A plethora of potato

You know the only problem about having a Chef'Store in your town?  It's when you go with someone who convinces you that for only $17 and some change the two of you can surely figure out how to use 50 lbs of potatoes.  Seriously.  Mom and I had an open house coming up and we were doing a baked potato bar.  We might have needed 4 potatoes, maybe 12.  One never knows.  But you can't buy potatoes that way at the Chef'Store.  Nope, it's like being at Sam's.  

Fifty pounds.  At first, my mind, like any other sane person's, said "50 lbs?  Are you crazy?  Of course not!"  But then I started doing the math.  Oh, curse you trusty calculator!  Turns out $17 and some change for 50 lbs of potatoes is a damn good deal.  As we unloaded that giant box from the car later, I began having some of that We-just-over-bought-out-the-ying-yang anxiety. What in the world was I going to do with all these pommes de terre? 

Good sized potatoes too!

 Well, first off, I baked a lot of them for the open house.  Unfortunately not many people showed up, so I brought many of them home. No worry...potato soup for dinner.  But there was that huge cardboard box sitting on the table just staring at me. I thought. I contemplated. I consulted cookbooks.  Finally I had a plan.  The freezer was going to be getting lots of new temporary friends. I spent one long morning dispensing with these spectacular spuds.  

I grated, rinsed, blanched and rinsed again about 20 cups of hash browns then bagged them all up in freezer bags.  The rest I baked then created 3 types of "twice-baked" potatoes: sour cream & chive, broccoli & cheddar and cheddar & ham.  I wrapped each in plastic wrap so they could be taken out of the freezer as individual portions then bagged and labeled.  

Just like the Waffle House!

Since I put all of this in the freezer, we tried the hash browns first.  Simply put, they worked perfectly!  All of the rinsing & blanching has caused them to keep their color (or lack thereof) and they cook up nice and light and crispy.  Last night we had Alaskan snow crab legs with our sour cream & chive potatoes for dinner.  The potatoes are packed with flavor and the edges of the skins got browned and toasty.  It was a good combo with the sweet crab and butter. 

These are the broccoli and cheddar twice-baked potatoes

You probably know this about me by now, but I'll say it again.  I just sleep better at night knowing that I have good things waiting in our freezer.  It's so comforting knowing that on a busy school night, or after a hard day, or on a day when I still haven't gotten around to going to the grocery store, we have dinner available in the big cold box.  Over recent years, I've also made a goal to become as resourceful as possible.  Once upon a time, I'd have thrown out all of the potatoes I just didn't get cooked before they went bad.  Today's me would have a heart attack instead!  This is why all our stale bread becomes bread crumbs stored in the freezer, old shrimp and crab shells stay frozen until we need to make stock, and and leftover chicken tips from Zorba's get turned into chicken salad!

Hamburger Helper

Where have I been?  The last month has been a whirlwind. Everyone keeps saying Thanksgiving was late, thereby making Christmas seem early.  I still can't find a way to understand this...I mean, isn't Thanksgiving ALWAYS the last Thursday of November?  Anyway...

I've told you guys before how much I love Zaycon.  A couple months ago, my mom placed an order for the two of us to split.  In the meantime, my brother-in-law accepted a job in Houston.  He left before Thanksgiving and my sister was to follow once the houses got closed. My dear, sweet parents agreed to drive with her to Texas. To drive with her, my 2 1/2 year old niece and the dog.  Saints, they are.

It just so happened that our Zaycon delivery was coming in the following day.  This "event" was ham and hamburger.  My mom ordered one case of ham, which contained two 10 lb. hams.  This ham is so amazingly yummy too.  She also ordered two cases of hamburger meat.  When I first learned that she'd ordered this much, I thought it must be a mistake, but no, she did it on purpose.  It really wouldn't have been a big deal with each of us taking a case home to portion out.  But, remember, mom and dad had just left on this roadtrip the day before.

That left me here in Columbia holding 80 pounds of hamburger.  Yes.  I said eighty. And, it's packaged in 10 lb. "logs" so you can't just plop those babies in the freezer.  Nope.  You must portion it out and wrap and bag for the freezer. 

This post is dedicated to my husband, Neil.  

He is my hamburger helper.

This is just a fraction of our hamburger haul.

We got in assembly line mode and he and I created 40 lbs of 1/4 lb hamburger patties.  Each wrapped in plastic wrap and put in freezer bags.  The other 40 lbs we cut into 1 lb segments and wrapped and bagged.  Neil looked at the half (40 lbs) that was to go to our house and said, "We won't be able to get this in our freezer."  As usual, I replied "Oh, don't worry, I'll get it in there."  Well, suffice it to say that our freezer is literally packed to the gills with meat.  It helps me sleep well at night.  Now, I just have to start writing a list of ways to use hamburger.  Lots and lots of hamburger!

Freezer Depletion

Ever since I became a coupon-junkie, I developed a freezer problem.  Meaning, I got to a point that buy-one-get-one sales and coupons had gotten my freezer so packed to the gills that I had to put myself on restrictions.  I can't even count how many times I've come home from a shopping trip and Neil looks at what I've bought, looks at the freezer and says "That'll NEVER go in there."  I love it when he says 'never'.  It's the ultimate challenge word.  And I always reply, "Oh, honey.  It's going in there!"  I love to win.

Maybe it's the change in the economy over the last few years, but I gotta tell you, there is something very comforting to me knowing that I have food in the freezer.  There's the convenience factor...get home late from work, you know there is something in there that you can quickly defrost and get on the plate.  Or, forget defrosting.  Grab a bag of Wanchai Ferry. Then there's the seasonal thing...I have a homemade blackberry pie in my freezer right now that I can serve tonight if I want, reminding us all of summertime.  Then, there's the economy issue...the sheer comfort of having a pot roast, pounds of shrimp or homemade pot pies sitting in that freezer just whispering to you, "don't worry, you can take care of your family with good, healthy food. I'm right here behind this door."  Ok, I don't actually hear the food talking, but you get my drift. 


This morning, I peeked inside to get an idea of what I should do for dinner tonight and guess what?  I could actually see some of the shelves.  There was some open space in there!  The frozen stash is dwindling.  While there's still some great stuff there, this means I can lift the frozen food restrictions I placed on myself!  B1G1 crab cakes, chicken breast, all my pre-chopped treasures for quick casseroles...we will meet again soon!  I wish I could invent a way to freeze sour cream, milk and ricotta...