Don’t let that title fool ya, they are actually the most amazing thing I’ve been making the last three weeks! Lol no joke! We have been having quite a wild ride the last few weeks. From family members getting sick to my parents bathroom flooding. And the fun has not stop there! Their bathroom is now gutted and hopefully, fingers and toes crossed, we will have someone out next week to being the renovation. On top of that I am no longer a Jamberry Consultant, truth be told I wasn’t happy when I was selling it. The whole point of having a home-based business is that you’re doing something that you love, right? I haven’t fallen out of love with the Jamberry products, they are the best thing I’ve ever used, I just had to stop deluding myself when it came to selling them.
I’m on a new path and one that I had been putting off for many years out of fear, fear that no one would want to ever try or that I could actually make a living off of. I’ve started baking cookies this month, first just out of appreciation for National Cookie Month, but now it’s blossomed into this passion that I pray never goes away. For now, I am calling it Night Owl Kitchen Bakes…here’s a sample picture of what I did earlier this week…
At the moment my customers are local and mostly from church, have to start somewhere 😊 So now you know why I haven’t posted in forever, been really busy! It’s going to be interesting to see where this new venture is going to take me 🙂 Perhaps a small kitchen with a little window service! Possibilities are endless, and yes this is something I absolutely love doing! For me, cooking and baking are therapeutic. I am most relaxed when I have a recipe in front of me and yummy wholesome ingredients to create with!
Ok, back to the potatoes 😉We also call them smooshed potatoes, but first a little back story on the name…
See, three weeks ago my Mom was sick with a cold and askd me to make her a baked potato, smoosh it and add butter, shredded cheese and sour cream to it. Cool, so I did what I always do:nuke the potato first to help cut down on the baking time and to make sure it would be done all the way through. After going through the microwave I took a small toaster oven pan and did what she said, I smooshed the potato, covered it in butter and baked it for 15 minutes. Transferred it to a bowl, added cheese, salt, pepper, and sour cream. She said that was the best potato she had had! Granted food always tastes better when someone else makes it 😉
That night for dinner I was a tad stumped on what to make, yes that happens to me even when I have a planned out menu. I look at the menu and think, nah not in the mood to make that. That’s when I decided to make smooshed/smooshy potatoes.
I figured I should go ahead and share this recipe, I’ve made it about half a dozen times now lol!!! Last night I decided to serve it up with a simple salt and pepper chicken, turkey kielbasa sausage, and fire roasted corn with black beans. This recipe will work for any number of potatoes, one, twenty…and the leftovers are super yummy the next day!
Smooshy Potatoes
10 yellow potatoes, washed
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 tblsp garlic powder or three cloves minced garlic
2 tblsp dried parsley
Rach seasoning
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line baking sheet pan with Reynolds Release Foil.
Take your washed potatoes and with a sharp knife cut slits down the length of the potato. This will help with the cooking and smooshing process. Place all the potatoes on a large microwave safe plate and cover with a paper towel. Choose the potato setting on your microwave and let it go until the potatoes are mostly cooked through. (Our microwave has a sensor built in, this is why I don’t have an accurate time for this. It varies on how many potatoes I cook.) Please be careful when removing the plate from the microwave, it will be hot. Set the plate aside and melt the butter with garlic and dried parsley. Now you are ready to assemble!
If you don’t have a meat tenderizer, or as I affectionately call mine “the mallet”, then you can use a small saucer or the back of a heavy sauce pot. Move hot potatoes to foil lined pan and begin smooshing them just enough until they flatten out.
one of my potatoes decided to “split” from the other one 😉
A mini Thor’s Hammer hehe
If your potatoes look like the ones in the picture, then you may proceed with the recipe. If your potatoes are too firm to smash down, then they need to take another ride in the microwave.
Spoon or pour the garlic parsley butter over the potatoes, evenly. Now, sprinkle the ranch seasoning over the potatoes and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Less time if you are baking fewer potatoes. While that’s baking, you can go ahead and prepare the rest of your meal.
This is what I use, can also be purchased in packets.
The fire roasted corn is purchased from Sam’s Club over in the frozen food section. All I did was open the bag, sprinkle garlic powder over it, added four pats of butter and covered it with a paper towel before cooking it in the microwave for six minutes.
Once your potatoes are done you can serve them up however you like:: butter, shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped bacon, salsa, or just keep it simple and add a little gray sea salt on top.
These are scrumptious, so easy to make and dinner was ready in about 45 minutes! Can’t beat that when it involves potatoes 😉 I hope you all enjoy this recipe and that it inspires you to try other flavors on them(cajun seasoning, lemon pepper, mexican seasoning, or any of the Mrs. Dash flavors would work).
Hope you all enjoy and have a blessed day!!
Night Owl Kitchen 