Recipe: Simple slow cooker mashed potatoes

Happy "Gobble, Gobble" Day! You didn't think I would forget to post anything on the biggest binge eating day of the year, did you?

As mentioned in a previous post, I always serve up fried turkey, broccoli rice casserole, StoveTop stuffing (I like the chicken flavor best), kernel corn, and Betty Crocker Homestyle mashed potatoes (get the butter & herb flavor). This year, I'm going the extra mile and will make the mashed potatoes from scratch.

I've made mashed potatoes from scratch before in college, and it's often turned out to be a disaster. It's utterly time consuming; even with a hand mixer, my arms ache from mashing pounds and pounds of potatoes; and the end result is never as good as that darn Betty Crocker woman's boxed kind. Regardless, I'm going to try this recipe I found online this year. What attracted me to it (besides the positive reviews, of course) was that it utilizes the slow-cooker. I am a fan of the slow-cooker--even though most of the dishes I've had that came from a slow-cooker were never anything to rave about, I like that you can just throw in all the ingredients and forget about it for hours. With John and I having such busy lives, anything convenient is welcome in our kitchen. Of course, I don't like to sacrifice quality and taste for convenience, so if this pot of potatoes turns out under par, you can bet I won't hesitate to throw the recipe out.

Making these mashed potatoes will give us the chance to try out this Cuisinart hand blender that we received for our wedding shower. A friend had told us it was the "new thing" in contemporary kitchens, but the last few times I've tried to use it, I only managed to make a mess in the kitchen. I think of it as a substitute for a hand mixer, but I think it's more of a blender. All the cookie dough I've used it on ended up splattered across our blacksplash. Oops. Hopefully it will redeem itself with these mashed potatoes. If not, it's time to get one of these for future baking and just use the fooc processor for mashing potatoes.

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Mashed Potatoes

Summary: Original recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. red potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp. minced garlic or to taste
• 3 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. butter
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. In a lg. pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the potatoes, garlic, and bouillon until potatoes are tender but firm, about 15 min. Drain, reserving water.
2. In a lg. bowl, mash potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese, adding reserved water as needed to obtain desired consistency.
3. Transfer mixture to a slow-cooker, cover, and cook on low for 2-3 hrs. Just before serving, stir in butter and season with salt & pepper.

Quick Notes

I like to leave the peels on the potatoes because: (1) it's less work, (2) it adds taste and texture, and (3) it's where the nutrition is.

Cooking time (duration): 30

Diet type: Vegetarian

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)

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