The Tale of Two Taters

So Steve and I decided to have dinner really early today. I was starving and he's always hungry so it worked out for me. I don't know if I mentioned this before but Steve is really picky about everything involving food. Its a miracle I got him to be a cheating vegan. An absolute miracle. Before I started cooking for him, he thought BBQ sauce was a food group. A food group that trumped the Grains on the pyramid. So when I do things like make dill mashed potatoes and he flinches, I don't get too offended. It takes time to bounce back from that much BBQ sauce. But that doesn't stop me from making it.

So along with our Boca Burgers and fresh green salad we had mashed potatoes. Not just one type of mashed potato. Two. As soon as I started chopping up the fresh dill (which is pretty much just a green flower) he started mock vomiting all over the kitchen. Lovely. So with my little taters boiling I got out another mixing bowl and a small frying pan and starting preparing garlic for my overdramatic hungry hubby.

Wanna know how I did it?! I'll tell you. (Because honestly, I had to google how to make mashed potatoes when I got here. Milk. Who knew?)

When I make mashed potatoes I aim for left overs. I love mashed potatoes and will indulge as much as possible. SO! For the two of us I had:

6 potatoes, washed, peeled & cut into cubes/chunks (you don't have to peel the potatoes, but not a lot of people like the skins in their mashed potatoes, including me)

1/4 cup of dairy free margarine

3/4 cup of almond milk (original)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Things you'll need:

Large sauce pan (filled with water to just above the potatoes, remember you'll need room for it to boil!)

Strainer

Mixing bowl

Hand held mixer/mixing spoon (I just just my mixer because its faster)

Measuring cups/Spoons

Put the potatoes in the sauce pan and then fill to the top of the potatoes and put on the stove top on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, depending on if you want your mashed potatoes lumpy or not.

Dump potatoes into strainer (over the sink, obviously) and then put the potatoes into your mixing bowl.

Add the butter, salt and pepper and mix. It should be still flakey, not creamy at this point, but I like to add the butter first to know where I stand with the milk.

Slowly and gradually add in the milk. You may need more or less milk depending on the size of your potatoes but make sure you don't over milk them! There's not much you can do with mashed potato soup.

Then add in the flavor of your choice! I added in about 1/2 a tablespoon of dill to my potatoes (which are pictured above and were delicious!). For Steven's garlic potatoes I sauteed 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil for about 6-8 minutes on low heat while the potatoes were boiling. If you don't have garlic cloves, a few dashes of garlic powder is fine. Just don't over do it. Garlic is very overpowering, especially in something bland like potatoes.

Enjoy!