Food on Friday

Food on Friday, installment 2. It was hard to choose what to share this week but since it has been rainy and kind of cool, this hit the spot with us last night. I also find that most of the time I have all of these ingredients on hand, making it a pretty quick fix--other than the taters needing to bake--which could be microwaved. I usually will stick the potatoes in the oven and then do "stuff" while they bake. We generally eat around 7:30 or 8. Remember that my kids are old so we can have dinner then. Also, I think I have mentioned this before--it is very important to us to have dinner together as much as possible. In other words, every night. And that pretty much happens.

Western Spuds

These are basically baked potatoes slathered with ham gravy. Nothing in this meal is good for you in any way, shape or form. Maybe the potato--but nothing else even comes close to healthy. But it tastes oh so lovely.

The ingredients--ham, flour, milk. Potatoes--scrubbed and wrapped in foil-- butter, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper. Bake taters at 350 for, um until they are done. If your oven is from 1954 and pink, then open oven often to check temperature and for fire.


One last ingredient, a sexy man to make gravy.

Cube ham. We used one of those loaf shaped hams. This is the third and final meal off of this loaf shaped ham.

Place ham in potato pan. That's what we call it. It was my great-grandma's and that's what it has always been called. My uncle has the noodle pot. I am hoping that someday it will be mine.

Cook ham until you have "juiced" it. That juice is your gravy base.

Remove ham from potato pan. Add milk. Notice that my sexy man making gravy is really getting into this by posing.

Add flour. How much? Good question. Sexy man making gravy says 11 tablespoons or so. Or so? I will take sexy man making gravy word at that. Have you picked up on the fact that I don't make gravy? My philosophy is that if you have a sexy man making gravy, why learn?

This girl is a ham stealer. Hamstealerhamstealerhamstealer!!


Stir flour, ham juice and milk until thick. Again, sexy man making gravy is posing his utensil for a dramatic effect. Oh my be still my beating heart. Gravy can do crazy things to a girl. And her butt.


Add ham.
Now the rest of this is self-explanatory. But College Girl was feeling left out, so she demo'd how to set up the spud.

Mash and cover with real butter. College Girl requests that you not notice how MUCH butter she used.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Slather in gravy.

Add a dollop of sour cream. I put my sour cream on before my gravy. Nothing like melted dairy with starch.

And eat. Slowly. If you are a really good mom, you will put green beans and strawberries on the table to complete the food groups. Maybe some garlic toast.

Yes, my hamstrings are still so tight I can barely walk. Just sayin'.