Cottage Potatoes

Cookbooks are something that I just love - I can sit down with a cookbook and spend hours reading through it, almost like a novel. Since I already have quite a collection, it takes something special for me to spend money on a cookbook ..... unless I'm at Goodwill where hard-copy books are only $3.00.

This recipe came from a Goodwill book find: Busy People's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Dawn Hall. Her "My Story" at the beginning of the book had me in tears.  The recipes are good - nothing fancy, but the kind of recipes that busy moms appreciate. Be sure and check out her website - she also has a section of "free recipes" for you to try out.  Here's the link to her home page:

Cooking for Busy People - Dawn Hall

I made this 'Cottage Potatoes' recipe for a club potluck and if the crock pot hadn't still been so hot, I think someone, maybe more than one someones, would have tried to lick the pot clean. As soon as the crock pot was set out, folks were helping themselves and I barely got a spoonful to see how it tasted ..... it was good. I wanted more ..... it was all gone!

Ingredients:

• 1 (2 pound) package of hash browns - shredded
• 1 (10-3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup (or 98% fat-free)
• 1 ( 8-ounce) package shredded cheddar cheese (or fat-free)
• 2 cups sour cream (or fat-free)
• 2 Tablespoons butter/margarine, very soft (use your favorite low fat spread)
• 1 small bunch green onions, chopped, tops and all
• 1 red or green pepper, chopped (I used red - more colorful)

Directions:

1. Spray a crock pot with cooking spray (you can use nonfat)
2. In the crock pot, mix together the hash browns, soup (can contents only - do not add water/milk), cheese, sour cream, butter/margarine, onions & pepper
3. Cover and cook on high until hot & bubbly, about 3 hours.

Yield: 16 (1/2 cup) servings


Recipe notes:

• Part of the appeal of this recipe is supposed to be that it's a one pot (mix/cook) dish; however, if you mix this in the crock pot, you get a lot of the soup/cream cheese, etc. high up on the sides where it tends to burn. I mixed everything in a large bowl, then put it in the crockpot - much neater.
• Also, the recipe did not specify if the hash browns should be thawed or not. I did not thaw them (but you could - might have to adjust cooking time down). I would suggest you mix all the ingredients except the hash browns first so they are thoroughly blended, then mix with the frozen hash browns, which are a little difficult to work with.