I love potatoes. I love cheese. One of the greatest inventions of all time was when potatoes met cheese, probably somewhere around 300 years ago when potatoes where introduced to Europe from South America. The world hasn’t been the same since! Trader Joe’s rolls out a lot of frozen, prepared potato type dishes for the holidays. They are usually in the freezer section, but there are some in the fridge section so you might have to hunt around for the one you really want. If you want a low fuss, high flavor potato dish and you don’t want to do a lot of cooking, this might be for you!
I recently reviewed the Cauliflower Tot Casserole and in a similar vein of lots of cheese, the One Potato, Two Potato (Acutally regular potatoes and sweet potatoes) was a hit at our house. We had a dry run for Thanksgiving last night. I made a small spatchcocked turkey for dinner and had the One Potato, Two Potato and the Cauliflower Broccoli gratin together (That will be my next review) as our substitute for mashed potatoes. I was trying to keep it super simple and try a variety of Trader Joe’s products all at one time.
I opted to bake these in the oven since I had it going for the turkey already. I highly recommend doing them in the oven over a microwave if you have the time or the inclination. The cheese gets all browned on top and around the edges, which probably wouldn’t happen in the microwave. Pulling it out of the oven, you could smell the baked cheesy goodness blending with the potatoes and mushrooms. I just kept them in the paper tray I baked them in, but you could easily transfer them to something prettier for presentation if you need.
Be careful because these things keep their heat. I burned my tongue trying a sample. It’s all that damn cheese! By the way, this is a Product of Italy. I always like these frozen products from Europe. I don’t know why they always taste better. I don’t know if they use better ingredients than American food manufacturers. Maybe it’s the cheese is higher quality, but they just taste better. The whole family tried this and we all agreed that this was the bomb! Cheese, mushroom goodness. The potatoes were cooked just right. Not too soft or too hard. There was plenty of cheese to bind everything together and the mushrooms lent a nice earthiness to the mixture. The only thing I might do different is sprinkle a little black pepper and/or thyme on top before I bake them. If you are feeling really adventurous, some bacon bits too!
I highly recommend this for your holiday tables! By several and put them in a big bowl for the whole family and everyone will think you are genius chef!
INGREDIENTS: SWEET POTATOES, POTATOES, MILK, WATER, WHITE MUSHROOMS, PROVOLONE CHEESE (MILK, SALT, ANIMAL RENNET), WHEAT FLOUR, BUTTER (CREAM, NATURAL FLAVOR), EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, GRANA PADANO CHEESE (MILK, SALT, ANIMAL RENNET, EGG LYSOZYME), ONIONS, SEA SALT, SUNFLOWER OIL, RICE FLOUR, GRANULATED VEGETABLE BOUILLON (SALT, POTATO STARCH, POTATO MALTODEXTRIN, DRIED VEGETABLES [ONIONS, CARROTS, CELERY, PARSLEY], SUNFLOWER OIL, SPICES, NATURAL FLAVORS), GARLIC, DRIED PORCINI MUSHROOMS, BLACK PEPPER. CONTAINS MILK, EGG, WHEAT.
NUTRITION FACTS:
Servings per container about 4 | Serving size 1 cup frozen (129g) | Amount per serving: Calories 150, Total Fat 7g (9% DV), Saturated Fat 4g (20% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 20mg (7% DV), Sodium 370mg (16% DV), Total Carbohydrate 16g (6% DV), Dietary Fiber 2g (7% DV), Total Sugars 7g—Includes 0g Added Sugars (0% DV), Protein 5g, Vitamin D (0% DV), Calcium (8% DV), Iron (2% DV), Potassium (6% DV).
The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
