Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes – Great side dishes and main meals (giveaway ends 12/22/14)
I grew up in a home where my mom made every meal from scratch. She would never even entertain the thought of anything “instant” or something you need to toss in a microwave to warm up. Of course we’re going back a million years ago – back in the Stone Age (ha ha). I’m sure if my mom was still alive she would take advantage of the many wonderful convenience foods available to us to help make meal planning quicker and easier.
One thing my mom would do that I couldn’t imagine doing is making mashed potatoes from scratch. She would painstakingly peel the potatoes, boil them, then hand mash them with a potato masher with bit of milk and butter. I LOVED my moms mashed potatoes. She would mash them so much there wouldn’t be any lumps in them. When she’d make them for my brother in law she’d make a lumpy batch for him. He loved the lumpy kind.
I miss my moms mashed potatoes. I’m sure I could re-create my beloved mashed potatoes but I honestly don’t have the time (or the patience). There are days I’m on the go-go-go that I don’t even know what I am making for dinner, let alone make something from scratch.
My family and I have been enjoying Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes for years. They are so easy to make (just boil water, add the potatoes, mix and enjoy!) and come in flavors my family loves. Best of all they taste like real mashed potatoes.
Some instant mashed potatoes taste watery and very “light”. They don’t give you the thick and creamy mashed potatoes our moms and grandmas used to make. That is why we love Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes. They are close to the home made taste I grew up with.
Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes are available in several different flavor varieties.
- Idahoan Buttery Homestyle
- Idahoan Four Cheese
- Idahoan Loaded Baked
- Idahoan Baby Reds
- Idahoan Roasted Garlic
We had the Roasted Garlic this evening with dinner.
I love that Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes are now available in larger, family sized pouches. My husband and son have huge appetites and LOVE mashed potatoes so I usually have to make two packages. I don’t mind. Sometimes I even mix/match the flavors.
Here is a little more information about the Idahoan brand.
Idahoan is a grower-owned company in Eastern Idaho which began over 50 years ago. Idahoan uses 100% Idaho potatoes in all of its products. The rich, volcanic soil, warm days, cool nights and mountain water from the area offer the perfect conditions for growing high-quality potatoes. Idahoan uses a proprietary one-pass process in dehydrating these potatoes which allows them to retain the authentic, homemade taste and texture without the hassle of washing, peeling, boiling and mashing. In fact, families can enjoy our mashed potatoes in as little as 4 minutes. Simply put, Idahoan is in the business of making lives easier.
Today, Idahoan offers a full range of products including flavored mashed, original mashed and casserole style dishes such as Scalloped and Au Gratin. Flavored mashed options range from traditional tastes such as Buttery Homestyle and Loaded Baked to more adventuresome varieties such as Bacon Cheddar Chipotle and White Cheese. Idahoan also offers its top varieties in convenient microwaveable cups which are ready in 90 seconds and perfect for an on-the-go lifestyle.
It’s nice to learn a little background for the brands that you use often. I think it makes you appreciate them even more.
I mostly use Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes as side dishes to my main meals (mashed potatoes are a MUST with meatloaf). Did you know that Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potatoes also make great main meals too?
There are a lot of mouth-watering recipes found on the Idahoan website. You can find the Idahoan-inspired recipes on their website.
Here are just a few of the recipes you’ll find in the Idahoan recipe section.
Mashed Potato Topped Green Bean Casserole
Chevre Mashed Potatoes with Peas and Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Braised Short Ribs with Roasted Garlic Horseradish Mashed
Buffalo Chicken Layered Mashed
Idahoan Potato Crusted Rib Roast
I wanted to try one of the recipes. I had a few favorites but my teenage daughter asked if she could make something. I do love that she is learning to cook, which is a skill she’ll need when she’s on her own (she graduates in June!). However she tends NOT to follow directions. She likes to “wing it” and do things her own way – which is fine, and I admire that – but sometimes it’s important to follow the directions in order to ensure that you do things properly.
My daughter chose Idahoan Loaded Mashed Potato Cakes.
The recipe called for Panko breadcrumbs, which I didn’t have. My daughter felt that regular breadcrumbs would work OK (they didn’t).
No one like Colby cheese but me, so my daughter wanted to use either cheddar, smoked cheddar or American cheese. My husband and son won out (they only like American cheese).
My family doesn’t like chives (except me) or sour cream.
It makes you wonder WHY she chose this recipe? I guess it’s because it looked easy enough to do for a novice cook like my daughter.
The recipe calls for you to mix just the mashed potatoes and chives in a bowl. Actually you need to mix ALL the ingredients in a bowl, except the sour cream and bacon. Those go on last after it’s cooked.
I had her add a little water because they seemed a bit dry and wouldn’t form into patties (they were crumbly).
The patties looked pretty good, although she made them look more like meatballs. Half way through I told her to flatted them a bit so they would cook better.
They cooked for a bit (and she even set off the smoke alarm – Ha Ha). Soon we had Idahoan Loaded Mashed Potato Cakes.
We also topped them with some bacon pieces (although I would have loved to use sour cream – I think it would have been an amazing combination).
They were good. Maybe a wee bit dry, but I think with practice (and perhaps following the recipe exactly) they would turn out a lot better.
I plan on trying one of the potato soup recipes I found (and bookmarked) from the Idahoan Flavored Mashed Potato website. I love potato soup. I’ve only made it from a can. I never gave instant mashed potatoes a thought. Know that I know you can use them for soup I plan on making it – a lot.
If you would like to learn more about Idahoan potatoes visit Idahoan.com. You can also check them out on Facebook.
For information about their flavored mashed potato products you can click here.
For more Idahoan inspired recipe visit the Idahoan recipe section.
Idahoan would love to give a lucky reader a fabulous prize package which consists of the following;
- 4 pouches Idahoan Buttery Homestyle
- 4 pouches Idahoan Four Cheese
- 4 pouches Idahoan Loaded Baked
- 4 pouches Idahoan Baby Reds
- 4 pouches Idahoan Roasted Garlic
- 1 deck custom Idahoan playing cards
- 1 Idahoan branded premium soup bowl/cup
The total retail value is $50.00. Awesome!
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on December 22, 2014 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen in their place. One winner per household, email address, or home address. If you have won this prize on another blog you are ineligible to win again.
To enter please comment on this post and tell me what your favorite flavor of mashed potatoes – OR – your favorite way to enjoy mashed potatoes (as a side? as part of a main meal?).
For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget (below) but you must complete the initial entry requirement or the additional entries wont’ qualify (I do check). Extra entries are optional.
Kimberly
*I participated in this event on behalf of Wendy’s Bloggers for Idahoan Foods. I received Idahoan products to facilitate my review
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