MaryAnn's Secret Potatoes

Well this is a funny story in a way. For those of you who know MaryAnn she use to bring these secret potatoes to all of the family events. She would never tell anyone what the recipe was. Without going into detail I got my hands on the recipe several months ago. My hunch was right. Years ago we had a get together (when we were still doing that sort of thing when my Dad was alive) with all of my Dads kids that were in town. We ate at this restaurant in Ogden called Catus Reds. The potatoes we ate were very similiar to MaryAnn's potatoes. Interesting.

Well you can call Cactus Reds and for around $15.00 dollars you can get an entire tin platter of them prepared and cooked for you... kind of like I remember eating out of at family get togethers. Hmm... makes you wonder doesn't it? Anyway here it is the recipe for those potatoes. I hope you enjoy and take them to your next family get together.

(original recipe from Catus Reds 'Million Dollar Potatoes')
50 lbs Uncooked Potatoes
4 gal. Heavy Whipping Cream (Marigolds Cream)
1 Cups Salt (16 Tbsp)
1/4 Cups White Pepper (4 Tbsp)
2 lbs Corn Starch (6 cups)

I broke them down for my family to a more usable portion. Here are two versions and you can tweak them yourselves or you can just do it the easy way and order them from Cactus Reds already done.

It's a Secret Potato Recipe
11 x 14" glass pan
2 32 oz. bag Cubed Hashbrowns
1.5 qt. Heavy Whipping Cream (Marigolds Cream)
1 Tbsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp White Pepper (1 Tbsp for spicy)
1/2 Cups Corn Starch (1/3 for creamier mix)

Boil water in pot, after water is boiling put cubed hashbrowns in boiling water until cooked and still firm, drain and put in pan (3/4 full). Preheat oven to 380 degrees. Before water begins to boil pour chilled Whipping Cream in a different pot and then blend in corn starch with a whisk as you pour in the corn starch. Add salt and white pepper to whipping cream. Cook whipping cream mixture on medium to low heat until it is the consistency of gravy (it is a dairy product so it can burn easily so keep low and stir continually and takes about 10-15 min). When whipping cream is done pour over potatoes (best if potatoes are still hot) so they are completely covered and slightly mix in. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour.


Version two with different potatoes.

It's a Secret Potato Recipe
11 x 14" glass pan
10 lbs Uncooked Potatoes (you won't use them all)
1.5 qt. Heavy Whipping Cream (Marigolds Cream)
1 Tbsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp White Pepper (1 Tbsp for spicy)
1/2 Cups Corn Starch (1/3 for creamier mix)

Start water to boil in pot big enough for potatoes. Peel potatoes and cut into thin slices like Au Gratin style and fill pan until 3/4 full. Put potatoes in water and boil potatoes so they are almost thoroughly cooked (cooked but firm). Preheat oven to 380 degrees. When potatoes are put into the water to boil pour chilled Whipping Cream in a different pot and then blend in corn starch with a whisk as you pour in the corn starch. Add Salt and white pepper to whipping cream. Cook whipping cream mixture on medium to low heat until it is the consistency of gravy (it is a dairy product so it can burn easily so keep low and stir continually and takes about 10-15 min). Do not over cook potatoes. When potatoes are done put in pan and when whipping cream is done pour over potatoes (best if potatoes are still hot) so they are completely covered and slightly mix in. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour.


Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Cheers,
John...

P.S. Oh ya... please share this recipe with the whole family!!!

Fun Weekend... NOT!

Well we had a batch of car problems over the week end along with a date change for the Ward Christmas Party Shay is in charge of.

The Church Building Scheduler called Shay and said that the chapel was double booked and the other ward had it first. Shay takes excellent notes and a long time ago she had a conversation with him about the conflict. He assured her that we had this day and time and the other ward had moved. Well to make a long stressful event for Shay short she got it fixed and we pushed ours back three hours. We won't have all the cool decorations like before and not everyone can help, but what do you do.

Then on top of that Shay's van speedometer went out and part of the dash. Turns out it was a short in the brake resivour sensor and almost $400.00 dollars later and five days without a Van. We get it back tomorrow.

Then we were forced to drive my truck. Well it snowed really bad and I went to put my truck in the four wheel drive and that went out making my truck useless. Why? Because I had two balding tires that I moved to the back thinking my goods one would do wonderful on the front when I was in four wheel drive. That is going to cost us $60.00 just to get it looked at. I have dropped almost a grand into that thing lately. Oh well. Such is life. Everyone has problems and we are not alone.

To make matters worse we had to do tons of driving and it has been heavy snow storms this week. Shays Mother was kind enough to lend us her car.

Well that was brief and to the point. I am grateful the truck did not go out later because it may have gone out on Shay during the week because she would have needed it to go to work. That would have been bad. So it was a blessing that it went out when it did.

Cheers,
John...