Titus 2 Homemaker’s Facebook Page

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that part of the unexpected for us last week was learning that we’re expecting!  Our little one should make his appearance in late January or early February.  So far, from four pregnancies, we have two children, so we would appreciate your prayers for health and safety for this little one.  (“Or little ones,” my daughter would want me to add.)

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We would appreciate prayers for the stone to pass very quickly.

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When I was in high school, as a homeschooler, we had a weekly “CLASS Day.”  CLASS stands for Cooperative Learning and Specialized Studies, and it was basically just a co-op.  Our main motivation for this particular co-op was “socialization,” so we didn’t have a lot of strongly academic classes; rather, we had elective-type courses where we could be learning something interesting, but enjoying each other’s company at the same time.  Most of these classes were really fun.  We even did a video production class.  It was a blast, and I learned a lot. But for one session, one of the dads did a car maintenance class.  I’m not sure why.

The class went something like this:  “If you need an oil change, you can do it yourself, but it’s easier just to take it to Wal-Mart.”  “If you get a flat tire, you can change it yourself, but I just call triple-A.”  “If this breaks, call triple-A.”  “If that happens, call triple-A.”  I’m not really sure why this particular dad chose to “teach” an auto-maintenance class, but we didn’t really learn any maintenance!  It was more like an ad for roadside assistance.  It was funny, though, and my sister and I still laugh about it, more than ten years later!

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Choosing an appealing and appropriate name can be very, very important for a product or brand.  (And, in this case, the blog is, in essence, a “brand.”)  So let me give you an example of what not to do:

Lipofuze

Upon first hearing this name, what do you think of?  I think of the opposite of “liposuction,” so I picture something designed to add more fat to my backside.  But, nope, Lipofuze is a diet pill.  When marketing a diet pill, the last thing you want to do is cause potential customers to envision adding fat to their rear ends!

The “moral” of this story?  Ask yourself if the name of your blog is both appropriate  (that is, matches the content) and appealing to your target audience.  (And, by the same token, if you have some other business or product to name, consider this beforehand.)

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10 lbs. mashed potatoes
5 lbs. baked potatoes
5 lbs. potato wedges
5 lbs. oven fries
4 lbs. hash browns
3-4 lbs. sliced potatoes, par-cooked for sautéeing later
a crockpotful of “refried” beans

I actually managed to finish all but the oven fries.  And thank the Lord for small blessings: I was in between things when Sophia cut her head, so I didn’t have anything in the oven to worry about!

So here’s how I did what I did:

I got the idea from the potato plan at Menus 4 Moms, and, for the most part, that’s what I followed.

Baked Potatoes, and Mashed Potato Prep
I started by preheating the oven to 400 degrees, and dumped a 5-lb. bag of potatoes into the sink.  (This was about 9-10 good-sized, but not unusually gigantic, potatoes, in case anyone was looking to convert recipes to bulk.)  I would grab a potato, scrub it, and set it aside on a (clean) counter, until all 5 lbs. were clean.  Then I stabbed each one multiple times with a fork.  Once all were stabbed, I opened the oven and put them in.  I found I could prep 5 lbs. of potatoes in about 5 minutes by this system.  So three batches got me 15 lbs. of potatoes into the oven.  They took 55-65 minutes to bake.

When they were done, I piled them all up into a large pot (because I needed to transport them to another room and this was the easiest way), then carried them to the dining room where I spread them out on paper-towel-covered piles of newspaper to cool.

Hash Browns
I found several sets of instructions for hash browns.  I went with the one I picked because it seemed it would be the easiest overall.  (The others were boiled, then shredded, then squeezed and blotted dry.)  I filled a very large bowl about halfway with cold water and set it off to the side of my workspace.  I had a knife and cutting board ready, for cutting out bad parts of potatoes, and a peeler and grater.  After scrubbing the potatoes as for the baked potatoes above, one at a time I would peel a potato (straight into the trash can), then grate it and dump it into the cold water.  (The cold water helps keep the potatoes from discoloring.  If you’re somewhat slow about the grating, you may want to dump the grated potato into the water about halfway through each potato.)  You probably don’t want to peel these all at once, or the “waiting” potatoes may turn grey while you’re grating the first few.  Also, the water will start to turn pink, from the floating potato starch, so I dumped out most of the water and replaced it about halfway through.

When I was ready to cook them, I drained them in a colander and pressed out the excess water, then piled them into two greased 13×9″ baking pans, spread them pretty evenly, and baked them for 15 minutes.  When cool, they can be flash-frozen and bagged.  In this case, they actually did start to discolor a bit as they cooled; I think that they needed to have been stirred every few minutes as they cooked, because only the ones on the top really got dried out; the others were still pretty starchy.

Sliced Potatoes for Sautéeing
These were a lot like the hash browns.  I peeled and sliced the potatoes, putting the cut potatoes into a bowl of cold water as they were completed.  When they were all ready, I spread them out in greased baking pans and baked them for 10 minutes, then flash-froze and bagged them.

Mashed Potatoes
Once the baked potatoes were mostly cool, I set aside the ones that looked best for eating as baked potatoes, and used the rest for mashed potatoes.  (Don’t package the baked ones until they’re totally cool, though.)  You need a really big bowl (or pan) for these, or you won’t have room to mash them.  My pot wasn’t quite big enough, and I struggled a bit to get the potatoes and additions all mixed up without dumping it out the top.  I used half a pound of butter, half a cup of plain yogurt, and half a pint of milk for 10 lbs. of potatoes.  (I think maybe adding cream cheese is better for the texture when freezing and reheating, but that’s not something we ordinarily put in our potatoes, so I wanted to wait and see how this does.  My ingredients and amounts were totally a guess, so, again, we’ll see how they taste when I actually prepare them for eating.)  I found that, after cutting the baked potatoes in half, if I sort of chopped up the flesh inside the skin with a butter knife, most of it fell out pretty easily, and already essentially “mashed.” Then I added the butter, yogurt, and milk.  (The butter mixes in better if you just melt it first.)  I expect to add seasonings like salt and pepper when I’m reheating them.

Potato Wedges
The freezer instructions for the potato wedges don’t exactly offer a recipe, just general instructions, so I made one up.  We’ll see, when we eat them, if they’re any good!  I scrubbed the potatoes as for the other preparations above, then cut each potato lengthwise into six wedges.  (You could do eight wedges if you want, especially if your potatoes are really fat.)  I piled them all in a large bowl and drizzled heavily with olive oil.  I tossed these with my hands to coat them all with oil, and spread them out in my two baking dishes.  Then, in a separate bowl, I mixed up one teaspoon each of salt, paprika, and garlic powder, half a teaspoon of pepper, and about a sixteenth of a teaspoon of sugar.  (The sugar is supposed to help them brown better.)  I sprinkled this over top of the wedges, and tossed them really well to distribute it evenly, rubbing it along the wedges with my hands to sort of smear it around in the oil.  Then I baked them for half an hour.  After flash freezing, I will bag these.  (They managed to make it into the freezer last night but, after our trip to the ER, I did not get around to bagging them yet.)

Oven Fries
As I mentioned at first, I haven’t quite gotten to do these yet, but here’s what I expect to do.  I will increase the oven temperature to 475.  (Or, in this case, I will just turn the oven on again, since we turned it off to leave the house!)  I’ll scrub the potatoes as mentioned, then peel and cut lengthwise into fries, dropping them into a bowl of cold water as I go.  I will drain them and probably blot them dry with a paper towel, then spread them out on greased cookie sheets, toss them with just enough oil to coat, and then again with salt, and bake them for twenty minutes.  I’ll let them cool (mostly so that my glass baking dishes won’t break in the freezer), flash freeze, and bag.

The Quick Version
For those of you who have read all this and want to do it, but don’t want all of the details for reference, you can select just this section, go to File–>Print, and choose “Selection” to print just the basic instructions.  (I will update this as appropriate, as we eat the food and make tweaks.  But this is what I did this time, and how I plan to reheat.)

Baked Potatoes: Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes at 400.  Be sure to prick before baking so they don’t explode, and let cool completely before packaging, to prevent the growth of botulism or anything like that.  To reheat, thaw, then either microwave, or bake at 350 until hot.

Mashed Potatoes: Bake the potatoes.  When cool enough to handle, remove the flesh from the peels, mash, and mix in half a pint of milk, half a pound of butter, and half a cup of plain yogurt or sour cream (for 10 lbs. potatoes).  Let cool and bag.  To reheat, either microwave, or heat over very low heat on the stove, stirring frequently and adding a little extra milk if necessary.

Potato Wedges: Use a mixture of 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and 1/16 tsp. salt to season oil-coated wedges.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.  To serve, bake on a greased baking sheet at 450 for 30-45 minutes, turning halfway through.

Oven Fries: Coat fries with oil and salt well.  Bake at 475 for 20 minutes.  To serve, bake on a greased baking sheet at 450 for 30-45 minutes, turning halfway through.

Hash Browns: After shredding potatoes, bake at 400 for 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes.  To serve, fry until done and browned, or use in recipes.  (Storebought hash browns seem to come in two sizes: 32 oz. (2 lbs.) or 24 oz. (1-1/2 lbs.).)

Sliced Potatoes: After slicing potatoes, bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  To prepare, sauté in butter, sprinkling with salt, until nicely browned.

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And some things, we’re just not sure if we’re ready to tackle the time requirements and/or expense.  The entire front of our house is lined with bushes.  I really, really dislike them.  There is nothing wrong with them, exactly; there just isn’t anything right with them, and I find them a massive waste of space.  Plus they aren’t particularly attractive if they aren’t trimmed constantly, and I’m not tall enough to trim them thoroughly.  So I’d like to get rid of them and replace them with something more attractive and useful.  Like blueberry bushes.  But that’s a pretty big job, taking out a whole row of bushes.

So… we don’t have a hard-and-fast “to-do-in-the-yard-this-year” list yet, but we have been enjoying getting out in this beautiful weather to check it all out.

Do you have any outdoor projects in the works this spring?

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Hopefully next week.

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I have an artist working on a new blog header (thanks, Shannon!) and when that’s done, the color scheme will probably be changing, too.   (That busy background will go away.)  But for now, just the layout.

Thank you for your patience.

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So I sent copies of all of these results to my doctor.  The nurse called yesterday.  The doctor says my cholesterol looks good, but he recommends that I have my bilirubin level checked again in three weeks.

Seriously?  That’s it?!  All of those abnormal test results, and he doesn’t have anything to say about anything but the bilirubin?

I need to have a son so we can send him to medical school, because it’s ridiculous trying to find a doctor who’s a decent diagnostician – or even tries to be.

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