Potatoes are delicious and versatile. One of our favorite family recipes is these nomtastic cheesy potatoes!
Cheesy Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 6 – 8 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces (preferably russets)
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Tablespoons AP flour
- 1.5 cups whole milk
- 4 cups cheese (I like medium cheddar, but you could use colby, or a sharper cheddar)
- 1/2 cup bacon bits (I use Kirkland brand from Costco)
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- One sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed
Directions:
- Parboil potatoes, 6 to 8 minutes, drain.
- While potatoes are cooking, in a pot, melt the butter. Sprinkle melted butter with AP flour and stir until a paste forms over a low heat. The paste should brown slightly- DON’T BURN IT!
- Pour milk into the flour/butter paste and whisk briskly. You do not want lumps. Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens. This may take a few minutes. As the mixture thickens and there are no lumps, add the cheese slowly, about 1/2 cup at a time, until it is incorporated/melted into the sauce. Once the sauce with complete, remove from the heat.
- Mix drained potatoes with sauce, add bacon pieces
- Pour into a greased baking dish (I use 11 x 9 baking dish)
- Top with half a cup of cheese, and crushed Ritz crackers.
- Bake 30 to 45 minutes at 350°.
Serve with steamed veggies, or a green salad. I also like this with crusty French bread. This makes a great side dish, or contribution to a potluck.
You can omit the bacon if you are vegetarian.
You can swap out the bacon for 1 cup cooked, chopped ham or chicken if you want to make this a hardy main dish.
Butternut Squash Bisque
I’ve been doing a lot of research over the past few weeks to get this post up before my birthday. There are tons of posts online with birthday freebies, but few of them take into consideration where you live or that there is a global pandemic going on.
My Word- It’s cold outside! The forecast for the week here in San Diego is cold, rainy, breezy weather. I’ve planned meals around warm, filling, comfort meals.
This popped into my inbox yesterday, and while we don’t qualify for this study, I thought some of you might be interested.
Potatoes have gotten a bad rap over the past ten years or so. Potatoes are not the enemy that they have been made out to be. They aren’t an empty vessel to top with copious amounts of butter and sour cream (although that sounds pretty tasty).
Hewes Family Fun 