Lemon-Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes

Wow did the weekend FLY by?!... Way, way too quick!

This post probably should have been titled, "The weekend that flew by with a side of Lemon-Garlic Roasted Potatoes" it was felt so jammed packed!

Hope you had some time to relax and unwind :)

Friday night, as I said before, I took my mid-term at the very last minute circa 10pm (naturally) and headed to bed to start off our non-stop weekend o' fun :)

Saturday, we caught up with friends to try a local brewery, Triton Brewery for some good beer and even better company! (Try it out local folks!) Conversations ranged from beer to restaurants to religion to college experiences to dorm living to sex changes.... No, that wasn't a typo... You can't ever quite control where conversations go after catching up after it's been far too long.. and I love that! It was quite a time before we let the dreaded rain pass (PS: Just hours earlier, there was 0% chance of rain, and next thing ya' know, I'm tasting a beer with a side of lightning strikes outside the window!) before we got in our cars and headed back to their house for chow time!

Oh Indiana weather, you do love to play with our minds, don't cha?!... Admit it now!                                                          

Sample of all their current beers were quickly devoured and left with some coasters as a souvenir :)

We headed back to their idyllic house.  I want it!!! Perfect size, amazing deck and backyard, great furniture & decor, and of course... 2 very cute kitties! Chef J. fired up the grill while Jessica, Alex and I stayed busy continuing our chats of various topics (obviously!) and trying to help watching them in the kitchen making veggie kabobs and prep the corn (I hate when you realize you have been bad guests by not offering to help until it hits you really fast... and it's too late... Good guests: 1, Katie and Alex: 0). Once the food was ready and the table was set, scarf-down-time commenced that my belly didn't leave time for a picture... Sorry my friends, but gosh was this was the most delish meal + my addition of lemony, garlic roasted potatoes to add to the spread was just a great spread. I SO should have gotten a picture of their perfectly ripe & full sized zucchini from their garden that was part of our kabobs, though!!!

.... And now introducing our small contribution to the cookout.....

Lemon-Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes

Serves 4-5

Slightly adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

In the line up my friends:

 - 2 pounds red potatoes, skin on, largely diced and soaked for 15-20 minutes

- 1 large lemon, for lemon juice + lemon juice

- 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon dried oregano

- 1/3 cup vegetable vegetable stock/broth

           - 3-4 teaspoons minced garlic

       - Dashes of cracked pepper

      - 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

 Coach's Orders:

                                                                                           

1. Diced potatoes into small/medium chunk and soak diced potatoes in water for 15-20 minutes so remove extra starch so potatoes can get golden brown and the skin has all the nutrients! I definitely suggest red potatoes for regular Idaho potatoes because they're healthier (in my :humble: opinion)...

2. Remove the potato from the water and pat dry as much as possible.  

3. Transfer potatoes to a large roasting pan of your likin', but as thin of a layer of potatoes as you can get. 

4. In a separate small/medium sized bowl, add all extra virgin olive oil, oregano,  minced garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and vegetable stock and stir together and then pour over the potatoes and mix together with you :clean: hands to really get each potato coated!

  

4. Cook on bottom shelf of oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes to cook through.  Give a good stir, add some dashes of paprika and the Parmesan cheese and up the heat to 425 degrees and cook another 25-30 minutes on the middle/top shelf to get crispy and golden brown and pipin' hot! :)

This was bubblin' hot as we were runnin' out the door so bear with my picture please!

Crispy-lemony-garlic perfection!

.....I went a little lemon crazy on this baby, so I suggest only using 1 large lemon as the instructions say above (I used 2).. but hey, if ya' can't get enough of that lemony goodness, go right ahead and use 2 :)

A great crunch, lots of lemon flavor to ring in the summer season and super flavorful for a summer side dish for a weekend, weeknight or pot-luck meal! 

PS: I meant to add some fresh parsley at the last 5 minutes for a nice crunch and some color, but ran out of time, so just a suggestion!

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Sunday we spent the day visiting my in-laws at their cabin in Madison, IN and much of our extended family surrounded by good company, plenty of laughs (and wine/beer), good food and LOTS OF DOGS! for a summer get-together :)

Scenic drive + their own personal river/ravine :)

Not gonna lie though, that's old picture of their ravine since it was piled high full of algae this visit :(

Rarely do I say "Thank You" to rain, but when it was stickily-humid for a couple hours straight + a huge firin' blazin to grill for 13 people, some light/medium rain was exactly what we needed to cool things down and enjoy my in-laws wonderful wrap around, covered porch and good food! Plus, once it stopped or drowned to a small drizzle, we got to let the dogs romp around by taking a wisp around their huge property, while Poncho (the nose whisperer) sniffed everything along the way and Piper was... well... being Piper. Her odd, weird, happy self :) My in-laws cabin and property is basically our dog's personal slice of heaven, especially when we go down their to visit and romp around in the river and throughout the woods so they can explore and then sleep like babies on the 2-ish hour drive home! SCORE... 

Call me crazy, but dogs have strong similarities to children because the whole drive there, they're fighting to perch up to see where we're heading, breathing extra excitedly and then hop up if we hit a stop sign thinking we're there... Sorry doggies, 40 more miles to go... and then on the ride home, they're worn out from the events of the day that they get curled up & go fast asleep that we sometimes forget they're there.... Not really, but kinda ;) Ya' know what I mean?!

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