Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

So I realized that I haven't been posting any Thanksgiving recipes.  That's probably because I don't cook the Thanksgiving dinner around these parts.  It's almost always my mom (or my aunt, this year) and Sean's mom that do the cooking.  I found this recipe for make ahead mashed potatoes on the blog bakedbree.com.  If you haven't been there yet, please check it out.  She always has some really great stuff.  


In case anyone out there is in need of a last minute recipe for their holiday table, or if you just want to save yourself some time and hassle on the day of, take this recipe into consideration.  I made it to go along with my Crock Pot Kielbasa, Pork, and Sauerkraut (sauerkraut swirled up with mashed potatoes = amazing) this past weekend.  


This recipe has been adapted slightly from the original.  You can really fudge the amounts if you want, until you get something that you enjoy.


You'll need:


2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets
1/2 cup of milk, warmed
1/2 stick of butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp cream of tartar 


Start the potatoes and cauliflower in cold, salted water.  Bring to a boil.  Boil until a fork can be inserted into the potatoes and cauliflower easily.  Drain them in a colander.


Now you can either run your potatoes and cauliflower through a ricer, a food mill, or just whip them up really well with a handheld mixer.  I opted for the mixer, since that's all that I have.  Put your vegetables in a bowl and whip them up really well with the mixer until they're fluffy.  Add the butter, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and cream of tartar.  Add about half of your milk. Whip everything up again, and add more milk if needed.  Stop to taste everything.  Taste some more if you need to.  I won't tell.


Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and spread the potato mixture into it.  At this point you can either bake straight away (preheat to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes) or wrap it up, place in the fridge, and bake the next day.  If you opt to bake it the next day, just make sure to take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature or it will take forever to warm up in the oven.

I have to tell you, these potatoes are awesome!  They're really fluffy (thanks to the cream of tartar) and creamy, and taste amazing.  I think my adaptations from the original recipe are pretty obvious... but I had to scale it down by about half since I was only feeding 4 people for dinner (and wanted some leftovers, but not a ton), and added some cauliflower.  I'd love to say that I was attempting to be somewhat health conscious with that addition, but in reality I had that cauliflower in the fridge and it probably wasn't going to get used if I didn't do this.  Ultimately it was an excellent call.

If you want to make your Thanksgiving dinner prep a little easier on yourself, please consider adding these potatoes to your menu!  Anything that can be done the night before will surely help out with your stress level just prior to dinner time.  Enjoy! =)

Mexican Chicken Baked Potatoes

Two posts in one day?!  Scandalous, right?


Along with the return of autumn comes the new school year.  My cousin recently started her first year of college, and my brother just transferred to a new school.  As a result, both are now students at my alma mater, The University of Pittsburgh.  Now don't get me wrong, I'd be happy for and proud of them regardless of where they chose to go to school (and I am!!), but I'm particularly excited that they both chose Pitt.  I loved my time there, and have found myself getting a little nostalgic from time to time for the sights, sounds, people, and foods that I came to know and love.

The Cathedral of Learning, on Pitt's campus

When giving my brother recommendations for restaurants the other day, the restaurant Vera Cruz came to mind.  Vera Cruz is this little Mexican place on Forbes Avenue, close to the intersection of Forbes and Atwood St.  They don't have a website, or I'd link it here.  Now, this place isn't going to be rated by Zagat's or anything, but it was cheap, fast, close to campus, the people were always friendly, and above all else: tasty.  They had all of the Mexican foods you'd expect: tacos, quesadillas, and so on.  But they also had these baked potatoes loaded up with cheese, sour cream, black beans, tomatoes, other assorted toppings, and your choice of meat.  I always got the chicken baked potato.  


Anyway, I thought this would be easy enough to recreate in my own kitchen.  The following recipe is for 2 people, but you can easily adapt it for 1 or many.


You'll need:


2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and dried
2 small or 1 medium chicken breast, chopped up
1 tomato, diced
Sour cream
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (although you're probably not going to use this whole can unless you're a black bean fiend like me)
Shredded cheese
2/3 cup water
1 tbs vegetable oil or butter
Homemade taco seasoning (recipe below), or 1 packet store bought taco seasoning
Any other toppings you'd like!


Homemade Taco Seasoning
1 tbs chili powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

I didn't have onion powder this time around, but the taco seasoning was really good anyway.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Make sure to pierce your potatoes a few times with a fork after washing and drying them off, but before starting to cook them.  I like to give my potatoes a head start in the microwave so that they don't take quite as long in the oven.  So I nuke them for 6-7 minutes in the microwave before wrapping them in some foil and sticking them in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or so, depending upon how large the potatoes are.


While the potatoes are baking, start by gathering your spices and mixing the homemade taco seasoning in a bowl.  Set that aside.  Cut your chicken up into bite sized pieces.  Heat a skillet with a little bit of oil or butter in it, and toss the chicken in.  Cook until there's no more pink in the middle.  Once your chicken is cooked, add the taco seasoning and water.  Stir to coat everything, and then let it reduce a bit, just like you would do if you were making tacos from a boxed kit.


Once your potatoes are done baking, slit them open and fluff up the insides a bit.  Then stuff them with whatever toppings your little heart desires!

It's not the prettiest picture, but boy was this tasty.

After taking that picture, I tore into that potato in a way that I'm not entirely proud of...