Funeral Potatoes

via google images

For anyone who is not in Utah (I'm pretty sure its a Utah thing), funeral potatoes are also referred to as cheesy potatoes. A delish mix of potatoes, cream of chicken soup, cheese, sour cream, onion (very very little onions for those of us who are not normally a fan) and some crumpled up crackers or corn flakes on top. Seriously...the best invention in food ever.
So why are they called funeral potatoes? Because here that is pretty much the side dish that is ALWAYS served at funerals (in Utah). I don't think I've ever been to a funeral that didn't have them...and I've unfortunately been to quite a few in my lifetime. It is like the ultimate comfort food.
It is kind of sad to think that someone probably kicked the bucket and their family/friends were trying to come up with something for the relatives to eat that would be simple and quick. Or maybe not so sad that someone decided it was the perfect comfort food ever for funerals and thus it should be honored as such with the nickname. I don't know, but however it came to be I am grateful.
So why the post about funeral potatoes? There was an unfortunate death in my parents ward and the funeral was today. Since my mom is generally either in charge of and/or helping with the funerals in the ward, I sometimes get to reap the benefit of leftovers. In this case (since my boys are very sad, strange little boys, they hate funeral potatoes) I had enough for dinner, lunch tomorrow and probably at least one or two other meals. And that is the reason I get to do an hour of Zumba tonight (and probably for the rest of the week) instead of the normal 20-30 minutes. In Weight Watchers language....I ate 13 points worth of potatoes. Thats a lot. But it was worth every bite.