Breakfast Potatoes

This is the third fourth fifth night in a row that I sat down to write this post.  And finally, I'm actually writing.

What was my problem?  I  just sat there, with my fingers poised upon the keyboard, as gazillions of thoughts ran through my brain.  None of which had anything to do with the post I wanted to write.

Okay, I just crossed through the word "third" because it's my fourth night.  You can see by the five sentences above that last night wasn't very productive.

On Tuesday night, I was missing Caitie.  I think everyone here would agree, it was awesome to have her home for a month.  From making her favorite foods, to hitting the after-Christmas sales (again and again), taking a road trip to the Wegman's that opened up this fall, picking up Erin after a half day of school and hitting Johnny Rocket's for old-times sake, it was a fun-filled month.

Speaking of Johnny Rocket's--we sat in our favorite booth, the one with Steven Tyler's autograph.  When the kids were younger, they used to take turns sitting next to the autograph.  If they started to argue because they couldn't remember whose turn it was, the only way to solve the dilemma was for me to sit next to the autograph.

Now that the kids are older, they don't argue.  They just allow me to sit there.

Speaking of Steven Tyler.....

......this is why I didn't get much written on Wednesday night.  Oh, I had my laptop with me while I watched.  I even wrote the title "Breakfast Potatoes."  But that's all I wrote.  Erin and I got so involved watching the show and critiquing the singers that I didn't write anything beyond those two words.

And last night?  Ditto.  And then we watched Modern Family, which we had Tivo'd.  I guess the solution is not to try to blog while watching TV.  

So tonight, I've got myself set up at the kitchen table, no distractions.

When she was home, one of Caitie's dinner requests was breakfast.  That's right, breakfast for dinner.  Breakfast food is so good, but who has time to put together a full-on, multi-course breakfast in the wee hours of the morning? 

I wanted to make potatoes, but I didn't want to overdo the grease.  There was enough fat content to the bacon and eggs, and I suppose the coffeecake wasn't exactly low-calorie, either.  

So what was sacrificed in crispiness was made up for in flavor, via the addition of grated onions.  You could  also add chopped herbs like rosemary or thyme for additional flavor.

I'm not saying these potatoes are low-calorie.  Just that I tried to minimize the oil and butter.

Okay, now it's my fifth attempt to finish writing this post.  Erin was skiing last night and I left to pick her up and just didn't feel like finishing when I got home.  Sigh.  I would cross out that whole embarrassing first sentence way up there, but then that would require me to re-edit this entire post, which would lead to--you guessed it--at least another day until I finish this blasted post.

I hope these potatoes are worth it!

Today's Playlist

• "In One Ear"........Cage The Elephant
• "Face Down"........The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
• "Teenagers"..........My Chemical Romance
• "Let Me Go".......Cake
• "Don't Look Back In Anger"........Oasis
• "Everybody Talks".........Neon Trees
• "Creep".....Radiohead
• "Brain Stew".........Green Day
• "Self Esteem"......The Offspring
• "Gives You Hell".........All-American Rejects

Breakfast Potatoes (4 servings)

• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1/2 cup grated onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon butter

Gather your ingredients.

Do your prep work.

Fill a medium-large (6 to 8 quart) pot with water, set it on a burner on HIGH to boil.

Grate your onion.  I used a box grater, but if you'd rather chop your onions, or slice them, go right ahead. 

I grate them because if any of my kids bite into a big chunk of onion they might say, "Yuck!  Onion!"  Or worse, they pick out every piece of onion they see before they even try the pototoes.

Grating the onions into teeny-tiny pieces makes them practically invisible to my kids.

While we're chatting about the onions, I feel the need to inform you that the lovely hand in the above picture is not mine.  My hand is not so lovely, and neither are my nails.

Now, back to our prep work.

Here are the teeny tiny bits of onions, thanks to the box grater.

Dice up your potatoes.  First, cut the potatoes in half, then cut each half into two slices.  Cut the slices into strips......

then dice.

By now, the water you placed on the stove should be boiling.  Put the potatoes into the boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes.  you don't want to boil them into oblivion, you just want to soften them.

Drain the potatoes.

Next, you are going to saute the potatoes.  You can use the same pot that you boiled them in, but before you do, be sure to wipe the moisture out.

Heat the pot over medium/high heat.  Add the olive oil and swirl it around to coat the pan.

Add the onions.

And the potatoes.

Add some salt and pepper.

Stir them around to coat with the oil.  Then just let them sit there for about 3 minutes.

I couldn't figure out whether or not I should put a lid on these.  There really isn't much oil in there, and I didn't want them to stick to the pan.  But I didn't want to cover them and let them steam themselves into a soggy mess.

So I compromised and left the lid askew so the steam could escape.

After 3 minutes, stir the potatoes.  I turned the heat down a little bit, as I didn't want the potatoes to burn.

Then put I the lid back on in a cockeyed manner and waited another 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes, I stirred them again and turned the heat down yet again.

They were just about done and looked a little dry, so I added a tablespoon of butter.

Wait one minute for the butter to melt.

Then stir them up.  You're done!

I called them "Breakfast Potatoes" because this time they happened to be served with breakfast, but there's a pretty good chance that the next time I make them they will be Dinner Potatoes.

Enjoy!