Community Chat

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Noel7 wrote:

Years ago, there was a WW recipe going around that we all tried.  I loved it then and I still do.  I go years forgetting about it, then I'm reminded and make it:

Take half a baked potato, break up the inside a little with your fork, top with up to 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and eat.

I love that!  And I'm not necessarily a big fan of cottage cheese, but I love the potato half with Safeway cottage cheese with chives, which is low fat and small curd.  Or you could just add sliced green onions to cottage cheese.

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@Noel7

If cottage cheese with chives isn't available, you can use plain cottage cheese and top with a TBSP or two of your favorite salsa.

Thanks for the sweet potato/yam info.   At the grocery store I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if they didn't have signs!   

[Noel7]

We have @madzonie to thank for starting this line on potatoes.

Also, many other posters over the years who've taught everyone a lot about the benefits of vegetables and fruit, including those who generously posted recipes to try.

And the inclusion of the Mediterranean Diet with the visual pyramid to show how much should be a minimal part of good eating.  It is now considered the most healthy way of eating, study after study.

And for anyone interested in more ideas and information on sweet potatoes, that was my contribution on the RECIPE board the other day and it's still available.

No one person is responsible for the years-long running subject.

[Tinkrbl44]

I realize that several people here are concerned about blood sugar, so if that's you, please skip this post.   

One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is sweet potatoes baked wth butter and maple syrup drizzled all over them, and sprinkled with cinnamon and a smidge of nutmeg and/or cloves.   I never understood the marshmallows on potatoes thing.

[Noel7]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@Noel7 wrote:

Years ago, there was a WW recipe going around that we all tried.  I loved it then and I still do.  I go years forgetting about it, then I'm reminded and make it:

Take half a baked potato, break up the inside a little with your fork, top with up to 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and eat.

I love that!  And I'm not necessarily a big fan of cottage cheese, but I love the potato half with Safeway cottage cheese with chives, which is low fat and small curd.  Or you could just add sliced green onions to cottage cheese.

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@Noel7

If cottage cheese with chives isn't available, you can use plain cottage cheese and top with a TBSP or two of your favorite salsa.

Thanks for the sweet potato/yam info.   At the grocery store I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if they didn't have signs!   

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I like the idea of salsa @Tinkrbl44 ! 

We could come up with even more ideas, too.  Maybe pieces of fresh chopped tomato, or sprinkles of fresh parsley, or cilantro for those of us who like cilantro

[newziesuzie]

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@madzonie wrote:

Is it just in my area (southeastern AZ), or are bagged potatoes really messed up these days?  I mean the regular old russets...not reds or golds, or speciality potatoes.

It seems every bag we buy is full of potatoes that have bruises, bad spots, big gashes, soft spots, etc?  I spend a lot of time cleaning them up before cooking, and have a fair amount of waste.  I seem to recall years ago a bag of potatoes might have one or two with bad spots.  These days almost every one has a blemish.  

I know I could buy individual potatoes by the pound,and pick out the "good" ones.  But I just like picking up a 10 lb bag now and then for general purposes.

These potatoes are either from ID or WA, & I just don't get it how so many get past quality control before going into the bags.

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On @madzonie 's actual thread topic 

though I wonder why so many potatoes are bad?

[Noel7]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

I realize that several people here are concerned about blood sugar, so if that's you, please skip this post.   

One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is sweet potatoes baked wth butter and maple syrup drizzled all over them, and sprinkled with cinnamon and a smidge of nutmeg and/or cloves.   I never understood the marshmallows on potatoes thing.

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@Tinkrbl44

I used to make a sweet potato Thanksgiving casserole with a streusel topping, loved that. 

[chickenbutt]

I think the 'bad potatoes' situation is just pretty much two things - 1) as mentioned, they seem to be warehoused for so long that by the time we get them they are verging on old anyway; and 2)  in a bag there is a particularly egregious environment that would allow any bit of moisture that gets in there to grow into rot and mold.  

In the course of them getting from warehousing to stores (probably with larger stores there is more warehousing involved before distributing to individual stores), to your house.    Who knows what all they have endured for all that - temperature change, humidity level changes, etc.   Being all bunched up in a bag is just mold/rot waiting to happen.

[newziesuzie]

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@chickenbutt wrote:

I think the 'bad potatoes' situation is just pretty much two things - 1) as mentioned, they seem to be warehoused for so long that by the time we get them they are verging on old anyway; and 2)  in a bag there is a particularly egregious environment that would allow any bit of moisture that gets in there to grow into rot and mold.  

In the course of them getting from warehousing to stores (probably with larger stores there is more warehousing involved before distributing to individual stores), to your house.    Who knows what all they have endured for all that - temperature change, humidity level changes, etc.   Being all bunched up in a bag is just mold/rot waiting to happen.

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Good points and thanks @chickenbutt!

i tried google but all I get were articles on how to store potatoes or how to grow them.

😁

[noodleann]

Possibly the issues are starting even before the crops are harvested. We've been having such extreme weather in the heartland and other growing areas for the past few years, and extremes stress plants. It may make them more vulnerable to pathogens and less robust overall--IOW, lower quality out of the ground.

Combine that with long storage in possibly too-hot warehouses, and it's no wonder we're not seeing the great spuds of a few years back, which could spend months in a cool basement without sprouting and surely without ugly big spots or rotting.

I now stick mainly to Yukon Golds, which are not without their problems, but seem more durable.

[chickenbutt]

Yeah, that makes sense.  What a shame.