Homemade Pierogies

Pierogi ; also spelled perogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi, pyrogie, or pyrogy; are dumplings of unleavened dough – first boiled, then baked or fried usually in butter with onions.

I’m going to show you two ways of making cheese and potato pierogies. By hand and by using a simple Pierogi mold.  Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of the page.  I’m telling you now that I’m horrible with using detailed/technical terms about cooking.  I’m counting on everyone that tries this recipe to have had at least one home economics class under their belt (or spent some time in the kitchen with an aunt like I did).  You can use all different types of fillings (Google that shit), but around here we stick with the one we know and love.

Some quick points.

  • One person can make this, but it’s easier and faster if you make this recipe with someone.
  • Nobody makes pierogies for just one meal.  Have freezer bags handy because this recipe makes a lot. They freeze beautifully.
  • It’s not difficult, but it will take time.  I usually block out an afternoon when we make them.

Pierogies

Mix together the flour, margarine, salt and sour cream.  I use a pastry cutter because I’m fancy that way, but you can use a fork if you’re not a fancypants.

Pierogies

Hollow out the mixture and pour in the beaten eggs.  Add milk last.

Pierogies

DO NOT USE A MIXER. Use your hands. This is the part I hate, but it has to be done. Make sure you just mix it (don’t knead it)  – add flour as needed, but don’t go nuts.

Pierogies

When it’s all mixed together (so that it forms a nice ball) place a wet paper towel over it and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Pierogies

While the dough is resting make your mashed potatoes. If you’re using real mashed potatoes you should have them finished (with cheese added) before you start making the dough.

Pierogies

Mix the cheese in while the potatoes are still hot because you want it to melt.

Pierogies

Cheesey Potato Heaven.

Pierogies

Take a small amount of dough (leaving the rest covered with the wet paper towel) and roll it out.  Use a goblet (1970’s, baby) or another wide mouth glass/mug to cut out circles. Yes, I have a mess here. It happens.

Pierogies

Drop a heaping spoonful of the mashed potatoes in the middle of the dough.

Pierogies

Lightly brush water around the edges of the circle.

Pierogies

Fold over and pinch closed with a fork. Make sure they’re sealed or you’ll have a mess when you go to boil them.  When we make pierogies we usually lay them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper as we go.  Then we put the entire cookie sheet in the freezer.  Rumor has it this is called flash-freezing.  Heh.  After they’ve hardened up, put them in freezer bags and freeze until ready to make.  The following  steps are used whether you’re cooking them fresh or frozen.

Pierogies

In a skillet, fry sliced onions with butter.  You can skip the onions if you’re like me and just melt butter in the skillet.

Pierogies

Drop the pierogies into boiling water – they’ll float to the top when they are done. Strain.  You CANNOT skip the boiling step.

Pierogies

Add them to the skillet with the butter and onions. Again, you can skip the onion part if you want, but don’t skip frying them in the butter.

Pierogies

A favorite meal at our house.  These bad boys are Eastern European peasant food and I love them!


Using a pierogi mold is a helluva lot faster than doing them by hand.

Pierogies

Flour your mold. Roll your dough out a little bit bigger than the size of your mold.

Pierogies

Lay the dough over the mold.

Pierogies

Fill with the cheese/mashed potatoes. Brush water all around

Pierogies

Roll out another layer of dough and place it over the mashed potatoes in the mold.

Pierogies

Run your rolling pin over the mold.

Pierogies

Lift off the excess dough (which can be used again).

Pierogies

Turn the mold over and plop them out onto a wax-paper lined cookie sheet.  Once the cookie sheet is filled up flash-freeze them.

Pierogies

I boiled these for lunch one day – straight from the freezer.

Pierogies

And it only took me a couple of minutes to fry them up.

Pierogies

And then I had a fabulous lunch. Did you notice how half of the pierogie is missing in this picture?  I couldn’t wait.

Pierogies re-heat in the microwave really well so don’t worry about making too many at one time (as if).

Homemade Pierogies
 
Original Source/Author:
: Dinner
Cuisine: Eastern European (peasant food)
Serves: A shit ton
Ingredients
  • Filling:
  • 8 cups mashed potatoes (already cooked instant or made with real potatoes)
  • 8 cups mild cheddar cheese (finely shredded)
  • Dough:
  • 6 cups flour
  • ½ stick (or ¼ cup) softened margarine
  • 1 pint (or 2 cups) sour cream
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 5 large eggs (slightly beaten)
  • ¼ cup milk
Instructions
  1. Start by making the mashed potatoes first (instant or real). When finished make sure you have 8 cups. Add the shredded cheese to the mashed potatoes while they're still hot. Stir until melted. Set aside.
  2. Measure flour into a large bowl. Add margarine, sour cream, salt. Mix together with pastry cutter or fork. Form a hollow in the flour mixture and pour in eggs. Add milk. Mix together with hands. Add more flour if needed. Don't knead the dough (this isn't bread/pizza dough). When it's mixed well, cover with damp towel and rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Working with small sections of the dough, roll out flat and cut into circles using a wide mouth glass/mug (or use a pierogie mold - see above). Put a heaping spoonful of the mashed potato mixture in the center of the dough circle. Lightly brush with water and fold the circle in half. Pinch with fork to seal. Drop in boiling water until they float then fry in a skillet with butter and onions.
  4. Can also be flash-frozen and placed in freezer bags. Making frozen is the same - just drop in boiling water until they float and then fry.

 

Pierogi Casserole – Nance and Robyn make the same recipe

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Pierogi Casserole. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.  The recipe was submitted by reader Jamie.

Robyn’s Take:

Jamie reports that she got the original recipe for this casserole from a cookbook her mother’s law office (in Canada) puts out every few years, but that she’s changed the original recipe a lot. When she submitted this recipe, I was all about trying it. Because guess who’s never actually HAD pierogies? That’s right, as far as I can recall, I’ve never had a single pierogi. I mean, Nance can apparently make them in her SLEEP, and I’ve visited her like 3,000 times, but has she ever actually made them for me? NO, SHE HAS NOT.

Why you hate me, Nance?

Anyway, when I actually got around to making the pierogi casserole, I was a little overwhelmed with all the different layers, but once I actually started doing it, it came together easily, and worked out like it was supposed to. Pretty much what it is, is a mashed potato/bacon/onion/cheese lasagna.

Your ingredients:

Pierogie Casserole (1)

Lasagna noodles (the ones you have to boil, not the oven-ready ones!), flavored instant potatoes, cut-up bacon, diced onion, minced garlic, shredded cheddar, cottage cheese, one egg, dried chives, green onions, and a package of Kraft dinner cheese powder.

Now, I don’t know if Kraft sells their cheese powder in a packet by itself, but I certainly couldn’t find that anywhere in the store, so I bought a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, and just used the powder from the box.

First thing, boil your lasagna noodles.

Pierogie Casserole (2)

While that’s going on, fry the bacon, garlic, and yellow onion over medium heat until the onion is cooked through (about 8 – 10 minutes).

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And also, make your instant mashed potatoes.

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In another bowl, mix the egg and dried chives into the cottage cheese.

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When the lasagna noodles are done, drain them. I didn’t get a picture of it, but once they were drained, I set each noodle down, flat, on parchment paper on the counter, so that the noodles wouldn’t stick together.

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And when the bacon, garlic and onion are done cooking, add HALF of the mixture to the instant mashed potatoes, along with the powdered cheese.

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So, to sum up: before you start putting your casserole together, you have:

ONE bowl with cottage cheese/egg/chives mixed together.
ONE bowl with instant mashed potatoes/powdered cheese/half the bacon/onion/garlic mixture, mixed together.
Cooked lasagna noodles.
Half the bacon/onion/garlic mixture still in the pan.
And a packet of cheese over on the counter, minding its own business.

Grease a 9×13 pan (I used Pam), and cover the bottom with a layer of lasagna noodles.

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Spread 1/2 of the potato mixture on top of that.

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On top of that, another layer of noodles. Then the entire bowl of cottage cheese mixture on top of THAT, and the shredded cheddar on top of the cottage cheese.

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Another layer of noodles, the rest of the potatoes, and the last layer of noodles on top of that. Top the noodles with the rest of the bacon/garlic/onion mixture, and then sprinkle the chopped green onions on top of it all.

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Chef Tony says “This very complicated, lady.”

What it looked like before it went into the oven.

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And after it came out.

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I let it cool for 15 minutes, and then we ate.

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(Note: I didn’t have any sour cream on hand, but I think it would have only enhanced the experience.)

The verdict? It was good! Jamie referred to it as comfort food, and it very much was. Fred didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, but he ate it a couple of times, so he certainly didn’t HATE it.

The things I would do differently: I’d probably cut the lasagna noodles into smaller pieces because getting the pieces out of the pan was a pan. Also, next time I’ll use the herb and butter instant potatoes that Jamie suggested, because I got the roasted garlic ones, and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, all the vampires in a 30-mile radius turned and fled en masse. That was some garlicky-ass shit, right there. I mean, I love garlic, but I don’t love smelling it coming out of my pores for two days afterward, thanks.

In summation: two thumbs up from me, one and a half thumbs up from Fred, definitely comfort food, and I recommend it. Thanks for the submission, Jamie!

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“Once again, Chef Tony not get to eat ANY of it. Y’all are some onion-eating motherfuckers.”

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Have a recipe you want us to make? Check out this page (there’s also a link to that page up there under the banner) and follow the instructions to submit a recipe!

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Nance’s Take:

Truth Game:  I discussed this recipe with Robyn last week.  If by discussed you mean that I sent Robyn an email asking her if she actually followed this recipe. She replied that she had followed the recipe and I told her that was a good thing because I wasn’t going to.  Translation: I didn’t want to listen to the family bitch.

My happy ass knows some shit about pierogies. I grew up eating and making pierogies so I can’t be playing when it comes to these things. We take our pierogies as seriously as we take our football team and yunz know how we are about our Steelers!

We have on very rare occasions made up a pierogi casserole/lasagna, but the truth is, it’s not even close to eating real pierogies. It is, however, a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Our recipe is very simple. Noodles, mashed potatoes, cheese.  Bake.
Pierogi Lasagna
My God, this babydoll is getting old! But I can still count on her to be in the middle of the kitchen floor when I have some cooking to do!
Pierogi Lasagna
I had good intentions when I started – that’s why I got the big pasta pot out. I took a picture before I noticed that I didn’t have much water in it.
Pierogi Lasagna
Turns out that it didn’t really matter since I only had a few lasagna noodles in my house. Sigh.
Pierogi Lasagna
I decided to use a bread pan in place of a casserole dish since I only had 5 motherfucking lasagna noodles.
Pierogi Lasagna
I sprayed the shit out of that bread pan with cooking spray because I didn’t want to clean up a mess. Then I threw one cooked noodle in there and slapped some potatoes in it.
Pierogi Lasagna
Spread the mashed potatoes all over the noodle and sprinkle with way too much cheese.
Pierogi Lasagna
Keep repeating until you hit the top.
Pierogi Lasagna
I baked it until my need to eat transcended my need to make it look good.
Pierogi Lasagna
I know this looks horrid and let me tell you why…
I willingly poured melted butter all over this shit because I lost my damn mind. The reason for the butter was because real pierogies are boiled and then fried in butter and onions.  I didn’t want to mess with onions, but I thought I would try just throwing some butter in there.  Don’t do that.  If you want to fry some onions in butter and layer them on top of the noodles go ahead.  Just don’t be a dumbass like me.

Between the melted butter and the greasy cheddar cheese this was probably the grossest thing I ever ate. Don’t do that. EVER. Pierogi Lasagna
You can barely see it, but even Sadie was giving me the side-eye.

Since I half-assed this recipe I promise that Shirley and I will take a day to make real pierogies and I’ll post it on DCEP.  This way everyone can know the joy that is stuffing your piehole with our family’s version of soul food.

Pierogi Casserole - Nance and Robyn make the same recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
: Entree, Side Dish
Cuisine: Polish Comfort Food
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 12 lasagna noodles (don't use oven-ready)
  • 2 packs of flavored instant potatoes
  • 8 slices of bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 T minced garlic
  • 1 pkg of Kraft dinner cheese powder (I used the packet of cheese from a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese)
  • 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 c. cottage cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp dried chives
  • 4 green onions, sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Boil the lasagna noodles according to directions on the box. Drain and set aside.
  3. Over medium heat, fry bacon, garlic and onion until the onion is transparent, about 8 - 10 minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, make both packages of instant mashed potatoes. Mix in powdered cheese and half of the bacon/onion/garlic mixture.
  5. In a medium bowl, mix 1 egg and chives with the cottage cheese.
  6. Place a layer of noodles in the bottom of the baking dish.
  7. Top with ½ of the potato mixture.
  8. Add another layer of noodles.
  9. Spread with all of the cottage cheese mixture, and sprinkle with shredded cheddar.
  10. Add another layer of noodles.
  11. Top with the rest of the potato mixture.
  12. Add the last layer of noodles.
  13. Sprinkle the rest of the garlic/onion/bacon layer across the top, and top that with the sliced green onions.
  14. Cover with tin foil.
  15. Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
  16. Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.
  17. Serve with sour cream, if desired.

 

Healthified Four-Cheese Mashed Potato Casserole – Nance and Robyn make the same recipe

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Healthified Four-Cheese Mashed Potato Casserole, found over at BettyCrocker.com. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.  

Robyn’s Take:

This week’s recipe was my choice, and by “my choice” what I mean is “Fred found it, and I thought it would be a good tandem recipe, so I suggested it to Nance.”

First, you’ve gotta mash your taters. Five pounds of white potatoes, fresh from Publix.

Taters (1)

Taters (2)

That’s a lot of potatoes. I had decided, after seeing that the recipe had 24 servings, that I would split the casserole into two 8″ square dishes and freeze one of them. But oh-ho-HO, those potatoes had another idea entirely. After I was done peeling potatoes and cutting out the black spots…

Taters (3)

“Hmm,” said I. “It’s almost as though I’ve got as much peel and black-spot potato as I’ve got potatoes I can actually use.”

Taters (4)

Started out with five pounds of potatoes, able to use a little more than half that. That is a FINE QUALITY PRODUCT, Publix. Awesome! I usually love the shit out of Publix, but this made me want to go on a slappin’ spree. They’re just lucky I wasn’t wearing a bra and didn’t want to put one on to make the trip to Publix to complain.

So I cut the recipe in half.

Boil the potatoes, drain them, and toss them back in the pot.

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Mash them.

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If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have bothered to mash the potatoes at this point.

Oh, and a side note here: I would have preferred to make this recipe using the flaked potatoes that the evil Nance introduced me to, and which are so damn good that I don’t EVEN care that they’re probably made up of chemicals and just the idea of real potatoes. But I wasn’t sure how to make it so that I’d have the correct amount of mashed potatoes. SO what I did, after I’d mashed my potatoes for this recipe was measure how much potato I had, and found that I had 5 cups.

In summary: if you’re making this recipe with instant mashed potatoes, use 5 cups for the half recipe or 10 for the full recipe. YOU’RE WELCOME.

More ingredients:

Taters (7)

Reduced-fat Neufchatel, crumbled blue cheese, Parmesan (not pictured), reduced-fat sour cream, reduced-fat cheddar, garlic salt, paprika, fresh chives.

Beat Neufchatel, blue cheese, cheddar, and Parmesan together with an electric beater ’til smooth.

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Add in your sour cream and garlic salt.

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Now, the original recipe said that you should stir your cheese mixture into your mashed potatoes. I figured that they thought you should do that by hand, and frankly? My thoughts on the topic:

shenanigans

So I threw the potatoes in with the cheese mixture.

Taters (10)

The potatoes were a bit stiff, so I added milk, 1 T. at a time, until it was a bit softer. You’ll have to go by your own preferences. I think I added 2 tablespoons of milk, though it might have been more.

Spoon your mashed potatoes into an ungreased glass baking dish. If you’re doing the full recipe, use a 9×13. If you’re doing a half recipe, use an 8×8.

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Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. Sprinkle with paprika and chopped chives.

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The verdict? Two thumbs up! I liked it, and Fred liked it even more. I’ll definitely be making this again, though I’ll be using the potato flakes, because if I can possibly make my life easier, I am ALL FOR IT.

It was even better the next day, reheated!

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Dear Robyn,

If you want to eat healthier mashed potatoes  just leave all the cheese out. Or make the other recipe we tried and only eat a tablespoon.  A day.  How would you survive without me?

Sincerely,
Nance

True Confessions:  I did not use Bleu Cheese. I did not use anything fat-free or reduced-fat. I don’t like doctored mashed potatoes. I don’t understand why anybody would want to mess with regular ol’ mashed potatoes because I think they are fabulous just the way they are. Sometimes I wonder if Robyn isn’t drinking alky-haul when she’s picking out recipes.  Or maybe she picked this one because she didn’t want Amanda to get upset again.

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If you read my true confessions above (skimmer!), you already know that I didn’t even try and follow the actual recipe. I would rather eat a little bit of something great than a whole lot of something shitty. And nobody can tell me that reduced fat stuff isn’t shitty. Been there, done that, bought the plunger. Shitty, plunger, get it?

Hey, it made me laugh.

The recipe gave me pause when it called for 5 pounds (14 cups) of freaking potatoes.  That seemed like an awful lot of potatoes for a 13 x 9 ” pan.  To me, anyway.  I don’t really know that much about whether or not potatoes shrink when cooked, etc.  And if you fuckers thought I was going to ask Mr. Science and risk the possibility of another mass, volume, blahblahblahblah lecture…um, no. I was also not going to sit around peeling motherfucking potatoes when I have my favorite instant mashed potatoes right in the cupboard. Think of this as the unhealthy, but much easier alternative to Betty Crocker’s™ bullshit healthified recipe.  Yeah, Betty.  I just made you my bitch.

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We decided to make the amount on the box that feeds 8 people.  Why?  I don’t know.  Probably because that’s what Rick told me he was making.  He’s in charge of instant mashed potatoes because he does it like a boss.  This is the action shot I took.  Please note that my husband is using a wooden spoon in my non-stick pan.  This is the same man that has the audacity to blame the kids for ruining the pans.  Men.  They’re so silly.

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Another action shot! Once I post this I’m going to go see how many dishes/bowls Robyn dirtied to make this goofy recipe. I’m already in for 3 dirty dishes and I didn’t have to use a colander to strain my potatoes – that would have been 4, dammit. If I’m using 4 dishes/bowls there better be cake involved. Tasty, tasty cake. Not to be confused with Tastykake™.  As if.

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Pro tip*: Always try to grate your own cheddar if you can. It tastes so much freaking better than that bagged crap.

Imagine there are pictures here of everything else I dumped in because for some reason I didn’t bother snapping any. I guess I got busy.

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This is what it looked like when I tossed it into a casserole dish and sprinkled paprika over it. Man, just looking at this picture is making me crave deviled eggs.

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Done. We had this with a pork roast and it was good.

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Everyone loved it (of course, since it’s a heart attack waitin’ to happen). Weird cropping compliments of the single cat hair on the edge of the plate that I didn’t notice until I was re-sizing pictures. Fucking cats.

*not to be confused with a genuine pro tip because, GET REAL.

Comments closed due to spamming.

Healthified Four-Cheese Mashed Potato Casserole - Nance and Robyn make the same recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Original Source/Author:
: side dish
Cuisine: Irish?
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 5 lb white potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 14 cups) (If you're using instant potatoes, you'll need 10 cups of mashed potatoes)
  • 3 oz reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), softened
  • ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
  • ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1 container (8 oz) reduced-fat sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • ¼ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives, if desired
Instructions
  1. In large pot, place potatoes. Cover with water. Heat over high heat until boiling; reduce heat to medium. Cook uncovered for 15 - 18 minutes or until tender. Drain; mash potatoes in saucepan with potato masher or electric mixer (or skip this step if you're a lazy ass and will just toss them into the bowl with the cheese mixture at the end.)
  2. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, blue cheese, Cheddar and Parmesan with electric mixer on low until smooth. Beat in sour cream and garlic salt.
  3. Heat oven to 350ºF. Stir cheese mixture into mashed potatoes until well blended (lazy asses, just toss the potatoes into the mixer with the cheese mixture and blend.) If potatoes are too stiff, add milk 1 T at a time until they've reached the preferred consistency.
  4. Spoon into an ungreased 13x9 (3-quart) glass baking dish. (If you prefer, you can split the potatoes between two 8x8 baking dishes and freeze one; in the future, just thaw the frozen potatoes in the refrigerator for a day, and cook as directed below.)
  5. Bake uncovered 35 - 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with paprika and chives.

 

Mashed Potato Casserole Nance & Robyn make the same recipe.

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Mashed Potato Casserole, found over at The Southern Lady Cooks. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.

Robyn’s Take:

This week’s recipe was my choice, and I don’t remember how I came across it. Pinterest, maybe? Just in the course of catching up on my blog reading? It’s a mystery how I found it, but I immediately thought it sounded really good, because I like mashed potatoes, and I like everything else that goes into this casserole, so I figured it HAD to be good.

The ingredients:

Mashed Potato Casserole (1)

Potatoes (duh), sour cream, cream cheese (I used Neufchatel, which is some magical thing made of air and fairy dust that tastes just like cream cheese only has WAY less calories and fat. Or something.), onion flakes, evaporated milk, garlic powder, paprika, butter, Monterey Jack cheese.

Peel the potatoes, quarter them, throw them in a pot of water, and put it on the stove, on high heat.

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Polly Pickle was the Kitchen Inspector on duty today. But there was an issue.

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Apparently butter scares the holy hell out of her. She was NOT having it, and she fled the counter and couldn’t be convinced to return.

Look, the potatoes are boiling:

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Boil those things ’til they’re fork-tender. This means, if this is your first day on Earth, that when you poke at random potato pieces, the fork should pierce them easily. If you have to put some effort behind it, they’re not done. It took my potatoes about 12 minutes of boiling. Yours might take longer. Or less time. Whatevs.

When they’re done, drain ’em!

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Throw everything in a mixing bowl and mix together ’til smooth. Or until the lumps are the size you prefer. I kind of like a few lumps in my mashed potatoes, personally.

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From her safe spot, far far away from the scary butter, Inspector Polly Pickles supervised.

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“I don’t know what you’re doing, but rest assured you’re doin’ it wrong. ::slurrp::”

Dump your mashed potatoes into a baking dish. I used a Pyrex 2.5-liter dish, and it was the perfect size.

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Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese on top. I used 1 cup; you might want to use 2. Whatever works for you works for me.

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Sprinkle with paprika. I didn’t measure mine, just shook some out and called it good enough.

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Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Check out THIS lovely picture.

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It looks slightly better dished up:

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The verdict? Meh.

I thought for sure it was going to be exceedingly, amazing wonderful, that we would both immediately adore it, and decide to have it every night for the rest of our lives. Instead, it was just okay. Honestly, I prefer plain old mashed potatoes (and they’re easier and faster to make!). At this point I don’t have any plans to make it again.

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Nance’s take:

One minute Robyn is sending me disgustingly healthy recipes for things like chocolate pie made out of figs mixed with weeds and the next thing you know, mashed potato casserole.  She cracks my shit up.

This is where I’m going to confess my dirty little secret…

NO, this is not a sponsored post!  My secret is that I never make real mashed potatoes.  We always use this brand and we get it at Sam’s Club.   Why?  No instant mashed potato aftertaste.  Anybody who has eaten instant potatoes knows what I’m talking about.  And these are cheap and easy (insert bad joke about my being a slut here).

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If you think I had anything to do with the peeling and boiling of these potatoes, you are very much mistaken. My mother was called in for peeling duty because I suck at it. Be jealous because Shirley lives at my house. But don’t be too jealous because there’s a reason we call her Grandma Tube-top. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad sometimes.  Heh.

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I was the one doing the mashing after I spent 15 minutes trying to find the damn masher thingie because we never use it.

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Maddy would like to know why I am fussing around with potatoes when I should be opening a can of that nasty ass cat food that she loves so much. Since we have started her on wet cat food she has turned into a bully. A very VOCAL BULLY. For those of you not in-the-know, Maddy was the first bottle-fed baby that Robyn fostered. Yes, I drove the whole way to Alabama to adopt Satan’s spawn.  I never said I was a genius.

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This is where I started to get annoyed. I don’t know about anybody else, but I go a little crazy when I have to open up containers for just a little bit of ingredients. The evaporated milk. The half block of cream cheese. The sour cream. I was shitting myself about being so wasteful!

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So far, so good. But I was still annoyed with all of the new containers of food I had to open.

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I used Monterey Jack cheese for the top.

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This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.  I suppose I could have broiled it for a few minutes, but eh, by the time this came out of the oven I didn’t care about presentation.  Shh, I know that I never care about presentation, but let’s just go with it.

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On a plate.

My mother and Rick loved it. Raved about it. Blahblahblah. Me? I was unimpressed. It wasn’t bad. But I couldn’t get past the massive amount of calories and fat this probably had in it. I suppose one could use the recipe with leftover mashed potatoes, but I just can’t imagine setting out to make this recipe on purpose.

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Felina the chihuahua was very unsure about this mashed potato business.

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But after trying it she decided that it was lick your entire face good!  Just don’t tell my mom that the dog’s on the table, okay?

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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Original Source/Author:
: side dish
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 7 or 8 large potatoes, peeled
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 4 ounces cream cheese (or Neufchatel cheese; kept in the dairy case right next to the cream cheese)
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup evaporated milk
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 to 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded or cheese of your choice
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
  1. Boil the peeled potatoes.
  2. Drain and mash with the salt, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, pepper, onion flakes and garlic powder.
  3. Spread mashed potatoes into a sprayed casserole dish and sprinkle with shredded cheese and paprika.
  4. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes.