Print Friendly Version

Ahhhhh, so far our winter vacation has been wonderful. We had an amazing Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Lots of visiting with family and friends, fantastic food, candlelight, fireside cups of cocoa and tea, strolls through the snow, phone calls from people that we love who are in other cities and states, surprise packages in the mail, and oh so many other lovely things that my heart can hardly contain all of the joy and awesomeness.

And, of course, when we talk about awesomeness, we can’t forget to mention potatoes and gravy. 🙂

These potatoes and gravy, in particular, are the very best side dish to serve with meatloaf, pork roast and this year my mom made them to go with our Swedish meatballs. Well, she made the potatoes and I made the cream gravy.

Funny story about the cream gravy… We went to IKEA to get the meatballs (because I was too exhausted to make them from scratch) and the little packets of gravy mix that usually accompany the meatballs were GONE. I was a little irked. I mean, what good is convenience food if you have to make the gravy from scratch? Am I right? So, I asked the sales clerk in charge of the food section that day “Where are the gravy packets that go with the meatballs?” and she said, “We’re sold out.” I’m sure I sighed. She said, “but we do have the recipe for the gravy,” and handed me a little slip of paper with the recipe on it. “Thanks,” I said and stuffed the recipe in my coat pocket.

Anyhoo, yeah, I was frustrated. I continued with my shopping, filling the cart with lingonberries, jams, pickles, about 10 different kinds of mustard, pickled herring (for Jeff, ahem…) and tons of other interesting nibbles, noshes and condiments that caught my eye.

The next day, while doing the rest of my shopping at our local grocery store, I remembered the wadded up recipe and added the ingredients on the slip to my list. I was positive the recipe was going to yield something completely different than we were use to and I was determined to make a big batch of the stuff just to prove that I was right.

I was wrong.

This is not only the best Swedish cream gravy that we’ve ever had EVER, it’s ridiculously easy to prepare. Almost as easy as the stuff in the packets 😉 I promise.

for the cream cheese mashed potatoes:

~ serves 15 to 20 people ~

18 to 20 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

2 (8 oz.) packages real cream cheese

2 cups real sour cream

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup of real butter

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain them very well. Allow them to cool a bit and add them to the bowl of a counter top mixer. Beat, using the whisk attachment, until smooth and no lumps remain. Add remaining ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.

for the Swedish cream gravy:

(adapted from IKEA’s recipe)

4 cups beef stock or broth

1 Tablespoon lite or regular soy sauce

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup Tapioca starch

salt and pepper, to taste

Boil stock in a medium size saucepan. Reduce to medium heat. Add soy sauce. Mix cream and tapioca starch in a bowl before adding it to the stock mixture. Continue to cook over medium heat while whisking the cream mixture into the stock mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened. Finish with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

~Melissa