Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, Kitchen Kleen Russet Potatoes were a staple in our pantry. Every good mom made meat and potatoes for dinner. And replenished the supply of them via purchases from the stacks of 3 – 5 – 10 – 20-pound bags in the produce section of stores. They were always plentiful. Still are, from what I’ve seen.
Nuto Farms emphasizes its environmentally grown procedures. 91 years of families eating potatoes must mean they have to be good for us, right?
Even though they claim to be Kleen, you can’t just eat them out of the bag. We grab the veggie brush and clean them by scrubbing the eyes and grooves before peeling or cooking them.
Ah, yes, a homecooked traditional meal of meat and potatoes and gravy was a common sight on our table growing up. Especially with a heaping pile of whipped potatoes at Thanksgiving time. And the lefse made with potatoes was a must too.
Now I laugh at the rumor that it’s the turkey that makes you sleepy. It’s a fallacy, it’s the carb-loaded sides, drinks, and desserts that do the magic.
I’m thinking that the last time we bought potatoes was well over 8 months ago? Back when we’d have potatoes or rice often. Not any more. Nope, potatoes are too rich in starch, aka, complex carbohydrates.
They’re the opposite of the cauliflower we’ve been eating on our low-carb, high healthy fat diet we’ve found to be more healthy for us to eat. Check out the daily allowance of Vitamin C, Potassium, B-6, and Magnesium.
Since we’ve converted 100 % from eating potatoes to eating cauliflower raw, baked, mashed, riced, you name it, they’ve won their way into our heart-healthy eating plan.
We waved goodbye to the potatoes.
I wonder if Kitchen Kleen will change its logo and packaging design from 1929?
Yep, we said goodbye to the bag so much so we had forgotten we even had potatoes in the pantry. We had two bags, one of the small red potatoes, and one of the Russets. This week, there became a strange smell that just wouldn’t go away in our kitchen. And the cats seemed to be staring at things in the pantry when the door was open. I was starting to think there were aliens in there?
And I started to notice some annoying small fruit flies flying around the kitchen. Back when we’d have bananas on the counter, they’d attract the flies, especially this time of year.
Those pesky worms convert to flying bugs and are hard to brush off as just a nuisance. They multiply rather quickly.
This morning, as I noticed the gorgeous sunrise from the window view, I could smell something extra not so nice in the kitchen. So I investigated the pantry. The onions were fine. Then I saw a fly climb out of the red potato bag in the low rack of our pantry. Bingo.
By the way, the Kitchen Kleen bag was clean. It had no bugs, just dehydrated sprouts.
I don’t know why Copper didn’t notice the smell? But he has been annoyed by the bugs crawling around his bowl competing for his food he tosses on the floor before eating. The pantry is socially distant from his bowl, but as a fruit fly flies, his bowl is in a prime location.
Yes, I know … he needs brushing, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to convince him like I can the cats? Dessy will follow me outside and she’ll let me get lots of hair out of her with each stroke of the brush.
Not Copper, since he’s deaf in both ears now, it’s really hard to console him or comfort him. Let alone hold him. But the cats, they can produce mice sized balls of fur.
Anyhoo … where was I? Oh, yeah, the stinkin’ potatoes.
After I found them at the bottom of our pantry closet, I tossed them outside on the front doorstep this morning. And grabbed my camera, of course. You know, to document the final history of saying goodbye for good of the nightshades we no longer eat.
Even my favorite version of sweet potato fries has to go. This week I splurged on a serving of sweet potato fries at the local pub. The combination of the vegetable oils and sweet sugars in the potatoes is toxic and contributes to the obesity problems in the world every day. My blood sugars spiked from 80 before eating to 185 after eating them. I’m not diabetic, I just wanted to confirm my suspicions that they’d spike my blood sugars. Yeah, I felt horrible the whole day. Yikes, I need to say goodbye to those too. The proof is in the numbers!
So yeah, that’s why I’ll pass on the potatoes every day.
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “brush.” Use it as a noun, a verb, or an idiom. Have fun! And Patti for Lens-Artists #111 – Everyday Objects
PS – I hope you’re having a great weekend! Have you ever tried cauliflower instead of potatoes in recipes? What’s your favorite side-dish? Did you know that potassium and magnesium deficiencies are a contributing factor to heart disease?
I’m glad you found the source of the stink! Wow, they are rotten. Sorry about Copper not letting you brush him, try to imagine being deaf, and being a little dog. Probably scary! The foggy sunrise is really pretty, and the comment about politically correct isn’t something I expect to see on a bag of taters! 😂
Yes, and if I could only catch the residual bugs, I’d be really happy. I think of Copper being scared all the time. He’s so startled if we come up from behind or the side.
The foggy mornings are plentiful this month.
Yeah, PC moments seem to be popping up lots lately. 🙂
PCism is a Communist ideal, look it up. He’s such a cute little dude! That sweet face. ❤️
This year is full of things like that! Ugh. Yes, Copper is one handsomely adorable dude! Thank you for the compliments!
Ewww. There is nothing as stinky in the pantry as rotting potatoes. And fruit flies are SO annoying. 🙂 Glad you found the source and got it out of there.
We don’t eat potatoes very often at all. I rarely buy them because they turn into that stinky mess before we get to them in most cases. So I might buy them for a specific recipe, but I find they cause a few issues I don’t like to deal with digestively. I’ll stop right there.
By your reply, I know you know the smell I had. 🙂 Those damn fruit flies are still appearing, I think they like the pet food scraps. I tried Ellen’s trick and they didn’t respond. I’m happily squishing them when I see them.
I too know the potato issues you described. 😉 It’s amazing how cauliflower can be substituted in potato salad recipes. Have you tried that? My kids didn’t even know the difference until we told them.
I’ve lived a similar life Shelley, although I grew up in New Jersey. We had potatoes pretty much every night – fried, baked, mashed, you name it. I too have pretty much banned them for their high carb count, replaced with my favorite mashed cauliflower which tastes very close to mashed potatoes. I just find myself wondering if in a few months or years we’ll be told they are the best thing for us (much as Wonder Bread once was!) and we’ll be sorry we gave them up LOL. Honestly hard to beat a butter-filled baked potato with crispy skin. Every great once in a while we give in and enjoy them with an every-so-special, almost never, piece of red meat 🙂
Potatoes definitely make for fillers on the plate. I’ve always adored potatoes, and thought I’d never give them up. I adored baked potatoes like you described. I agree, the cauliflower mash and rice versions are darn close. I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how much I like having a steady blood sugar by limiting carbs. I’ll indulge on special occasions too.
On a complete side note, I love your new gravitar photo, your smile is so happy and that gray hair – LOVE! xxxx
LOL re the hair Shelley. Thank goodness I went natural before the COVID restrictions. I’d have had roots a mile long!!!
LOL – yes, I’m with you on glad I went natural before this too! 🙂
We split a potato between us once in a while, but never store them in bags – the reason? Your photos illustrate why quite nicely. Fortunately we can buy them loose at the store. Like Tina, I grew up in NJ and potatoes were a regular part of our diet when I was growing up. As an active kid, I needed the carbs though. The nutrients are concentrated right under the skin, so when peeled they do lose the few that are there. On the other hand, I do love cauliflower but get turned off when I see the mold sprinkled on the surface (which I know I can scrape off, but still…). I love your sunrise photo – wow! Nice job 🙂
Happy Sunday to you!
LOL – yeah, the bagged potatoes are dreadful. We used to go through the bag faster when the kids were home. We do buy sweet potatoes occasionally in the single version. I remember my mom peeling potatoes, tossing the nutrient dense part, and boiling the hell out ’em. The butter on top helped. And she also taught me how to cut off the moldy parts. Traditions of feeding a family on a budget!
Happy Sunday to you too (a week later … sorry for the delay in responding!).
My mother did the same thing with mashed potatoes. She added cream cheese too sometimes. Delicious.
Yum – I bet they were really tasty!
They were!
I eat cauliflower, but I will never – never ever – pass up an opportunity to have mashed potatoes, and my wife is happy to make them and almost as happy to share.
LOL – You sound just like me and Mr. when we embarked on this diet. He was the Editor of our potato sides too – and damn good at cooking them as well. The steady message of 2020 for us has been, don’t say “I’ll never” ever again. You would’ve been standing next to Mr. with loaded potatoes when we had our first discussions about what we’d be giving up with this diet. I can tell you he was a non-believer too. 🙂
We’ve had that potato smell once or twice too. Stinky! I love that cauliflower casserole. I have made it adding either tuna or ground beef too and it is definitely comfort food!
LOL – seems to be a common occurrence. Oooh… we haven’t tried adding tuna or ground beef yet. That sounds interesting. I need to suggest that to Mr., thanks for the idea! I agree, the cauliflower gives that comfort food feel.
Although we haven’t given up an occasional potato, we have tried several substitutions (like cauliflower) with varying results. Your baked cauliflower with cheese looks yummy! I’m glad you were able to find the source of that smell… we’ve have similar mystery stenches now and then too.
Thanks for sharing your feedback – the cauliflower substitutes have varying results. We’ve found one recipe that the taste and texture of it mimics potatoes so well that we’ll never go back to the old potato salad recipe that I’ve made all these years. Betty Crocker cookbook may need an updating. 😉 When I think of the smell of potatoes it reminds me of my grandmother’s cellar.
You know me…problem? Research! Here’s the most popular way to kill those fruit flies, besides washing fruit before you store it (usually a no-no):
Fill a bowl or glass with apple cider vinegar, cover with plastic wrap and a rubber band to seal the edges, and poke tiny holes in the top. The fruit flies will be attracted to the vinegar, but once they’re inside, they won’t be able to escape the plastic wrap barrier. Mix apple cider vinegar and dish soap.Apr 21, 2020
LOL – yes, that’s you, find a solution! I did try that, but I must’ve done it wrong. Maybe I didn’t make the holes the right size? Or the ACV was old too and unattractive to them. I’ll give it another try, as the bugs still keep reappearing. Grrr…
I love cauliflower rice! And steamed cauliflower. We rarely buy potatoes at home, but oh how tasty are French fries, and yes SWEET POTATOE fries when eating out. My downfall ☹ Once again I will be attacking my diet, and increasing exercise this week. It appears the excessive heat has taken the tiniest trend downward. Wish me luck!
I’m loving the cauliflower rice too – it’s so easy to make. I’ve always adored the fries. The lack of eating out has helped curb those cravings, and now I notice more how crappy I feel after eating them. The nasty vegetable/seed oils they are cooked in and the extra carbs simply aren’t worth it. I wish you luck with your weather and exercise routine improvements!! We’re enjoying the cooler weather too. I hope it sticks around longer than normal, I’m not ready for snow!
It’s hard to imagine anyplace may get snow anytime in the near future! FINALLY, next week it should be under 100 degrees here. Even today (we got rain last night). Next week I’m confident we’ll get some walking weather 😁
I hope there’s no snow in our future for the month of Sept at least! I can snow in October here.
I hope this week’s weather has been better for you!
Well, we may have creeped back up to 100, but next week I see another cool down. In October we shall have wonderful weather here! (but we pay for it in the summer!).
It’s only in the 50s here in the mornings this week. I think I’d be shocked to feel the 90s again before next summer.
And 90 feels comfortable to us at the moment! I’m going to freeze when winter comes here!
Funny what a month does for temps here – it was 24 degrees this morning! Yeah, it’s cold!
I love potatoes how every you cook them, especially baked potatoes is my favorite. I, too, have banned them… Thank you for sharing these lovely photos. 🙂
I’m with you on your favorites and the banning of them too. Thanks for your feedback, it’s always nice to hear your thoughts!
We’ve taken to using cauliflower rice. We don’t eat potatoes that often, anyway. As for eating cauliflower as cauliflower, sorry, not interested…
Good move going to the cauliflower rice. LOL – I don’t mind raw cauliflower either, but I’ve always loved it as a child too. I think the ranch dip helped? 😉
I could smell the rotten potatoes from here and nearly puked. Such a disgusting stench made worse by the maggots. Thumbs up for cauliflower 😀
LOL – you’ve got a good nose!! I got many tips from the LowCarbDownUnder group from Australia. 😉
We once had a stinky potato where my mom kept them in a bucket under the kitchen sink. Neither of us smelled anything funky, but one day she opened the door and it hit her like a ton of bricks. My mom didn’t go into the backyard where the garbage can was due to he mobility issues, so she poured the whole bucket of potatoes into a bag and hung them on the gate for me to take in the garbage when I got home. In a matter of minutes, my mom, through the screen door, saw the neighborhood squirrel start taking the rotten potatoes out of the bag and running away with them.
WOW – I didn’t know squirrels would like rotting potatoes. I could see a racoon doing that. Interesting, thanks for sharing.
My mom was appalled … we called that squirrel “Sammy” and he hung out at our house, next-door neighbor and across-the-street neighbor’ houses as we all fed him peanuts and treats. Marge was famous for giving him brown cookies, slightly burned as she’d be on the phone and not hear the oven timer go off so she’d let them cool and line them up along the top of her deck railing (it was wide). He would arrive to check out the three houses for treats and ate one at a time. My mom said “we’re catering to an animal that eats rotten potatoes?!”
LOL – that’s one determined squirrel!
I love the packaging on the potatoes you aren’t eating. That’s cute and memorable. Makes me nostalgic for our childhoods when food was just food. Simplicity…
It’s is effective advertising – I know I always looked for it and chose it over the other brands because it reminded me of simple times and the bag always being in the pantry while growing up.
A bad potato sure does smell terrible–happens much more often to me in the summer. I’d like to try lefse, never have. And I would miss a potato pancake or potato-stuffed pierogi if I never had potatoes again. However, I don’t eat them as much as I could. Honestly I get bored of potatoes. Really, I use the starchy stuff to stretch meals–for my growing boys. My husband and I could eat a little meat and a veg for dinner and be fine. But my boys are getting to the point they really like a BIG dinner (and of course they stay rail thin!).
If you like potato pancakes and pierogi, you’d like lefse too. I’ve made it from scratch several times (we always did when I was young). I fresh piece off of the griddle with melted butter and sugar and cinnamon is DELICIOUS. Just plain old potatoes can be boring. And Mr. and I definitely used potatoes and rice and noodles to make the meals stretch while our kids were growing up. Gotta love those adorable rail thin attributes of the youth, eh?! 😉
Well, your description of lefse has certainly sold me on it! And, yes, rail thin. Bean poles! It’s hard for me to even remember a time I could eat all I wanted and not gain an ounce. I try to keep little junkfood around the house (I don’t consider ice cream junk!) so my guys can eat when they’re hungry and I don’t worry they’ll get unhealthy. Those metabolisms–if only I could bottle the stuff!
Yay – homemade lefse is the best.
My neice’s kids are like that too – they can eat and burn off the calories simultaneously. LOL!
Wow, your cauliflower dish looks yummy. We’re trying to be healthier, but I have to agree with Dan Anton, I will never pass up a bowl of fluffy whipped mashed potatoes. Baked potatoes are hard to pass up too. Sigh, what we must sacrifice to feel well. It’s good to touch base with you. I’ve been slowing down as far as posting, but am still in the game.
Yes, it is a tasty dish. And I was surprised how much it did taste like potatoes, making it just as comforting as the old russet tasted to me.
It’s nice to hear from you too – I’m still in the blogging game, but definitely in a more lackadaisical mode due to life and other responsibilities. I’ll be by your blog soon to see what you’ve been up to!