For no reason in particular, I’ve always included some kind of starch as part of a dinner time meal. It just seems to balance things out. However, what I learned once I had kids was that it’s very difficult to hold a pot of boiling water with pasta in it and drain it while holding a toddler, or even trying to walk around one who’s playing on the kitchen floor with pots, pans, bowls, spoons, or whatever else they can get their little hands on. One quick move the wrong way can be disasterous.
Baked potatoes and rice are viable options, but I have a tendency to get bored with food. Enter: roasted potatoes. Making roasted potatoes in the oven allows for bright colors, ease of preparation, and the opportunity to experiment with all sorts of different vegetables. You can easily add onions, garlic, carrots, or any root vegetable to the potatoes. While this recipe calls for Herbes de Provence, you can use any herb or spice blend that suits your taste. In the end, even if you have to hold a toddler in your arms while removing a small baking dish from the oven, it’s still safer, at least for me, than traveling across my kitchen with a pot of boiling water.
Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 pounds of mixed potatoes (these usually come in bags already mixed together with a combination of baby yukon, baby red, and baby purple potatoes)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence (this is sold as a pre-mixed herb blend everywhere from ShopRite to Foodtown to Williams Sonoma)
What’s Next:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash potatoes and then cut into halves or thirds depending on the size of your potatoes.
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Add salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence. Toss everything together until evenly coated.
Place in a shallow baking dish 7″ x 9″ or 8″ x 8″ or even a gratin dish.
Bake in the oven for approximately one hour until the edges are crisp and browned.
Notes from my experience:
I make these potatoes once every two weeks or so. The kids love them and when you add carrots or onions, they become very sweet.
This recipe series, One-Armed Cooking, highlights quick and easy recipes that can be made even if you are caring for children at the same time.
