Don’t you love the look of this colorful side dish? I adore roasted fingerling potatoes and I make them all the time. Recently, I bought a huge bag of the fingerling medley so I decided to try something new – boiled instead of roasted and smashed instead of whole (I love the combination of colors – purple, red and gold – that’s why I smash them slightly, not completely, so their colors shine through). The crowd (AKA, my family) went wild!

Nutritionally, fingerling potatoes are a good source of potassium, an important mineral used to regulate the fluid and mineral balance in cells, which helps maintain normal blood pressure. Potatoes are also rich in the vitamins C (a powerful antioxidant that prevents cell damage from free radicals, aids collagen production and assists with iron absorption) and vitamin B-6, which helps metabolize protein and carbohydrates.
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Slice and roast them or steam and smash them. Sprinkle with salt and some freshly chopped herbs and the delightfully earthy flavor only gets better. Is your mouth watering yet for some fingering potatoes?

Resembling chubby fingers, this variety of spud can be found at farmers’ markets now. Look for skins with golden, rose or even purple and blue hues. The color of the creamy, yet sturdy flesh will also vary from pale yellow, white and purplish-blue.

Some of the most well-known varieties are Russian Banana, French Fingerling and Purple Peruvian but there are even more out there – ask your local farmer what they’re growing.

Recipes to Try:
Dill Fingerling Potatoes
Grilled Potato and Pepper Salad
Crudite with Olive Crème Fraiche
Healthy Roast Fingerlings with Lemon

We love this combo in the Food Network test kitchen. The extra squeeze of citrus is an easy way to brighten up potato salad, a baked potato or simple roasted potatoes like Roast Fingerlings With Lemon.

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Ahh, you can have them baked with cheese and bacon, mashed with cream and butter or deep-fried in oil. So versatile, yet so unhealthy: the white potato. But do potatoes deserve such a bad rap? Take a moment, and let’s rediscover one of the best “unhealthy” foods around.

Taken by itself, the great spud compares quite well in calories, fiber and nutrients to most other starches like pasta and rice. A medium potato with its skin (2 to 3 inches wide) has 130 calories, three grams of fiber, three grams of protein and is a source of vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, phosphorus, potassium and manganese. Comparatively, one cup of pasta or rice (the size of your fist) has about 200 calories for similar amounts of fiber.

So why does the potato get such a bad rap?  Obviously how we prepare it can have a huge impact. Loaded potato skins probably have more bacon, cheese and sour cream than they do potato.

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Are you sitting down? You should be when you read the nutrition numbers for restaurant-style potato skins with cheddar and bacon. Ready? Here goes:

Calories: 1270
Total Fat: 83 grams
Saturated Fat: 38 grams
Total Carbohydrate: 97 grams
Protein: 33 grams
Sodium: 690 milligrams
Fiber: 12 grams

And let me remind you, potato skins are considered an appetizer. A single baked potato has 94 calories and zero fat, so what the heck happens in the restaurant kitchen? I’ll tell you what happens: the chefs take a nutrient-rich vegetable and give it the fat equivalent of 9 chocolate frosted doughnuts. Well, I’m not that kind of chef. Dig into my recipe revamp and enjoy the loaded potato skin in all its glory.

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Baked Yukon Wedges With Red Pepper Mayo

I love potatoes! Red, gold, purple, sweet, fingerling, russet. Fall seems like an especially great time to enjoy potato dishes because they partner so well with the other staples of the season (turkey, ham, beef roast). Not only do they round out a dish, their inherent starch helps them soak up sauces and gravies. Here are four of my favorite potato side dishes just in time for the holidays and entertaining (they’re so easy, you might use them on a busy weeknight instead).

The potatoes I used:

Yukon Gold: I love these for fries. They cook up crisp and golden brown. The mayonnaise-based dip I serve with my fry recipe is rich and tangy thanks to roasted red peppers and basil.

Red Potatoes: These are excellent in mashed and “smashed” recipes, especially when paired with bacon and cheddar (like smashed skins!). I used center-cut bacon because it’s got a greater meat-to-fat ratio, but you can also use turkey bacon.

Fingerling Potatoes: This variety is not only adorable, it’s easy to work with. No peeling, dicing or slicing – just roast ‘em whole. The curry coating is warm, wonderful and so fragrant, your neighbors will be sniffing at your door.

Sweet Potatoes: Most people think of regular potatoes for the “scalloped” dish but the sweetness from orange-fleshed spuds partners perfectly with tangy parmesan cheese. The dish is kept light by using low-fat milk instead of a heavy cream sauce. I added a little nutmeg too – to bring out the cheese flavor and enhance the sweetness of the potatoes.

Baked Yukon Wedges With Red Pepper Mayo (pictured above)

Serves 4

4 Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 wedges each

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Combine potatoes and oil in a large bowl and toss to coat.  Transfer potatoes to a large baking sheet, in a single layer, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, red peppers and basil in a food processor and puree until smooth. Serve potatoes with mayo dip on the side.

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Twice-baked potatoes, made with russet potatoes.

There has been plenty of talk about potatoes in recent media. Are they good for you? Should they be allowed in school lunches? Is the potato, a vegetable, bad? I am here to set the record straight, even though the beloved potato can speak for itself and the nutrition label says it all. So here it is, the truth about potatoes.

You may be surprised to learn that the potato is a nutritional powerhouse. A medium-sized spud weighs in at 110 calories and has no fat or cholesterol. Sounds great, right? Well it gets better. Potatoes contain 45% of the daily recommended value for vitamin C and have as much or more potassium (620 mg) than bananas, broccoli and spinach. With less than 3 % of Americans consuming the recommend intake of potassium, potatoes are the most inexpensive source in the produce aisle. Potatoes are gluten free and a good source of fiber, antioxidants and B Vitamins as well. Still not convinced? Potatoes are an affordable, well liked and versatile component to many meals. Plus, there are thousands of varieties found within the seven types of potatoes — one for each day of the week.

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Should fries be blocked from school lunch menus?

Spuds are sticking around the school lunch line — for now anyway. The Senate voted to block an Obama administration proposal to reduce the amount of French fries available in schools. The proposed Agriculture Department’s rules would allow only two servings of potatoes at lunch a week. Those fighting back argue the USDA should focus on how the potato is prepared instead, citing the vegetable as a good source of fiber and potassium.

In the end, the Senate voted to accept an amendment that would block the USDA from putting serving limits on potatoes, or other vegetables, in school lunches. Because of the way it’s worded, however, the USDA would still be allowed to regulate the way potatoes are prepared.

Read the full article here.

And the fries in the photo, here.

Tell us: Do you think schools should ban potatoes from the lunch line?

I like to take my lunch out of the container I packed it in and eat it from a nicer bowl.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

Confession: I bought lunch yesterday just because I could. I walked over to Taim, my favorite falafel place in the whole city, and I bought a falafel for lunch. I have no idea how much fat or calories the sandwich contained, but the sandwich was large so was likely not very diet-friendly. I justified the splurge because I’d been to the gym that morning, and because it was the last day I could eat a restaurant lunch before the Brown-Bag Challenge. This splurge cost me $8.

Today’s lunch is smarter in so many ways. When I was searching for recipes, I was looking for something healthy to make with potatoes, because I have a whole bunch from my CSA that I wanted to use up. I found this recipe for Curried Potatoes and Chickpeas from Food Network Magazine; it’s from a story they did last year on using leftover crunchy onions — those things that go on top of green bean casserole. It looked quick and easy enough to make on a busy weeknight, and Toby, one of our resident dieticians, confirmed that it meets our Healthy Eats nutritional guidelines; it has 290 calories per serving and 15 grams of total fat (saturated fat = 7 grams).

I had potatoes, spices, limes and jalapenos at home, so I bought the following at the store:

Cilantro: $1.99

Chickpeas: $1.79 (I bought the 29-ounce can even though the recipe calls for 15 ounces. It was a better value, and I’ll use the leftovers to make hummus)

Fried onions: $2.89

Greek yogurt: $1.25

My grocery store total was $7.92. I spent nearly the same amount on all the ingredients for an entire recipe as I did on one lunch. And since the recipe makes 6 servings, that comes to $1.32 per serving. Less than two dollars per serving. Makes my $8 falafel seem pretty frivolous.

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Red peppers are one of 9 red fruits and veggies to eat now -- find out the other 8.

Each color contains different nutrients, so a rainbow-colored plate of fruits and veggies is likely a well-rounded, healthy one! In this occasional series, we explain what each color has to offer.  We told you all about orange foods, and this month, in honor of Valentine’s Day and Heart Health month, we’ve got the scoop on red-hued eats.

Learn why you should eat more red foods »