The Humble Potato

The humble potato is an amazingly versatile and frugal pantry staple.  There are so many wonderful ways to prepare them beyond just doing baked potatoes or using those baked potatoes as a base for many toppings.

No parts need to be wasted.  You can season them and bake them at 400F for about 20 minutes until they are crispy or even fry them up.  Potato peel nachos anyone?

Peeled or unpeeled (and just scrubbed really well) they can be used as either the basis for a dish or as a wonderful component of it.

For Thanksgiving, I made a huge crockpot full of creamy mashed potatoes for the big extended family meal.  Sure there was a stick of butter in there along with milk and salt, but it was still very frugal when you consider how many people it fed.

Some of the leftover mashed potatoes were transformed into this delicious potato soup topped with chopped green onions and cheese.  It made the perfect meal on a very cold night that warmed us from the inside out.

Another favorite soup made last month was a ham, potato and corn chowder.  I have been experimenting with making chowders that do not have milk in them.  My DIL Rachel and milk do not get along well and I wanted to find or make soups that are chowders but would not cause her grief.  This one was delicious and one I will definitely be making again!