The CRISPIEST potatoes

+ my favorite no cook all from Trader Joes lunch and being perfect

Dean, who’s almost 13 months, is sick for the first time. If you’re not a mom, that sounds pretty benign, no big deal. It did to me before I became a mom and my friends would talk about their kids being sick. Can I get an “Amen” from anyone who has ever taken care of a sick baby on how ABSOLUTELY exhausting and heart breaking it is?? Wow. He’s going to be fine, but I’m going to need some time to recover from this week. 

We had a lot of take out this week, but I did cook one meal that featured a real fan favorite in my house. Super crispy roasted potatoes. My method is foolproof. This time around I added in some artichoke hearts to the mix. This will be a new method within a method that is great even by itself. I’m being non specific about amounts because this should be a quick, easy recipe. Not one that requires a bunch of measuring spoons. 

The CRISPIEST Potatoes with Artichoke Hearts

• 1 can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and dried off on paper towel

• Any potatoes, but I like the mini Yukon Golds cut in half

• Olive oil

• Salt 

• Herbs like rosemary and thyme

• A sheet pan

1. Turn your oven to 425 degrees. 

2. Drizzle some olive oil on the sheet pan and lay your artichoke hearts down and spread them out. Roast until they are browned on one side, about 10 minutes, then flip them and roast on the other side. 

3. While the artichokes are roasting, bring a pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt. Add the potatoes, and cook until just fork tender (as in test with a fork) and not too mushy. The time will depend on how big your potato chunks are. Drain the potatoes. 

4. Remove the artichoke hearts on the pan, and transfer to the dish you’ll serve the potatoes in. Add more oil to the sheet pan, then the potatoes and season with salt. I like to arrange them all cut side down. If you cut your potatoes into chunks you’ll want to flip them around so all sides get browned. A benefit to using the baby potatoes, cut in half, is you only have to brown them on the cut side and therefore no tossing. 

5. Right when the potatoes come out of the oven, throw the herbs (they can be whole) onto the hot roasting pan and toss with the potatoes and artichoke hearts. The hot oil will bring the oils out of the herbs and fragrance the whole dish. 

What I’m Loving This Week:

1. Ordering Extra Side of Rice with Your Takeout: Whenever I remember, I order an extra side or two of rice. There’s two things I love making with leftover rice. Vegetable fried rice and eggs with a dash of soy sauce soft scrambled over rice for breakfast. Veggie fried rice is my best way to clean out all the vegetables in the fridge and freezer. Stir fry them in oil and a little sesame oil, then crack in an egg or two, add the rice and some soy sauce. Done, easy, filling. And for breakfast I cook a few eggs in butter over low heat, dash of soy, scramble until just cooked and serve over rice. If you have any of the following they make delicious garnishes: chives, furikake, a piece of nori cut up, or toasted sesame seeds. 

2. My Tried and True Lentil Salad: My autocorrect changed “Tried” to “Tired” while I was writing this, which is very apropos. I am tired and I make this salad when I’m tired of cooking. EVERYTHING comes from TRADER JOES and NO COOKING!  In a big bowl: Pre-Cooked Lentils (in the produce dept), chopped scallions, chopped basil, chopped roasted red peppers, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, salt, dash of vinegar and crumbled goat cheese. The other move is to skip the goat cheese and serve this with ripped up burrata. SO good. 

3. Giving up Perfectionism: This is really hard for me. I know a lot of people struggle with perfectionism. But it’s especially rampant amongst moms. Having a baby catapulted me into working on my perfectionism. I no longer have the time or bandwidth for the things I did before Dean, that helped me keep up the facade of perfectionism. Some of it is purely physical, a lot of it is “doing it all”. If you’re struggling with perfectionism, know that I am too. For instance, why does it matter if all the laundry is perfectly folded and my house is perfectly organized but I haven't taken the time to read or paint or be present with my son? This quote from Anne Lamott (who I freaking love) has helped me a lot with the body image part of my perfectionism but same theory applies to it all. :

   “Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you're 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written, or you didn't go swimming in those warm pools and oceans all those years because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It's going to break your heart. Don't let this happen.” 

Wishing everyone a big juicy creative week. XO Liv