When she isn’t enjoying life with her boys, baking and cake decorating you can find Shanaka at Mama Bee Does. She survives being a single mom with lots of laughter, coffee, sweet tea and Dr. Pepper. Sometimes it feels like she’s hanging on by her apron strings, but she tries to make the most of every day. She believes that every body is unique and beautiful no matter the shape, size or color and she loves a dress with pockets like the Penelope from Karina Dresses because they offer dresses for every body. Shanaka loves being social and you can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
We lost my step dad three years ago to brain cancer. My oldest son, who is now ten, was very close to his Papa. He took it very hard when his Papa passed away. Every so often Caleb will ask questions about Papa or he would talk about things he remembers Papa doing or saying. One evening he asked me if we could have fried potatoes and hotdogs for dinner because Papa liked having it for dinner. My step dad did indeed like his fried potatoes and hot dogs (or sausage) but I was surprised that Caleb could remember that. I had potatoes in the pantry and I had hot dogs in the freezer so we got cooking.
When teaching this recipe to me, my step dad told me that growing up during the depression era his Mom would often fix fried potatoes and hotdogs for dinner. All it requires is some potatoes, hot dogs, onion, salt and pepper and a little oil. You can add in cheese or other ingredients to make it your own. This may be just an easy to make meal to most but to my son it’s a comfort food meal. It allows him to remember his Papa. You can fix this meal in the electric skillet at home while wearing your Penelope dress with pockets or you can even make it while camping.
Fried Potatoes & Hot Dogs
- 5-6 small sized potatoes or 3 large sized potatoes
- 1 pack of hot dogs or smoked sausage
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
- salt and pepper
Directions:
Peel, slice and dice your potatoes (or let the helper do this).
Keep the diced pieces in a bowl of water as you go so they don’t turn burn on you while they are waiting to be cooked. Coat the bottom of your electric skillet with the olive oil. You need enough to cover the entire bottom of the skillet plus some to help coat the potatoes as you stir them. Once the skillet is ready (I set mine to 350 degrees) I add the diced onion, the potatoes and a few shakes of the salt and pepper shakers.
Cover the potatoes with the skillet lid and let them cook about 7-8 minutes. Remove the lid and stir. Repeat this for about 20-30 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking slice your hot dogs or sausage. When you have about 10 minutes left before the potatoes are done add the sliced meat to the potatoes and stir it up. We top ours with a little ketchup (as Papa would) and enjoy our easy dinner while we talk about our memories of my step dad.