Genius Hour 1.4

This week I got to cook potatoes a couple different ways. The different kinds that I made are things that we make at home all the time, so none of them really have a specific recipe. So, there was a lot of guessing and eyeballing, it all depends on your taste and how you like it. I made cornflake potatoes, cheesy potatoes and fries two different ways. This week was pretty easy, except for the fact that I had a little difficulty with the fries.

I made cornflake potatoes first, which is what my family calls them. We make these all the time at home, but I have never made them myself before. These are pretty easy to make, and I did not have time to cut and prepare potatoes, so I just got some frozen hash browns. You take the hash browns and mix them with some sour cream, then add a can of cream of chicken soup. If you want it more creamy, then add another can of soup. After that you add a couple handfuls of cheese. Then, you will put all of that into a greased pan. Now is when you add the good crunchy part of the dish. Put a nice big layer of cornflakes on top of your potatoes, then pour a stick of melted butter on top. The last thing you do is put it in the oven for about an hour and it's ready to eat. I forgot to take a picture of these this week, so you will have to trust me that they looked and tasted delicious.

Then, I made a dish we call cheesy potatoes, which I make all the time at my house. These are one of my favorites, you peel your potatoes, and we have a slicer, called a mandolin, that we use at our house to slice them. Then you put butter all over the pan, then a layer of the sliced potatoes down. Next, you sprinkle cheese on top, then parmesan, and my dad's seasoning that he makes. You repeat that, butter, potatoes, cheese, parmesan, seasoning, and you keep going until you run out of potatoes. Then, you can toss them in the oven for almost an hour. When they come out they are super delicious and crunchy.

The last thing that I made was fries. I have never made homemade fries before, but I really wanted to try without a recipe. So, I decided to cut some potatoes, which I used my cutting skills from last week to do, then I coated them in olive oil and seasoning. I wanted to make them in the microwave, so I could use an easy and quick technique. I put the fries on a plate and put them in the microwave for one minute increments. They weren't getting as crisp as I wanted, so I did the same thing, but put them on a pan with parchment paper and put them in the oven. After about ten minutes I took them out, flipped them, and put them in for another ten minutes, until they were as crispy as I wanted them. Both fries tasted good but the crispier fries were a lot better.

 These are the microwaved fries. 

These are the oven baked fries. 

This week was pretty fun and easy, although it was pretty unhealthy, but delicious. The only difficulty this week was with the fries, because I was guessing and experimenting. Next week I am going to make some fondue which should be relatively easy.