Hamburger Potato Skillet

Meat and potatoes, the staple of every childhood meal. The combinations were limitless and when tossed with a "veggie" it was a complete meal. One such staple was scalloped potatoes and a pork chop, chicken breast, hamburger steak. Tonight's meals Country Hamburger Skillet was a modern version of scalloped potatoes with burger steak combined in one skillet. With the addition of cheese and chives, it was sure to be classic.

Modifications Made:

Bacon. The best scalloped potatoes were the ones served with bacon bits and hamburger steak was always fried in bacon fat. Since I was trying to modernize the classic meal memory, six slices of pepper bacon were fired along side the onion.

Garlic. Calling for garlic salt on the potato layers and not having any, extra minced garlic was added to the meat itself during the browning stage.

Layers: Layer one: bacon, onions, meat, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Meat was fully cooked before layer two was added. Layer two: thinly sliced potatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper. In the recipe, it states to cook the layers for 15 minutes, turn the top to the bottom, the bottom to top and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. This step was skipped and the layers were cooked until potatoes were fork tender. Once tender, the heat was turned off and layer three was added. Layer three: colby jack cheese and chives. Pot was covered and allowed to rest for 10 minutes.

Scaled for Likability: Grood

Great if you were the table counterparts, good if you me. The dish was everything a one pot classic meat and tater meal. The teen table counterpart even had two servings. For me, there was a missing element in the meat. A gravy or sauce or something. This was just ground hamburger meat with buttery moist potato slices on top. All good but missing something.

Edit Feb 3, 2020:

Leftovers were even better than the first night. During the reheating process, the potatoes and the meat were mixed causing the potato to break down into small pieces. These small pieces created a base to the beef effectively creating the missing element. Delish.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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