Monster Mashed Potatoes

This recipe was inspired by Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. To learn more about the book and see all our Where the Wild Things Are activities, click here. 

 

 

Scare up this delicious dish of Monster Mashed Potatoes by combining a few wholesome ingredients that taste deceptively decadent. Spinach, parmesan, and buttermilk blend to make a dish that is a tasty treat but creepy enough to satisfy the monsters at your table. 

Although tinted a creepy green with spinach, young readers will forget how healthy these mashed potatoes are after the first bite.  Any reluctant tasters will be persuaded once the dish is topped with a scary (or silly) monster face. 

These scary mashed potatoes are so delicious that Max would have quickly sailed home from the island of Wild Things once he caught a whiff of this dish baking in the oven! 

 

 

Young Readers in the Kitchen

Kids can help mash the potatoes and stir in the cheese. Once baked, let kids get creative in making their monster face. Ours is made with shredded cheese hair, tomato slice eyes with chickpea pupils, carrot nose and fangs, and a celery mouth. 

 

Monster Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes
• 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, divided
• extra ingredients such as baby carrots, tomato slices, celery, cheese, really anything in the fridge desired to make a face

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Wash potatoes and cut into roughly 1 inch chunks (No need to peel). Add potatoes to boiling water and cook until tender. 
2. Melt butter in large skillet. Saute chopped onion until softened. Add spinach, and cook until completely thawed and heated through. 
3. Transfer mixture to a food processor. Process until mixture is finely chopped. Add buttermilk and salt and process until entire mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. 
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Pour spinach mixture over potatoes and mash until desired consistency is reached. Stir in 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. 
6. Transfer mashed potatoes to an oven-safe baking dish. Top with remaining Parmesan. 
7. Bake for 20 minutes until topping is lightly golden brown. 
8. Let cool slightly before topping with desired extra ingredients to make a monster face. 

 

Comments

[Capri + 3]

The mashed potatoes look really good and healthy too!

[Jackie Small (My Little Bookcase)]

Thanks for linking up to The Children's Bookshelf. I just love playing with food- and it is a wonderful way to encourage kids to eat their greens.

[maggy, red ted art]

Ooh that monster mash looks positively spooky!!!

Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty.

Maggy

[Jen Fischer]

I love this and totally have been planning to do a Monster Mash activity with my toddler!! Now, I am inspired to make them Where the Wild Thing monsters b/c my nickname for my 3 yo on my blog is Wild Thing and the book is the theme for his room. Now, I will not blog about it, though. I will be highlighting this in my Kids Co-Op post tomorrow as one of my favorites from last week.