The Secret to Mashed Potatoes
Updated: Nov 28, 2021
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was blessed to be at my niece's house with a ton of family! We had so much fun and lots of laughs. Not to mention the abundance of food and desserts.
Traditionally, I make the mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. I'm the "mashed potato queen" as I've been dubbed. But, I can't take credit. My mom was the Queen before me and taught me the secret!
Visit my category Gluten Free Baked Goods. Delicious for the holidays.
It's easy to make mashed potatoes, right? Well, yeah, kind of. Unless you are making a vat, which I make on holidays. I peeled 10 1/2 pounds of potatoes as I watched the parade. Yes, you read that correctly. No, I wasn't feeding the army, just our family, but we are a lot of people on Thanksgiving and everyone seems to love spuds.
I think this is the biggest potato I've ever peeled! A potato on steroids.
So what's the secret? After peeling your potatoes, place them into a bowl of cold water. Drain into a colander and rinse them well to make sure they are free from dirt. Cut into pieces approximately the same size so they cook evenly. Boil in water until soft - a fork goes through easily. Drain into colander and place into a bowl big enough to mix in.
Add butter and salt. Pour whole milk into the pot you boiled the potatoes in and steam it. Put the heat on medium high and watch it as it gets warm. When little bubbles form around the edges of the milk, take it off the burner. Be VERY CAREFUL, you don't want to burn the milk, so don't walk away for a second.
Pour the steamed milk into the bowl of mashed potatoes. Mix with a handheld mixer. I start off on medium then switch to high. Do a taste test for flavor and add salt if necessary. If needed, steam a bit more milk and add if the potatoes are too thick.
I once sent a huge bowl of mashed potatoes with my sister to a friend's house for after a funeral. Everyone loved them. They were all asking my sister for the recipe.
We had a lot of delicious food for Thanksgiving. I made stuffed zucchini, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes (this was only for me as my son also made a big bowl but used ingredients I can't eat), spicy garlicy cauliflower, Spanish rice and beans, and a sweet potato pie with homemade whipped cream. I forgot to take a picture of my mashed potatoes so I used a stock photo. ALL MY FOOD WAS GLUTEN, NUTS, SOY CORN AND EGG FREE. ALL WAS VEGETARIAN - SOME VEGAN AS WELL. FOR RECIPES, CLICK GREEN LINKS. If you would like the recipe for the mashed sweet potatoes, spicy garlicy cauliflower and Spanish rice and beans, just ask as these are not on my blog.
My son made two Turkeys and mashed sweet potatoes. My daughter-in-law and youngest niece got together and made our traditional pumpkin chiffon pies.
There was ham and candied sweet potatoes and a homemade cheesecake, courtesy of my sister and my other sister made mushrooms in red sauce and string bean casserole and probably other things, but there was so much, I'm not sure.
My mom made the chicken ball soup and stuffing and her traditional applesauce cake.
My niece made some vegan dishes and vegan oatmeal cream pies.
We had corn soufflé and chocolate chip cookies made by my daughter.
Someone brought cheesy broccoli and there were probably more dishes I didn't even notice. Other guests also brought dishes and desserts.
Speaking of desserts: I did get a lot of pictures of the desserts. My Gluten Free Homemade Crockpot Hot Chocolate would go perfectly with these desserts!
Unfortunately, there was SO MUCH FOOD and so MANY PEOPLE that taking pictures of the main meal was just impossible.
We also celebrated my niece's father-in-law's birthday!
Tonight is leftover night at my niece's house. Not sure who is showing up, but, there's enough leftovers to feed Texas.
From our family to yours, wishing you the happiest, healthiest holidays!
Thankful and blessed. My family.
Extended family
click picture for link to link party.
