There’s a meal I make in our house that is so beyond basic, that we just call it by its ingredients. “Meat, Carrots, and Mashed Potatoes.” The best part about this meal is that you can add as much meat as you want, the carrots are super simple to prepare, and mashed potatoes – well. Instant is best, prepared with Blue Bonnet margarine.
Yes, there is a difference.
What kind of meat, you ask? Well, first I want to explain the origins of this super-simple recipe.
When I was a kid we had something once in a while called Boiled Dinner. I love Boiled Dinner, even though it’s basically exactly what it sounds like – meat and potatoes boiled in water.
Well, a little more than meat and potatoes. There were chunks of potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and meat, and while I’m pretty sure you could use any meat you wanted, we used kielbasa. And this soup gets boiled in an enormous stock pan, at least twelve inches tall, and it lasts forever. Mom and Dad always claimed it tasted better on the second night, but I just liked it as long as I got enough of that kielbasa.
Did you know there’s a way to eat kielbasa? In my head, it’s best when you can spear it with a fork. I like to eat the casing off first, peeling it off like an orange peel, and then eat the meat. Yum.
Well, after college, living with my new husband, I knew even then that I wasn’t much of a cooker. But I can boil water without burning it, even then, and I figured, I could make that Boiled Dinner, but I didn’t really need the potatoes, I wasn’t sure how to prepare the cabbage, and there was no way in heck I was going to cut up onions.
What did that leave me with?
Actually, only meat and carrots at that point. It was a couple years ago when we moved into our new house that I figured mashed potatoes, a “vegetable” (I honestly wonder if it’s still a vegetable when its instant) that everyone in our household will eat, would be a tasty, inexpensive, and filling filler for the meal.
1-2 packages Kielbasa (beef, turkey, Polish, the variety is up to you)
Voila: Meat, Carrots, and Mashed Potatoes.
1 1-pound package of baby carrots (unless you want to wash, peel and cut your own)
8 servings of instant mashed potatoes (Idahoan variety, prepared with Blue Bonnet Margarine, is best)
Cut the Kielbasa into 1/2-inch pieces. The smaller the meat, the more pieces you get in the meal, and it’s all about how many pieces of meat with this meal. Dump the Kielbasa and the baby (or washed, cut, and peeled) carrots into a pan of water on the stove. Make sure there’s enough water to cover the carrots and meat. I probably use more than a quart of water in a huge pan, and my carrots and meat sit in twice as much water volume than they consume. (Does that make sense? Just lots of water.) Heat the water, carrots, and Kielbasa to boiling, and keep at a steady boil until the carrots are done to your tasting.
Prepare the instant mashed potatoes as per the instructions on the side of the box.
Serve! (Ensure kids take just as many carrots as meat, and vice versa.)
