Favorite Recipes For April

Freddie’s Favorite Potato Dish

Tired of serving the same ol’ potatoes on the boat? This one is a fun change of pace.

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes

2 medium onions

2 medium yellow squash

2 medium tomatoes

Salt and pepper

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Scrub potatoes. Slice about 1/2 inch thick and rinse in a colander. Slice onions, squash and tomatoes also about 1/2 inch thick. Arrange potatoes and the rest of vegetables, alternating, standing upright in the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle butter on top of potato and vegetable medley. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle parmesan and mozzarella on top. Bake another 10 minutes until cheese is melted. If you seem to have a lot of vegetables, add more butter and cheese.

Roger’s Stuffed Potato Pancakes

My grandson Roger saw this recipe on the internet and was excited to make this dish. When preparing this recipe, be very gentle when stuffing and breading. I have not tried stuffing it with other ingredients, but ham and cheese may be good.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

Salt and pepper 

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 cups cold mashed potatoes

1/2 cup flour

1 large egg

1 cup shredded cheese

Cooking oil

Directions:

Fry ground beef with onion until done. Salt and pepper to taste. Drain grease. Place beef and onions aside in a small bowl. Wipe excess grease from your frying pan. Place breadcrumbs in a pie pan. May need more breadcrumbs depending on the size of the potato pancakes to be coated.

Mix mashed potatoes with flour and egg. Depending on the consistency of your mashed potatoes, you may need to add more flour.  You want the cakes to stick together, but not too sticky. Scoop 1/4 cup of the potato mixture into your hand, and form it into a ball. Make a well in your potato ball. Add a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into the well. Add a bit of the shredded cheese on top of meat. 

Scoop a small amount of potato mixture and place on top of meat and cheese, like a cap. Gently press mashed potato ball together to form a pancake. Pinch to seal ends of pancake. Placed stuffed potato pancake in pan of breadcrumbs. Coat both sides of pancake. Repeat until you have used all your mashed potatoes. 

Add oil into your fry pan and heat. Place stuffed pancake into hot pan. Fry for about three minutes on each side, until they are light golden brown. Makes about six patties.

Stacie’s Ham Glaze

It is the spicy brown mustard that really makes this glaze. 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard

Directions:

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add rest of ingredients. Whisk on low heat until sugar and mustard are completely dissolved. Dip pastry brush into glaze and brush on ham. I prefer to bake my ham partially, then brush glaze on ham to finish cooking. Once ham is done, give it another brushing.

Breakfast Eggs In A Nest

This is a fun yet simple breakfast to make for a small crowd. It can also be jazzed up with sauteed onions and green peppers. When I prepare this recipe, I pull out my frozen hash browns and set them in the refrigerator overnight. Then they will be thawed and ready to go in the morning.

Ingredients:

Nonstick spray for pan

1 lb. pork sausage

1/2 cup melted butter

One 30 oz. bag shredded hashbrowns, thawed

Onion powder 

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 chopped green onion

Salt and pepper

6 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray. Place your shredded hash browns in the pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Sprinkle top with onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. Make six wells in your hashbrowns. Place in oven for 10 minutes. While the hashbrowns are in the oven, fry the sausage. Break the sausage up into bite-size pieces. Drain. Pull out hash browns. Put a spoonful of the cooked sausage into each well. Place a small amount of shredded cheese on top of sausage.  Use a spoon and work your well again. Crack an egg on top of each sausage and cheese well and salt and pepper eggs. Bake in oven about 25 minutes until eggs are done.

Slice-And-Bake Sugar Cookies 

The cookie with the yellow-colored sugar on top has a lemon frosting. Frostings can be changed easily to any flavor.  For the lemon flavor, just add a 1/2 tsp. of lemon extract and 1 tsp. lemon juice to a jar of plain white frosting. If you want a stronger flavor, add more. I even heard you can add margarita mix to your frosting for a margarita cookie. If you add too much liquid, add a bit of sifted powdered sugar so your frosting is not too runny. These cookies are chilled in the refrigerator before baking.

Sugar cookie ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 sticks softened butter

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

Parchment paper

Directions:

Mix flour and baking soda in a separate bowl.  With a mixer, beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and peanut butter. Beat until creamy and well blended. Add flour about a half cup at a time, and mix thoroughly. Continue mixing until all the flour is incorporated. Unroll about a 20-inch piece of parchment paper. With a spatula, scoop cookie batter onto parchment paper log-style. Fold parchment paper over dough and shape into a nice log to slice with about 2-inch diameter. Chill log for three to four hours.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. When chilled, slice cookie dough into 1/2-inch thick slices. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

Colored sugar:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 drops food color

Place sugar in a zip lock bag, add food color and shake. It is that simple. Sprinkle your frosted cookies.

Mary Ann Kuper is a cook on the ACBL towboat Carl Page.

Caption for top photo: Freddie’s Favorite Potato Dish.