It all started at the grocery store yesterday when Dave brought three packets of instant mashed potatoes to the cart, proclaiming he wanted to buy them because they are “so good.” I asked if I could look at the list of ingredients, which was about as long as a book chapter. I pointed to some scary names and asked him if instead I could make my mom’s recipe for him.
This sounds awfully home-maker wife-ish (brrrr), but I really want our grocery cart to be as healthy as possible. Eating out is a different story and we splurge often there. Also, Dave readily agreed when I told him the recipe had cream, butter, and nutmeg in it – maybe the nutmeg intrigued him the most.
So today during lunch I called my mom just to confirm that I remembered the recipe right – I hadn’t made it in about seven years and never think of it anymore now that cream and butter rarely appear in my refrigerator. Turns out, her version is actually made with milk, so I “unhealthyfied” it in my memory. It was too late though. I had already bought the cream and wasn’t going to throw it out without using any of it.
So after work, I set to making very high-calorie mashed potatoes.
Ingredients:
– 5 small to medium sized potatoes, peeled and cooked in salt water
– 1/2 cup cream
– 1/4 water (my mom recommended this to thin out the cream. Her recipe would take 2/3 cups of milk)
– 1 tbsp butter
– a generous amount of nutmeg
Mash the potatoes up with a fork at first, melt a tablespoon of butter over them, pour in the cream/water or milk, and then use a mixer until you have a nice, smooth consistency. Then add as much Nutmeg as your tastebuds call for (I used a lot).
Here is the not so appetizing photo of the result, although I promise the potatoes were delicious. I poured the vegetables over them awkwardly to re-warm them up a bit (I was cooking various dishes at once, so I got a bit distracted). There is also some tilapia pieces on there, which are barely worth mentioning.
Now I have to go and make some dark-chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy during yet another game of Settlers of Catan!
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