My mashed potato disaster

Written by Elizabeth on November 7, 2008 – 12:40 am -

In 2006, Chris and I hosted members of both of our families for Thanksgiving dinner. Chris used our Betty Crocker cookbook to come up with a delicious herb rub for the turkey, which turned out beautifully, as you can see from the photo, and tasted delicious. We had crescent rolls, and stuffing, and Chris’ Grandma’s sweet potato casserole, and everything turned out really well, except for one thing-the mashed potatoes.

See, despite having been 39 years old at the time, I had never actually made homemade mashed potatoes. I know! I always bought the instant kind, but for Thanksgiving dinner, especially my first Thanksgiving dinner, I wanted to make homemade potatoes. I peeled, cut, and boiled the potatoes, drained them, and put them in a bowl. I broke them up with a fork, then dumped in butter and milk and turned on my electric hand mixer. And you know what I got?

GLUE. See, when cooked, potatoes are very starchy. And when that starch mixes with COLD MILK AND BUTTER (yes, I know now, you are supposed to bring them to room temp first), that potato starch turns to glue. Fortunately, I had a box of instant potatoes in the pantry which I made instead, and no one minded one bit. It could have been a disaster!

If you have any questions about how to cook a turkey this year, you can call 1-800-BUTTERBALL to virtually talk turkey with their holiday meal preparation experts, or visit Butterball.com for Web chats with a few bloggers we all know and love - Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna Missong (Miguelina) on November 11, 18 and 25 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST. They’ll answer all your turkey related questions.

But take it from me, if you attempt homemade mashed potatoes, please let the butter and a measuring cup of milk come to room temperature before adding them to your potatoes. Unless you want to serve a bowl of glue.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.

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