Awesome Mashed Potatoes

Today I was helping to prep for Xmas dinner tomorrow at my house, and volunteered to try my hand at making mashed potatoes. This is probably my favorite side dish, or dish for that matter when it comes to Thanksgiving/Xmas dinner, as I'm not the hugest turkey fan. Anyway, a while ago, I had the idea of using broth in place of water when boiling things, such as potatoes or rice. When I decided to make the mashed potatoes, I tested this idea out. The rest is mashed potatoes history. No wars were fought.

Ingredients:

1. 1 bag of russet potatoes (about 10)
2. 1-2 C turkey or vegetable broth
3. 1-3 C of cold water
4. 4 tbsps margarine or butter
5. 1/2 C milk
6. 1/2 C cream
7. 1 tsp sea salt
8. Ground black pepper to taste
9. Ground white pepper to taste
10. Additional sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes, cut up into about 1 inch cubes
2. Place cut up potatoes in a pot of the broth, (if the broth does not fully cover the potatoes, pour in enough cold water to just cover them)
3. Add about 1 tsp sea salt to water/broth
   
4. Bring potatoes just to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes or until a knife can pierce the potatoes and be removed easily
5. Remove potatoes from heat and drain, saving the remaining broth
   
6. Place potatoes back into the pot without the broth and simmer for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn them
7. Separately, simmer about 1 tbps margarine in bottom of a small pot, then add milk and cream; keep on medium low heat
8. Put potatoes into a blender and add 3 tbsps or more of margarine
9. Blend potatoes on low for about 1 minute
10. Add milk/cream/butter mixture, blend for about 30 seconds
11. Add small increments of reserved broth and blend to desired consistency

=awesome

Other possible additions:

• Garlic: add garlic to butter in small pot and simmer for a couple minutes before adding milk and cream

• Shredded cheddar cheese: when potatoes are still hot, add cheese to pot before blending

• Chives: add while blending

In other news, I apologize for the lack of a picture. Perhaps I will post it tomorrow.