New England Roasted Potato Casserole

I am so excited to be one of the authors for Guideposts "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard", a marvelous series of 24 books that follow the lives of Priscilla Latham Grant and her cousins Joan, Trudy and Gail as they discover an innate talent for putting wrongs right and solving mysteries along the way!

IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

As a kid I loved Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames.... I loved solving mysteries with just a smattering of romance.... Ned and Nancy.... Cherry and Wade. Oh, and how could I forget Sue Barton??? SHE WAS MY FAVORITE NURSE!!!!

Agatha Christie? Loved 'em!!!

But then I found romance and I stopped reading mysteries. WHAT????

I admit, it was a foolish lapse of sensibility, so when I got a call asking me to do mysteries, I was pretty sure they'd called the wrong number... but no! It was the right number and we're having so much fun! I'm working with six other authors and they're delightful.... And because I love to cook and bake, the heroine (Priscilla) enjoys some fun in the kitchen, and cranberry nut muffins.

But we're not talkin' muffins today. We're talking Charlotte Latham Ingersoll's famous potato casserole, a must at family gatherings...

And when the family had a falling out on a holiday weekend fifty years before, Charlotte left, never to return... and Priscilla never got to know her delightfully quirky cousins... and the cousins never got a taste of that mouth-watering casserole until Priscilla inherits Auntie's lighthouse fifty years later and comes to town as a recent widow...

And so it begins. A new day, a new page, a new life in the shade of old maples and weeping willows and the scent of salt sea surrounding.

Today you get a glimpse of the recipe that Joan and Gail and Trudy dreamed about for 50 long years...

Charlotte's New England Roasted Potato Casserole!!!

Step One: Roasted potato slices

5 lbs. white potatoes, washed
2 sticks butter, melted
Salt
Pepper
1 cup chopped sweet onion or 4 Tablespoons dry onion

Cut ends from all the washed potatoes. Cut potatoes in half, then slice each half leaving skin on.
Dip in butter. Lay on cookie sheets. When all potatoes are dipped and on cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic and onion. Roast in hot oven (400°) until turning golden. We want them to crisp up a little, but not over-roast.

For Layering:

1/2 pound ham, cut into small chunks
1/2 pound bacon, cooked almost crisp and broken into pieces
2 cups Ranch dressing
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese

In 13" x 9" pan, cover bottom with layer of roasted potatoes and onions. Sprinkle top with half of ham and bacon. Drizzle one cup of ranch dressing over potatoes, then 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheese over the ranch dressing.

Repeat.

End with layer of potatoes and the rest of the bag of shredded cheese.

Bake at 300° until heated through and cheese is melted.

AMAZING!!!! Roasting the potatoes first is clutch, it gives the entire dish a stuffed baked potato flavor, and this can be prepared a day ahead of time, and then warmed.

The entire family gave a firm two thumbs up on this, and two folks said it was the best potato dish they'd ever had.

Oh, fictional Priscilla Grant: THANK YOU!!! :)

And thank you to Susan Downs and Guideposts for the chance to work with them. What a marvelous opportunity!

We're easing toward spring, but still baking up a storm... And here's what happens when I tell the dog to "Lie down"...

There are a great many similarities in training dogs... and small people!!!

Beth, testing one of the final Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins:

Molasses cookie Whoopie Pies:

And after some fun with bright blue kinetic sand, Xavier mans the vacuum to do clean-up!

And that's it here on the farm! Glad you stopped by and feel free to join me for fun on facebook at Ruth Logan Herne... or twitter.... or at my website ruthloganherne.com I love chatting about faith, hope and love... and the greatest of these is love.

Ringing in the beauty of the Lenten season with gratitude for all God's done for us!