It's All About the Sides: Au Gratin Potatoes

Face it, y'all. It's the Holiday Season (as we've previously mentioned around these parts). Just throw that diet out the window. The next six to eight weeks are all about cream and gravy and cheese and chocolate. That's just the lay of the land. Rules are made to be broken (diets, too), and this is one of those dishes that might just make you slap your grandma if front of your mama on Mother's Day. Or Thanksgiving. Or, okay, that's a really bad analogy, but I think you're getting my drift. These au gratin potatoes are goooood. And I will in fact be making them a week from now (with a little cornbread.) Oh, man. I can't wait.



Au Gratin Potatoes
Adapted from Allrecipes
Makes about 4 servings
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Ingredients
4 Russett potatoes (Or equivalent pounds of red or new potatoes), sliced thinly
1 small white onion, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1-quart baking dish. Set aside.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and mix with breadcrumbs. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt three tablespoons of butter. Stir in flour and salt, and cook for about 1 minute, whisking so flour doesn't burn. Stir in milk and whisk until smooth. Stir in cheese until melted. Season to taste with pepper. Remove from heat and cool until thick.
4. Layer half the potatoes in bottom of baking dish. Top with half the onions. Pour half of the cheese mixture over onions. Repeat layers. Top with buttered breadcrumbs.
5. Bake one and a half hours. If potatoes start to brown too much around edges cover with foil. Potatoes should be tender and easily pierced with a fork when finished.

It's All About the Sides: Garlic Rice Pilaf

Okay, okay. If you must eat turkey on Thanksgiving (I jest ... maybe) please promise me that you'll have an old-fashioned ceramic boat filled with oh-so-good gravy. Then take that gravy and ladle it all over your entire plate, ahem, I mean your rice. Yes, yes you'll probably have some form of potatoes on your plate, too, which call out for a ladling, but in our house we eat rice more often than potatoes. And we cook it this way because it's so good and so easy. And if you also have an, um, choosy toddler who considers rice a vegetable (sigh) this is a nice switch from the plain jane white kind.

Garlic Rice Pilaf at Annie's Eats.

And be sure to check out the other great projects and recipes at these link parties:
* Someday Crafts
* My Backyard Eden
* Blue Cricket Design
* The Trendy Treehouse
* We Are That Family
* The Thrifty Home

It's All About the Sides: Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

Here's the thing about Thanksgiving: So much of what we cook and eat on this special day is tied up in tradition, and it's hard to stray from that. I know that many of you are planning to make sweet potato casserole, and cover it with pecans and marshmallows, and that's fine. For many of you it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without that dish on the table, and that's fine, too. But for me - and I know I'm not the only one - that casserole is too sweet and I never even touch it. But these sweet potatoes? We eat them pretty often - not just on Thanksgiving. I love them because they taste like sweet potatoes, not sugar. If you, like me, love to see a baked sweet potato - dotted with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon - sitting next to your pork chops on non-Thanksgiving days you'll enjoy these, too.



Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from Allrecipes
Serves about four
Printer-friendly version

As I'm sure you know, sweet potatoes start out hard as rocks when raw but soften as they bake. These fall-colored rounds will not be crisp in the end, especially being sliced half-inch thick. They will, however, have the perfect texture - in my opinion - and a nice not-too-sweet flavor.

Ingredients
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into half-inch rounds
2 tablespoons butter, melted (I prefer salted in this case.)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or Splenda Brown Sugar)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheet with foil and set aside.
2. Melt butter then stir in sugar and cinnamon.
3. Drop sweet potato slices in butter mixture and toss, coating well.
4. Arrange on baking sheet. Cook 15 to 20 minutes then remove from oven and turn slices over. Coat tops with more butter mixture, and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.

Be sure to check out these other fun link parties!
* Sugar Bee (Craft Edition)
* Lucky Star Lane
* Hope Studios
* Auntie E's Kitchen

Gobble, Gobble

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Still working on that all-important menu? Here are some great ideas from the past few years at Confabulation in the Kitchen. And be sure to check back tomorrow when I kick off four days of great, mouth-watering Thanksgiving side dishes! Because really: Who needs the turkey?

Update

Dear friends,

I haven't forgotten you! Nor have I forgotten the fact that I do indeed have a food blog. Brad and I are celebrating our fifth anniversary and his 30th birthday this week so things have been hectic. Along with my job winding down - four weeks to go - I've just been a wee bit on the busy side. Coming soon will be a series of great Thanksgiving side dishes that you won't want to miss! Some are so good they live in my everyday recipe file. Until then here's an oldie but a goodie.

Fresh Apple Cake with Butterscotch Icing