You say potatoe, I say potato: Easy Potato Meal

I think the potato is awesome.

I’ll tell you why.

It’s versatile. Baked, boiled, mashed, scalloped, shredded, diced. Ahh, so many ways to cook a potato.

I know and understand your hesitancy to eat potatoes. You’ve heard they make you fat. You’ve heard their full of carbs. On top of that they’re white (hey I’m not being racist, just stating a fact).

You can relax though. Unless they are fried in large vats of oil or smothered in something creamy and/or cheesy (as is the Mormon tradition), potatoes are nutritional powerhouses (read why here and here).

Which reminds me. It kinda irks me that the Obama administration wants to ax the potato from school lunches. Potatoes aren’t the problem–it’s what we are doing with tater that’s messing with our waistlines. Tater tots, french fries, yes, I agree with you Obama people, we can get rid of those. But we need more starches (not just potatoes, but squash, beans, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc.) in our school lunches, not less. What’s wrong with a baked potato? Nutritionally speaking, it’s far superior to any frozen concoction the cafeteria could defrost and bake. And who doesn’t like baked potatoes? Paired with some healthy toppings, they are a great food choice. But back to the meal at hand. I want to share with you a quick and easy potato meal,

But I digress and want to ask, you know part of the reason why I only eat two meals a day? I’ll give you a clue. It has a little something to do with this (she is eating steamed cauliflower):

Yes, as sweet, as innocent as she looks, she’s not. At least not all of the time. She has a wild, energetic, “mom-never-stop-paying-attention-to-me” and “I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it!” attitude. Now you may think, well of course, this is how babies are. Not this baby:

Amalia (who is now 3 1/2), Salem’s older sister, is nothing like her sister. She WAS sweet. She was docile. And she was so easy, still is actually. My husband and I have joked that she actually makes our lives easier. But not little Sally. She brings us energy, life and vitality, a lot of sass, but no, she emphatically does not make our lives easier.

With a busy, busy baby who won’t let me put her down. I have to either eat when she’s in her high chair, which only lasts so long, when she is napping, or when my husband is home. If she sees that I’m eating she wants me to hold her and then she wants to stick her fingers all up in my food.

Which brings me to the topic of this post.

You know the saying, necessity is the mother of invention? Most of my “recipes” or rather anti-recipes, are born from an absolute necessity of: I need to make a nutritious, tasty, simple meal in the shortest amount of time possible because at any moment the world may come crashing down because Sally has found the toilet paper, toothpaste, potted plant (yes, she’d love to eat the dirt out of it all day long if we let her), or the stairs (we have very steep old stairs which she loves to climb but cannot do so unsupervised or else bad things will happen). This is not to say anything of my other children who may or may not need me in some way.

This is why this little spud is so amazing.

Simple to prepare, leaves me time to do what I need to do with my kids. And I haven’t mentioned yet, best of all, potatoes are extremely inexpensive (gosh, those Idaho potato farmers oughta make me their spokeswoman, right?).

[This was a meal for me, not my family, although it could easily be doubled or tripled as needed to suit you or your family’s needs.]

Here’s what I did:

Took one potato. Washed and scrubbed. Poked it a few times with a fork. Threw it in the microwave for about 5 minutes. While it was cooking I put a pot of water on the stove and brought to boil. Then I threw in one bag of this:

(Yes, that’s right. Great Value, the Walmart brand. I have been known to shop at Walmart on occasion. ) No washing, no chopping, just dump it in the pot. Covered, then turned to a simmer (simmer for about 5 minutes then turn off the heat).

While that was cooking, heated my trusty cast iron skillet on medium-high. Then got the following: 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 10 baby bella mushrooms. Peeled onion, and diced. Threw in the skillet (no oil needed, just stir occasionally and add a bit of water as needed). Washed green pepper and diced. Added green peppers to onions. Washed mushrooms and sliced/diced. Added some Lawry’s seasoning salt. Stirred and let cook for about 5 more minutes until mushrooms are soft.

Took 1/2 of one tomato and diced. Took potato, smashed it and topped with mushroom green pepper medley. Added side of cauliflower. Topped cauliflower with balsamic vinegar and some leftover Yam & White Bean Spread from Dreena Burton’s ED&BV. I also topped the potato with some A1 sauce with pairs great with the mushroom/green pepper/onion saute (which happens to be one of my favorite combos).