Oven-Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes are very popular in our house.  We like them boiled, mashed, baked, and fried.  These potatoes, though, are one of the all-time favorites.  With only four ingredients, they are easy to make.  Peeling the potatoes is optional (I like to leave the skins on for this one), so you can have the prep work of this recipe done in 5 minutes.  After that, it's just a matter of waiting for them to roast in the oven.  These make a good addition to almost any dinner.  I have even served them along side of bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Talk about a versatile dish.


Oven-Roasted Potatoes

3 lbs potatoes, scrubbed
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Peel potatoes, if desired.  Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes.  In large bowl, toss together potatoes, oil, soup mix, and red pepper flakes.  Arrange potatoes in single layer in baking dish.





Roast potatoes in 375 degree F oven for 40-45 minutes, or until soft in middle and browned on outside, stirring every 15 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots

Carrots are one of the few vegetables I can get everyone in my house to agree on.  The amazing thing is, it doesn't matter how I cook them, they will get eaten.  One of my favorite ways to cook carrots is to seal them in foil and bake them in the oven along side whatever else I am cooking.  This way means less fuss for me, and that is definitely a good thing.

My Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots can be made with either regular carrots or baby carrots.  I usually just make whichever I have on hand.  If you use regular carrots, just peel them and cut into four to five pieces each.  After that, you can proceed with the recipe as directed.


Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots

12 oz baby carrots
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Tear off a 12x24-inch piece of aluminum foil.  Fold in half to make a square.  Mound carrots in center of foil.  Top with butter and brown sugar.  Sprinkle with salt.

Bring opposite sides of foil up to center, then fold over twice to seal.  Double fold ends in to complete sealing.  Place in 350-400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.  Carefully open foil package away from face (even after resting, the steam will burn you).  Stir carrots and serve immediately.

Pie Crust

There are hundreds of different pies out there.  Apple, cherry, pumpkin, even chicken pot pie.  The one thing they have in common, a nice flaky crust to hold the filling.  This recipe is the homemade pie crust recipe I use for all of my pies.  It comes out flaky and is very versatile.  With holiday season coming up, I figured this was a good recipe to get out now, rather than waiting for Thanksgiving to share it.

The crust can be made by hand in a regular mixing bowl using a pastry cutter, but I like the ease of using the food processor for this.  The crust comes together quicker, and I usually wind up with less flour all over me.

This recipe makes enough crust for two single crust pies or one double crust pie.


Basic Pie Crust

3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
8 Tbsp vegetable shortening
9 Tbsp butter
7-10 Tbsp ice water

Place flour, sugar, and salt in food processor.  Pulse 2-3 times to mix.  Add shortening to processor. Pulse until blended.  Add butter and pulse 5-6 times or just until blended (mixture should look like wet sand).  Add water, starting with 7 Tbsp, and pulse until mixed and dough forms.  Add extra water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until dough holds together in a ball.

Remove dough from food processor, divide in half, and wrap in plastic wrap.  Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to rolling out.  Use as directed in your favorite pie recipe.

Beef Bourguignon

Every year on the first cold day of the year, my tradition is to make Beef Bourguignon.  Today was that day here in Nebraska (temperature was 30 when I crawled out of bed), and everyone was waiting all day for this.