Whipped Potatoes! thanks to NPR

Last Thanksgiving, Dad #4 (Dryw’s step-dad Bill) asked us to bring mashed potatoes to our holiday gathering. I had never made mashed potatoes before, but I always like a new challenge in the kitchen! I was listening to NPR’s Morning Edition on the way to work, as I most often do, and just barely caught the piece on giving that holiday meal a twist: whipped potatoes.

I realize that it’s not even close to Thanksgiving, but you don’t have to wait until then to try this!

I’m posting this now because I made it again on Easter to go with a beef roast. This time, I added garlic to the milk and butter mixture, which was delicious! Just make sure to whip these potatoes till they are smooth and fluffy (probably longer than the suggested 2 minutes)! I mistakenly left them a little lumpy the second time. If you don’t have a stand-up mixer, get one! I’m sure your electric mixer will do the trick, as well. The beauty of this recipe is that it takes a lot less elbow grease than your classic mashed taters. So, give it a chance.    

“If you're tired of that dry, bland potato-y lump, get a weightless potato texture by whipping -- rather than mashing. According to Kimball, one of the settings on the 1930s Sunbeam Mixmaster was whipped potatoes, which has become a lost recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Serves 8 to 10

Instructions

1. Cook Potatoes: Place cut potatoes in colander. Rinse under cold water until water runs clear, about 1 minute. Drain potatoes. Fill Dutch oven with 1 inch water. Bring water to boil. Place steamer basket in Dutch oven and fill with potatoes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Warm Dairy: Heat milk, butter, salt, and pepper in small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking until smooth, about 3 minutes; cover and keep warm.
3. Whip Potatoes: Pour contents of Dutch oven into colander and return potatoes to dry pot. Stir over low heat until potatoes are thoroughly dried, about 1 minute. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, break potatoes into small pieces on low speed, about 30 seconds. Add milk mixture in steady stream until incorporated. Increase speed to high and whip until potatoes are light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 2 minutes. Serve.”

This recipe and other twists on Thanksgiving classics can be found at NPR.org

Royal Nuptials

I had no idea I would get so excited about William and Kate’s wedding! I have been hearing about it on NPR and reading articles on BBC (no cable in the Owens home). From what I have read and heard, I have become more and more impressed with this couple. They have every opportunity to be snobbish and extravagant, but have done nothing of the sort. Will & Kate asked their guests to donate to charities in lieu of giving them gifts. Kate planned to bring in trees, along with flowers, to Westminster Abbey to avoid the pretentious feel it can lend. I just read that Prince William was outside Buckingham Palace on the eve of his wedding (tonight has already come and gone in England) greeting the many fans that are camped outside, awaiting the ceremonies.

You can see that they just want to be a normal young couple. All in all, they seem to be handling the media and fanfare quite well. Cheers to the royal couple!

It looks like I would have to get up at about 3AM to watch the big events live. I’m not sure if I’m game... if only I could call in sick! I would at least like to see her dress - a true princess’ gown, I’m sure. NPR had some lovely suggestions for those that choose to enjoy the shindig live: Royal Recipes

I am very happy for this sweet couple and new princess of the United Kingdom! I hope that they can enjoy their day as much as Dryw and I did. XOXO

This Easter

Our First Easter Together in 2009

Easter is so wonderful! And not for the chance to pretty-up, wear my pink vintage dress, or watch my hubbies rock out on stage at church. It is great for reasons so beyond me that it is difficult for me to even understand what it fully means and what I am supposed to do with that understanding... or lack thereof.

My co-worker mentioned that she would be working today and I responded, “that’s too bad.” I was taken aback by her response: “It’s OK. I don’t have kids, so Easter doesn’t really matter to me.” I wanted to say everything that came to mind, but I didn’t, either because I couldn’t articulate it or was afraid to try (probably the latter).

I guess I wanted to scream that Easter is not about playing hide-and-go-seek with plastic eggs, or an imaginary bunny, or even celebrating Springtime (although, it does well to illustrate rebirth and new life). Easter is about Salvation. It’s about getting rescued from this world and even from myself. (Dryw: “I’m tired of all this bad stuff.”) It’s about my God getting so personal that he lived through the daily grind, the relationships, and the betrayal that can so easily consume us. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8b) And he is offering us new life through raising from the dead himself. He suffered the consequences of our badness, so that we could be with him.  

Please listen to Sufjan Steven’s song To Be Alone With You (listen.grooveshark.com). It is so appropriate for reflecting on what Good Friday and Easter mean. Has anyone else loved you like that? You may get a glimpse of God’s love through another human being’s love for you, but no other love is perfect.

When Dryw and I were talking about Holy Week, we both agreed that it is easier for us to connect with Christ’s suffering than his resurrection. We get Good Friday. Maybe that explains why I feel that Sufjan’s song would be such a great theme for the holiday. For some reason, we get what it meant for him to suffer and die for our sake. Perhaps it is because we all suffer to some extent. It is so much more difficult to grasp Christ’s resurrection and what is specifically means for us. Paul... help!

“3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve...
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised...
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” 

1 Corinthians 15: 3-5,14,15,17-19 (biblegateway.com) 

This is something for me to reflect on this Easter. This might not be the year that it truly clicks with me, but I know that God is faithful and my salvation doesn’t rely on me. It relies on HIM. Thank God!

Please celebrate Christ’s resurrection and your new life this Easter! If you don’t have new life in Christ, I hope you will find it in Him alone.

Owens Economy #1

As you can very well see, I have started a blog. I am fully aware of the copious amounts of blogs floating in cyberspace, so I would not be so naive as to think that you may actually be genuinely interested in what I have to say. Nonetheless, I am going to try this blog thing once again. My former blogs were about my travels, one semester in Europe and Israel, and then the 5 months I spent as a YWAM student and missionary in Bolivia and Peru. Now, I am settled in at home, for the first time in about 5 years,  with my new husband Dryw in our suburban condo. We’re not living in a foreign land, rather we’re living right where we grew up, just a few miles from where we were born; I in Auburn and Dryw in Sacramento. We do dream about traveling around the world, moving somewhere we’ve never been, & living in a world-class city. But, where we are, we are really content (for now). How could I not be with content when I have the love of my life, a place to call home, a cuddly dog, family and friends close by, employment, and all the little things I need? God has blessed us in the big and small. Thus, this blog will help to count those blessings, and maybe share sorrows. I hope that this will be a venue for getting creative, expressing ideas and frustrations, talking about what’s going on in the world, giving thanks to God (for all things), developing passions, and building character. If you’d like to join me, you can "follow by email" to the right. But if you’re not sure yet, then check back in every so often. At least you got this far!