Guess who needs cooking help again?

bunni727

Surprise! It's me!

I feel like such a goob for not knowing anything about cooking. I follow recipes very well, but if something needs troubleshooting, pfffft. Hope y'all don't mind my noobtastic questions.

Anyway, I made this Scalloped Potatoes and Ham freezer meal, and it was gross. H liked it, b/c he is immune to weird textures apparently. I thought it was mushy goo. The idea of it sounds really tasty and I'm trying to do more freezer cooking, so I want it to work. Thing is, I can't figure out what went wrong. Maybe I need to try real potatoes instead of frozen hashbrowns? Leave out the cans of water? Use half a can of water? I don't even know why I was supposed to add water.

Also, it made wayy more than would fit in my crockpot, so I had to halve the halves.

Suggestions?

Dreamergirl8812

You're right, it's the hash browns. Potatoes take a LONG time to cook. Hashbrowns do not. So you probably overcooked the hashbrowns which then turned to mush. Also, I would recommend replacing the water with chicken broth.

I cook a lot. I love to cook. (I'm braising pork short ribs in the crock pot right now). I hate recipes though; they're not that interesting to me and I don't like shopping for 8 different spices I don't have. So I experiment and repeat. I can braise a mean set of ribs because I've done it, and done it poorly, so many times. So try this recipe again. I believe in you!

bunni727

Thanks, that makes total sense. How can I do potatoes, though? I thought you weren't supposed to freeze potatoes, but new potatoes might be an exemption.

anna.oskar

You can freeze potatoes.  I promise.  i do it all the time.  just slice the potatoes thinly and go from there.

bunni727

I think what I'm going to do is have the rest of this batch for nights when H is on his own for dinner, since he didn't mind it. I'll make a new batch with real potatoes to share.

Anyone have freezer recipes that have worked well for you?