Plain Jane Mashed Potatoes

Once again, this recipe was based on my grandmother's standard dinner side dish. They always grew garden vegetables and stored homegrown potatoes in a root cellar. Mashed potatoes, fried potatoes and baked potatoes were frequently on the supper menu!

It'a a pretty basic recipe. No sour cream, no spices, no potato skins, nothing fancy. I've toned down the full fat milk and butter...and add very little salt, but it is a favorite of all of my girls!

Ingredients

• 8-10 medium sized white potatoes, peeled & quartered
• 3/4 c. 2% milk
• 2 Tbsp. I Can't Believe it's Not Butter or the equivalent in Butter Buds or Molly McButter Butter flavored sprinkles.
• salt and pepper
• vegetable broth (optional)

Peel the potatoes, rinse, & cut them into smaller chunks (quarters or so) to speed cooking time. Add to a large pan and cover the potatoes with water or vegetable broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and cook until the potatoes break when pierced with the tines of a fork.

If you used vegetable broth for cooking--reserve 2-3 tbsp of the cooking liquid. Drain the potatoes, dump into a large mixing bowl, add the butter, margarine, or butter sprinkles, the milk, the reserved vegetable broth if you have it and mash those potatoes!

Add in salt and pepper to taste (and diet requirements!).

Easy and obvious, but since I have mentioned my mashed potatoes as our preferred side for the mushroom steak, I thought I'd add in my recipe! This recipe makes about 6-8 servings.

Tips:

• If you like creamier, thinner potatoes, add more milk and use an electric hand mixer. Like thicker, chunkier potatoes? Don't add the milk all at once--you may not want so much and mix by hand adding in the milk in small amounts to get the desired texture.
• If you are using the butter flavored sprinkles, which I use OFTEN on baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables, make sure that you mix those in FIRST while the dish is steaming hot! The sprinkles melt better and have the appearance of "real" butter!
• When reheating leftovers, I add a splash or too of milk to the potatoes. The consistency seems to turn out better when microwaved!