creamy potato grill packets

We gave into the extremely warm temperatures yesterday and grilled out.  It was the first cook out of the season, and it's still March!  Craziness.  We have the air conditioning on.  This is also crazy.  And kind of annoying, for me.  You can keep your 86 degrees.  I like 60 degrees in March.  I'm afraid I will be a melted puddle come July if this is a precursor to summer!

But using the weather as an excuse to grill out almost makes it worth it.  We love to grill, and do it often in warm weather.  I especially love it because it means Brian shares in the cooking.  I'm not sure if you know this, but only men are allowed to grill.  It's a law.  I know, because I tried once, and I got arrested.  Or something equally dramatic.  I know, I just set back the woman's movement 20 years.  But hello, any excuse to get my husband to pitch in for dinner is fine in my book.

Ok, now I will actually talk about the food we made!  Kind of.  First I just want to say that the first time I had these potatoes was right after Rowan was born and our friends Andrew and Emily came bearing a full dinner (that included these potatoes), gifts for Rowan, and toys for Fletcher.  Oh!  And champagne for mama!  I remember the dinner so well, because it was so so unexpected and so so sweet.  If you don't know what to get a new mama, take over an entire dinner and then cook it for her.  She will love you forever.  Anyway, Andrew is a great cook and these potatoes were so insanely delicious, I asked him for the recipe right then and there.

{Emily took this picture of me and Rowan on their visit.  It's one of my favorites.  I still can't stop kissing her!}

Ok!  Now I will actually get to the MAKING of the potatoes!  If you would like to grill your own amazingly creamy and cheesy potatoes, you will need the following:

ingredients
4-5 waxy potatoes (I used red, but yellow, purple, or fingerlings would work)
1 medium onion
3 T fresh thyme (or rosemary, or basil, or... any favorite herb really)
3/4 c. mayonnaise
3/4 c. greek yogurt
1 1/2 c. Parmesan
cooking spray
pepper to taste

serves 4-6

After you scrub your potatoes, slice them very thinly.

Do the same with your onion.

Throw all of this into a big bowl, and add in the mayo. 

Now add your greek yogurt.  The original recipe doesn't include greek yogurt, but I cut the mayo and add in the yogurt to make it a bit more healthy.  And it is JUST as creamy.

Stir in your cheese.  I have also tried gorgonzola, goat cheese, and cheddar to great success!  It's cheese.  It's all gonna taste GREAT.

Now add in the thyme.  Like I said in the ingredient list, you can use any favorite herb here.  I also really love using fresh rosemary.  So good!  But thyme is a little more quiet and unexpected, so I do go back to it for this dish most often.  Just slide the leaves off the stems straight into your bowl.

Add in some ground pepper to taste.

Stir it all together well.  Tear off a loooong piece of aluminum foil, and spray it thoroughly with cooking spray.  Or you could rub it with olive oil if you prefer.  Plop on some potato mixture.

Bring up the ends of the length of foil together.

And roll it down.

Fold up the ends like you are wrapping a present, and then roll those tightly, too.

And there is your foil packet!  You will need to make about 2 to 3 separate packets with a recipe this big.  We also double wrap them, or they can get a bit leaky.

I didn't even step outside to take a picture of this cooking on the grill!  Ooops.  But you'll want to grill it for about 30 minutes, flipping the packet halfway through.  Be careful!  It will be HOT.  When finished, let cool for a bit, and then pour into a big bowl, using a spatula to lightly scrape the foil.

That's it!  Pretty easy, and super delicious.  I get asked for the recipe every time I make these potatoes.  And I'm always changing up the ingredients, so I never can remember which recipe to give anyone.  So hopefully this covers all my bases.

{special thanks to Andrew for letting me take lots of liberties with his recipe!  not that I actually checked with him first of anything...}

Enjoy all the grilling out weather!  If the weather isn't warm where you are, maybe make some soup instead?