It's Potato Day!

Wow.......4:30 sure comes EARLY!!  For some reason, the kiddos cannot sleep past 4:30 AM.  They are up, lights on, playing in their room, and ready for the day!  I'm sure it has something to do with the time change, but even so, that would mean it's "really" only 5:30, and they didn't even used to get up that early!  I'm really not sure what's going on, but I sure hope (and pray!) this doesn't last long!!!

Ahhhh.....anyway, since I'm up early, that means I can get more done, right?!  (Oh, which, by the way....Miss Anna is a sleeping gem!!  She's just 10 weeks old, and for the past week, she has been sleeping from, about, 7:30 pm until around 4 or 5 am!!  9-10 hours straight!  Goooooo Anna!  Plus, I nursed her around 4:30 this morning when the kids got up and she's back down sleeping again!  I've completely stopped swaddling her, too, and she's now sucking on her fingers to soothe herself back to sleep!  This girl is amazing.)

Alright, so on to my Potato Day!



Today I will be doing some FREEZER potato recipes.  In the past, I have to admit, that I never really thought freezing potatoes would work, but after much research, I have found that if you do it the right way, it CAN be done!!

So, here's what I hope to get accomplished today:

1.  Prep and peel, at least, 90% of the potatoes.  (Can I just say that I REALLY dislike peeling potatoes.....plus, I feel like I'm taking away all the vitamins and nutrients!!)

2.  Roast Squash (read on--you'll see why)

3.  Make Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup  (Recipe HERE)  This soup is DELICIOUS!!

4.  While the soup is going, I'll start on Marbled Mashed Potatoes.  (Recipe HERE)  I just found this recipe last night, but it is so intriguing to me, because it includes squash--I LOVE squash!  In fact, over the weekend we ventured out to a Grocery Outlet and found squash (of ANY size!) for 50 cents each!!!  The best deal I've found on squash is about $1.00/pound, so 50 cents/each was a STEAL!!  It's called Marbled, because of the different colors of the squash and the potato, but the squash I'm using is actually a light, white color:

I believe these are called Sweet Dumpling Squash, and I'm using them, in hopes that I can easily incorporate them into this side dish and not have the kids know it's in there!!  :-)

5.  Then, THESE Freezer Mashed Potatoes, but, instead of cooking the potatoes in the crockpot (my Pot Roast will be in there for dinner tonight!), I'm just going to boil them on the stove.

6.  And, last but not least, I'll be making good 'ol regular mashed potatoes (with butter and cream), and I'll be scooping them into muffin tins.  I'll then pop the tins in the freezer until the potatoes are good and frozen, then I'll bag them up in freezer bags in their cute individual portions!  That way, whenever mashed potatoes fall on the Menu Plan, I can just pull out as many portions as I think we'll need!

I'm also hoping to get THESE French Bread Rolls done!!!

Is this too hefty of a load, while taking care of 2 toddlers , a newborn----AND all my SAHM duties?!  Only time will tell.......I'll post tonight how it all went!!

Here's to the great potato.......