As a child, I would often sneak raw cut up Idaho potatoes from my mom's stew fixin’s.  I have never heard anyone else say they like them!  Is it safe to eat raw potatoes?

Raw potatoes are safe to eat, just a little hard to digest in quantity. The skin is loaded with nutrients, so be sure to eat that too. My favorite thing to eat while my mom was cooking was some of the raw cookie dough.

One of my favorite ways to fix potatoes and eat healthy at the same time is to bake or microwave them and add a fresh tomato salsa topping, such as the ones available in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. It gives a little kick to the more neutral flavor of the potato and I never miss the butter when fixed this way. Another tasty baked potato: cut in half, bake and then top with a creamy horseradish. This added zip is very flavorful and you don’t need very much to make it a great lunch or snack. You can also cut up a potato into wedges, add to a plastic bag such as a freezer bag with some dried spices and a teaspoon of vegetable oil, toss together enough to coat the potatoes and then pour out of the bag onto a non-stick oven pan and oven roast the potatoes for about 1/2 hour at 400 degrees F, sometimes shorter. This is hearty and filling too.

For the potato pancakes, check the center aisles of the grocery store and use the instant mashed potatoes for potato pancakes, we have several recipes for these and latkes, just start here: Pancakes & Latkes

You can also do this with frozen or dehydrated hashbrowns. You may find the potato pancake mixture you used to buy in a different section of the store, I usually see it displayed in the ethnic food aisle.