Two for the Price of One Potatoes for Recipe Friday

I was planning to post my meatloaf recipe, and even took pictures, but it’s been a crazy week and I just didn’t get it done. So I decided to post the side dish of Garlic Mashed Potatoes first, then I’ll post Meatloaf next week.

I absolutely love potatoes of any kind. If given a choice of potatoes, rice, or pasta, I will almost always prefer the potatoes. And just simple mashed potatoes is my favorite, in part because you can do so much with the leftovers, too. Which is why the title of this post is Two for the Price of One Potatoes — because I’m going to include two recipes, with the second one using the leftovers from the first.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

6 large russet potatoes
2 cloves garlic
½ – ¾ cup milk
salt and pepper

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and cut into small pieces. Place in a large pot with enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high. Finely chop the garlic cloves or use a garlic press. Add the garlic to the potatoes and water. Add ½ tsp or so of salt. Continue boiling until the potatoes are tender, which will depend in part on the size of pieces you cut. When potatoes are tender, drain off all the water. Return the potatoes to low heat (or to the burner turned off if you have a glass top stove) to steam off any remaining water. This only takes a minute or so. Remove from heat. Add the milk, starting with the lower amount and only adding more as needed. You want to be careful not to add too much milk at first because your potatoes will be soupy. (If you want potato soup, I have a recipe for that.) Add salt and pepper to taste, and mash potatoes by hand with a potato masher. For smoother potatoes, you can use a hand mixer to blend the potatoes instead. Serve with your favorite entrée and vegetable.

Because this recipe calls for using 6 large potatoes, there are always leftovers at our house because there are only three of us. And that is just fine with me because that means we can have potatoes again the next night without having to peel and boil them with this next recipe.

Cheesy Potato Puffs

Ingredients:

Leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
¼ finely shredded cheddar cheese
½ tsp dry basil
salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, egg, cheese, basil, and salt until well combined. Put potato mixture by large spoonful in mounds on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until potato puffs are golden brown. Serve with another of your favorite entrées and a vegetable.