Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

When I think of comfort food, mashed potatoes often come to mind. Their creamy texture and yummy flavor warms your body and spirit. Potatoes sometime get a bad rap when it comes to nutrition, but actually they can be quite healthy for you depending on how they are prepared. They are a great source of potassium, and if you leave the skin on, they supply fiber and vitamin C, along with other vitamins and minerals. The problem comes when you fry them up into French Fries or potato chips, or load them up with butter and sour cream. This recipe avoids all that bad stuff, for the most part.

incredibly edible potatoes (click on any image to enlarge)

There’s no need to feel guilty when you eat these mashed potatoes. Using lowfat buttermilk and a little bit of real butter keeps the calorie count low. And they’re paired with roasted garlic, which adds lots of flavor and very few calories. Roasting the garlic tames the heat and mellows the flavor. If you’ve never roasted garlic before, you’re missing out on a real treat. And this recipe would be a good excuse to give it a try.

garlic cut for roasting

This recipe calls for butter that is mixed with both roasted and raw garlic for maximum flavor. If you want a little milder flavor you can omit the raw garlic. And lowfat buttermilk replaces more fattening ingredients sometimes added to mashed potatoes. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute with lowfat yogurt thinned with a little skim milk. Or you can add a little lemon juice or vinegar to sweet milk to make a buttermilk substitute.

Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

Garlicky Mashed Potatoes  Print This Recipe
a Happy Acres original

2 whole garlic heads
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbs butter, softened
1 Tbs chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 1/2 lbs potato, cubed Yukon gold or red, with skin
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare roasted garlic, remove white papery skin from garlic heads (do not
peel or separate the cloves). Cut away top part of garlic head to expose tops of
cloves. Drizzle olive oil over garlic. Wrap each head separately in foil. Bake at
400° for 45 minutes; cool 10 minutes.
3. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Combine garlic
pulp, butter, chives and raw garlic (if using)
4. To prepare potatoes, place potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring
to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes or until tender.
5. Drain and return potatoes to pan. Add buttermilk; mash to desired
consistency with potato masher. Heat over low heat 2 minutes more or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Stir in garlic butter, salt, and pepper.

Servings: 6 (about 1/2 cup each)

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 148 calories, 43 calories from fat, 4.8g total fat, 10.6mg cholesterol, 213.7mg sodium, 539.8mg potassium, 23.9g carbohydrates, 2.8g fiber, 1.5g sugar, 3.4g protein, 46.9mg calcium, 2.6g saturated fat.