are a few of you that saw it, or the one of the eleven sequels that followed it. It was Friday the 13th. Jason. Do you know what today is?

Yeah, it's Friday the 13th. You're not superstitious, are you? Things that go bump in the night don't keep you up, I'm sure. There's nothing under your bed but those dust bunnies. Right?

Uh huh. I know. I feel the same way. That's why, when it's morning and my sun is up and shining brightly through my window, I feed myself comfort. Eggs, bacon and the most glorious, delicious potato dish you could imagine. No, this isn't a low fat or low calorie dish, but it's the kind of breakfast that chases away shadows, removes fear and brings back the smile. Now if it could just do something about the dark circles under my eyes.

Country-Style Potatoes
From The Mom Chef

2 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Put the chopped potatoes in a large pot of water that's been seasoned with salt and boil until almost soft, but still a little firm (they will finish cooking in the skillet).

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until golden, approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the potatoes are done, drain them.

Add the canola oil to the onions, raise the heat to medium high and add the drained potatoes to the skillet. Use a spatula to mix the onions and potatoes. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Then flip the potatoes with the spatula on occasion, letting the bottom get crispy before flipping them over. When they are done to your crispy-goodness, serve them up with bacon and eggs.