Chanukah Latkes ... huh?!

hey y'all!

question: how much leftover cornbread dressing and mashed potatoes can one girl eat before she swells up like a balloon and blows away in the wind? or more like sinks like the titanic?!

false. the answer is ... oh never mind. it was rhetorical. my point being, i'm getting mighty damn sick of the leftovers. they are good, check. they are EASY, check. they are available and plentiful, check check.

but please. enough is enough!

i think at this point it's the old "don't waste food" philosophy of my mother and my mother's mother.

ANYways, christmas is over (thank God. don't get me wrong ... i love and adore and worship the baby jesus. really.) but the food won't. go. away.

i tend to make too much food. but then, everyone loves my dressing. seriously. people come from far and near (almost like they can see a bright shining star above my kitchen) to get a taste of my dressing.

and yes, it is that good. i'm not bragging ... it's my mom's recipe. and probably her mom's and her mom's.

i'd love to share it with you, but i can't because it's a family secret. okay, i could. but then i'd have to kill you. and that would get all messy and icky. who wants that during the holidays? exactly. not me.

but here's a lil hint: make a big ol' batch of cornbread from scratch (none of this pansy boxed mix stuff) and then you're gonna add lots of chicken broth.


you'll need to find one husband (this is the trickiest and most difficult part of the recipe) who is willing to chop and cut up all the veggies (celery, green onions, parsley) and boiled eggs for you.


saute all veggies in a pound or so of pure butter (NOT oil, NOT fake butter, NOT any substitute), add yummy spices such as your garden variety salt and pepper, garlic, onion, sage (rosemary and thyme? no.).

this was like a mini-christmas miracle this year! in prepping the celery for dear hubby to chop, i whacked off (ahem) the stems all together. i nearly cried when i saw the pretty rose that it made! funny how the little things can make us happy.

and well, before you know it, you have a big ol' pan of cornbread dressing. you do need to bake it (after smushing all ingredients together) for a couple of hours, covered. you should have enough to feed a small third world country. or, your family. with lots and lots left over to eat forever. and ever. hallelujah.

but enough about dressing. i did something insanely absurd today. i had a plethora of potatoes (mashed) left over and a crazy ass creative streak ... at the same time. so being a southern baptist (born and bred), it only made sense to whip up a batch of latkes using all those mashed potatoes.

okay, right there we had our first problem. you don't make latkes (NOW i know this) from mashed potatoes. you grate the potatoes and fry them up immediately. but apparently, a non-jewish texas gal, who doesn't have the sense to google a recipe before she tries it, uses mashed potatoes.

it finally occured to me that my potatoes needed something to hold them together. doh! i added egg and milk and flour and that pretty much did the trick

fry them in canola oil (because hell, we want this to be healthy, right?!) until they're crispy or light brown. flip them once. or twice if you're OCD and need to do things in even numbers.

take a quick break to boost your energy levels ... a reese's peanut butter cup has lots of protein to get you through all this cooking. OR ... you could "drink your gin and tonic-ah, and smoke your marijuan-icah." ~~adam sandler

drain the latkes on paper towels. mine came out mighty greasy. one roll of bounty should do it.

they didn't turn out too bad. some were crispy, some were soggy. some fell apart, some stuck together. some were bland, some were spicy. kind of like how a family is when we're all together at christmas. a little bit of everything all smooshed up together.

latkes, sitting pretty on a vintage rose plate

serve up the latkes (as if i know) with a big ol' bowl of fresh fruit!

hope y'all had a wonderful christmas and that your new year is full of love, hope, peace and good health.

love and hugs,
terry lee
i got another baby for christmas! a pink lady thingy. thanks tara!

a shot of our almost white christmas. stop laughing, you yankees! :-)