Creamy Mashed Potatoes

My husband is the official mashed potato maker in our home. That's because he is VERY good at it! The other night we invited my brother over for dinner since his wife was out of town. I realized as I was planning the menu that we always make mashed potatoes when he visits since it's an effort to step up the meal quality. Since the meal I had planned was pot-roast and who doesn't like potatoes with their roast I decided to try a new recipe to give my ol' brother some variation. To make things even more exciting I made the potatoes instead of my husband. ("Ooooooooo! Ahhhhhhh!) End result: these were a HIT!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes
(Pioneer Woman)

5 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
3⁄4 cups Butter
1 package (8 Oz.) Cream Cheese, Softened*
1⁄2 cups (to 3/4 Cups) Half-and-Half
1⁄2 teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1⁄2 teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Black Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 35 minutes. When they’re cooked through, the fork should easily slide into the potatoes with no resistance, and the potatoes should almost, but not totally, fall apart.

Drain the potatoes in a large colander. When the potatoes have finished draining, place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape, before adding in all the other ingredients. Turn off the stove and add 1 1⁄2 sticks of butter, an 8-ounce package of cream cheese and about 1⁄2 cup of half-and-half. Mash, mash, mash! Next, add about 1⁄2 teaspoon of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and 1⁄2 a teaspoon of black pepper. Stir well and place in a medium-sized baking dish. Throw a few pats of butter over the top of the potatoes and place them in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

(When making this dish a day or two in advance, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 3 hours before serving time. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.)

*My Note: I didn't do the last step of warming it in the oven because of a lack of time. Thankfully my mashed 'taters were still steaming hot for service at dinner.

Smothered Chicken with Lemon Mashed Potatoes

Southern Living recipes are so yummy! I had some leftover mashed potatoes the other night so I whipped this little piece of 'tater and gravy goodness together. I really enjoyed the lemony twist to the potatoes. I even served this dish with sliced tomatoes from my garden!

Smothered Chicken with Lemon Mashed Potatoes
Recipe and Photo Courtesy of Southern Living

4 skinned and boned chicken breasts
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon olive oil
18 to 20 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Lemon Mashed Potatoes
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water

Place chicken between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4-inch thickness, using
a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and
1/4 teaspoon pepper. Dredge in breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Sauté mushrooms in 1 teaspoon hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 8
minutes or until edges are browned. Remove from skillet. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4
teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.

Sauté garlic in 1 tablespoon hot oil over medium heat 5 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned
and soft. Remove from skillet, and mash lightly with a fork or potato masher; set aside.

Prepare Lemon Mashed Potatoes, and keep warm.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1/2 tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat; add 2 chicken
breasts, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken to a wire rack in a
jellyroll pan. Keep chicken warm in oven at 225°. Repeat with remaining butter, oil, and
chicken.

Stir chicken broth and next 3 ingredients into skillet, and cook 2 minutes, stirring to loosen
particles from bottom of skillet. Stir in sautéed mushrooms and garlic. Stir together 3 tablespoons flour and 1/4 cup water; whisk into broth mixture over medium-
high heat. Cook 3 minutes, whisking constantly, or until thickened. Serve with chicken and Lemon Mashed Potatoes.

Lemon Mashed Potatoes
Prepare 1 (22-ounce) bag frozen mashed potatoes according to package directions. Stir in 1/4 cup butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
*Jayne's Notes: I prepared my mashed potatoes from scratch as I usually do with boiled potatoes, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper but added a couple squeezes (Tablespoons) of fresh lemon juice instead of the rind.

Warm Asparagus and New Potato Salad

We ate this warm potato salad for dinner tonight with baby potatoes from my garden. I never knew fresh potatoes could taste so good! I was hesitant when I read that blue cheese is the topping for this yummy salad but if you buy a good quality cheese the taste really compliments the potatoes.

Warm Asparagus and New Potato Salad

(Recipe courtesy of AOL Foods)

• 1 lb asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths and steamed until just tender
• 1 lb small new potatoes (red or brown), unpeeled, boiled in salted water to cover until just tender, about 10 minutes, drained, and halved or quartered depending on size
• 1 bunch (6-8) green onions, white and light green parts only, sliced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 crumbled blue cheese

In a large bowl toss together the asparagus, potatoes and green onions. Season well with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl beat together the parsley, oil and vinegar. Toss some of the dressing with the vegetables. Continue to add dressing until the salad is well moistened.  Serve just warm, topped with the blue cheese.

Oven-roasted Potato Wedges

We ate potato wedges for dinner tonight and they were seriously the best I have EVER tasted! Every time I've attempted to make these in the past the potatoes took too long to get soft and the seasonings just weren't very good. I don't know what made tonight's dish so yummy but here are a few of the tricks I learned.

First, I boiled the potatoes for 5-10 minutes until they were just starting to get soft. This decreased the oven cooking time (Yay!) from 50 minutes to 20 at 450 degrees.

Second, I avoided using powdered onion soup or some other odd concoction of flavors. In a bowl I mixed some olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Once the potatoes were drained I poured this oil mixture in and made sure the potatoes were thoroughly coated. Once the potatoes were spread on a baking dish I sprinkled some seasoning salt on top. These were so yummy they didn't need anything else!! 

The third difference from my usual potato wedge baking attempt was that we used FRESH red potatoes straight out of our garden. This was probably the real kicker in making the end product so delicious. Still, I was so amazed at the success of tonight's potato attempt I just had to record my 'recipe'.