Garden Potatoes

We are getting a ton of garden new potatoes! An easy way to preserve potatoes is to blanch them. Clean them real well and then peel them if you don't like the peel. I love the peel on new potatoes, plus when they are small they are the pits to peel! Then dice them the size you would want them for stew or casseroles. Have boiling pots of water on the stove while you are prepping the potatoes. After they are cut up the size you want them then throw them in a pot full of boiling water for 5 minutes. (this takes several pots of boiling water going at the same time)The time starts when you throw them in the water, not after it starts to boil again.  Then drain the pot and rinse potatoes under cold water and drain very well. I lay out kitchen towels on the counter and put the potatoes on these to just drain a bit more and let them completely cool. Then take quart size freezer bags and fill them full, getting any air out. Place in the freezer in a single layer until frozen, then you can stack them after fully frozen.
It is so awesome during the winter to go to the freezer and pull out garden fresh potatoes for my stew or casseroles! Garden potatoes just have a different taste than store bought, YUMMY! And freezing is SO much quicker and easier than canning. I like this method because the potato holds its texture and does not get mushy like you would think freezing them would do. You do however need to be AWARE that when you add these already blanched potatoes to a recipe that they are partially cooked already and will cut your cooking time down, otherwise they may get mushy. Like if you were making mashed potatoes with them, it will not take the full amount of time to boil them, it takes like 10minutes and they are ready to mash!         ENJOY!

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Here I roasted the potatoes in the oven with Freddy's burger/fry seasoning