My petite potato pinterest post...

When I first heard Pinterest I thought the beauty who uttered the word had stuttered so I just nodded like I knew what she was talking about.  Now, only a few months later, it is my last stop at the end of the evening weening me off social media.

I giggle, I gasp and I pin.

One evening a couple weeks ago I came across these 

Crash Hot Potatoes

which led me to...

For The Love Of Cooking

There's really nothing to it but it made a great side dish with dinner.  In fact these spuds stole the spot light.

What you need.

• 12-15 baby red potatoes (my CSA provided me with some gold yukons)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (flavored if you so desire)
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (I used 450).
Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes or until fork tender.  

Place on a cooking sheet coated with cooking spray or drizzled with olive oil (I covered mine in parchment paper).  Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and with a potato masher, gently smash each potato.

Drizzle (I am an over drizzler so I brushed mine on) with olive oil, sea salt and pepper (add a bit of your favorite dry herbs if you like). I used garlic infused oil, cracked pepper, chili sea salt, chopped parsley, red pepper flakes and gorgonzola crumbles. I had a loaded baked potato on my mind.  Bits of bacon would have been delicious!

Just keep an eye on it after 10 minutes or so.

I must have been really craving spices...after plating them I splashed these little potato blossoms with siracha.  The recipe suggests topping them with sour cream and scallions which I love, I just didn't have any sour cream.  You might be thinking...you can't have baked potatoes without sour cream, but you can because
they actually taste more like chips than baked potatoes!

I shut the oven off and put the tray back in the oven to get the rest really crispy.

Chilaquiles for the soul.

Soooo, Saturday I made this super easy but incredible breakfast. It

forced me to hit the gym hard and take an excruciatingly long hike on

devil mountain, but it was worth it!

Turns out my creek crossing, rock jumping and log balancing moves

are a lot like Bambi learning to walk on ice!

I got my foot stuck in what had to be

quickmud and both feet doused in a freezing cold stream

providing endless entertainment for my friend Lise (shown below).

I'm sure I'm going to have to sit through several reenactments

over the upcoming months!

The one with a hearty laugh, dry kicks and 

the kind of reflexes only found in cats!

The most ridiculous part is she had brand new white cross trainers on...

doesn't Murphy's Law basically require that she be the one that gets

chewed up and spit out by the mountain?!

But it was still worth it and that's saying a lot!

Okay, back to my breakfast of champions.

Everyone I know who's vacationed in Mexico has come home

addicted to chilaquiles (& Sol), although none of us

have attempted to make them at home.

I saw a recipe for them this month's issue of Bon Appetit

and decided it was time.

I could seriously drink this stuff!

I cut some corners because Cinco De Mayo makes

incredible mole sauce and it's only $5 for a quart.  If you have the

time you could spend hours slow cooking a list of 30 something hand ground spices...I don't have that kind of time. Chilaquiles go great with enchilada sauce or tomatillo chili verde sauce too! It's way quicker if you hit up your local taqueria for your sauce of choice and if you're really in a hurry you can grab some fresh tortilla chips while you're there. Then all you need is some toppings and eggs. I picked up sauce but baked my own chips.

1.      Cut flour tortillas into 8ths, spray both sides with olive oil,

sprinkle with salt (optional, not necessary) bake on sheet with

parchment paper or foil at 400 degrees for 5 min or so - they cook fast!

Place on cooling rack where they will continue to crisp up.

You can fry up some corn tortilla chips pretty fast too or you can

use store/restaurant bought chips.

2. In a baking dish layer chips and cover with sauce. Sprinkle with

green chiles/jalapenos, diced onions, cheese. Repeat.

3. Bake at 400 degrees or broil for quicker results.

4. Fry an egg per person, white cooked all the way but yolks runny. Add

pepper (again, no salt needed).

5. Remove chilaquiles from oven, sprinkle with onion, cilantro,

radishes, cracked pepper, squeezed lime etc.

6. Dish up servings and gently lay a fried egg on top of each bowl.

Add a splash of tapatio and serve.

7. It's done and you've officially blown your friend's minds

by basically warming stuff up!

8. Now go for a walk (and try not to hurt yourself).