Warning: If you're looking for low-fat, heart healthy recipes, don't look here! But when only true comfort food will do, this collection of 115 lip-smacking recipes unapologetically celebrates potatoes and all their favorite companions: butter, cheese, sour cream and more. Award-winning veteran cookbook author Darlene Kronschnabel brings her creativity and expertise to dozens of ways to enjoy America's favorite tuber in this humorously written, easy-to-follow cookbook. The author shares her enthusiasm for the homely brown root that has become an American icon, covering clever and sometimes fascinating ways to use potatoes in soups, salads, side dishes and casseroles, as well as main dishes, breads and desserts. Two full sections are devoted to the most popular potato treatments: Roasting & Frying, and Baked & Mashed. Clearly explained recipes are prefaced with a bit of history telling how the lowly spud came to be a staple food the world over. The main text is interspersed with interesting facts and potato ephemera, and accompanying several of the recipes are quick variations, tips for helpful preparation, cooking, and serving. Useful appendices contain specific characteristics of common potato varieties and handy kitchen tips such as weights and measures and common cooking terms. A handy index is provided for fast location of the perfect last minute recipe.