Roasted Garlic and Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes

Sweet and oh so flavorful...roasted garlic and caramelized onions are a few of my favorite things (I tried to plug them into the song but couldn't quite make the rhyme scheme work so just pretend I'm clever and I did it and we all had a good chuckle, mkay?). I also adore mashed potatoes. So putting them all together is pretty much side dish nirvana.  (Especially when you're serving them with french dip sandwiches. That's a good meal, right there).

It's so ironic that I have so many mashed potato recipes on this blog but, in reality, 99% of the time I make mashed potatoes I sort of just wing it and mix stuff up not according to any particular recipe. That's real life, folks. BUT sometimes you wanna mix things up and do something specific and special and that's what happened here with these lovelies.

Creamy mashed potatoes with all the flavorful and somewhat sweet deliciousness imparted by roasted garlic and caramelized onions totally make the time that goes into them worth it! Michael even enjoyed them and generally he's pretty meh on mashed potatoes. Highly recommend!

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes

It's official. I'm a cliche'. (As if the fact that roses are my favorite flower, I'm obsessed with wedding planning, and just about everything else about me wasn't enough.) I just realized that I am actually going through a quarter-life crisis. And I'm 25. So....yeah.

Since leaving NY and deciding to leave behind any possibility of becoming a rich and famous actor...I'm sort of confused. In a perfect world I would just continue acting and blogging and doing promo work, like now. But then I think about having children and how I want to be able to give them a good life (and I want to put 4 kids through Catholic school) and I know I probably won't make enough for that (and Michael's never going to make big money). But-on top of the fact that I don't want a full-on 9-5 etc. job, I don't like the idea of-when I have kids-needing to leave them to go back to work after a month or 2. I want to be able to, mostly, stay home with them. So...I don't know. I'm all conflicted about it. The idea of being a wedding planner has been tossed around. I guess we'll just see.

Ok-sorry about unloading that all on you guys! Overall I'm super happy and content with life, sometimes the 'ole quarter life crisis fears like to just seep in. And then we need a little comfort food. And, as anyone who witness me eat over the holidays can tell you, potatoes pretty much always lift my spirits.

Especially when there are soft, slightly sweet, somewhat caramelized onions are thrown into the mix.

The onions-while technically they are still considered caramelized (I googled it!) they're like sauteed caramelized onions. So they cook in butter for a while-but not a super long time. Which...since I'm impatient...works out perfectly for me. AND you don't add any sugar which is good because I get enough sugar in my diet. 

And they're freakin' delicious in rich, creamy, mashed potatoes. And then you shovel a bunch into your mouth. And we all are happy.

Yes.

Individual Baked Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes you need to brainstorm a recipe that you can share on your blog.

Sometimes you have leftover Gruyere cheese and chives that'll die as soon as a frost decides to hit.

Sometimes you're a potato addict.

This recipe is a result of these times.

Life is a smidge crazy around my household currently. Michael has a huge workload to deal with in his new job as a caseworker plus school plus things I ask him to do around the house plus wedding stuff plus a need/obligation to see family and friends.

I suppose it'd be more accurate to say Michael's life is crazy. But...ya know...I'm kinda busy-ish too.

Anyway...

Maybe you're busy too. Maybe you just want some comfort food. Maybe you want flavorful and cheesy potatoes. Maybe you only want a single serving so you can control yourself. Or maybe you already have self-control without having to impose it upon yourself and maybe you're having a dinner party (or...hmmm....Thanksgiving isn't too far awayyyy). Maybe you're having a dinner party and you want a side dish you can make ahead of the time and just put it in the oven when you're ready. Maybe these individual mashed potatoes are as much of a lifesaver for you as they were for me?

Yeah. I thought so.

Mashed Potato Pizza

Sometimes inspiration hits you like a sledgehammer.

One day I was just on facebook, like I do, and I saw a girl I knew from high school posted a promo from a restaurant about how their "Mashed Potato Pizza is Back!" and I was just like "WHAAAAA??!"

And I knew I must make it.

What does a pizza consist of? Crust, sauce, cheese, toppings.
What does this pizza consist of? Crust, mashed potato, cheese, topping.

Pretty similar.

Pizza is always the perfect dish because you can completely, 100%, make it according to your preference. I used whole wheat thin crust pizza crust, because I like it. You can use whatever suits your fancy-whether that be store-bought or your favorite recipe. You can also use regular, plain old mashed potatoes or jazzed up ones (like garlic mashed potatoes! Or ones with sour cream!)--and you can use fresh mashed potatoes or save on time by using leftover. Top it with your cheese of choice. And then whatever toppings make you happy-which for me are chives/scallions. For you it might be bacon. Who knows!?

Also, if you're extra special and get your hands on some STAR Grilling Cuisine Cooking Oil (with garlic!) it makes a tasty addition when brushed onto the pizza dough before baking. Just saying.

It's fall. Comfort food season. What's more comforting than pizza AND mashed potatoes?!

Cheesy Chive Mashed Potatoes

Can we real talk for a sec?

I feel like I'm drowning. Like I can't keep up with everything going on. I, very seriously, cannot remember ever being this busy in my life. And don't get me wrong-I am having SO much fun! But I feel like I'm constantly behind and failing at stuff around the house. I'm not cleaning so much. And I'm not cooking or baking nearly enough. And the blog is getting hard to keep up with. I feel like I'm running out of recipes to share so I keep trying to come up with other posts and just...it's hard. I really want to keep consistent and keep to our regular posting schedule, but it is getting really difficult to keep up with. I'm thinking/hoping that once summer is over things will let up and I'll have time again, but in the meantime I'm just stressed. Mostly because I feel like I'm failing. Like I'm not taking good enough care of Michael or the house and like I'm supposed to be the girl who is always in the kitchen and lately...not so much. And don't even get me started on the fact that I have yet to see the inside of our fitness room so my plans to lose weight are thus far...not happening. I'm overall super happy, but sometimes I just get overwhelmed by all of this. Ya know?

Thanks for listening :)

Now that I'm done using you all as my personal therapists, we can get back to the reason you all are here: quirky banter and FOOD!

I haven't shared a mashed potato recipe on the blog in a little while and I''m gonna be honest about why:

It's not that I haven't made mashed potatoes. I have-a bunch. I just sort of make them, though, recipe-less.

But, due to the aforementioned stress, I was desperate for recipes for the blog and I have an herb garden that is overflowing. An herb garden which includes chives. You see where I'm going with this.

Obviously I needed to spice up my regular mashed potatoes with some chives! And ya know....cheese. Cuz....cheese.

And, in case you didn't know, you can absolutely use scallions/green onions in place of the chives. I feel like they're generally pretty interchangeable (except I think chives flavor might be a smidge more subtle).

Anyway, this recipe is super simple and really one of my most favoritest things. You'll end up with creamy, super flavorful and delicious mashed potatoes! Serve them with pot roast, chicken, pork....or....ya know...just in a bowl. And call it dinner. 

...not that I do that or anything.

Mashed Potato Soup

It's been cooooolddddddd. My Ohio peeps had a -10 degree day yesterday. In NYC we don't usually get quite that cold, but back during the first polar vortex whatever, we did have a 10 degree day. Which is still pretty darned cold. That is the day I made this soup. And...finished this soup. I ate 3/4 of it by myself before Michael came home. I recommend doubling this recipe or you'll end up with a fiance heckling you for being a "hungry hungry hippo".

 This is my first time posting a soup recipe on the blog, and there are a couple reasons for this:

1. I don't eat a lot of soup. I like it, but not like A TON (with the exception of my grandma's chicken-endive AKA wedding soup. But I don't have the skills to make that yet. And also, this soup is a major exception. I think I'll be making it a lot.)
2. Before this recipe, my homemade soup attempts did NOT work out. I made a couple atrociously bland soups that poor Michael had to choke down and they sort of scarred me and made me scared of making soup.

Like...let's just wrap our minds around this concept: Mashed Potato SOUP. I loooove mashed potatoes, AND I like pierogies, and with the addition of onions and cheese to this soup, it's also kind of pierogi-like.

It is a luscious, creamy, hearty soup (Michael said he could imagine Ivan Denisovich eating this. He really liked that book from Senior English...anyway...). It tastes like you're eating soup-y mashed potatoes BUT kicked up a notch by the nearly caramelized onions, and cheese--cheese makes all things better.

Crock Pot Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ugh....it's November. Which means I'm chilly. Like all the time. The only good thing about this time of year (aside from it being my birthday month and that we're getting closer to Christmas) is COMFORT FOOD. Food that warms ya up, inside out! Food that makes you feel full and happy. Food like mashed potatoes.

Plus, you gotta love a slow cooker in the fall. You just throw a bunch of stuff in and leave it alone for awhile. That's a full on win-win-win situation if you ask me! 

Funny story: I just got a filling a couple months ago (my first filling that I've needed in quite a few years) and it totally brought back memories of having my mom make me mashed potatoes to eat while my face was numb. I used to exclusively eat very thick instant mashed potatoes. Nowadays I'll eat some real potatoes. And if there's garlic involved, all the better. With or without my face being numb. :P

This recipe is like...really good, guys. Like...super duper tasty. You get a BIG batch (like...really big...like...it was difficult to finish off because there was so much. So it's perfect for big families or entertaining, etc.) of really creamy, really flavorful potatoes. I did have a problem getting all the chunks whipped up (but this seems to be a problem I always have...maybe it's my mixer?...or maybe I don't chop them up small enough...)--I definitely recommend cutting the potatoes into smaller pieces to make it easier on yourself later.

End of the day though...let's turn on some Netflix, curl up in our pj's with a big warm blanket, and dig into a big bowl of these potatoes. The perfect cure for my fall blues.

Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I'm having a very strange phase lately, you guys...

to put it simply...

I've been eating spinach.

I KNOW! It's like...I don't even know who I am anymore! 15 year old Kayle (let's face it...birth through age 19 year old Kayle's) is staring at me, wide mouthed with horror. Here is how that conversation might go:

15 y/o Kayle: OMG WHAT ARE YOU LIKE DOING? EATING SPINACH!? EWWW SO GROSS! 

Me: Calm down...seriously...just...calm down. Not just right now. Overall. You need to chill out. Trust me. But also...it's really not gross. You haven't even tried spinach.

15 y/o K: IT'S GROSS AND BITTER AND MUSHY AND COMES IN A CAN AND POPEYE EATS IT! THAT'S ALL I NEED TO KNOW!

Me: Oh my heavens was I seriously this loud and excitable?  *grabs 15 year old self and shakes* YOU CANNOT TAKE LIFE LESSONS FROM CARTOONS! Also, spinach can be eaten other ways.

15 K: I had a leaf of it raw once...it tasted like a leaf. WHO WANTS TO EAT LEAVES!?

Me: FOR PETE'S SAKE CALM DOWN! Ok, you're not 100% wrong there. Just...trust me kid...something about combining spinach with other stuff-say, garlic-makes it not gross. I promise.

15 K: Why can't you just eat like an entire thing of oreo's instead?

Me: *sigh* These lessons are just gonna take time. Go back to high school...you've got a lot of stuff coming your way. Oh but have fun in the musical! Try not to flirt too much with the boys, you look ridiculous.

15 K: *fully ignores me and goes off and does all the stupid things she'll do that'll eventually lead to me now*

As you can see...we've come a long way. Anyway, like I was saying-I've been eating spinach. You already know about the pies/pastries I've been making, and I've also been putting a few leaves in my salads lately (but not too many because 15 year old Kayle is right...they do just taste like leaves and I am not a giraffe).

So, all of this spinach eating made me think about a mashed potato recipe I made a while back. It used kale and...it was fine but...well...kale is super bitter. I could hardly handle it even when camouflaged with mashed potatoes. But spinach, to me at least, has a much more mild flavor so I thought "Hey! Let's see what we can make with that!"

Success! These potatoes are full of delicious flavor (yay roasted garlic, scallions, and parmesan cheese!) but without the guilt! These potatoes have fiber, nutrients, and a touch of good fats. A perfect side dish to make your taste buds and your belly be in complete agreement (even if you and your 15 year old self are not).

Baked Cheddar and Scallion Mashed Potatoes

Ok people....these are (possibly) like...the best mashed potatoes I've ever made.

I attribute part of this to the large quantity of cheese.

And my beloved scallions.

And for some reason, I find, when things are baked (baked mac n cheese, for example)-I tend to like them more. Plus, it makes this recipe perfect for entertaining! You can just whip everything up, put it in the casserole dish, then wait to bake it when/where your event is! Everybody wins! In fact, I'm planning on making this again for Easter.

Just imagine digging into this: you break past an irresistible cheese crust and find your way to these incredibly luscious, creamy, cheesey, mashed potatoes. And then you eat. And eat. And eat.

Because what sane person could stop??

Super flavorful, without being over the top, these really are sure to be a hit with just about anyone.

Michael said that I could have even added more cheese.

But then again, I think he'd always feel that way. :P

Stoemp (Mashed Potatoes with Leeks):Spotlight on The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Yay! Another Sponsor Spotlight!

Today I want to introduce you guys to the incomparable Susan, The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. Susan lives in Brooklyn with her husband and adorable pug and she cooks up delicious (and often-times award winning) food in her little, red, kitchen! She and I also have a special bond. For one thing, red is our favorite color. BUT ALSO she is the first fellow food blogger I ever met in real life! You guys remember when I blogged about our fun foodie date at Chelsea Market? Yeah? Great! Then you know how funny, fun, and fabulous (the 3 "F's") Susan is!

She has blogged sooo many delicious recipes! On the sweets side, I can't wait to try her (award winning) Belgian Supreme Ice Cream, the (also award winning) S'more Nutella Rice Pudding, Homemade Nutella, and her Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie! This girl also knows how to do savory right-like um her post on how to cook steak at home!? And she is queen of risotto (I want this recipe to become the first risotto I ever try). AND yes Buttermilk Oven Fried Chicken and Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese with Kale and Onions-mmmm!

And, so we can all get to know her better, she filled out a fun questionnaire for us!
(I filled out one for her too, AND she made one of my recipes so go check it out on her site!)

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

And I have mashed potatoes!

You know...in case you wanna try a new recipe.

This is definitely one of my new favorites.

They're flavorful.

They're thick and lusciously potato-y.

I love em.

This recipe is courtesy of one of my many wonderful food blogger friends, Mallory (Total Noms). Mallory is NYC based, also, so I've had the pleasure of getting to hang out with her. Which brings me to my next point:

What I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for my mom and my brother and all my family.

I'm thankful for my Michael.

I'm thankful I'm able to live my life, doing what I love to do.

I'm thankful any of you read this blog.

I'm thankful to be happy and healthy.

I'm thankful for my friends.

I'm thankful for all my new, blogg-y friends. There are so many of you now, and I hope you know who you are. The people whose comments always make me giggle, and blog posts I can't wait to read. Some of you have named my hand mixer. Some of you I've gotten to meet. Some of you I hope to meet soon. Some of you have bonded with me over shared loves and interests (Batman. Dessert. etc.) Some of you sent me gifts for my birthday (seriously...still speechless over the sweetness that was). Some of you may notice that it's you I just namelessly called out, and some of you may not-but I sincerely hope all of you know how much you mean to me and how much I truly think of you as friends, whether we've met in person or not. I love you all and am so thankful that you've come into my life.

What are you thankful for?

Oh and in case you were wondering, here is my Thanksgiving menu:

Texas Roadhouse Dinner Rolls

Michael's Applesauce

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry sauce (the icky stuff from the can...for Michael lol)

Corn

Butterball turkey breasts

Pumpkin Pie-My favorite pie crust + the canned pumpkin recipe

Mini Apple Pies

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Yes.

More mashed potatoes.

Healthy ones. Pretty much. AND these ones have ROASTED GARLIC in them!!

I loooove garlic.

I'm even gonna show you how to make roasted garlic, in case you didn't know (I totally didn't before I made these).

Wanna hear a funny mashed potato story? Up until...I don't know...like...college(?) I would only eat 1 kind of mashed potatoes: Hungry Jack instant mashed potatoes, made very thick and "lumpy". For a long time I had a very specific butter regimen as well ("squeeze" butter in concentric circles on the pile of mashed potatoes and a big hunk of "spread" Country Crock in the middle). I was a little OCD about food. Also, boy that was a lot of butter. It's a miracle I wasn't obese. Why did I only like instant? I imagine because that was what I had been raised on. Anyway, I eventually figured out that real mashed potatoes can be totally delicious, and I've never looked back since. I still like my potatoes thicker, though. So I suppose some things stick.

I promise I don't do that thing with the butter anymore....actually I usually don't put any butter on mashed potatoes...they usually have enough that was made into them. I've overcompensated it seems. 

Do any of you have weird food neuroses from your youth? 

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

So, I'm on a bit of a personal mission.

I am searching for the perfect mashed potato recipe.

Along the way, I have found many recipes that I really love, but none are that quintessential, perfect mashed potato. Now...I'm sure part of the reason for this is I have yet to actually use cream + a lot of butter (because let's face it...that's probably it). I'm not complaining, though, because I thoroughly enjoy all of the different kinds of mashed potatoes I've made so far--although most of them have some aspect of garlic/cheese to them. These potatoes are, so far, my favorite basic mashed potato recipe I've made. I mean...c'mon...they use browned butter, and we all know how awesome that is. And, because of the strong, buttery flavor that lends, you can use less butter than normal-which is good for our bellies/thighs/whateverproblemareayouhave. These are absolutely best if you use a combination of gold and russet potatoes-they just are.

I know I should probably be sharing this recipe around like Thanksgiving time. But...I don't eat according to season. I eat what I like, regardless of the date on the calendar. I understand this is a strange idiosyncrasy of mine, and I completely understand if you wait until fall breaks to try these but...I wouldn't be able to wait if I were you :).

 Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

Adapted slightly from How Sweet It Is

Serves 4-6 (generous helpings)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Kale

Until recently, I didn't fully understand what kale is. I thought it was some fancy food, like caviar, that all the upper-crust of society ate. I'm not sure where that idea came from, but go with me on this. Anyway, it wasn't until I really dove into the internet food world that I saw people start talking about kale a lot. Then I was like, "Hm, well it's a green vegetable, but maybe I won't mind it so much."

Perfectly Imperfect Mashed Potatoes

I like potatoes. They're tasty. 

And I think they totally count as a vegetable.

I also may sort of be obsessed with trying a bunch of different mashed potato recipes...

They're all different, though-no matter what Michael says.

These potatoes are kind of unique, not super fattening, and easily customizable to your preferences.

Go on, give 'em a try. 

Perfectly Imperfect Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from, Schnoodle Soup's "Perfectly Imperfect Garlic Mashed Potatoes"

Smashed Potatoes

And it's over! My first time hosting my own Thanksgiving and it is done. And I can't wait to do it again next year :D. I'll be sharing, every now and then, the recipes I used, and I decided to start it off with these smashed potatoes. The difference (to my understanding) between "smashed" and "mashed" potatoes is you leave skins on and just use a masher and leave it kind of lumpy for smashed potatoes, whereas for mashed they are skinless and you use a mixer to get them creamy. Anyway, these were great. They were simple to make, especially with my boy helping with the mashing: