Taters and Lunch!

Wow - It's been a long time but I haven't done too much cooking lately to write about. However, I did do something fun last week and todays lunch was amazing! So let's dig in!

I bought a package of Simply Potatoes shredded hash browns a while back and kept putting off making them. You technically aren't supposed to freeze them, but I did and besides a little extra wateryness in the bag, they were just fine. Well I didn't want to make 8 servings of hash browns, so I decided to go to their website and try a recipe or two.

If you know me at all, you know that any chance I get, I order potato pancakes if its an option. I love them with applesauce. The right mix of salt and sweet. So there was a recipe on the site for simple potato pancakes. Onion, carrot, flour, salt, egg and pepper was really all there was too it. The tricky part is getting the oil/pam the proper temperature so it doesn't burn but will stick together and get golden brown and crunchy on the edges.

Well my first two I put in the pan, I realized right away were way too large and lumpy. In attempting to flip them, they just crumpled apart into hashbrown pieces. So I decided to just finish cooking those as hashbrowns and try again. I made the next two much much smaller and flattened them out more.

I must have had the perfect temperature pan by this time too because they turned out wonderfully. I made 3 more with the remaining batter. So I used half a bag of potato shreds and could have gotten 7 or 8 pancakes out of it total had I not made the first ones so large. It was fun to experiment tho! And I ate these with sour cream, something I have never tried before and only did it because we had no applesauce or syrup available. They were delicous and made it more like a dinner tasting meal.

And now for my zesty lunch today. I really was having a struggle figuring out what I wanted to eat today and then remembered Ray's on South (one of my new faves in Waukesha) does serve lunch. So I looked up the menu online and called in my order. It was ready in 10 minutes! I ordered myself a 1/2 hot ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of the zesty spinach soup. I didn't know what to expect when I got the soup because I didn't ask any details but I figured that I love spinach so it just had to be good.

The soup should be renamed pizza soup - I know that sounds lame, but it describes the soup so much better than Zesty Spinach. There was a lot of spinach is a tomato base, but there was also crumbled sausage, mushroom slices, onions and even pepperoni! It was seasoned pretty well and except for burning my mouth on the first sip (as I always do), I really really enjoyed it. The sandwich came on a nice soft roll and the ham was deli shaved and brown sugar smoked. I got cheddar melted over it and they did that in an oven for sure because the bun was a little toasted. It came with 3 pickle slices on the side and was the perfect salt to end the meal.

Prices are that of an upscale deli - $8.50 for my soup and sandwich combo, but I'm content and very satisfied. Between this and Rochester Deli, I'm never gonna worry about having a great fresh meal for lunch.