MASHED POTATOES

4 Medium Idaho russet potatoes (with or without the skins)
1/3 cup milk
2 Tbsp. butter
¼ to ½ tsp. salt
pinch of baking powder makes them fluffy


If you choose to leave the skins on scrub them really well and cut out any places that don’t look like you would want them in your potatoes. Cut into fourths, add water until almost covered. Boil potatoes until potatoes break apart easily when pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. Drain well. Mash and add the remaining ingredients.

“I’m partial to Idaho potatoes. Growing up in Idaho created a lot of memories associated with them. School was always let out the first week in October (after the first frost) for the youth to help pick potatoes. Machinery would dig up the potatoes, then and with a partner we would crawl along the ground or walk bent over, with a bushel basket, and pick up the potatoes. When we each picked a basket full we dumped them into a burlap bag. Then repeat the process all over, all day long. We got paid five cents a basket. The first few years I just earned pocket money. Then one year I worked real hard and had enough money to buy a dress. I believe it was the year my mother said she would be my partner. I figured that I would be able to out pick her, after all she was in her 40's. But was I ever surprised, I had a hard time keeping up with her. The last two years I help in the potatoes we worked on a Combine. It was pulled behind a tractor and would dig the potatoes then send them along a conveyor belt. Two people would stand on each side of the belt and simply remove everything that shouldn’t go into the bag. When the bag was full you would just set it on the ground. What a great invention!” – Nadine