Frozen Taters Anyone?

Recipe time! This week I baked several different yummy things and I want to share with you the recipes, so today let’s talk taters. I had a whole bag of Russet Potatoes that were soon going to be staring at me if I didn’t do something fast.  I went to Heavenly Homemakers because I wanted to try her method for storing hash browns in the freezer. I tried to make hash browns once upon a time…it did not go as planned. The “hash browns” turned into one solid mush pile that was quite unappetizing.

At Heavenly Homemakers, she recommends baking the taters first. Say what? Oh yeah, bake ‘em baby. Starch was the culprit that caused my big , mushy, gunk pile of “hash browns” (quotes because they were NOT hash browns in the end!) I cleaned those dirty taters up, poked holes in them, put in a pan that I lightly oiled and stuck them in the oven on 350 for 1 hour.

Hot taters

Then you wait. You wait for them to cook and you wait for them to cool. When you are ready to shred, dice, or slice them, wait longer.  You want them to be very cool. I would say from my dicing and slicing the 3 main things to remember:

1) Don’t overcook the taters. I think 45 to 50 minutes would have been enough. You do not want them to fall apart while you are shredding them.

2) Let them cool completely. You could burn yourself and again, they will fall apart.

3) Use a very sharp knife or shredder depending on what you want your end result to be.

I decided not to go with the shredded hash browns. I didn’t want to pull out the food processor so I got my trusty knife and cutting board out and went to work.I diced half of the taters and froze them. I did not peel the potatoes because I like tater skins. Lots.

Then I sliced the other taters into fries. I oiled those puppies up a little, put sea salt on them, and baked them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes to 1 hour on 400. Turn them over several times while they are in the oven, careful not to break them.

Before their second baking

Hubby raved! He loved them and said that they are the best ever. They were a huge hit and they were almost all gone at the end of supper. Have a blessed day peeps!

yummy taters!