Shamrocks and Shenanigans: Truckstop Potatoes

This is not my first recipe For Deep South Dish. I've covered her Sour Cream Biscuits (to die for) and a Southern Strawberry Cake (haven't blogged it yet, sorry) but when I saw this recipe go past my facebook feed, I knew I was not only going to make it soon, but love it! It screams holidays, potlucks, Sunday dinners or just because I want comfort food. The recipe reminds me of Texas Taters or even Funeral Potatoes. The mix of cheese and Rotel sounds like a cheese dip with potatoes. Too good to pass up!! Mary made hers with only Velveeta. I couldn't do it. I wanted to but I have high blood pressure and Velveeta is really high in sodium. So I cut back on it and added cheddar cheese.

Truckstop Potatoes
recipe adapted By Mary at Deep South Dish

Ingredients
2-1/2 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons of butter
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained
1-1/2 cups of sour cream
1/2 pound of Velveeta cheese, shredded
Optional Garnishes:
1 tomato, cleaned, seeded and chopped
Chopped avocado
1/2 cup of sliced green onion
Sour cream
Chopped, cooked bacon
Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 9 inch baking dish; set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the potatoes and cook for about 4 minutes, drain and set aside to cool slightly. You just want to parboil the potatoes.
Melt the butter and saute the onions until tender. Add the drained tomatoes and cook for 4 minutes.
Place the drained potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper. Stir in the onion and tomato mixture and toss. Add the sour cream and Velveeta and stir. Transfer to butter baking dish and bake at 350 degrees F for about 35-40 minutes or until hot.
To Garnish: If desired, garnish top with a ring of chopped tomatoes all around the outside, then a ring of avocado, then green onion, and make a strip of sour cream down the center. Sprinkle top with crumbled, cooked bacon. Makes a pretty presentation for a potluck or church supper!

Good Lord, Could I have taken a more blurry picture?

Try to cube your potatoes all the same size. You can bypass this by buying the prebagged cooked potatoes. They are kept near the eggs and sausage in my store. I sometimes use them for fried potatoes. This is a good time to use them.

Boil 4-5 minutes. You are only precooking

Meanwhile grate some cheese.

Ok so I was out of Rotel...Shhh dont tell! But this will work!

This is about 3/4 cup velveeta. Looks like more

Mary calls for bacon as an optional garnish. Pork is never optional in this house. Although this is an embarrass small amount and I will have to hide it from the boys. It was all I had left.

Drain the potatoes

Now Mary calls for the can of tomatoes. The Fireman has an aversion to uncooked tomatoes. So I sauted the tomatoes in 1 tsp of butter. You can bypass this and just toss the can in a large mixing bowl

But I recommend sauteing the tomatoes, whether they are rotel or just diced tomatoes

I sauted until the juice was a little less present in the pan

It smelled like heaven

Pour the warm tomatoes (or just the can if you wish) over the potatoes

Add the cheese. How can this be wrong?

Add velveeta and green onions

And sour cream. We are big sour cream junkies in our house. There is always a debate on the best brand. The Ballplayer hates sour cream. I do not know how this kid is related to me sometimes.