mashed potatoes mashed sweet potatoes
Stephen DevitaLooking for fun ways to get your kids involved in the kitchen? Gino Campagna has a simple suggestion: Mash it! With the help of his young assistants, he makes three kinds of vegetable dishes that let the kids do all the work. Whether you choose mashed potatoes, mashed squash, or mashed sweet potatoes, it's fun for the whole family.

To begin, Gino gives his helpers bowls of pre-boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash. You can use a ricer or a potato masher to mash any of the three, but the kids seem particularly excited about the ricer, which works much like a giant garlic press. The kids put in pieces of the potato, then squeeze until thin streams emerge. Gino helps them add a touch of cream, salt and pepper to their mashes for flavor, and also suggests toppings: Parmesan for the plain mashed potato, amaretti cookie crumbs for the sweet potatoes, and cheddar cheese for the squash. Easy and delicious.

Get Gino's recipe for mashed potatoes, mashed squash, and mashed sweet potatoes.

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