You must love potatoes. How to make Hash Browns from scratch, potato pancakes and corned beef hash the Southwestern way.

How to make homemade hash browns and potato pancakes. It is one of the easiest dishes to cook and the most appreciated. The only catch is you need about 6 hrs to do them right. Homemade hash browns are just plain good for you if you want them to be. Kids just love to eat them day or night. You can cook them to order and you take the unused for potato pancakes.

You need: potatoes, a large cheese grader, a large pot and a frying pan.

You start by cleaning the potatoes. I like a good scrub brush. The most nutritious hash browns and pancakes will have the skin left on. Then you grate the potatoes with the largest grader size you have. Just like what you would do with cheese. Some folks do like the daintier, smaller size shreds.

Take your shredded potatoes and soak and rinse them in your big pot. I do it twice or at least until the water is fairly clear. Then put in more water and let them sit for several hours. Then one more rinse and use a cloth to pat most of the water out of the shreds.

Cooking your hash browns is up to you. I have no cholesterol issues so I like to use a frying pan with the butter just barely browning before putting in the potatoes. Salting to taste is optional. If you just want the goodness and health out of your hash browns, preheat your oven to 450 and bake them on a cookie sheet. Some folks like to put the oven on broil and constantly flip the hash browns.

Of course you can perk up your hash browns by adding just about anything you like, from bell peppers to mushroom. And of course you can dice up corn beef and make a great corn beef hash, Southwestern style.

More on Southwestern later*

Potato pancakes are an easy next step. Just boil your leftovers constantly beating to the desired texture and adding water and/or milk and butter. You want it the texture of a pancake batter. Then just cook them like pancakes.

Now you can make three different dishes with our friend the potato, Hash Browns, potato pancakes and even corned beef hash. Remember the potato is nutritious and good for you, as long as you watch what you cook them with or eat them with – Ketchup is recommended.

Of course we think of Chinese as eating rice all the time. But they are the largest producers of potatoes.

Go figure.

Rellanas Cayenne, Oregano, Goat Cheese, .......

Let your imagination go wild

Irish but learned potatoes in Puebla