Polka Dot Mashed Potatoes

I've never been a huge fan of mashed potatoes. If/when I ate them, I'd smother them in gravy or copious amounts of salt and butter, just to get them down. I couldn't blame my kids for not enjoying them either. I decided I needed to find a recipe that would get us all enjoying this potassium-rich side-dish. I scoured the web, did some test trials, and finally came up with something we love. Hope you enjoy it, too. (P.S. The name helps to sell it to the kids!)

Polka Dot Mashed Potatoes

• 4-5 organic potatoes
• 3 organic carrots
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup corn or black beans (or both - these are your polka dots!)

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. Place peeled (or not) and chopped potatoes and carrots in boiling water.
    Smash garlic cloves with the side of your knife, slide off skin and toss in
    boiling water.
3. Once potatoes and carrots are tender, drain and pour back in pot. Mash
    everything together with butter and cheese.
4. Stir in corn/beans and serve.
5. Enjoy!

***If you are only adding corn, you can toss in frozen kernels just before you drain everything, and mash the kernels in w/ everything else.

***Organic potatoes and carrots are worth every cent. They are the veggies I always buy in organic. Here's reason for you to spend the little bit extra on them, too:

"Jeffrey Moyer, farm director of the Rodale Institute and chair of the National Organic Standards Board, once said: “I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.”
Root vegetables absorb whatever is in the soil. So, if herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides are in the soil, they become part of the potato, too. In other words, you can’t wash it off. In addition, potatoes are treated with fungicides during the growing season, and then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. Once the potatoes are harvested, they are often treated again with more herbicides to prevent them from sprouting. What to do? Buy organic. If the farmer growing the potato with all those chemicals won’t eat it, why should you? "