Potato Carrot Soup slow cooked in the crock pot

Potato Carrot Soup slow cooked in the Crock Pot

I happen to adore potato soup. I sit and dream about it, a lot.  I've even made it a couple of times.  The last time I made it was about 15 years ago.  The experience was so horrible, I've never tried it again.

When I lived in the beautiful state of South Carolina, the winters weren't very wintry.  They were more. Cold with some wind, sprinkled with cold sprinkled with a few warm days.  My opinion is this, if it's winter, then I want snow.  If it's winter, and there is never any snow, it's time to move.  I did move, but not because of the soup.
 I remembered making a batch of potato soup while I lived in Virginia. It turned out very well.  Despite not having the recipe, I decided to give it a try in SC.  I imagined coming home from work to the smell of potato soup, of having a big bowl of it while curled up in front of the TV.  Dreaming of snow.
The next morning before work, I cut up the potatoes, veggies, added seasoning and the cream.  Set the slow cooker on low, walked out excited for the evening to come.  When I came home from work, I went straight to the crock pot for a peek.  I opened the lid, and. Shut the lid. Unplugged the crock pot.  Placed it outside on the steps.  Got into the car, and went to a fast food restaurant. Crushed.
Why?  I found out later, that you don't add the cream/milk at the beginning of the cooking process or it will.......anyone.........curdle.  Yes, curdle.  As in sour milk.  Disgusting.  But wait, that's not the end of the story.
When I came home, I decided to deal with the soup later.  I was not only tired, but disappointed as well, and the soup was already bad so it wouldn't hurt it to wait.  The problem is, my room mate saw the crock pot on the steps and moved it.  Why? Anyone's guess.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Several days later I remembered the crock pot.  If you can imagine, already curdled milk, potatoes, and some SC heat..... the smell of a rotting elephant would have been a welcome breeze to the stench that "soup" put off.  Gingerly taking the pot, lest any of that horrible stuff dripped on me, I dumped it into the wood pile at the back of the property.  I hosed out the crock pot, scrubbed, hosed, scrubbed, hosed and finally brought it inside to put into the dishwasher for two or three cycles.  Just in case.  Thankfully the ordeal was over, the next day was Saturday.  I'd just enjoy the unseasonably warm winter weather.

The next morning, I got my cup of coffee, a good book, my comfy clothes, and took my seat in the rocking chair on the front porch to enjoy my day.
During this time in SC, I had adopted a pit bull, named Mumblie Peg.  He got this name because he couldn't bark and he was missing part of his back foot.  The, person, who owned him before I got him, fought him in the pits.  Despite being scarred all over, missing part of his back foot and only having the ability to "mumble" when he barked, he was one of the greatest dogs I have ever owned.  He knew exactly how to "work" his nubby foot.  He was, what I call, a watch dog.
 Imagine you were a thief who had just broken into my house:  Mumblie would watch you take everything out of the house, make no move to stop you, make no sound, until.....food appeared.  Then he would watch you melt, as he tucked that stumpy leg under him and limp toward you.  Head lowered, tail wagging, then thump down on his behind so you could feed him, pet him and so on.  As you can see from the picture, Mumblie was not hungry.
 Quite the contrary, everyone in the neighborhood knew about our watch dog, and they fed him.  Many a worker gave that dog their entire lunch, only to realize they'd been had (that's Southern for, tricked), when Mum saw me and came bounding over on all 3 legs and the stump.  He was quite the character.  This morning he came toward me, grinning, tail wagging.  As he came closer, I noticed an odor.  It grew, the closer he got.  My first thought was, he'd gotten hurt and the wound was infected.  No, that wasn't it.  No the smell was of something rotting.  Definitely something rotting, something big.  We were near the river, alligators might have killed something...no, he wouldn't go down there.  By now, he's nearly on the porch and I was gagging because of the horrific stench this dog was putting off.  I ran inside.  I discussed this turn of events with my room mate.  We decided to look around the property to see if there was anything that would explain the smell the dog was emitting.
 Upon leaving the house, I saw Mum heading for the woods.  I followed him.  He went straight for the wood pile.  The same wood pile I had dumped the offending soup into.  I held my nose, went in for a look, and there was no sign of the soup. Anywhere.  Not a scrap, drop, drip, nothing.  Mum had eaten the soup.  Mum smelled like the soup.  My days of  making potato soup were over.  Mum's days of me petting him were over until the smell that permeated his body was gone.  Poor guy.
15 years later, I've worked up the nerve to try again.  Man am I glad!  A girl I worked with had given me her recipe for crock pot potato soup, after I relayed the story to her.  Once we stopped laughing, she wrote it down for me.  That was 12 years ago.  No one can say I'm a coward, well, a chicken, but not a coward.

Sunday I cut up the veggies, put in the seasoning, turned the crock pot on low and left it all day long.  The smell was fantastic, mouth watering, everything I hoped for.  That evening, when it was time to finish the recipe, I couldn't.  I was scared it would be bad, and all that food would be wasted.  So, I waited, on what I don't know, but I waited.  Monday came along, time to do it.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Let's just say, it was delicious.  I put too many carrots in it, so it wasn't exactly potato soup.  What can I say, I guess potato soup is not my strong point! None-the-less, it was delicious.

Potato Carrot Soup:

2 qts water (or enough to cover veggies) use chicken stock if you like
7 large red potatoes
1 small bag pre-cut carrots
1 large red onion
4 stalks celery
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
2% milk

Cut the veggies up
Place in crock pot
cover with water, add seasoning
cook on low until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender

Pour out the water, reserve some of it

In a skillet melt butter, add flour and brown, gently over medium heat
add some of the reserved liquid until thick and bubbly
add the milk stirring constantly until you achieve a creamy consistency
remove from heat

Take a potato masher and mash the veggies in the crock pot
Add the thickened soup in with the veggies
Stir, serve immediately. Or.....

Fry up some bacon to sprinkle on top, with cheese, scallions, chives.......

Serve with crusty bread and some sweet tea.  OoooooWeeee that's some good stuff!

Nothing better on a cold night than steak and gravy

Looks like we are going to get another round of 'global warming', starting.....now!  Since it's going to be a cold one, with lots of snow, wind and chilly weather, might as well cook something delicious.  Nothing like Country Fried Steak, with gravy, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  I know a lot of people turn their noses up to broccoli, but if you don't over cook it and add butter (everything tastes better with butter!) it's very good.  My little boy loves broccoli.  I always make more than I think is necessary, since my husband (who doesn't like anything healthy, but loves broccoli) and son eat it like it's going out of style. 
My Mom is a very good cook.  Probably because she's German, and German food is delicious.  Especially the candies and cookies.  Mom took me to Germany when I was in the eighth grade, to visit her mom, my Omi.  Omi is the German word for grandma.  One day we went into a town called Murnau to shop.  It's a wonderful little town, with neat little shops lining the street.  There was a restaurant there, called the "Wienerwald", and it was my favorite!  We had to go every time we went to Murnau.  I always ordered the same thing, a quarter BBQ rotisserie chicken. Yes, I ate the whole thing.  It was delicious.  As many years ago as that was, I can still see the chicken arriving in it's tinfoil shell, steam wafting through the crack in the folded foil top.  Opening it was like Christmas, there it was a BBQ chicken with perfectly crispy skin covered in BBQ seasoning.  My mouth is watering, but I digress.  One such visit, after a trip to the Weinerwald, we stopped into a bakery for desert.  Now, my Omi loved sweets.  Germany has many deliciously tempting treats along with the best chocolate in the world.  I know some of you like the other chocolates, but send me a better chocolate bar than the "Milka" bar and I'll eat my shoe (which won't be easy since I wear sheepskin boots this time of year).  Milka chocolate melts in your mouth, has a creamy chocolate flavor that tickles the tongue.  It's my favorite in the whole world!  That's silly, have you been through the whole world? some may ask.  Well, no, I haven't.  I have travelled extensively, as have many in my family, as well as having friends and relatives in different countries.  I would say I've tasted a great many chocolates in my time... just ask my skinny jeans, they'll tell you! Back to the story, so we are in a bakery and proceed to order.  One of this, one of that, one of almost everything. Pastry shells filled with pineapple whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate. Chocolate cake, lebkuchen cookies along with assorted pies and so on.  We sit down to eat our grossly weighted plates, when our pitcher of hot chocolate arrives.  My Omi was so embarrassed because we had lost all self control when ordering our dessert.  It's no wonder when I came back to America I was a chunky little thing.  Germany definitely agreed with my sweet tooth! 
There are two smells I remember vividly when I think of Germany, manure and candy.  Very different on opposite ends of the spectrum.  We were travelling to Uffing, where my mom grew up.  It was a very long trip from Virginia.  Horrible airplanes that dropped out of the sky like dive bombers when it was time to land. Taxi cabs, buses, and trains all included in our trip.  We had to stop in Frankfurt to change planes.  I remember getting off that awful plane, sick to my stomach, grumpy, tired and homesick.  We walked into the Frankfurt airport, welcomed by the scent of candy.  Not just any candy, Mamba fruit chews.  Oh, what comfort for a 13 year old girl. 
We sat in the airport until it was time to board that next lurching beast to continue our trip to Munich.  I would have gladly walked home by this time, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the Lufthansa crew.  It was like I was at home, being cared for by my Mom.  Yes, Mom was with me, but she couldn't get me crackers and ginger ale.  The stewardess could, and did.  I remember being so motion sick from all the other planes that I just let them fuss over me.  We finally landed in Munich to start the last leg of our journey.  We boarded a train that took us to *Uffing am Staffelsee. 

When time came to finally get off the train and walk, (yes, walk) into town, I was a zombie.  Soon I was awakened by the sound of horses hooves pulling a rumbling wagon along the road.  All of which was accompanied by the earthy odor of manure, LOTS of manure.  The whole town smelled like manure.  I was appalled.  I thought all of Germany smelled like candy.  Maybe, but not in the early spring when the farmers are putting fertilizer on their fields.  Once the shock wore off, it became quite, well, comforting.  Uffing being a small town with lots of farms, and me being a country girl from a place with lots of farms, yes comforting is the word.  After the fertilizing season passed, Uffing did indeed, cease to smell of manure.  That organic smell being replaced by the smell of candy. 
What does all of that have to do with Country fried steak and gravy?  It's my Moms recipe, that's about it. 

Ingredients:
4 cubed steaks
1 lg. yellow onion peeled and sliced
1 cup plain white flour (more if needed)
1 1/2 tbsp garlic granules
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1/4 cup oil
Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard
hot water 1 small jar of can of sliced mushrooms-juice and all
1/4 cup of heavy cream

Method:
In a large bowl, mix the garlic, salt and pepper
In a large, heavy skillet, heat oil until very hot
Place floured cube steaks into the oil (it should sizzle) and fry until golden brown on bottom; carefully flip the steaks over and drizzle with Worchestershire sauce (2-3 shakes)
Lay onion slices onto the steaks 1-2 slices
Add about 1 1/2 cups of hot water, put on the lid and reduce the heat to medium
Let them cook until the water is evaporated
When you hear the sizzle and the water is gone, flip them over again with the onions now on the bottom, add same amount of hot water again cover and let cook down to half the amount of water just added
Dump in mushrooms, juice and all, add mustard, taste adjust seasoning then add cream stir and enjoy!

Steamed broccoli:

Frozen broccoli florets
water to coat the bottom of sauce pan
1/4 stick butter
salt & pepper to taste

I don't use a steamer, so what I do is cover the bottom of my sauce pan with water, pour in frozen broccoli and cover. As soon as the water starts boiling I turned off the element and keep the lid on until the broccoli is a nice deep green color.  Then I add the butter, salt and pepper, put lid back on until ready to serve.  YUM YUM!

*picture fromhttp://www.uffing.org/luftbild.htm thank you! 

Turkey Breast with orange oil, Mayo Muffins, Gingerbread Sweet Potatoes and Cranberry/Blueberry sauce

This morning my little boy and his best friend, had a date with Santa.  It was "Breakfast with Santa" day.  I'd been looking forward to this for a long time.  We picked up his best friend, and his Mommy then off we went.  When we got to the Club, there he was, a wonderful Santa.  He had a real beard and snow white hair.  A beautiful red vest, trimmed in white fur and buttoned up smartly with brass buttons. His knee length red velvet coat, covered his red velvet pants both trimmed exquisitely in snow white fur. Shiny black boots peaked out from under the fluffy white cuffs.  He had a jolly round belly, with a  red hat whose cuff and ball were made of the same beautiful fur.  He read stories to the boys, did magic tricks and admonished them to listen to their Mom's or they'd get lumps of coal in their stockings.  As we drove away, we passed a red truck with a "Santa" design on the back.  The boys asked why Santa was driving a truck and not his sleigh. I told them that Santa's reindeer only flew on Christmas Eve, so he had to have a 4 wheel drive to get through the snow.  I felt a slight twinge of guilt from the dishonesty, but hey it's the magical season.  I've also been telling him the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus' birth.  That Santa and the gifts came after Jesus, and they are not the reason for the season. He's trying to understand, he will, as he gets older.  It never hurts to lay down the foundation early!

When we came home, I decided to turn on some Christmas tunes to get me moving.  I tried my favorite radio Internet music station and really enjoyed listening to all the different types of music, they really warmed my heart and put me in the Christmas spirit, almost.  Songs like one by the Eels called "Christmas is going to the dogs.", or Johnny Cashs' version of "Blue Christmas". If those two don't send you to the ABC store, then a song by the Killers featuring Toni Halliday titled, "Big Red Sled" would. It's jolly story of Christmas tells of, "Santa handing out wine and guns." Where are my car keys? But wait! There's more! Billy Idol roared into the speakers with his ditty, "Screaming at the Christmas Tree", followed by the raspy falsetto from Queensryche singing, "White Christmas."  I noticed that of the songs I'd heard, none contained a wish list for Santa! That thought was soon shattered by the all to familiar sound of AC/DC, yes, AC/DC singing their tune, "Mistress for Christmas", followed by another Christmas wish by Chemical Romance, "All I want for Christmas is You".  This song, filled with angry, screaming voices, conjured a very unhappy Christmas picture of Santa, cowering in the corner while some rage filled rocker, in love, showered him with his desire for....well, you.  As if by the mere thought of anger, the next song on the list was by MxPx, very aptly titled, "Christmas Night of Zombies".  I'm gonna' have to change the channel, poking my minds eye out is not a reality.  Not to worry, Heart was up next with their English rendition of, "Ave Maria".  Following on their heels, Annie Lennox came to the party with her ballad, "See Amid the Winters Snow".   Exhausted from those and the many other, um, unorthodox, versions of Christmas tunes, I switched on the t.v., and sat down to drink coffee and watch cartoons with my son.  Cleaning, cooking, and dirty clothes were going to have to wait. 

My husband called to let me know he was on his way home, and he was hungry.  Ok, he's coming from Georgia, I've got 7 hours.  Plenty of time to cook a turkey dinner!  I had a 3lb turkey breast thawing in the fridge. I decided to have my favorite, sweet potatoes with some gingerbread flavored marshmallow's I found at the grocery.  Leave it to Paula Deen and me to make a perfectly healthy food into a, well, not so healthy food, but it sure is yummy!
You have to have cranberry with turkey and since I had extra blueberries, I decided to use them too.  As for stuffing, no.  I found my old Mayonnaise muffin recipe.  I wonder why I don't use it more, it's so simple and delicious.  Oh, now I remember, it's delicious.  Bread is the enemy if consumed in mass quantities, so nix on the Mayo Muffins frequent use, for me anyway! Not today, bring them on.  I will forgo the use of jam, just for the sake of conscience.

Here's my recipe for Turkey with orange oil:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 large orange
1 small lemon
1 tbl poultry seasoning
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
5 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup Moscato wine
1 3lb. boneless turkey breast

Pour the olive oil in a measuring glass, then add the poultry seasoning, thyme and pepper.  (don't worry about the oil and juices separating.  The citric acid will break down the oil so that all things will mix and stay mixed.  You can use vinegar to do this as well, for instance, oil and vinegar on a sub.  Add the vinegar first to help break down the oil.)
Take the lemon and the orange and roll across back and forth exerting moderate pressure to get the juices going, then put in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds to further this along. 
Take out and juice into the oil and whisk together. 
Add 1/2 the wine
Let that sit, while you prepare the turkey. 
I always salt just the fat on the turkey, I don't want to dry the bird out.
Put the stalks of celery and some onion under the turkey, place the rest around it.
Pour  the rest of the wine in the pan
Pour the orange oil over the turkey, turning to cover it all.  Use all of it.
Make sure the turkey is fat side up


Cover with foil and bake in 325 oven for 2 hours, uncover.
Cook until the breast is cooked through.
Take out and cover in foil to keep warm.

NOTE: If you want, you can take the carrots, celery, onion and juices and use those to make a delicious gravy.  Place the veggies in a blender, blend until smooth.  In a heated skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter and add 2 tbl flour and mix until it starts to turn a caramel color, then add the blended mix and the juices until the consistancy of gravy.  If you wish, add some milk or half & half.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Cranberry/Blueberry sauce:

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water

Boil the water, orange juice and sugar then add the cranberries and blueberries, mix well and let boil on medium heat, then let simmer until a gel like consistency. 

Gingerbread sweet potatoes:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large orange, juiced
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbl salted butter
milk or half&half
1/4 cup brown sugar
Gingerbread flavored marshmallows

You can bake the sweet potato or boil it, I chose to boil it for time's sake.
Add the orange juice to the water
About 1/2 way through the boiling, add the cinnamon.
When the potatoes are easily stabbed with a fork, pour out all the water
Add the brown sugar, milk and butter, mash well
While they potatoes are still hot, add the gingerbread marshmallow's and mix until melted

Mayonnaise Muffins:

1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
1 heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise
Muffin tin

Heat oven to 400 degrees
Mix ingredients together and pour into prepared muffin tin, bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown
Serve hot, with butter and jam. YUM YUM!

My husband was very happy to come home to a nice turkey dinner, and he was so grateful he served the food and cleaned up afterwards.  How nice of him.  He said he enjoyed it and even though the little boy didn't seem to want to eat, he thought he enjoyed it too.  The little boy looked at me and nodded his head in agreement.  I love my guys! 

Boneless Beef Ribs, Roasted Little Red Potatoes, Baked Beans, Lemon and Orange Jello Cake

I haven't blogged in a few days, because my little boy and my husband have been sick. Monday, my little boy's stomach was upset. This resulted in my having to change sheets, and do an extra load of laundry or two. Blankey got soiled and this caused the little fella' to be really upset, thank goodness we have an extra! Monday night, my husband came home from work and his cold was a lot worse than it had been the night before. So, I had to take care of two sick guys. Our dinner was fried chicken from the deli, with dill & red potato salad. The little guy had peaches, and a Popsicle.
Tuesday I did post the recipe to my favorite food in the world, Beef Roll ups. It wasn't much of a hit with my two sick guys, but I enjoyed them very much. I didn't watch closely enough and I let all the water simmer out of the pot, which meant my roll ups were a little more "done" than I would have liked. But that is a learning lesson, and they were still good. The baby was feeling better, but still not eating really good. He had a little potato salad, and strawberry's, blueberry's and crackers. He loves fruit, thank goodness!
Wednesday we had homemade chicken noodle soup, with grilled salami, cheese and tomato sandwiches. The little boys stomach was feeling better, but now he has a cold. He ate grilled tortilla and cheese, chopped up tomatoes, and some strawberries. He's been drinking a lot of fluids, which is really good, he needs to stay hydrated. We had a little bit of ice cream for desert, covered in blueberries.
Last night, we had some more fried chicken, the rest of the potato salad and broccoli. The baby ate all of his broccoli, a little bit of chicken and most of his potato salad. He's so stuffy and runny that it's hard for him to eat. I hate for him to be sick, I hope he'll feel better very soon.
So, here we are, on Friday. My husband is feeling a lot better, but the little boy is not. He took a 45 minute nap today, and doesn't seem to want to rest at all. I hope he'll eat better tonight, so far he's not had much of an appetite, except for cookies.....hmmmmmmmmm
I have some boneless ribs in the fridge. My brother makes the best ribs I've ever had, but I don't have the rub he uses, so I looked in my spice cabinet. I found some Caribbean Blackening spices, some Garlic powder and Lawry's seasoning salt. I poured some of each into a zip lock bag and added some freshly, cracked black pepper. I added the ribs and rubbed the seasonings in really good. It's been such a beautiful day, I think I'll turn the grill on and grill them up. About 30 minutes or more before I put them on the grill, I'll take the ribs out and let them get to room temperature. They cook more evenly when they are at room temperature.
I've never tried to make the Jello Cake, but I watched either my Mom or Sister do it once, so I think I can do it. I'm using a box cake mix, Lemon flavored. After it's baked I will let it cool, then poke holes in it and pour the Jello over it and put in the fridge until we are ready to eat it. I'm actually going to bake half into a cake and the other half into cup cakes. Just for fun! I have those silicone cupcake baking cups, with feet. So I can decorate the cupcakes to look like fun little monsters. I think the baby will really enjoy that, I know his Daddy and I will!
I'm going to quarter the little red potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle some of the same seasonings over them, that I used on the ribs. Then bake in the oven until they are crispy and delicious. I may even add some Parmesan cheese over them when they are done. Sounds good to me! Guess we'll see. I'll let you know. Bye for now, I'm going to see if the baby will take a nap now.

Beef Roll ups or Rouladen, Mashed ranch potatoes, and corn

Hey Paw! What's for supper?
Beef roll ups, also known as Rouladen, with mashed, ranch potatoes and corn with butter.

My favorite dish in the world is Beef Roll ups. It's a delicious dinner and it's fun too. I have made these twice and I think I did pretty good. They still don't taste as good as my Mom's. Maybe because I have to put forth the effort to make them, or maybe they just lack Mom's special touch, either way they're still my favorite!
I posted the recipe on my Big Oven web page, along with some other recipes I came up with. If you want to go see them, go to www.bigoven.com/~BunnysOven you'll see several recipes I've posted. Let me know what you think!
Make sure you give plenty of cooking time for the roll ups, they'll take a couple of hours to cook. If you rush, you'll end up with raw hide roll ups, and that would be so YUCK!

Beef Roll ups (Rouladen)
Ingredients
12 1/4 inch thick sirloin slices (have butcher cut for you)
3 tbl. canola oil
12 wooden kabob skewers or tooth picks
Worcestershire sauce
12 kosher dill pickle sandwich slices
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons pickle juice
4 cups hot water
3 slices of bacon
1 Heavy deep skillet with good fitting lid
1 jar plain American mustard

Assembly & cooking instructions for Beef Roll ups (Rouladen)

Cut bacon slices in 1/2 and then cut lengthwise in 1/2 (1 slice will yield 4 slices)
Cut kosher dill pickle sandwich slices into approximately 1/8" slices and cut those slices into 1/4" strips
Spread each slice of sirloin with a thin layer of mustard
On one end of the sirloin slice place 1 bacon strip and 1 pickle strip
Roll up and push the skewer through to hold the meat together, trim the skewer as needed.
Heat oil until very hot and add the roll ups with tongs to the pan
Brown on all sides
Drizzle Worcestershire sauce on each roll up (it will sizzle and smoke)
Immediately pour in enough hot water to come 1/2 way up the roll ups
Put on the lid and turn down to low and cook until the water is almost gone
Add more hot water and let that cook down so you have about 2 1/2 cups of gravy
Remove the roll ups to make the gravy, retain liquid from cooking in the skillet
Add 2 tablespoons pickle juice, 1 tablespoon mustard and the cream
Start with 1/4 cup of cream and add more if you like
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed Ranch Potatoes:

4 large potatoes
Milk
butter
salt & pepper
ranch dressing

Boil a pot of water
Peel and cut your potatoes into thin slices (this will speed up cooking time. If you don't mind a few extra steps, you could always steam your potates with the skins on. Once they are fork tender, peel off the skins and mash. Leaving the skins on adds flavor and vitamins.)
Pour out the water, retaining a 1/2 cup
Mash the potatoes adding the retained water, milk and butter until they are light and fluffy and taste like you like. Add salt and pepper, then add a few squirts of the ranch dressing, to taste.

Corn:
No brainer
Frozen corn
water
salt and pepper
butter

Pour frozen corn into a pan, add water to cover, add 2 tbl. butter and heat on medium high until the water is gone and all that's left is butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yummmmyyyyy1