Welcome back! Today I will share with you my 2021 Color Challenge block for May. This block is provided by Patterns by Jen! You can pick up this block pattern free on her website! She also gives you tips for constructing the block and has both the 12-inch and 6-inch sizes available!

The color for the month of May is brown and the food item chosen is the potato. While brown is not one of my love colors (though I like it OK), I do love potatoes!! There are many shades of brown, so I chose a rich dark brown grunge. I think it pops pretty well with my silver grunge!

I have a couple of great potato recipes. One is what I call campfire potatoes. When we would visit our family in Michigan, we would go out to the campground every weekend. They had a fire pit where we would make s’mores. We had so much fun. They also introduced us to easy campfire potatoes! Just take a cast iron skillet and line the bottom and sides with bacon strips. Everything is better with bacon, right?! Next slice potatoes pretty thin and layer them on the bacon. Then slice onions and layer them on top of the potatoes. Repeat layering until you get to the top of the skillet! They would then cover them with foil and cook them IN the fire until tender!! Wow, those were awesome! In March of 1993, we had a blizzard here in the south. We live in central Alabama and got 18 inches of snow in our area. We’re not equipped to handle that so we were without power for three days and stuck at home unless you wanted to walk! We had an Ashley wood/coal burning stove and a wood/coal fireplace insert. During that time, I was able to cook on top of the Ashley, as it had a cook top. I made campfire potatoes and we covered them and cooked them in the fireplace. It was not the most pleasant three days, but we made the most of it and had fun. You can cook these in the stove as well, so don’t think you have to build a campfire! LOL

Another of our favorite recipes of late is one that I adapted from Plain Chicken Blog. To make this dish (Scalloped Crack Potatoes), thinly slice about 2-1/2 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes. I peeled and used a mandoline. You really could use any of your favorite potatoes, well, maybe not sweet potatoes! Layer the potatoes in a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Stir together 3 cups heavy cream (or half and half) and 1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix, and pour over the potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 °F for 35-40 minutes, stirring about every 10 minutes. Sprinkle with 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and, if you like bacon(!), about a half cup chopped cooked bacon and bake another 15 minutes or so until golden brown and bubbly! Last time I only had two cups of half and half, so added a cup of sour cream – oh my YUM!! So there’s another easy recipe for you!

Hop on over to PBJ and pick up your pattern for this month. Once you make your block, be sure and link it up on her website at the end of the month to be entered into a drawing for some fabulous prizes!! Thanks for stopping by. How do you like your potatoes?