Cooking to die for!

This is my first food blog entry... I thought it'd be kind of nice to separate my regular blog from my food blog.  So this will just be a journal of sorts, for all the cooking adventures my husband and I have, along with recipes and photos!  I'm just hoping to inspire some bloggers to do more cooking, share delicious recipes, and hopefully get some good food conversations going!

So this evening, we still find ourselves on a tight food budget and trying to work with what we have, as opposed to our normal way of cooking: let's just go shopping for whatever we need!  Luckily, we are buying great versatile ingredients on our budget, and coming up with some tasty dinners, like the potato dish I made tonight!

The Baked Mashed Potatoes dish is very rich, and not friendly on carbs or calories, I'm sorry to say.  But if you're looking for comfort food and you want to get away from ordinary mashed potatoes, this is your answer!  The potatoes come out light and fluffy and the Asiago cheese gives it a crispy, golden crust on top!  The onion and garlic add tangy deliciousness, the chicken broth gives it a deep, savory flavour, and cream cheese makes it rich and creamy!

Baked Mashed Potatoes
3 pounds potatoes
3/4 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth
1 egg
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
butter-flavored non-stick cooking spray
2/3 cup shredded Asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and chop potatoes, placing chunks into large pan.  Add cold water until about 1" above potatoes.  Add 2 tablespoons of salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cook until potatoes are tender when pierced, about 15 minutes.  Drain.

Grate onion (or use food processor to chop fine) and mince the garlic cloves. 

Transfer potatoes into a large mixing bowl and add onion, garlic, cream cheese, chicken broth (to desired consistancy - may not need 1/2 cup), and egg.  With an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until all ingredients are blended.  Then continue to beat while adding thyme, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper.  Add small handfuls of cheddar cheese and combine.

Spray the inside of a 2-quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon mashed potatoes into casserole dish and spread evenly.  Sprinkle top with Asiago cheese and bake for one hour at 350 degrees.