Step by Step Garlic Cheese Mashed Potatoes

There are just those days when you crave mashed potatoes. I had one of those last week. Even though mashed potatoes are pretty simple I decided to try something a little bit different. I wanted to brown the garlic in a skillet with butter and olive oil, throw in a few small pieces of ground sausage, and add in the cheese (like normal) and see what happened. The result was pretty delicious. My husband and I were having a low-key date night, celebrating two months of marriage. We decided to have a picnic, and these were a perfect side for our picnic dinner.

I started off with five large potatoes. I washed them, peeled them, then sliced them into large cubes. Since I like a little texture in mashed potatoes, I left a few pieces of the skin on them here and there. I wasn't too specific on getting the cubes perfect either. The key was to just get them where they would get soft all around the same time.

Next I plopped all the cubes into a pot with water filled up just enough to cover all the potatoes and put it on the stove to start boiling. I started off with the heat medium/high to get it to start boiling then turned it down to just medium. The time you need to let them boil can vary depending on what type of potato you are using and what size you sliced them. The tester is to get a fork and see if the potato is tender to it. If you can easily stick the fork in, then they are ready to drain and mash. In the meantime, I started off another pot to brown the garlic. It worked out perfect to get the rest of the concoction ready while the potatoes were boiling.

As they were boiling, I took about 2-3 tablespoons of butter (you can do more or less - I wanted to mostly use olive oil) with olive oil and put them on a sauce pan on the stove. I used one clove of fresh garlic, pressed it, then turned up the heat (low/medium) to let the garlic start browning.

I also added in salt, pepper, and some garlic/herb seasoning to the mix. I tried to stay light on the amount of olive oil I put in, knowing that I could easily add more at the end if needed.

Time to go back to the potatoes. Once they are tender, drain all of the water out of the pot and grab your potato masher. It's time to go to town getting all the clumps out of the potatoes. You may need a knife to occasionally clean off your masher since clumps can get stuck on it. This should not be too difficult though if they were tender when you drained the water.

Here's the fun part. Now you add in all of the sauce from the sauce pan along with any other toppings you desire. I used a few small pieces of ground sausage and lots of cheese. You could also add in bacon bits or green onions. After those are on top, you grab the masher again and work all of the toppings into the mixture. If they are not as creamy as you want, now is the time to add in more olive oil. You can use heavy cream if desired, but I wanted to make this a "healthier" version. You can taste test a bite to see if you need more seasonings as well.