Mashed potatoes
 

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have a good low cal recipe for mashed potatoes? My in-laws are coming to town for the weekend, and are looking forward to a Sunday dinner my husband talked up.... which I made regularly before I decided to change my eating habits.

I am super not ready to have the conversation with my father in law that the food can taste just as good without all the fat, so I was thinking of just separating some of the potatoes out and making a small amount that was just for me.

Does anyone have a good recipe for mashed potatoes that might be able to be cut down into a single serving?

Thank you :)

My boys love mashed potatoes and I really try to make it a priority to not fix separate stuff for myself, so I try to be smart about it and use portion control. When I make them plain, I use red potatoes (about 6 depending on size), 1/2 c. warmed skim milk, and half a stick of Smart Balance margarine. No one at my house has said that they taste different from what we used to have in the past.

Sometimes I'll cook the red potatoes (6-8) and when mashing them I put in 3 cloves of garlic (actually, put this in the pot when they cook, then mash it in when you whip the potatoes), 2 T. of margarine, a quarter cup of grated parmesan cheese, and a half cup of warmed skim milk. With both, I let people add salt at the table. The extra ingredients here give it a good taste and we don't even use gravy or butter with these.

I use this site to calculate the nutrition: Recipe Calculator

Just don't say anything. What you FIL doesn't know won't hurt him!

I put either fat free sour cream or Greek yogurt in mine, and like cjohnson I use red potatoes. Usually I dice them up with my chopper before they are boiled and leave the little bits of skin on them, so they are more like "smashed" or "rustic mashed" potatoes. I've also been known to mix in some garlic, but I usually cheat and use minced garlic from a jar, oh and a handful of fresh finely chopped chives or dill tossed in never hurts. Sometimes I use skim milk, but if I'm low on that I'll use warm water with a chicken bullion cube or two tossed in. Generally speaking I don't add butter or margarine, I put it on the table and let everyone make their own decisions on it. Maybe you could make baked potatoes instead, or how about oven fries? Better yet, sweet potato oven fries.

Better than potatoes, try butternut squash. It tastes similar to sweet potato but with much lower calories. Plus, its in season…

Compare these:
White potato, baked, peal eaten, fat not added in cooking - 1.5 cups - 169 calories
Sweetpotato, baked, peel not eaten, fat not added in cooking - 1.5 cups - 267 calories
Squash, winter, butternut, cooked, baked - 1.5 cups - 123 calories (note: only info available is for cubed; info on mashed is not available)

I usually use a little bit of butter, soy milk, mayo and dijon mustard or horseradish. You could leave out the butter and mayo and use chicken/veggie broth instead of soy milk. Dijon and horseradish adds some nice flavour. For the garlic, I've thrown whole cloves in the water with the potatoes and mashed them right in too. Another thing I tried is making half turnips and half potatoes. It is really yummy!

And I'm with Cassie, I say don't tell your FIL that you are making low fat mashed potatoes and just make them the way you want. I bet he won't even notice!

Ok, I think i'm leaning toward just not telling him, and making them the way I want. (It is MY house after all... just that the man is a complete beast. lol!)

Keep your fingers crossed, and thank you for all the great ideas! :)

I have made mashed sweet potatoes with just a little skim milk and cinnamon and since they are sweet on their own, I didn't need to add butter or anything else. Maybe you can do that

I have on occasion mixed them with cooked cauliflower...it is not bad...I add warm skim milk and garlic

Like bobbienne, I have used cooked cauliflower (1/2 cauliflower, 1/2 potato). and nonfat greek yogurt. It really reduces both the calories and the glycemic index plus makes it healthier all the way around.

Thats sound good...I'm new to greek yogurt so I'll have to try it with that.