Baked potato skins

The next time you peel potatoes, wash them first and trim off any bad spots or eyes. Drop the peelings in a bowl of cold water until you're ready, then drain, toss them with oil, lightly salt them and arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 until crisp and browned. They keep very well without refrigeration, but make such a good snack you probably won't have to worry about keeping them very long!

Potatoes and Eggs

Making potato salad for Easter? When you boil the potatoes, put in some eggs, too (in the shell!) The eggs will be done before the potatoes, so just fish them out. Saves on energy, water and dirty pans. If you don't buy commercial eggs, be sure they're washed thoroughly first.

Potato starch

Make your own potato starch for soup recipes by boiling a potato in water to cover. Keep cooking it until the water becomes very cloudy, drain and use this for a soup base.

Quick potato soup

Still have leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving? Use them this way:

* 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
* 2 tablespoons of dehydrated onions
* 1 small can evaporated milk or 1 cup of milk to which you've added 1/3 cup of instant milk powder.
* salt, pepper to taste
Put the onion in a cup or so of water, and set to simmer. Add about half the milk and mix into the potatoes well, then add to the onions. Add water if it seems to thick, then let the mixture simmer until the onions are tender. Add the rest of the milk and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with corn bread or homemade yeast bread.

Milk substitute

Use water in which you've boiled potatoes (peeled) instead of milk when you make bread or gravy. Potato water gravy doesn't look exactly the same as milk gravy, but it's close and it tastes good. For yeast breads and most quick breads, you won't know the difference.