Uncle Vaughan's Baked Potatoes

My uncle Vaughan loved a joke, and pulled many practical ones on family members. The earliest I remember was when he switched milk glasses with his second son. Big deal, you say. Well, Vaughan's held buttermilk, which we kids didn't like at all!

I remember meals at their home, a breakfast nook that overlooked their back yard in Bakersfield, California. He enjoyed entertaining family. He shared with my Dad a favorite recipes for potatoes. The onion soup was a bit too much for me, but others may like to include it:

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 3 oz package cream cheese
2 tblsp oleo *
2 tblsp chopped green onions
1 envelope instant onion soup
2 to 3 tblsp milk, if dry

2 eggs, beaten
2 cups crushed corn flakes

Directions:

Boil potatoes 20-30 minutes, until soft. Mash and add ingredients down to the onion soup. Blend well and if too dry, add milk. It needs to be firm and pliable.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Shape potatoes into balls, dip into beaten eggs then roll in crushed corn flakes.

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

*PS: A question arose about 'oleo', and I thought some might be interested in its history. Wikipedia tells us it's been around a long time. My first memory is of the 1940/50 timeframe when it came in a plastic bag. It had to be sold white, with a small color packet inside that broke fairly easily. It was then my job to mush the bag and change the color to the buttery yellow that makes it appear much more flavorful. Today the oleo part isn't used and we're used to looking for brand names that taste a lot like butter. It was the butter, by the diary industry, that was being protected with the white oleomargarine. It looked so unappetizingly white, like lard. Buttery yellow, on the other hand, meant flavor.