russet potatoes Archives

Scalloped Potatoes & Turnips With Gruyére

November 15, 2017 by Kristin

Oh Thanksgiving! Or as I like to call it, casserole season!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for many reasons. It’s the first of the major family holidays I grew up celebrating. It’s paired with a long holiday weekend. And it’s filled with so many bites {and I love bites}.

I’ve never been a huge turkey eater. But I’m also extremely attached to the way my family did Thanksgiving, especially now that I don’t make the trip back to Florida anymore. So that means, I always cook a turkey. And it also means that I cook very similar sides that are made from real food ingredients. While not everyone in my family is on the healthy eating train, everyone is headstrong about cooking with real butter, real milk, real cheese, and fresh vegetables.

And because, all year long, I’m a fan of sneaking vegetables into ordinary dishes, I created a whole food, sneaky veggie casserole that’ll leave you feeling totally satisfied this casserole season: Scalloped Potatoes & Turnips with Gruyere {scroll down for recipe}.

If you’re new to cooking with turnips, there are a few things you should know. Most importantly, turnips are different than potatoes nutritionally. Turnips contain over three times as much Vitamin C, one third as many calories, and one third as many carbohydrates as white potatoes. Texturally, they aren’t as soft as potatoes, which can be great in certain recipes because they don’t fall apart. And flavor wise, they get a little sweetness when cooked. Ultimately, I don’t recommend completely swapping potatoes for turnips unless you’re a seasoned turnip lover. But I completely recommend swapping portions of potato recipes to increase the spectrum of vitamins you’re consuming as well as lower the calories and carbohydrates of your dish without sacrificing the use of real butter, real milk, and real cheese.

I was able to purchase all of the ingredients for this recipe at the new Whole Foods Market 365 store in Cedar Park, which is a huge plus especially during the busy holiday shopping season. I get super frustrated when I have to go to a separate store to find items and it was a huge relief to see that turnips and chives were both available in the Whole Foods Market 365 produce department.

The prices at Whole Foods Market 365 were also noticeably cheaper. I was able to purchase every ingredient for this recipe, and mostly organic products, for $20.80. Had there already been flour in my pantry and milk in my refrigerator, the I would have only spent $15.42, which is quite the steal for a casserole made with quality ingredients.

And lastly, I really loved the feel of the Whole Foods Market 365 store. It was clean and orderly beyond belief. The produce department was top notch. For almost every grocery item I purchased, there was a store brand available. And!! Oh, and this is the best part. The Whole Foods Market 365 store in Cedar Park collaborates with local companies like Juiceland {cold pressed juice to order}, Easy Tiger {freshly baked breads}, and Snap Kitchen {healthy eats to go}. Overall, shopping at this store was as pleasant as it gets. I’ll definitely be making the trip to the Whole Foods Market 365 Cedar Park store {20 minute drive} as often as I can to load up on 365 products.

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Vegan Mashed Potatoes With Garlic Chives

September 11, 2014 by Kristin

My entire life, I’ve been fooled into thinking that mashed potatoes take so long to make and are so special that they are a side reserved only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And even after years of being one of the kitchen leads during the holidays {knowing that mashed potatoes are not tough} they still feel like a special occasion thing.

With that said, nothing particularly special happened today to warrant mashed potatoes. I’m about to finish my first restaurant project {the construction portion}. And I’m about to head to Italy for the trip of a lifetime. But nothing out of the ordinary happened that called for mashed potatoes today.

But as I wandered around Whole Foods after yoga {an atypical 40-ish minutes of wandering}, I kept thinking about potatoes. And not quite the holiday potatoes I’m accustomed to, but vegan potatoes with garlic chives that I would later confuse by pairing with a steak. Vegan potatoes with garlic chives that my steak-eating roommate said was the best part of his meal.

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Shepherd’s Pie

June 24, 2014 by Kristin

Resisting the most adorable casserole dish in the world, I could not. I scooped it up without concern that I rarely make casseroles. I’d figure something out, right? Pinterest would certainly guide me in the right direction.

While I didn’t find the recipe on Pinterest, it did spark a memory of Shepherd’s Pie. I’d often seen it on menus, but couldn’t recall if Shepherd’s Pie was something I had ever actually tried. I sifted through recipes and came to the conclusion that anything topped with mashed potatoes was worth giving a shot.

I settled on Alton Brown’s Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Partly because I trust Alton Brown, but mostly because I was excited about cooking with ground lamb.

I swapped out {more than} a handful of ingredients to make this dish void of dairy and gluten. There were initial nerves about how mashed potatoes with coconut milk and oil would taste. But after whipping them up and sampling the meat/veggie mix, I knew I was 25 baking minutes away from the coziest of meals in the coziest of casserole dishes.

A modified version of Alton Brown’s recipe is below:

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