For making my own microwave sides, I started with the obvious, potatoes. I have been microwaving potatoes and sweet potatoes to serve as a side since long before I started making freezer meals. When I started doing freezer meals I sometimes needed a vegetable side for a meal. This lead me to using the ready-to-microwave bags of green beans or broccoli that are found in the supermarket produce section. It took me a while to get over not prepping my own veggies, but these are convenient and tasty with a little butter, salt and pepper.
This is all pretty standard stuff, but I had a breakthrough while thinking about hot crash potatoes, boiled potatoes that are then deliciously crisped in the oven. They are one of my husbands favorites, but we don't have them very often. They involve boiling the potatoes, draining them, crushing them, brushing with oil and baking until crispy. The point of freezer meals is to make life easier, and that whole process is just too much for a convenient meal. But one day I was thinking about them and realized that if I cooked the potatoes in the microwave instead of boiling them, hot crash potatoes became an easy and convenient meal.
Cooking the potatoes in the microwave instead of boiling allows me to avoid:
- pulling out the big stock pot and filling it with water
- lugging the heavy pot of water to the stove
- check the potatoes regularly for doneness
- making sure the sink is clear to drain potatoes and getting out the colander
- lugging the heavy pan of boiling water and potatoes back to the sink to drain all while watching to make sure no small children suddenly dart into the kitchen
- washing the large stock pot and colander
Instead of doing all that I:
- stab the potatoes with a fork
- microwave them
- come back to them when I am ready
Seriously that last one is great. It's definitely harder to cook with the distractions of also caring for small children and trying to get the rest of dinner on. The fact that the potatoes don't require my attention until I'm ready for them is super helpful. Plus it's way easier to wash a fork than a stock pot and colander.
Once I made the realization that microwaved potatoes simplified hot crash potatoes, it was a short leap to realizing that it would also simplify smashed potatoes (chunk mashed red potatoes). And now we have these dishes more often to accompany our freezer meals.
Are there meals you enjoy that would be simplified by microwaving the potatoes or other elements? Maybe potato salad. I'll have to try that one next.
Microwave Hot Crash Potatoes
1-2 red potatoes per person
olive oil
salt
pepper
- Wash the potatoes and poke them all over with a fork. Bake them in the microwave according to its instructions. They should be tender.
- Brush a baking pan with olive oil. Place the potatoes on the pan and crush with a potato masher. You don't want to mash them up, just flatten them out with some texture on the top.
- Brush the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes until crispy.
Microwave Smashed Potatoes
1-2 red potatoes per person
melted butter
milk
salt
pepper
- Wash the potatoes and poke them all over with a fork. Bake them in the microwave according to its instructions. They should be tender.
- Transfer the cooked potatoes to a bowl. Mash the potatoes, skins and all, with a potato masher until they are mashed but still lumpy.
- Add milk, butter, salt and pepper until you reach your desired consistency and taste.
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