How about potatoes?

Thank you, Sandi at Holding Patterns for honoring me with yet another award. I really don't know the origin of all the awards that float around in blogland, but I've been blessed to have several of them given to me. I add them at the bottom of my blog & I'm deeply honored that you think so highly of me and my blog! I really have a hard time passing these on to a few blogs, so I usually don't do that. I recently passed on Layla's award to one other person, cause that one was really special to me. But I love so many of your blogs, it's just too hard to single them out, so once again, I'm not going to do that. Thank you so much, Sandi! I do appreciate it.

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Now, how about some potato recipes!

Here are 2 good potato recipes that I've made lately that I thought I'd share with y'all. I know with the low-carb craze going on, that potatoes are not on everyone's menu these days, but we enjoy our potatos and there really are a lot of ways to fix them.

Hearty, Simple Potato Soup

6 potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 med. onion, chopped
4 cups milk
1 carrot, grated (I chopped up baby carrots & added in with the potatoes while they were cooking)
1 TBL butter
3 TBL bacon grease (or add extra butter if you skip the bacon grease)
3 TBL instant potato flakes (I did not add these, since I didn't have any)
1 TSP dried or fresh parsley
2 green onions chopped (scallions) (it didn't call for this, but I added them)
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp & crumbled
Salt & pepper to taste

Place potatoes & onions in saucepan and add just enough water to cover. Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, grate 1 carrot & cook 4 slices of bacon, reserving 3 TBL of bacon grease (I only added about 1TBL). once potatoes are tender, add butter and bacon grease and melt. Gradually add 4 cups milk. Add grated carrot, potato flakes, & parsley. Salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a low boil, reduce to low and simmer covered until time to serve. Serve with crumbled bacon & shredded cheese for toppings.

It's yummy! I know...not low fat, but can you say comfort food? Sometimes we need that. RECIPE #2:***********************

If you love potato salad, but want to do something a little different, here's the potato salad for you to try. My mama makes the best regular potato salad in the world, but this one has a different twist to it. I got this from the Swissotel in Atlanta (which I think is now called W, by Lenox Square), way back in the early 90's when the company I was working at the time had an event at this hotel and they served this particular potato salad. I loved it and we asked for the recipe which they were kind enough to share. So now, I'll share with you! It has just a few ingredients, but the combo is delightful. I don't have the exact measurements, so you'll have to wing it a bit, depending on how much you are making.
Swissotel Potato Salad

Red potatoes (I used about 10 for this recipe) cut up in chunks

Dijon mustard

Sour Cream

Mayo

Scallions (green onions)

Cooked bacon (crisp & crumbled)

Red onion (I used about 1/4 of a vidalia onion)

Salt & Pepper to taste

I boiled the chunks of potatoes for about 4 minutes or so, then placed them in a Medium hot non-stick saute pan with a little olive oil. They will brown and continue to cook, so do that until they are done and crisp cooked on the outside.

Then, mix up:

Dijon (1 part)

Sour cream (3 parts)

Mayo (7 parts) I used about 1/2 & 1/2 mayo & sour cream and a hefty dollop of mustard. (see above pic) A wire whisk will blend these together nicely.

Slice up about 3 to 4 stalks of green onions (or fresh chives), crumble up about 5 strips of bacon, add a little red or Vidalia onion, salt & pepper to taste, & mix it all up together.
And here's how it looks, all ready to eat. My hubby LOVES it this way and will scarf it down in no time. It's really a nice little twist to regular potato salad, which I get way tired of. Don't even talk to me about store bought mustard potato salad. After you have this, you'll never want any of that again. I made this for our 4th of July picnic and it was delish.

OK, enough of the bacon recipes.....

Happy Eatin' ya'll!

The newspaper decided to do a whole feature on me and my yardsaling. The reporter who covered the patio redo was really fascinated with the whole yardsale thing and talked to her editor about running a bigger story. It will run in conjunction with the patio redo next weekend since I used so many yardsale finds for my redo. I can't wait to see it. The reporter came out this week and we talked for over 2 hours, all about yardsaling and thrifting, so it should be a fun article. Saturday a.m., I'm going out to an estate sale where a photographer from the paper will follow me around taking pics of me doing my thang! Isn't that a hoot? I can't believe this! So, I'll get quite the exposure in the Birmingham paper next Saturday. You Birmingham girls need to pick up the paper on Saturday, August 2nd for the whole article in the Spaces section. Of course, I'll share it with all of YOU too.