TWISTED TATERS

Potatoes with a new twist.

2 medium potatoes or 1 potato for each person

Cut potatoes in ½ in cubes. Boil in water for 5 to 8 minutes, just to set the starch in the potatoes. Do not cook through. Drain for five minutes until they look dry. Heat a small amount of vegetable oil and a tablespoon of butter in a large cast iron skillet. Add potatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Shake and coat and turn the potatoes until slightly brown.

ADD:

¼ to ½ cup chopped onion

½ chopped red or green bell pepper

1 tblsp chopped or minced garlic

1 cup milk

4 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg (room temperature), beaten

1 tablespoon sugar

4 cups bread flour

1 (3.5 ounce) box instant vanilla or white chocolate pudding

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2½ teaspoons bread machine yeast

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus walnut halves for decorating cake (optional)

1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

Virtually every recipe I try from reader Caroline Kennedy’s family cookbook, “Recipes from a Mother’s Heart,” such as this one for French Toast Casserole, is a keeper. Ever generous, Caroline ceaselessly grants permission to reprint recipes from her book, and we are the richer (and better fed) for it. Because French Toast Casserole can be made-ahead of baking, you’re going to want to hold on to this recipe, especially for those times when you are entertaining guests for breakfast.

Last week, I promised to share lemon and lime pie recipes with you and here are a couple of really good ones you’ll surely want to try – one for a cool and velvety-smooth coconut-lime pie, the other from reader Charlotte Ward for lemon meringue pie. Accomplished bakers like Charlotte are pros at making pies, even ones with temperamental toppings like meringue, but lucky for us, Charlotte not only reveals the recipe she uses for her pie filling (from a Betty Crocker Cookbook), but how she expanded some of the techniques to include those she found helpful for the meringue.