worth the whisk

my first mashed potatoes

We had our annual “Fake Thanksgiving” Saturday night.  I wish I had taken some pictures of how glorious everything looked but it all went by so fast.  The house was beautiful — it was tight so the 2nd table got set up only when we were ready to eat, and the first was there, filled with our new china (yeay for auctions), serveware, silverware, and napkins, all gleaming under the lights.  We had candles everywhere — it was wonderful and everyone was festive!

For appetizers we did a standard cheese/olive/pepperoni/hummus/carrot/cracker tray and pigs in a blanket (step it up a notch and use Hillshire Farms lil’ smokies — delish) and those new Pillsbury Savorings (spinach and cheese).  The pigs were gone in 2 minutes flat and everyone loved the Savorings so I would definitely recommend.

Dinner was pretty basic - turkey, which we always cook it how my mom did — in a Reynolds Oven bag.  The bag cuts the cooking time and keeps the turkey super moist - no basting required.  Stovetop stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes.  The sweet potatoes were not so great since I completley underboiled and underbaked them but maybe I can find something to do with them this week.  The crown jewel of the night were my mashed potatoes.  This was my first time making them, and they looked truly awesome, everyone was very impressed and I have to say I was really happy.

The recipe came from Real Simple: http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1849382

We had 15 people total so I upped the potatoes to 6 pounds.  We used the small red potatoes so there were a lot more than the recipe calls for and it turned out perfect.  Of course, I upped everything else as well.  I did end up putting in 1 extra scallion, and more pepper and kosher salt (probably 2 or 3 more teaspoons of the salt and 1/2 or 1 teaspoon of extra pepper) and they were perfect. In one of our lovely bowls, with more scallions on top for garnish, I have to say they looked quite pro.  They were also incredibly easy (seriously, this was my first time, I didn’t even own a masher until Saturday a.m.) and I recommend them for an easy side dish with wow power :)