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Can You Make Mashed Potatoes Ahead of Time?

November 4, 2015 by Laura 53 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Oh yes. You can. You can make mashed potatoes ahead of time.

potatoes_2

Now, there are some things you’ll need to avoid. Here are two mashed potato tricks that do not work:

1. Do not boil potatoes with the plan to mash and serve them later.

While this seems like such a good idea, this will turn them into a sticky, gooey mess.

2. Do not make mashed potatoes and freeze them as-is.

I’ve never had success with this. Plain mashed potatoes freeze fine but thaw weird. They are always watery and unappetizing. These are not the kind of potatoes I want to include on my holiday table. If you do freeze them as-is, you must cook the frozen/thawed potatoes in a pot to steam off excess water that has formed in the freezing process. More info to come.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes ~ What Works, What Doesn't.Ways to prepare this side dish favorite ahead of time:

1. Scrub or peel the potatoes and put them into a pot of cold water.

Want to get the prep work out of the way on a busy day filled with meal preparations? Typically I pull my family into the kitchen the night before the holiday meal. Together, we scrub and chop potatoes. We put them into a large pot, cover them with cold water, put on a lid, and leave them until boiling and mashing time the next day.

potatoes

2. Make mashed potatoes, then use your crock pot to keep them warm.

What I find very helpful is to follow all the instructions detailed in #1 to prep the potatoes the night before. The next morning – hours before our meal – I cook, drain, and mash. I then put them into a crock pot (with butter, always) on the “keep warm” setting until serving time. In the meantime, I can wash and put away the potato pot, then focus on other meal prep that needs to be done.

3. Embellish the mashed potatoes before freezing them.

While mashed potatoes don’t freeze well as-is, they do freeze well if you add some goodies to them. Take a look at the recipe below for all the specifics! When made like that, they do freeze well. Or, at the very least, you can make them a few days before your holiday meal, refrigerate them, then bake them on serving day. This is the method I plan on using this holiday season.

cheesy_mashed_potatoes

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes are always a huge hit. You can’t go wrong with sour cream and cheese right?

Make-Ahead Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Yum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Make-Ahead Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
  • 8 medium-sized potatoes
  • 1 cup milk (more or less as needed)
  • sea salt to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Scrub and cube potatoes.
  2. Boil them in water until tender.
  3. Drain water and mash potatoes with milk and salt until smooth.
  4. Stir together the mashed potatoes, butter, and sour cream.
  5. Spread into a 3 quart casserole dish.
  6. Sprinkle cheese on top.
  7. Refrigerate until you are ready to bake this dish.
  8. Bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes.
3.4.3177

Freezing Instructions:

Make the potatoes as directed in the recipe above. All it to cool completely. Cover and freeze for up to three months.

To bake and serve, thaw potatoes in the refrigerator and bake as directed. OR, cover the frozen dish with foil. Place the frozen dish of potatoes into a cold oven*. Turn the oven on to 250° and bake for 2 hours. Turn the oven up to 350° to continue baking to heat through.

*Be sure your oven is cold when you put in the frozen dish! Otherwise, the pan will crack because of the extreme temperature change.

What has been your experience with making potatoes ahead of time?

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

  • Make-Ahead Turkey
  • Stuffing Muffins
  • Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
  • Oh Good Gravy
  • Green Bean Casserole
  • How to Make Frozen Pies
  • Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
  • How to make Whipped Cream
  • Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

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Into the Dishwasher Go the Potatoes

August 20, 2013 by Laura 17 Comments

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Tonight’s soccer team dinner includes a baked potato (or two) for everyone. When cooking for a large crowd, I always wash my potatoes in the dishwasher. Never heard of that idea before? Read more about it here. It’s a huge time saver.

And while we’re on the subject of potatoes, I should let you know that after I wash them in the dishwasher, I’ll throw them into a crock pot to cook. (Or in this case, a huge roaster oven.)  Love how easy it is to feed baked potatoes to a crowd!

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Homemade Tater Tots

January 30, 2011 by Laura 62 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

 

If all of the recipes in the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge turn out to be this easy…I’ll whip through the list in no time. (But don’t get your hopes up.)

My first idea for and attempt at making Homemade Tater Tots turned out great. Then I tried them a second time…just to be sure. Even better. All six of us were so excited! These look like a tater tot, feel like a tater tot and well (if I do say so myself) taste better than a tater tot (funny thing about fresh potatoes and healthy oil).

My idea was to try the homemade hashbrown trick. Remember, I bake the potato, let it cool, shred it, then cook up the shredded potatoes into hashbrowns. SUCH a fabulous and easy way to make nice hashbrowns. And now…Tater Tots!!!!!!

Here’s how I did it…

Homemade Tater TotsYum

3-4 medium russett potatoes
Oil of choice (I used the very healthy and delicious Palm Shortening. I’d also recommend Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil because it’s flavorless yet healthy for frying.)  (You can read my research based opinions on healthy frying here.)
Sea Salt

First, scrub and bake your potatoes. Allow the potatoes to cool. Peel the potatoes (and save the skins to make Potato Skins as described in Katie’s Healthy Snacks to Go ebook!).

Chop the peeled and cooled potatoes and throw them in a food processor to shred finely. I’d recommend using the “pulse” setting if you have one. You don’t want your potatoes to turn to mush. Well, maybe you do, but I don’t. 

If you don’t have a food processor, you can always shred the potatoes
with a cheese grater…it’ll just take a bit longer.
And be careful to keep  your fingers away from the grater.
You don’t want fingers in your tater tots. Well, maybe you do, but I don’t.

Next, heat some oil in a skillet (medium heat). You  just need enough oil to barely cover the bottom of the skillet. You don’t want greasy tots. Well, maybe you do, but I don’t.

Use a small cookie scoop and pack in the shredded potatoes to make a nice firm ball. (If you don’t really pack it in, the potatoes will just fall apart when you place the ball in the skillet.)  Gently set the ball into the skillet. Allow it to cook thoroughly on one side before carefully turning it over. Press the ball down slightly when you turn it. Each side takes about 3-4 minutes to cook.

Remove tater tots once they look nice and crispy and golden brown. You don’t want blackened tater tots. Well, maybe you do, but I don’t. Sprinkle with desired amount of sea salt.

You should eat these right away because you don’t want cold tater tots. Well, (say it with me now) maybe you do, but I don’t.

If you can possibly keep your family out of them…we discovered that these freeze and reheat very well!! We used our toaster oven to reheat some leftover tater tots a day or two after I initially made them, just to test and see if these can be made ahead of time and YAY…it can be done!!

Just for fun, you may also want to check out the Homemade Tater Tot recipe at Finding Joy in my Kitchen. She came up with a different way of making tater tots that looks pretty tasty!

Overall, I’d say making Homemade Tater Tots is easy. Is it as easy as opening up a package and throwing the contents onto a cookie sheet? No. But it sure doesn’t take a lot of effort overall. And then, if you make several batches and freeze some…you’ve got easy, healthy tater tots ready to reheat for a quick side dish or snack!!

Okay…one recipe down…fourteen to go. Unless you count all the other ideas you challenged me with.

Now, go bake some potatoes so you can hurry up and make some tots. You don’t want to miss out on the delicious taste of fresh, Homemade Tater Tots.

Well, maybe you do, but I don’t.

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High Five Recipes: Roasted Italian Potatoes

October 10, 2010 by Laura 8 Comments

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High Five Recipes 2

It’s been months since I posted a High Five Recipe, so just in case you’re new around here…let me introduce you to this special recipe feature we have going on. Are you ready?

It is a fact that there are lots and lots of healthy recipes you can make which only take five or less (healthy) ingredients! I’m talking about REAL INGREDIENTS too…not just “add a packet of this and stir in a can of that”.

Real ingredients, real easy recipes. I LOVE High Five Recipes! You can scroll through all of these posts to see the other High Five Recipes I’ve posted so far!

This Roasted Italian Potatoes recipe comes courtesy of my friend Anne. Remember last year when I put some of my homemade Italian Dressing Mix in her stocking? What, you don’t remember? Yes, my friend Anne and I exchange Christmas stockings. Grown-ups needs stockings too ya know. And because she and I love to live on the wild side, we put items in each others stockings that are incredibly outlandish like paper clips, pot scrubbers…and yes…Italian Dressing Mix.

Yes indeed, Anne and I create one great big rowdy party when we come together.

Anyhoo…after Anne tried the Italian Dressing Mix I had given her, she fell in love with it and keeps coming up with yummy things to make with it. She is out to prove that Italian Dressing goes way beyond tossed salad. See? Told ya she was a crazy one.

Roasted Italian PotatoesYum

3 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed (or dirty, whichever way you like ’em)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons Italian dressing mix

Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces. Toss ingredients together in a bowl until the potatoes are covered with olive oil and dressing mix. Pour potatoes into a baking dish. Bake uncovered in a 350° oven for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. If you like, you can broil them for a few minutes at the end of their baking time to brown them up a bit.

Now, I am creatively thinking about what I should put in her stocking this year. Maybe some other great ingredient so she can come up with another high five recipe? Perhaps something to do with, I don’t know…chocolate???

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The Garden

July 7, 2010 by Laura 28 Comments

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Several of you have requested to see how our garden is growing this year. Therefore, I braved the millions of mosquitoes and took several shots of our glorious soil with green things growing out of it.

I can take absolutely NO credit this year for how the garden looks. Matt has worked VERY hard and keeping the weeds under control and everything looks so, so pretty.

I basically started on one end of the house and went all the way around the back to the other side taking pictures. Yes, we have more than one garden spot. If it has the capability to grow things (and it isn’t an area used regularly to kick soccer balls), it has been tilled and it shall bear fruit. Well, vegetables as the case may be.

garden_one

Here we have several tomato plants and some pepper plants. 
Looks like the beginnings of salsa, wouldn’t you think?

garden_two

Ah, more tomato plants. Yes, there will be many tomatoes. We are not afraid.

garden_3

Ooh, the first fruits. Vegetables. Wait. Tomatoes are a fruit. 

garden_four

We planted the corn in two stages so that it would be ready at two different times. 
The first round is just a bit taller than me. We’re so proud.

garden_five

Here are more pepper plants growing in the raised garden bed Matt made last year. 
Our yard is really not crooked. I just took a crooked picture.

garden_six

Here’s our little garden of potatoes. See all the blossoms? 
That means there are lots of french fries growing underground.

garden_seven

Beside the potato plot grows our beloved peach tree. 
There are only a few peaches on it, so this year we will be mooching peaches off of others if possible. 
The tree sure looks pretty though.

garden_eight

And last but not least, the green beans. Four long rows of green beans. And look:

garden_nine

I picked a whole bowlful on Tuesday!! 
When I steamed some that night, I thought perhaps I was in  heaven. 

And then we may or may not have steamed more of them for breakfast this morning. Who could resist?

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High Five Recipes: Cream Scalloped Potatoes

March 4, 2010 by Laura 36 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

High Five Recipes 2

Had I not tasted these potatoes myself (when my friend’s mom made them) and realized that I had just bitten into a bite of comfort food heaven, I would not have believed that these three little ingredients all by themselves could actually create such a wonderful side dish.

All of the other scalloped potatoes I’ve ever made have required quite a bit of work:  prepare potatoes…make a white sauce…layer the potatoes with the sauce…cook covered for a specific amount of time…then uncovered for another specific amount of time.

But this potato recipe?  Scrub and slice potatoes. Sprinkle with salt. Pour cream over potatoes. Bake. Stir every once in a while. Eat. Try to be nice and share. No really Laura…please pass the potatoes.

creamscallopedpotatoessm

Cream Scalloped Potatoes

4-5 medium potatoes
1 1/2 cups cream
sea salt to taste

Scrub potatoes and cut into very thin slices. Spread into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt. Pour cream over potatoes.

Bake uncovered at 300° for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, pulling dish out and stirring occasionally. Serve when potatoes are tender and cream has thickened.

The starch from the potatoes naturally thickens the cream into it’s own white sauce! SO simple!

Now, you’re welcome to throw in some onion or even sliced carrots into this dish if you want more flavor. I personally love it with just a generous amount of salt.

This potato dish is inexpensive, healthy and takes very little time to prepare. And it tastes like comfort food heaven. What more could we ask for?

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