Smashed Sour Cream and Onion Potatoes

The hubby and I both had a hankering for comfort food today, so on the menu was Mom's Ramshackle-roni (her kick-ass mac and cheese), homemade coleslaw, fake chicken, and homemade mashed potatoes.

Last Thanksgiving I made mashed potatoes with Yukon Gold potatoes, and it was soooo good, so this time around I definitely wanted to use those.  The hubby requested sour cream and onion flavored potatoes, so, the Smashed Sour Cream and Onion Potatoes were born! These are SUPER easy to make, and taste fantastic.  I'm calling these "smashed" instead of "mashed," because we like our mashed potatoes with chunks of potato and potato skin; so, if you're not a fan of either of those things you will need to mash your potatoes a lot finer, and peel them after cooking.

Smashed Sour Cream and Onion Potatoes

Ingredients:

5 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed well

1 8 oz. container sour cream

1/4 cup salted butter

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 green onions, sliced

2 t. minced garlic

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Poke holes in all of your potatoes with a fork and microwave (all at the same time) for 8 minutes, turning halfway through.  The potatoes should be soft all the way through. In a mixing bowl, smash the potatoes with a potato masher until you have mostly mashed potatoes, with some chunks left.  Make sure to break up any big pieces of potato skin.  Add the heavy cream, the sour cream, the butter (in small pieces), and the salt and pepper and stir gently to combine.  Gently fold in the green onions and garlic. Serve with a pat of butter and enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter Cookies!

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up!  Here we have a spectacle sure to please meat eaters and vegetarians alike! Homemade peanut butter cookies!

Oh yeah.  Crispy around the edges. Chewy in the center.  Perfect for a day when USC is spanking Cal. :)

Here goes!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 stick salted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/2 c.white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/4 c. unbleached all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sized mixing bowl, cream together the first 4 ingredients.  Add the egg and peanut butter and mix well (I did all my mixing by hand; no need for an electric mixer).  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto two greased cookie sheets, 12 cookies per sheet.  Press a fork into the top of each cookie in a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 8-10 minutes if you are baking one sheet, and 10-12 minutes if you are baking two at a time.  You want to bake these just until they are set.  They shouldn't get brown at all.  If you over bake them, you will have too-crunchy cookies. When you take them out of the oven, let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack. Makes 24 cookies.
Gracie, Dexter, and Ripley think that the best thing about these cookies is that they are dog-friendly! ;)
By the way, you're not getting nutritional information for this recipe, because I DO NOT want to know how many calories worth of peanut butter cookies I just ate!

Vegetable Chili with Chipotle Cream

So, how do you make a tasty chili without meat? I'm sure this is sacrilege to meat eaters (and anyone from Texas), but with the right spices you can make a kickin' chili without any meat at all! By creating the chipotle cream, you allow your diners to crank up the spiciness as much as they like. I happen to be a big wimp when it comes to spicy food, so I like just a tiny bit of fire. The hubby, on the other hand, would happily pour pureed scotch bonnets down his throat if you'd let him. This recipe works for both of us!

Vegetable Chili with Chipotle Cream

Chili:
1 medium russet potato, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into half-moons
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 10 oz. package of sliced fresh mushrooms, very coarsely chopped
1 T. minced garlic
2 T. olive oil
3 cans Ro-tel tomatoes, with liquid (if you don't have Ro-tel, you could substitute regular canned diced tomatoes; just add a can of diced green chilies as well)
1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 T. yellow corn meal
1 T. chili powder
1.5 T. cumin powder
2 t. dry oregano
kosher salt to taste

Chipotle Cream:
1 c. light sour cream
2 T. chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dry oregano
1 pinch salt

To make chili:
In a medium stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, garlic, potato, and mushroom. Cook, stirring often, over medium heat until potatoes and carrots are almost cooked through.

Then add beans and tomatoes and bring to a boil.


Simmer for 5 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are fork-tender. Reduce heat to low, add spices and cornmeal and cook, stirring often, for another 5 minutes.

To make chipotle cream:
Put all of the ingredients in a small zip top bag and seal. Mix well and store in the fridge until you're ready to use.


When the chili is ready, spoon into bowls, then cut a corner off of the zip top bag and pipe the chipotle cream over the top. More cream = spicier chili, so be careful how much you use! If you like it really spicy, you could reduce the amount of sour cream and increase the amount of chipotle peppers; the consistency will still be just fine. This is particularly good to eat while the USC Trojans are kicking someone's ass on the football field. ;)