I mentioned in my previous post that I retain extra béarnaise sauce to serve with eggs or steaks the day after I initially serve it. I am big on leftovers. Why make two steaks when I can make extra and reuse them some other way?

When serving steaks I will often serve a nice baked potato. The extra ones baked with no real additional labor  can be used in many ways over the next few days.  You can hollow them out, mash, “load”, and stuff. You can mash the insides and make potato skins from the remainder. You can slice them thin, toss them in oil and rosemary, and quick roast to eat with chicken. Or, as I will detail here, you can make breakfast potatoes. But first, let’s bake them.

Baked Potatoes (Basics, Sides)

• 4 or more russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Poke the potatoes on one side three times with a fork.
2. Place on middle oven rack.
3. Bake 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size.
4. If you need these faster, preheat to 450°F and bake 45-50 minutes. Do not microwave. They will never be the crispy awesomeness they should be.
5. Let the extras cool completely, then refrigerate.

I totally adapted this procedure from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” because I am a mashed potatoes girl and was not totally sure on the temperature and timing. Because everything is bigger in Texas, including russet potatoes, I had to add some extra time to get the proper internal doneness and crispy exterior.

Once per week I can get Satyr to eat breakfast with me, usually on Sundays as he is often working on Saturdays.  I make a full meal, we watch Star wars: Clone Wars, and the animals gather around hoping he will throw them some food, as they know I will not.  Sometimes I am moving slowly and it is not a big-from-scratch-breakfast kind of morning.  This is when I bang out a frittata or see what can be done with leftovers, first checking the refrigerator, then the freezers.  Yes, I said freezers.

I apparently lived through the Great Depression in a past life as I am a freak about saving and stocking food.  I save everything.  Fat, bones, vegetable trimmings, as little as 2 tbsp of leftovers, etc… If I cannot get to it in the next three days then it gets labelled and goes to the garage freezer.  This was a scary, scary place until a couple of weeks ago when my obsessiveness kicked in and I went through everything in there, typing up an inventory by shelf and listing approximate size, in my Notes App on my phone.  Now, I will “shop” twice per week in my freezer to try to reduce the stockpile.  I need to make room for a large portion of cow.

Home Fries (Breakfast)

• 2 tbsp chosen fat (ghee/bacon fat/coconut oil/evoo, etc)
• 2 previously baked potatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 large bell pepper
• 3 oz pancetta, diced (optional) OR vegetarian crumbles
• 1 tsp savory, rosemary, or dill
• 2 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper

1. In large skillet, heat fat to shimmering.  Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, stir, immediately add bell pepper and potatoes, stir and cook about 4 minutes.
3. Add “meat” and brown, stirring occasionally.
4. Add chosen spice, stir, cook until peppers are soft and potatoes are browned.
5. Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste, stir and remove from heat.  Serve.

Since I was keeping breakfast free and easy, I fried a couple of eggs, wilted some spinach, sliced a couple of strawberries, and threw some salsa on the plate, and viola!  Pair with jazz and frothy coffee.