The Mystery of the Mushy Potatoes

So, I have this problem.  I can't seem to keep potatoes for more than a week.  Aren't these supposed to last and last in cool, dark conditions?  I buy small bags of potatoes, 3-5 lbs, so that they will get used up fairly quickly, but just the other day, I reached into the potato/onion bin for a few spuds and found a smelly, squishy, nasty rotten mess where my week-old red potatoes should have been.  This is not the first time this has happened to me. 

At first I thought it was because I was keeping them in the plastic bag they came in. So, I started putting them in a wicker basket on the bottom shelf of my pantry cupboard, next to the onions.  Its a dark cool place and the wicker basket should allow enough ventilation.  Nope, still had mushy potatoes. 

The last time I cleaned/organized the cupboard, I put the onions in this basket too.  Seems logical right?  Not only did this not help the mushy potato problem, it made it worse.  (Here's where it becomes apparent that I am a natural blonde.)  I thought I was buying defective potatoes. 

Then I was talking to my friend the other day, complaining about having to throw out half a bag of potatoes because they were  rotten.  I was ranting about the quality of the potatoes at the grocery store and how there's no reason in the world they should rot so quickly, you know since I keep them in a cool dark cupboard and my onions are right in the same basket and they keep just fine.  That's when she told me that you shouldn't store potatoes and onions together because onions give off gasses that make your potatoes spoil.  

Am I the only person who didn't know that you shouldn't store potatoes and onions in the same bin? I thought that was the whole point of that cute little wooden bin with "spuds & onions" burned into it that my Grandma had.  The aforementioned friend also has one of those nifty little bins, and she pointed out that the onions go in a separate drawer.  I felt like a complete idiot.  Good thing I have her around. :)  She told me that I can keep them in the same cabinet, but not the same bin, and maybe just to be safe put them on a different shelf.

This gave me an excuse to go buy some new bins for the pantry.  Fortunately, a new Dollar Tree store just opened up in town and I was able to swing in and pick up a few cheap plastic bins for the time being.  Eventually, I'll replace them with some cool vintage wire ones, but for now bright colored plastic ones will do.

Here's a look at my freshly organized pantry.  See, potatoes on the bottom left in the pretty little blue basket and onions on the middle right in the snazzy green basket.  

No, this is not a paid advertisement for Wal-Mart or Cub Foods.  Nor do I live with a maniacal husband with a canned goods fetish (name that movie).

Pumpkin Brownies

Some of our winter scenery.

The kids and I paid a long overdue visit to and old friend today and were planning on lunch and some sledding.  Being a cold and blustery winter day, I thought some nice spicy pumpkin bars would be a perfect treat.  The kids love these things and they're pretty simple to make.  I got the recipe from a blog that unfortunately no longer exists and its original name is "Chocolate Chip Spice Bars".  Joey gave them the name of "Pumpkin Brownies" and that is a pretty accurate description.  They are cinnamon-ey like pumpkin bars but have a more dense brownie-like texture.  Whatever you want to call them, they're just plain wonderful.

Pumpkin Brownies fresh out of the oven.
 And my spiffy new mixer in the background.
Thanks, Dad :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 package (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil.   You want it to overlap on all sides. (or just spray with vegetable oil spray)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla until combined.  Add the pumpkin puree.  Its going to look curdled.  Don't panic.  Its supposed to be this way.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Now for the best part, fold in the chocolate chips.  Spread the batter evenly into your prepared dish.  Bake until edges begin to pull away from the sides or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  This should take about 35-40 minutes. 

Make sure to cool completely.  Next just lift out of the pan, remove foil and cut into bars.

I just love these things.  I've made them several times now and they are a hit every time.  Seriously, you have to try these, just make sure you have plenty of milk on hand. :)

The remains of a few hardy wildflowers.
More of our local nature.

Odds & Ends

Today marks the end of my little winter staycation.  Ok, technically it ended yesterday, but the kids were sick since Monday night, so I ended up staying home today too.

The plan was for me to take a long weekend and get caught up on some things at home, test out some cool stuff I found on Pinterest, then have Tuesday afternoon to be home all alone to take a long bath and a nap or maybe have a friend over for tea.

All was on track until Monday night.  I made my cool Pinterest stuff: wood butter, lavender bath scrub and cake from a mix that supposedly tastes like a bakery cake.  All yielded favorable results, by the way.  I got a respectable amount of housework done and made a few nice dinners. 

The kids played nicely.  They doctored up the cat after she sneezed "three times in a row" and appeared to be "real sick".  They made her a bed, gave her an ice pack and got her a tissue.  

Meow in her bed with a nice soft blanket and a lego tower to amuse herself.

Joey did some scuba diving in the bathtub.  Goggles are now required gear for bath time.  He likes to put them on by himself.

Then, just in time for my day of alone time, the kids got sick.  One at a time.  Just far enough apart to get my hopes up that I could go back to work as planned and all would be fine.  Nope.  Two nights in a row of getting up every few hours to respond to frantic calls from the bathroom.  Poof, there went my afternoon of solitude.  

Since I wound up with extra time at home, I also got our venison ground up finally.  My brother-in-law loaned us his electric grinder which made short work of our 15 pounds of meat.

Fifteen pounds of ground venison (with added pork).  This is a big pan. 11 x 16 I think.

All wrapped up and ready for the freezer.

Oh, and I read a book too.  A really good one called Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  Its about Alzheimer's disease and I highly encourage everyone to read it.  

Now I'm out of projects and looking forward to my return to civilization.  Hopefully, we'll all get a good night's sleep and be back into our normal routine tomorrow.