Last week, our friend Judy wrote a lovely article about us in her Noozhawk column. She confided that we might be surprised at the reaction because the readership of Noozhawk is surprisingly vast – upwards of 50,000 people worldwide every week! Well, indeed she was correct… we had a record number of views and received some amazing and lovely emails. It was pretty crazy!
So, since we are nothing if not “meta-“ and since Thanksgiving is coming up and Judy happens to have a fabulous recipe for mashed potato casserole (a cholesterol buster but so delicious!), we thought we’d share both her column and her recipe with you.
Judy is a wonder: a talented, positive life force, a new grandma, and a woman who knows how to rock a russet potato! Enjoy!
- 8 medium russet potatoes
- 1 stick butter plus another 4 tablespoons for top
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup whipped cream cheese
- ¼ cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 3 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)
- ½ teaspoon paprika for top
- To keep the potatoes from getting brown as you peel them, have a bowl of ice water on hand to hold them as you collect them before boiling. (Or you can put the peeled potatoes in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator for several hours before continuing.)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Boil a large pot of water and throw in the peeled potatoes which have been cut into large chunks; boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft but not mushy. Drain.
- Immediately add the stick of butter and let it melt into the hot potatoes.
- Then add sour cream, cream cheese, half and half, salt, pepper, garlic powder and chives.
- Mix well to get out any lumps (we used a hand mixer or immersion blender).
- Coat the inside of a 9 x 12 casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Put the potato mixture into the casserole dish; sprinkle paprika on top, then dot with remaining butter. Bake until top is brown and crispy, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Delish!