Potatoes O'Brien with Blogger CLUE

Last Wednesday morning, I ate a bag of fruit snacks for breakfast. Not as a post-breakfast dessert, but as the breakfast main course. In my defense, they were Annie's Organic Bunnies (the berry flavor 'cause you know you were wondering). In between doling out spoonfuls of oatmeal to the babies and frantically blow drying my hair to look a bit less like a bird's nest, I actually think it lucky I ate at all. Needless to say, we're still trying to perfect our weekday morning routine where everyone leaves the house on time and with a belly full of real food. Oh, and wearing matching socks because heck, we have high standards 'round here.

But weekends? Weekends are when my breakfast game shines (and there are no fruit snacks in sight). I love me a great weekend breakfast so much, I actually start talking it up from Thursday night. I generally lead with asking Little Man, "Who wants Donald Duck pancakes this weekend?" And lest you think that our pancake batter skills are awesome, you should know that Donald Duck pancakes refers to a Donald Duck cartoon where he makes a billion, you guessed it, pancakes. Besides pancakes, the weekend breakfast always includes some form of potatoes.

So when I saw that this month's Blogger CLUE theme was potatoes, I was stoked. Almost as stoked as if the theme were fruit snacks. I kid. Sort of. I hopped on over to my blog buddy Kelli's blog and started my search for the perfect potato recipe. If you're not familiar with Kelli's Kitchen, I definitely recommend you check it out. Kelli shares down-home recipes and is an expert at canning, a skill she learned from her nana. Having canned a grand total of once, I'm always in awe of folks who are able to regularly stock their pantries with delicious home-canned goods.

In my search, I found Kelli's Potatoes O'Brien recipe. We're generally pretty loyal to the Crispy Roasted Potatoes from Serious Eats but I was intrigued by this O'Brien business. Could I fuse our favorite roasted potatoes with some charred peppers and onions and make them even better? Yup, I went there. And it was awesome. The grilled peppers and onions really brought the humble roasted potato to the next level. Unsurprisingly, the babies made us pick all non-potato items from the dishes but that only meant more delicious onions and peppers in our potatoes so the Hubster and I were actually down with their pickiness for once.

As far as recipes go, you can definitely tweak this based on your starvation level. Kelli uses a bag of southern hash browns (what are these and how can I get some)?! I didn't have any frozen potatoes so I peeled and roasted up some regular ol' Russet potatoes. Feel free to mess around with the recipe as long as you follow the basic formula of potatoes + peppers + onions + fat = good.

Potatoes O'Brien
5 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and cut in medium-sized cubes
1/2 onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
Oil
Garlic powder
S&P

For the roasted potatoes recipe, please see Serious Eats.

While the potatoes are roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet until the oil is shimmering. Raise heat to high, add the peppers and onions and cook undisturbed until the peppers and onions are charred on side. Stir and cook the peppers and onions until soft. Seasons with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add the roasted potatoes to the same pan and mix well. Eat straight from the pan right away.  

Want more Blogger CLUE? You got it!

• Bacon Wrapped Potatoes w/ Sriracha Sauce by Debra from Eliot's Eats
• Bacon-wrapped Smashed Redskin Puffs by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Balsamic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Basil Lime Gin Gimlet by Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Cheddar Scallion Potato Buns by Lora from Cake Duchess
• Chicken Pot Pie by Heather from girlichef
• Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup by Kim from Liv Life
• Chocolate, Coconut, Butterscotch and Oatmeal Cake Cookies by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
• Daisy's Noisette Potatoes by Janet from Cupcakes to Caviar
• Honey Dijon Roasted Potato Salad by Ramona from Curry and Comfort
• Irish Brown Bread by Kathy from Bakeaway with Me
• Irish Old Fashioned Cocktail by Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Okie Peasant Potato Soup by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
• Potato and Celery Root Puree by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
• Potato and White Bean Soup with Sage by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
• Potato Rolls by Kelli from Kelli's Kitchen
• Potatoes O'Brien by Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
• Slow Cooker Beef and Guinness Pie by Anna from annaDishes
• Smoked Salmon Chowder by Jean from Lemons and Anchovies
• Tchertma (Zucchini and Eggs) by Kate from Kate's Kitchen
• Thin Crispy French Fries by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake