This week I hosted our MOPS cooking club. We meet monthly and have a different theme and location each month. We all bring our favorite recipe in the theme and the recipe to share. We had a theme of Thanksgiving sides this month. One friend brought some turkey and everyone else brought their favorite side dish along with the recipe to share.  I wanted to pick a recipe that was yummy, but also offered a convenient option for busy moms. So I made Gretchen Sandlund’s Mashed Potatoes.

Before I get to the potato part I have to talk about Gretchen. She was my mom’s best friend in Ohio when we lived there years ago. Gretchen was (and I am positive still is) an amazing example of using your energy to serve others and offered her home in hospitality constantly.  What she had she shared and continues to.  Even as a child I was aware that Gretchen was a rare momma.  Balancing 5 children, her husband’s busy work schedule, grocery shopping trips in the middle of the night, running the children’s choir at church, taking on the burdens of others, just to name a few….and all at once, her plate was FULL!  I am sure Gretchen was kind to me because of her friendship with my mom but I always felt loved when I was with her. She recognized my love for babies and would let me hold her itty bity babies, seemingly not freaking out that I was too young or not capable. She would prop me up in one of their lazy boy chairs and let me cuddle away. She along with my own mom and other special women fostered my desire to be a mom someday.  Her family is so special to ours. I look forward to their Christmas card each year to see how their family has grown!

Back to the mashed potatoes…

I love this recipe because you can make them the day ahead and just warm them in the oven. I love homemade mashed potatoes but hate the pot, mixer, measuring cup mess in the middle of cooking a million other things. Most things can’t be done in advance but these you can check off early! And if you wanted to get super fancy shmancy you could pipe the potatoes into individual ramekins and bake them that way.

Disclaimer: my mom wrote down Gretchen’s recipe years ago and my mom is known for reconstructing recipes when she loses the original. So when Gretchen writes to me with any corrections I will update the below recipe.  (I completely forgot to take a picture so you just have to trust me on this one!)

Gretchen’s Mashed Potatoes

1 bag Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup half and half

1 T seasoning salt

1/2 tsp onion salt (I used onion powder for flavor but not added salt) 

Pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until tender. Put into a mixer and whip with all other ingredients. After the potatoes are nice and smooth spread into a casserole pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve, bake at 350 for 30 mins or until heated through.  Enjoy!

And while we are on the topic of side dishes I thought I would throw this one out there too just in case anyone is tired of the same old sides. This one was introduced to us in Germany by our friends Bo and Leigh. When I asked Bo for the recipe after our first introduction to it this is what he sent me…clearly he loves it!   I am still tracking down the original source but for today we will give credit to Bo because I am betting he loves it more than the person who first concocted it. *update…he thinks it’s Paula Deen that created it. I found the link to her magazine post with the original.

Harvest Casserole

Paula Deen

a.k.a – “Awesomeness”

 Serves: 10-12 people (or 5-6 people who know how important it is to go back for seconds)

 5 cups (1/4 inch diced) sweet potatoes [about 2 large]

5 cups chopped Granny Smith apples [about 3 medium]

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

1 ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar – [divided]

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon – [divided]

¼ teaspoon of salt

¼ cup of butter [1/2 stick cut into teaspoon size pats]

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

¼ cup all purpose flour

½ cup stick of butter, melted

 Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F ***adjust for Celsius***
2. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, apples and dried cranberries
3. In a small bowl, combine ½ cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and the salt.
4. Add to the sweet potato/apple/cranberry mixture, tossing to combine.
5. Spoon into sprayed 13 X 9 X 2 inch baking dish (or similar size) ***cover with oil to avoid sticking***
6. Dot with butter pats.
7. In a small bowl, mix oatmeal, 1 cup brown sugar, flour and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir in melted butter (1 stick).
8. Spoon evenly over casserole.
9. Bake covered in foil for 45 minutes.
10. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes.
11. Eat until you burst with awesomeness.

Tips:

• Sometimes, I’ve found the need to add a little more cinnamon to achieve the taste, so go with it by sight. If it looks like it needs more, add another teaspoon or two.
• I’ve also sometimes up the amount of oatmeal to achieve a bit fuller coating. Once again, judge by the eye. If you need more, add about 1/3 to ½ cup.
• Don’t forget to spray Pam or oil the casserole so the stuff doesn’t stick.
• As it bakes, the butter will combine with the sweet potato and apple juices, so it doesn’t hurt to cut the apples and sweet potatoes up earlier and let them sit in the fridge for a bit to dry out slightly so there is less liquid on the bottom of the casserole.

What sides are you all making this year? This is our first yr in a while to not have to make a turkey and host Thanksgiving dinner. We are going to celebrate at my Aunt and Uncle’s house so I get to just contribute the meal with pies, appetizers and fun stuff and not host the whole shebang. It will be a nice break. Although I might have to buy a turkey on sale the day after just so our house can smell like thanksgiving.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a nice warm weekend and spent lots of time outside. This afternoon we took a hike through the forest with the boys. It was actually a really good activity for Jackson because we all had to walk slowly to avoid branches and roots under the leaves on the path. He didn’t feel left behind, not being able to run. The boys were in their all boy element.

“shhh. listen it’s a bird”…little nature observers

Our Sunday afternoon cooking project of the week was cinnamon sugar donuts. Easy, peasy, cheap and the kids loved them! I remember seeing them on a blog a few years ago but I don’t have a clue where I saw them. So I am by no means taking credit but thought I would share.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

1 roll of pillsbury (or any brand) biscuits. Look for the buttermilk or something other than flaky…the flaky ones taste like butter and flaky donuts are a bit strange. Store brand worked just fine.

1 cup of granulated sugar

1-2 T Cinnamon to taste

Unroll dough and poke a hole in the middle or cut out a small circle of dough for mini’s. If they are super thick cut them into two so that you have two thinner rounds. Drop into a shallow layer of hot vegetable oil a couple at a time, turn over when golden brown. When both sides are puffed up and golden take out of oil and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Enjoy!

and look at this little blast from the past…this pic was taken when we made the donuts in Bern. Jackson has grown up so much!