Mashed Potato Casserole with Cream Cheese and Sour Cream

Don’t worry, don’t worry! This recipe does NOT include peas of any kind.  But this is how I like to eat my mashed potatoes at every single holiday meal.  The more peas, the better!  But whether you like a side of peas with your meal or not, I have no doubt that you will love these mashed potatoes that are whipped with both cream cheese and sour cream!  Seriously, they are insanely delicious!

So this is the beginning of a holiday recipe series that I’m putting on with Amanda and Tyler from What We’re Eating. For the next few days, we’ll be posting new holiday recipes on each of our blogs.  We’re posting these recipes together because Amanda and I actually cooked these dishes together at our big pre-Thanksgiving meal a few weeks back.

Amanda and Tyler came over to our house with camera and ingredients in tow, and Amanda and I spent the day in the kitchen cooking up a storm!  We then quickly photographed the results before the four of us dug in to an amazing holiday meal! The purpose of the day was to create recipes by adding new twists to some traditional holiday favorites, and we ended up with some great ones!

The recipe I’m going to share with you today is not actually a new recipe, but it is a twist on a classic holiday side dish.  My family has been making this mashed potato casserole for years, and let me tell you these potatoes are dangerously delicious!  Even though we were supposed to be testing new recipes, I couldn’t help making these.

The best thing about this mashed potato recipe is that it can be prepared up to three days in advance and then baked right alongside the other holiday casseroles after the turkey comes out of the oven.  Delicious and convenient!

Mashed Potato Casserole

4 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup butter, cut in pieces
paprika for garnish (optional)

Peel potatoes and boil in a 5 quart sauce pan until fork tender. Drain potatoes and mash well. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth with an electric mixer. Gradually add potatoes, beating until smooth.  Beat in garlic salt and pepper.  Put mixture into a buttered, shallow casserole. Dot with butter and sprinkle lightly with paprika (if desired).  Cover.  At this point, potatoes can be refrigerated for up to three days.  Bring to room temperature before baking.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until heated through, about 30-45 minutes.

Yield: approximately 8 servings.

Recipe Notes:  You can certainly make your own variations of this dish.  This last time, I used red potatoes rather than russets and left the skins on.

Now, are you curious about what Amanda’s cooking up over at What We’re Eating? You should be!  She made the most amazing sweet potato dish I’ve ever tasted!  Imagine this: tiny sweet potatoes stuffed with herbs and blue cheese then wrapped with prosciutto.  The best part is that they are then roasted until the prosciutto is crisp!  I’m telling you, you are going to be drooling all over your keyboard when you see them!  Make sure you head over there now!

In case you missed any of the other recipes in our holiday series this month, you can see them all below. Click on a photo to be taken to the recipe. Happy holiday planning!

Sourdough Stuffing with Apples and Bacon

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Cranberry Applesauce with Fresh Ginger

And the Holiday Recipe Series continues over at What We’re Eating with:

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Wrapped in Prosciutto

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce with Rosemary and Persimmon

For those of you just tuning in this month, I’m happy to say that I’m participating in the National Blog Posting Month challenge. For this year’s edition of NaBloPoMo, I’ve pledged to post a new recipe every single day for the month of November. If you don’t want to miss a recipe, sign up to receive my recipes by e-mail. You’ll only receive an e-mail when I write a new blog post, and your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose. Interested? Sign up now!