Thanks David. The hardest part about taking the pics is keeping steady. My camera doesn't have a no shake setting. Smiles. Well, that and holding camera with one hand while flipping the gnocchi. Christy does like them. She gets tired of 'red', so last night she had some with some new sage from the garden and browned butter. Browning some bread crumbs in with the butter and sage is classic and good too. I keep forgetting to say that you certainly don't have to use leftover mashed potatoes. I make them using many kinds of leftover potatoes and even make potatoes just for gnocchi..lol. Baked, boiled, parsley, and of course you can just nuke a couple of potatoes or steam or boil or bake a few and you make them just the same way. Smash up the potatoes good and add the eggs and cheese if you're using cheese. The only difference will be in the amount of flour needed since you don't have to make up for the milk and butter from mashed potatoes. Just add a little salt if using plain potatoes. The main thing is just to get that same nice soft but somewhat stiff dough. Like any dough that changes with moisture in ingredients and the air and weather and such. Just remember it's usually easier to smash potatoes when their hot or at least warm so if you're using potatoes from a few days ago give them a little heat in the microwave, then mash or if you know you want to make them when making extra potatoes just mash them before you put them away for the night. Really easy to do with parsley potatoes. Probably way more than you ever wanted to know about such a simple dish but I know a lot of people love them and they're so really simple to make.

I'm old fashioned... OK and old. Mashed potatoes should be potatoes - mashed. I don't need the FAS (Fat American Syndrome) version of recipes where everything needs to have cheese and sugar on it to taste good. If you have good gravy (and it's unAmerican to not) then you don't even need the extra fat in the potatoes, since there's plenty of fat (and probably salt & pepper too) in the gravy. For potatoes by themselves, they can add a dab of butter and seasoning. Plain is often great by itself. Course good fries don't need ketchup either. The ones that have to FAS the taters could just as well use instants and save time. They're eating it for the cheese, sugar and other stuff, since apparently they don't like the taste of potatoes. I don't need FAS veggies, beverages, breads and the like either. Good food can stand on its own IMO. Pass the sugar bowl when old 300# Beulah needs her feet swelled up like soccer balls. But that's my opinion. A ricer is fine and a good tool for making lefse but mashed potatoes still need to be mashed with the zig-zag masher otherwise they resemble a big tater tot. I don't bother with it for mashed potatoes. Again, I want mashed potatoes, not riced potatoes, not beaten potatoes. If you're going to use a mixer to beat the taters to death and make them extra gummy, then serve boiled potatoes to me and I'll mash them with a fork! And for the people who think the mashed (riced, beat or instant) potatoes need to drip off the fork so they can say they're "creamy" UGH! Potatoes aren't supposed to drip. You make a well and fill it with gravy. We're not talking about potato soup. End of rant. The thing about starting potatoes in cold water as I understand is that the hot water sets almost a skin on the outside of the potato so the texture will be off. Can't prove it but I always found it easier to start cold and work up. I tried using hot tap water to start (to save energy) until I heard the thing to start cold. There might be something to it.

Tuna Causa Potato base: 3 large potatoes 1/3 cup olive oil ají amarillo powder salt and white pepper Boil, peel, and mash the potatoes. Add the olive oil a bit at a time, to taste and until it has a nice smooth consistency. Season with salt, pepper, and the ají amarillo to taste - you could also use chopped or pureed fresh peppers - this is a mild yellow pepper (spicier than a bell pepper, but mild). Form it into the base of your presentation on a platter and chill in the refrigerator for ½-1 hour just to firm it up a bit. This dish is generally served cold or room temperature, though IÂve seen hot causas on a few menus. Tuna layer: 3 cans of tuna (I like to use the water packed) 1 small red onion, chopped mayonnaise salt and white pepper This is pretty much just a simple tuna salad. Mash the tuna, add the onions, and enough mayonnaise just to make it moist and hold together. Season to taste. Assembly: Potato base Tuna salad 1 tomato, seeded and diced 1 avocado, peeled and sliced 1 rocoto or other medium hot pepper 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced chopped black olives chopped parsley juice of 1 lemon You should have a nice, firm mashed potato base to build on. Layer the tuna salad on top of it. Top with chopped tomato and parsley. Lay a layer of avocado slices on top of that, sprinkle or brush with the lemon juice so they maintain their color. Then the hard boiled egg slices (you can hard boil your eggs along with your potatoes above, just donÂt leave them in the water the entire time) and the pepper rings. Scatter the chopped olives over the top of it. Set it on the table, ooh and ahh a little, dig in.

I do like chicken pot pie, and AnnT's green enchiladas. We had a version of chicken ala king too, served over biscuits, but Grandma just called it "creamed chicken" and it contained whatever leftover vegetables we had, the leftover chicken, some stock and milk, flour to thicken if necessary. My girls loved anything that contained chicken and rice, so that made it easy to make fried rice with leftovers. I've also taken leftover chicken, pulled it apart, added BBQ sauce and made sandwiches, and the girls always liked ramen noodles, so I'd throw some chopped chicken in there for some protein and I've made chicken croquettes with leftover chicken as well. I've even put leftover chicken on pizza crust with other ingredients, whatever sounds good. Like Peppi, Elery and I are fans of legs and thighs instead of breasts, and because we raise our own chicken, there are always wings and breasts available. I just dumped a bag of wings into the roaster and made chicken stock, as I'm down to 4 quarts, and Amanda will always take the breast portions for chicken nuggets. Annie