Homemade Mashed Potatoes

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and one of my absolute favorite dishes is mashed potatoes!  You might think that making it homemade is difficult to get the right consistency but it's really quite easy!

Ingredients:
- 1 small/medium-sized potato = 1-2 servings (Yukon or Russet, whichever you prefer)
- water
- milk or cream
- butter
- salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste (or use fresh minced garlic)
- other seasonings
- masher

So pictured above in my glass lunch container is one portion made only from one potato.  Still looks good, doesn't it?

What I did first was wash and scrub the outside of the potato a little before putting into a pot of water.  Then, heat the water until it boils and let it simmer for about 10-20 minutes until the potato is fork-tender.  I typically jab at it with my wooden spoon and if the skin breaks, it's good.

Pour out the water and let it cool.  You can do this quickly by rinsing it in cold for a bit or doing an ice bath.  Next is to peel the skin.  As long as you cooked it long enough, the skin will slip right off.  You can peel the skin off while the potato is submerged in water or peel it right off into the trash.

Once peeled, place the potato in a larger bowl so that you have room to mash.  The masher is use is a wire masher:

First, cut up the potato into smaller chunks.  Then, you simply dig in and mash it up.  I like to throw in a slab of butter as I start mashing.  Once I start getting into "mashed" consistency, I add in some milk to make it creamy.  If you have any heavy cream/half&half/whipped cream..whatever floats your boat, feel free to use it.  Just add it in sparingly.  So, pour some in, mash and mix, and pour in more if necessary.  Explore this until you get your desired consistency.  If you like less chunky mashed potatoes, you'll have to mash it more with more cream.

At this point, I also like to add in my seasoning.  You'll want to add lots of salt since potatoes are very plain in nature.  I don't care much for pepper so I only add a little.  Now, I LOVE garlic mashed potatoes.  If you're feeling lazy, go with garlic powder.  If you're up for it, chop and mince some fresh garlic. (You'll get better flavor that way.)  I also like to add in dried basil and parsley as well.  Be creative with it!  One time, I was going for cheesy so I took a cheese packet from a mac n cheese and poured some of it into the mashed potatoes.  You can always use fresh grated cheeses for authentic flavor instead.

And that's it!  Boil, peel, mash, mix, and voila!  Mashed potatoes!