Tag: Tater Talk

Food, Potatoes, Recipes, Tater Talk

The Most Genius Potato Idea Ever – Taco Potatoes

Sarah Paasch

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any cooler, it did. One night, I was scrolling through Pinterest like usual. It was then that I stumbled upon this recipe, and I knew that all was right in the world. While I will admit that I have not personally made this recipe, I do intend to very soon (and then will update you on the results!).

This recipe happens to combine my two favorite loves: tacos and potatoes! What better way to honor them than to put them altogether in one?

Special shout out to life-in-the-lofthouse.com for this amazing creation!!

Taco Potatoes

You’ll need:

  • Russet potatoes – use your best judgement on however many you can eat
  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 1 (1 oz.) packet of taco seasoning
  • Any other toppings you like on your tacos:
    • lettuce
    • cheese
    • salsa
    • guacamole
    • sour cream

How you make them:

  1. Bake the potatoes however you wish. Personally, I feel that it can be easier to cook them in a microwave by poking holes in them and selecting the potato button (real difficult, right?) However, the original creator suggests preheating the oven to 400 degrees, poking holes in them, and wrapping foil around them. Bake the potatoes for an hour and set them aside to cool down.
  2. In a large skillet, brown the separate the ground beef on medium heat. Add taco seasoning to the meat and any amount of water necessary (this is usually outlined on the packaging for you). Reduce heat and cook until the water soaks in.
  3. Remove the foil from the potatoes and cut a slit on the top to open them up (like you would to make a loaded baked potato). Fill each with meat and your favorite toppings to enjoy!

I am personally STOKED to try these bad boys out this weekend. Who knew life could be so amazing after all?

Food, Gardening, Potatoes, Tater Talk

How to Grow Potatoes…In a Bucket!

Sarah Paasch

Again, shout out to the man, the myth, the legend: The Four Season Gardener. Thanks to his amazing growing guidance, I’m going to shed some light on a topic I KNOW all of you have been dying to learn about: how to grow a potato in a bucket.

Why a bucket, you may ask? Growing potatoes in a bucket is the perfect alternative for when you live in a place that doesn’t provide you a lot (or any) growing land. You could place this said bucket on a patio or apartment balcony and still have that garden-y feeling.

You’ll need:

  • A bucket or garbage bin good for growing in order to accommodate your new potato friends
  • Potato seeds
  • Compost

First, place the potato seeds in the bucket or garbage bin and cover them with compost. Plant them in a large circle. As they grow and push shoots out through the soil, bury them again. Continue to do this until they start to flower. After 100 days, harvest them. Start this process in April/May and begin harvest in the fall.

The difference between this method and others is because in this method, every time they’re buried they push out fruit modules. This gives you the same amount of potatoes, but utilizes way less space than if you were to plant them in rows in a garden.

As for the Four Season Gardener, he hopes this method will produce up to 100 pounds of potatoes. I will definitely be contributing to eating those if I have anything to say about it.

While I’m not a professional gardener, the Four Season Gardener basically is! Check out his blog here for more tips and tricks on the gardening life.

Food, Potatoes, Tater Talk

The Best (and Worst) Types of Potatoes

Sarah Paasch

As you have probably all realized, I have a lot of potato opinions. I’ve come here to settle them. This is my official list of the best (and worst!) kinds of potatoes.

The Best!!

French Fries: Yum. Whoever thought to slice potatoes into small, salty strips is truly on a whole other level than the rest of the world. I LOVE them, as if you couldn’t tell that by my last post. Long fries, floppy fries, crispy fries, seasoned fries, curly fries…you name it, I love it. Honestly, they go with anything and everything. They bring me happiness. They have shown me a love I’ve never seen before. They have been there for me when I’ve needed it most. Okay, I know I’m being dramatic but they’re delicious.

Mashed Potatoes: Double yum. Many people say that we do not deserve dogs, but I raise them by saying that we do not deserve mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are best when they’re lumpy, have the skins still in them, and served with dark brown gravy. I would eat them plain too, if it really came down to it. BUT, I would not eat them runny. Runny potatoes are hardly potatoes at all. These are my views and I’m sticking to them.

Red Potatoes in General: The red potato is the best potato. They’re so versatile, and have so much yumminess to give. Whether you roast them up and add garlic or you peel off the skins and eat them with butter, this potato is good in any capacity. Talk about something that’s too good to be true.

Potato Chips: In addition to the genius that created french fries, the inventor of the potato chip is simply better than everyone else too. My personal fave are Lay’s potato chips, either wavy or regular (in case you wanted to know). Add in a little sour cream and onion dip and you have yourself an award-winning combo.

The Okay

Baked Potatoes: While these are pretty good, there are better types of potatoes than this one. Some people like to put sour cream on their baked potatoes, which I simply DO NOT understand. I’ll chalk it up to my lack of appreciation for sour cream. Again, stick some sour cream and onion dip on a flattened out baked potato and you have something I can get behind.

Potato Wedges: I have a love/hate relationship with potato wedges. While some may feel that I would thrive on the extra potatoes, there’s just something about them that doesn’t tickle my fancy. Sometimes, I feel that they just get under-cooked and under-seasoned. Fix those two issues and potato wedges can consider themselves on my official best list.

The Worst

Potato Salad: UGH. Coming from a family whose heritage is strictly German, it’s a struggle for me that I don’t like this particular food. Something about the taste, whether it’s warm or cold, just doesn’t do it for me. While I respect your choice to like this, I absolutely hate it. Maybe if someone revamped the whole recipe, I could reconsider.

Sweet Potatoes: I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it yet again. I do not like sweet potatoes. I do not like them here, I do not like them there, I do not like them anywhere. They’re simply an impostor potato, plain and simple. Leave things like mashed potatoes and fries to the professionals, sweet potatoes. Your services are unwanted and unneeded.

Food, Potatoes, Tater Talk

The Greatest Fast Food Fries

Sarah Paasch

In my expert opinion, fries make the world go round. Your burger or chicken nuggets would be NOTHING without a nice salty spud to compliment it. Obviously, some are much better than others. While I have not tried all the fast food fries in existence, I have tried enough to form an opinion on the matter. I give to you, the best of the best fast food french fries (with a few stories in between):

Hardee’s Curly Fries: a.k.a. crispy curls to uncivilized people – It’s been the best of times and the worst of times with these fries. My dad’s company did a halftime promotion during every Green Bay Packers’ home game for two years, where I got to help out with activities on the field. After halftime, my dad and I would stop at the Hardee’s Image result for hardee's curly friesright before the highway and get a soda and a curly fry. It was then that I solidified my love for curly fries. Something about the curl just makes it superior to all other fries.

Meanwhile in 4th grade, my family and I took a trip to Pennsylvania to visit the Hershey Factory and Theme Park. Naturally, we stopped at Hardee’s in Pennsylvania on the way. When I went up to the counter to place my order, I asked for a side of curly fries with my meal. To my shock, THE GIRL AT THE COUNTER HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. So there I was: hungry, bitter, and curly fry-less. This was easily one of the saddest times in my life, and I’m not being dramatic at all when I say that. Curly fries are the dream.

Arby’s Curly Fries – Yes I know, these are basically the same thing as Hardee’s curly fries. I promise you though, they are different somehow. I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again, fries taste better in curl form. The seasoning is Image result for arby's curly friesperfect, and honestly I’m getting hungry just thinking about them. One night, my friend and I drove up to visit my roommate and sat in an Arby’s for easily 3 hours. We probably went through 5 boxes of curly fries, but I’m unapologetic about it. They’re just too good. I may or may not have bought bags of frozen Arby’s curly fries at the grocery store just to hold me over until I could go to an Arby’s again. What a good fry.

Image result for chick fil a fries

Chick-fil-A Waffle Fries – Chick-fil-A was one of those experiences where I asked myself, “Where have you been all my life??” Waffles fries are the dream just as much as curly fries are. A restaurant serving them as their main fry is exactly what I need in my life. Chick-fil-A fries aren’t crispy, but they aren’t soggy either. They’re a perfect in-between. My only complaint? They have not yet opened a Chick-fil-A anywhere near me, so basically I’m left with a lot of hunger that I can’t do anything about. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Culver’s Crinkle Cut Fries – If you haven’t been to Culver’s, you haven’t lived. I can Image result for culver's friessay that for certain. Culver’s crinkle cuts are truly the perfect compliment to anything and everything you can order there. Crinkle cuts are amazing simply because they offer more potato for your buck, without getting crazy like potato wedges. Back in the day, my friends and I would go to Culver’s and only order a family fry, just because they were that good. Alternate these salty fries with a scoop of sweet custard and you’ll honestly be set for life. I have honestly just talked myself into eating Culver’s tonight upon writing this post. They’re that good.

Image result for mcdonalds fries

*McDonald’s Fries – I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t care for McDonald’s very much. The documentary Supersize Me was very effective in my case. Unfortunately for my waistline, I can’t seem to kick my McDonald’s chicken nugget and fry habit. Some things just aren’t meant to be. Anyways, the fries. You may or may not have noticed the little asterisk next to this one. McDonald’s fries can be VERY addicting and yummy, pending they are not over-salted or under-salted. Too much makes me feel like I’ll become a human saltshaker. Too little and they just taste like cardboard. The secret lies in the salt. Maybe I’m just too picky, or maybe I’m just a potato connoisseur. I guess we’ll never know.

Image result for five guys friesLastly but not leastly, Five Guys Fries – Five Guys is basically heaven for me, considering they have the bags of the potatoes they use for fries surrounding the restaurant. They’ll even post on a sign which state the potatoes they’re using are from. It’s truly amazing. ALSO, Five Guys usually gives you way more fries than you could possibly imagine eating with your food. They’re the gift that just keeps on giving.

 

Food, Potatoes, Strange, Tater Talk

Six Alternate Ways to Use the Potato

Sarah Paasch

Although I would rather not admit this to myself, there are some people whose fancy is not tickled by potatoes. While I cannot fathom this idea, I suppose that I should be inclusive of all people on the potato loving spectrum. Maybe through this post, I can turn even the most dedicated potato hater into a spud supporter. I present to you, alternate ways to use a potato:

  1. Mail them to a friend!For the small price of $9.99 (or the price of a potato, a sharpie, and shipping if you’re into DIY things), you can send a note to a friend while also providing them a snack! In case you haven’t heard of this, there is a service called Potato Parcel that will write a note, print a picture, or make a postcard on a potato for you. This is 100% anonymous, too! I’ve had a few of these mailed to me by a good friend, and let me just say that receiving this is a dream for a girl with a potato passion. They even will send sweet potatoes to your sweetie around Valentine’s Day. Mother’s Day is May 13th, just in case you want to show your mom how much you care.
  2. Launch them with a potato launcher! While suggesting this to you all pains me, I suppose that every potato has a purpose. I’m willing to bet that certain potatoes sprout knowing their purpose in life is to be launched. If you’re looking for a way to take out your aggression on potatoes, look no further. You can even find instructions on how to make one of these bad boys here.
  3. Make a potato clock! Unfortunately for me, my science teachers never thought that I needed to learn about this potato phenomenon. Have no fear, you can learn here how to rig one up. If creating an electrical current with a spud isn’t your forte, you could always just buy one on Amazon like the one over there. Either way, I won’t judge you. If you have a clock powered by potatoes, you’re already cooler than most humans I know.
  4. Removing excess salt from soup! Are you finding that your soup is just too dang salty? Wash and cut up a raw potato and throw it into your soup or stew. After a few minutes, remove the potatoes. The potatoes should have soaked up the excess salt, leaving your soup a lot more tasty. 
  5. Keep your goggles and windows from fogging up! Do your windows, ski goggles, or swim goggles often fog up and annoy you? This problem, like many others, can by solved by a spud. Simply cut a potato in half and rub the insides on your goggles or windows, which will fix the fogging.
  6. Remove berry stains from your hands! Ever dreaded using strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries because they would stain your perfect hands? By simply rubbing a raw potato between your hands, you can remove berry stains and leave behind perfectly clean paws.

Potatoes are pretty cool, huh? I hope that someday, you call all appreciate these spuds as the main dish they deserve to be. Thanks for reading!