Mrs. Mash - Grownup Mashed Potatoes

In my home I like to cook big. To me nothing is worse than making a fabulous meal that the kids love and ask for more of only to have to tell them there is no more. It always brings to mind hungry little Oliver Twist asking "Please sir, I want some more." So sad, and so to avoid having my own Oliver Twist moments, I try to always make sure I cook in portions large enough to fill 'em up.

 

I also like to make use of leftovers for lunches.  When planning my weekly menus I specifically plan 2 or 3 dinners that will be used as leftover lunches.  It saves me time and money to plan like this. Making the meals a little larger takes a negligible amount of time and if I pack the lunches and put them in the fridge when I am cleaning up after dinner I have saved myself a bunch of time in the mornings.  So when the recipe below calls for 4 lbs of potatoes, know that you have enough to feed a family of 5, for everyone to have seconds (one greedy child even went back for 3rds and 4ths), and to have some left over for lunches the next day.

I call these grownup mashed potatoes because I leave the skins on which never would have flew in this family just a few years ago, in fact I couldn't get my oldest to eat mashed potatoes to save my life.  There were many a sad night when he would have to go to bed early for not finishing his dinner when the steaming pile of mushed of taters was the only thing left on his plate.  This is the SAME greedy boy that went back for 4ths of these mashed potatoes last night, it's AMAZING how their tastes have changed in the year and some change that we have been vegan.  I also put cauliflower in them, don't worry no one but you will even know it's in there and it's a great way to make your taters healthier.  Cauliflower has all kinds of good things like phytonutrients, antioxidants, and all sorts of vitamins and nutrients going for it. You want to use organic potatoes as potatoes are among the most pesticide ridden of all our produce and we are going to be leaving the skins on. So onward with the grown up mash!

 Ingredients:

• 4 lbs of potatoes - Russets or Yukon Golds (that is all but like 3 potatoes in a 5lb sack)
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 sticks (1 cup) of vegan butter or margarine
• 1 tub of vegan sour cream
• 1 cup plain soy milk
• 1 head of garlic minced - You may not like your potatoes as garlicly so please adjust this as needed.
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Additional salt and pepper to taste
• *Optional vegetable broth

Wash and slice your potatoes (leave those skins on).  Boil them in a large pot for 20-30 minutes until you can poke a fork in them easily.  This is where that optional veggie broth comes in.  Sometimes I will boil the potatoes in vegetable stock vs plain water it adds a lot of flavor to the finished product, however if you do this make sure you taste them before you add any additional salt.  I find that I don't add salt at all when I boil in veggie stock.  Last night I didn't have any stock in the freezer or pantry so we just boiled in water.  

Chop the cauliflower into florets as you would broccoli and add to the boiling potatoes for the last 10 minutes.  Once done drain and return to the pot.

Add the butter, sour cream, garlic, basil and salt and get to mashing.  Once they are mashed add the soy milk a little at a time until you get the consistency you like.  Some days I want my potatoes more like whipped potatoes so I will add more milk, other days I want them thick and chunky so I add less milk. I find that mashed potatoes are a very "taste and see" kind of thing.  I mash them all up, add a splash of milk and taste, add some salt and pepper and taste, if needed add a smidge more pepper or another splash of milk stir taste,  add, stir, taste... you get the picture.  Once you have the seasonings and consistency you like serve 'em hot!

We had ours with steamed veggies and a super yummy vegan "meat"loaf that I have adapted from  the Engine 2 Diet, which if you have not read I HIGHLY recommend you do.  A good friend shared the recipe with me a while back and I have made a few tweaks here and there to make it big enough to feed us with leftovers.  I will share that one next time I make it for sure.

The kiddo sized portions