Back to School with Simply Potatoes - Recipe Fun and Giveaway #simplyfied

I know a lot of you are starting to gear up for Back to School.
Me, all I can think about is Back to Normal!
What do I mean?
Well, back to when I am not surrounded by vegetables!

Don't get me wrong - I love having the big garden and knowing that my freezers are full of delicious organic carrots, turnips, green beans and the like but I am getting tired. I am thankful for things like Simply Potatoes to help me make quick and easy meals some nights when there is nothing left in me for heavy duty cooking. I just love how convenient they are.

For example, on Sunday night I was really beat. I had worked all day Saturday canning ratatouille, relish and pickles and had worked Sunday on blanching and freezing vegetables. One of the jars of ratatouille had not sealed so I decided to do something with it for dinner.

Soup! I would make a quick and easy soup!
Perfect. And the Simply Potatoes Hash Browns I had in the refrigerator would help to make it a real meal.

I put the ratatouille in my pot with a bit of leftover "harvest in a bowl" that I had in the 'fridge. (Harvest in a bowl being whatever came in that night roasted and served over rice or orzo.) Now I realize that most of you are not canning ratatouille but this could just as easily be accomplished with vegetable soup.

Then I added about half of the bag of Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns. (I also realize that when I show you recipes with Simply Potatoes I ALWAYS use the Hash Browns. That is because they are the only kind my store carries.)

I stirred them in and let them cook for about half an hour.

At that point I turned the broiler on high and I spread about a quarter of what was left in the bag on a cookie sheet and added 1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (I used my homemade goat's milk cheddar), 1 tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper and 1 TBS olive oil. I mixed it all around with my hands.

I popped the tray in the oven and let them cook until they were just turning brown on the edges. It took about 7 minutes. Ovens can vary so watch so they don't burn.

Dinner time!

I put the soup in a bowl and topped it with the crunchy potatoes.

It was really good! The potatoes added some bulk to the soup that made it a meal. We weren't hungry half an hour later. We didn't need anything else. The topping added some nice crunch and the garlic powder provided a touch of heat.

Hubby went back for seconds - I think that says it all!

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The Giveaway:

One lucky US reader will win a coupon good for a full sized Simply Potatoes!
How do you win? It's easy! Just hop on the Rafflecopter! Good luck everyone!

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Disclosure:  I received coupons for Simply Potatoes gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free product. I received no monetary compensation for this post.