Smashed Rutabagas

Rutabagas. The name sounds weird. Cooking them will smell your house up to high heaven, but I still love eating them. Ever since I was a kid, I remember Momma always fixing a bowl of smashed rutabagas at holiday dinners. She, my Daddy and I were the only ones who would touch them from our family.

I'd always fix my plate and the last stop would be the gravy dish. I'd pour it on my turkey and over the mashed potatoes and rutabagas. Served along side a pork loin, with a little gravy, they are to die for. I've included a few facts about them below as they are slightly better for you than a mashed potato.

The two freshly picked rutabagas below were both bigger than a softball. This is the first time Andy and I have tried to raise them in our garden and we've been very pleased. When you buy them in the store, they've been dipped in wax to preserve them. I will warn you, they are a very hard root vegetable, so have a big, sharp knife when preparing! Even though they are a member of the turnip family, they are not bitter like a turnip. (Although our turnips are never bitter-tasting, and I'll post in the future how we fix them so they are delicious too!)

Cut the top and bottom off the rutabaga. 

Peel skin off with a vegetable peeler. 

Carefully cut in chunks like you would potatoes. 

Cover in water in a large pot. 

Cook on medium-high until you can easily stick a knife through them.

Drain off water.

Add 1 stick of butter to rutabagas.

With a potato masher, smash until they are relatively smooth. (See above)

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The good: This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese.

The bad: A large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.

The carbs in 1 cup of boiled, mashed potatoes is 29 grams/3 grams of fiber while 1 cup of boiled, mashed rutabagas is 17 grams/4 grams of fiber.

Read More https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2611/2#ixzz1x6gnQ5lk