Garlic and Cream Mashed Potatoes

This dish is a great time saver, since it can be prepared totally in advance and reheated just before the meal. It's also great because you can play around with the seasonings to suit your family's taste ie: more garlic, or onion, or both! I also think the flavor of these potatoes tastes great using the low fat versions of cream cheese and sour cream. However, when I make these for holiday meals such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, I sometimes use regular sour cream and cream cheese. If I'm using chives for garnish, I like to mix in about 1/4 cup right into the cream cheese/sour cream mixture as I heat it.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 14  medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (Yukon Gold are nice to use as well)
• 8  ounces low-fat cream cheese
• 8  ounces low-fat sour cream
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 2 -4  teaspoons onion powder or 2 -4  teaspoons garlic powder or 2 -4  teaspoons  dried roasted garlic
•  salt and pepper
•  chopped scallions or  chives, for garnish

Directions

1. In a large pot, cover potatoes with water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium and cook potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Drain.
4. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, heat cream cheese, sour cream, milk and 2-4 tsp of the spice of your choice, over low heat until smooth.
5. After potatoes are drained, return to pot and begin to mash a bit with a potato masher.
6. Add half of the cream cheese mixture, and continue mashing, adding more of the liquid as needed.
7. Combine well, add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Spoon mixture into a light greased 2 qt caserole dish.
9. At this point, the dish can be covered and refrigerated until ready to use.
10. Remove potatoes from fridge about 30 minutes before baking.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
12. Remove cover and bake for about an hour, or until heated through.
13. Top with chopped scallions or chives, and serve.