Recipe Day: Quick and Easy Twist on O'Brien Potatoes

Ahhh... necessity, you've come to help me find a new recipe again, have you? Well, I'll take it, thanks!

I don't know why, but I've fallen out of the habit of going to the grocery store for a week's worth of groceries at a time and have been instead scraping together and making due for two or three days at a time, then going to the store for food to carry us for another three days or so, and by the end, the pantry and fridge are bare, kids and White Knight are going crazy from a lack of "acceptable" snack food (what? You have something against grass??) and even the mice are starving! 

Breakfast this morning was one such situation. Potentially useful breakfast items included...

• potatoes (about 10 small red ones), 
• a large handful of leftover raw cabbage (yes for breakfast), 
• 2 large onions, 
• some green beans (not so much for breakfast), 
• corn on the cob, 
• three large tomatoes (all of the above from our CSA), 

and a few other odds and ends, but no cereal (don't buy it any more unless it's Grape Nuts or Ezekiel), no eggs (fasting season for two weeks), steel cut oats (the kids don't like the texture and have been gagging it down for three days already, and we were out of sugar to boot), and grits. Yikes! 

So I went ahead and made an old favorite, with a new-to-us twist or two. As with other recipes of this type that you'll find on Little Connections, this one is super-versatile and you can use just about any ingredients you have on hand! Mine add ketchup at the table. (Blech!) I hope you enjoy our foray into: 

Twisted O'Brien Breakfast Potatoes (Vegan!)

Ingredients:

8 - 10 small red potatoes, finely diced or chopped to your desired size

1/2 a large white onion or 1 whole small onion, finely diced (about the same size as the potatoes)

3 cloves of garlic, or garlic powder

Large handful of chopped white cabbage

Dash of Paprika

Dash of Salt (to taste - remember that potatoes are pretty tasteless without salt!)

Large dash of Cumin (LOVE my cumin!)

Dash of Chili powder

Dash dried oregano

Directions:

1. Sautee the potatoes in a bit of olive oil in a large pan. Allow these to cook for about 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, while chopping the other veggies.
2. Add in the onion and garlic and stir up again to continue the sautee the veggies, stirring occasionally to keep them from burning - about another 5 minutes.
3. Add in all remaining ingredients and stir to coat veggies with the spices and herbs. Add about 1/3 cup of water to the pan, cover and allow the veggies to cook for about another 15 minutes while you putter around making grits or slicing tomatoes to go with the potatoes. Again, stir well every so often to avoid burning. How long you keep them in will be determined by how crispy you like things. 
4. Serve with grits, eggs, mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, etc. Super easy and delicious! Enjoy!

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