"It's easy to halve the potato where there's love."

An Irish saying from the Great Potato Famine 150 years ago.

The humble potato has a colorful history in Europe starting with its discovery by the Spanish during their invasion of the Inca Empire in 1531-1535.

One of the more well-known historical episodes involving potatoes happened in Ireland during the mid 1800's. At that time the vast majority of the Irish population lived in poverty. By then, potatoes had become such an important food source to the Irish that most were totally dependent on it.

When potato blight destroyed potato crops in 1845, 1846 and 1848, thousands of Irish starved to death. Many were forced to emigrate, mainly to North America and Britain.

The potato is one of the most nutrient-rich vegetables available.

My husband, Dan subsisted quite well on nothing but potatoes for several weeks while trekking with Sherpa guides in the high mountain passes near the Base Camp of Mount Everest.

Here's a quote from "Western Potatoes," an Australia organization that's been around for 50 years:

"To preserve these nutrients it is important to peel the potato just prior to cooking and not leave it exposed to the air or standing in water any longer than necessary. Australian Nutritionist's suggest that to retain maximum benefit of the nutrients in potatoes, they should be scrubbed thoroughly and cooked in their skins. If you prefer to serve potatoes peeled, only the thinnest layer of skin should be removed as many valuable nutrients lie just beneath the skin."

Potatoes are dense and take longer to cook in a slow cooker. In crock-pot recipes cut them no larger that one inch thick place in the bottom of the pot.