Best Dang Mashed Potatoes & Harvest: Complete

Mashed potatoes have to be the #1 comfort food of all time, and if you make them correctly, you will be dubbed the “#1 Cook of ALL TIME”. People fail good ‘mashed’ pretty frequently, and there are a couple of tips to keep your potatoes from turning to tasteless glue. Just know, if you master this basic dish… you’ll become the favorite at all the family dinners. Would you love me if I told you I made this entire decadent side dish for less than $3.50? (Potatoes: $1.48, Butter: $.75, Milk: $.15 AE Chive Sour Cream Dip: $.88 Salt/Pepper: $.10)

Current Events: WE ARE DONE WITH #Harvest15. Amen. Thank you baby Jesus. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

I didn’t:
I didn’t kill the tractor. I didn’t spill massive amounts of grain. I never ran out of water or missed a “WHERE ARE YOU AT?!?!” phone call. I also didn’t accidentally run over a bunny, like last year. It was a great year. Honestly, any year that my family is still all together, farming, is a great year.

I did:
I did get to drive the combine, not far, but I did it. And I was so excited, I literally started to tear up. Yes, my eyes watered. It was so fun, and the corn was SO good… that I overflowed the hopper just a bit and ‘made it rain’. (making it ‘rain’ in the combine is when the hopper gets so full that it spills over the side or front). Luckily it wasn’t bad at all, and Dad and I both got a great laugh out of the deal.

I did listen to a variety of music in the tractor. Country is my favorite of course, but if you saw my Snapchat story you’d see my discontent with some of the new-fangled country like Florida Georgia Line, sorry guys… not for me. On a side note: a new retro-hip hop station came out and I found myself cruising about the open corn and soybean fields to the tune of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice”, Ginuwine’s “Pony” and more. Yes I did. Well, my sister encourages it. A lot. (Haha, Tanna… got ya.)

I did eat lots of fun-size candy bars found inside my lunch box. My Mom packs the best harvest lunches. The best.
I did let my son snooze on the floor of the tractor because I couldn’t stand him slouched over, head bobbing any longer. Recognize that pillow? The couches to match were SUPER popular about 20 years ago, I bet you had them.

Tonight we’re having our “Harvest Party” and grilling steaks, having these mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and fruit salad. At the end of the night, we’ll have my Dad’s signature milkshakes, which I am most excited about.
So glad to be done, but counting down the days to the madness next year. I used to think I loved fall because of pumpkin-flavored-what-the-heck-ever, crock pot cooking, shorts and sweatshirt weather etc. But I realized I love fall because of harvest.
Yes, harvest.

The potatoes, ahhhh the potatoes!
You probably want to get started on those don’t you?
They are SO easy! And I wanted to call them “The Best Damned Mashed Potatoes”, but I didn’t want to upset anyone.
They are damn good, though.

MASHED POTATO TIPS:

1. Peel potatoes, then chop them into even sized pieces prior to boiling, this makes it easier to mash them up later. Use leftover, drained potato water in bread baking.
2. After you’ve boiled and drained potato pieces, mash them prior to adding any liquid. This will help you keep them from turning into glue. (Milk products bind with the starch and messes with the texture of your potatoes.)
3. Once milk products are added, use a light hand and only stir to incorporate.
4. Different potatoes may be used for different applications, Russets are fluffy and starchy, perfect for mashed potatoes, but I have great luck with any potato that is on sale at the grocery store! (Mashed potatoes as a dish is more flexible with the potato used, say than potato salad, in which you should use a more waxy potato like the red potatoes you see that I’m using.
See these potatoes? They were gorgeous, but I was struck by the gorgeous black dirt buried in the crevice of this one. Gorgeous soil.

Also, the potatoes only turn out as amazing as the ingredients you add to them. I use AE Chive Sour Cream, butter and my all time favorite seasoned salt, Lawry’s. I add milk to this recipe to make sure that the potatoes are smooth and luxurious. Whole milk is preferred but any type of cow’s milk will do.

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Best Dang Mashed Potatoes

by: Cristen        www.foodandswine.com

Author: Cristen

Ingredients

• One 5 pound bag of potatoes of choice peeled, chopped into 2" cubes
• One 8 oz. container of AE Chive Sour Cream Dip
• One stick of butter
• 1 cup of AE Whole Milk
• 1 1/2 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1/2-1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4  cup chopped fresh chives  if you have them, if not, omit or use chopped green onion tops

Instructions

• Boil potato pieces for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain into large mixing bowl. Discard water (or use for bread baking). Mash potatoes with potato masher or hand mixer until somewhat smooth. You could also use a potato ricer for ultimate smoothness. Once smooth, add sour cream dip, butter, milk, seasoned salt and pepper. Mix only until combined. Fold in chives. Serve immediately.
• As a side, this recipe will serve 8-10 people.