We have a traditional PA Dutch dish called "potato filling". It's mashed potatoes mixed with bread, butter, eggs, cooked chopped celery and onions and baked in a casserole dish.

I always make the Thanksgiving Potatoes from the Silver Palate Good Times cookbook.

Makes 8 servings

9 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the diced potatoes in a large saucepan and add water to cover. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer over medium heat until tender; drain. Place the potatoes in a mixer bowl. Cut the butter and cream cheese into small pieces and add to the potatoes. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the sour cream. Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or reheat in a buttered casserole at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

My changes: I pasted this from a site where I found it. I always hand mash my mashed potatoes and I use Yukon Golds, not russets.

My daughter adds an all-purpose seasoning mixture called SPIKE to her mashed potatoes (while mashing them). She doesn't like or make gravy, and these potatoes are great with a dab of butter. (Did I just sound like Paula Deen?)

-Grainlady

Just boring old mashed potatoes topped with luscious make-ahead gravy that I made yesterday.

I do plain mashed potatoes becuse it's all about the gravy for us.

I would say "plain", but classic is a better term. There are other sides I like to change up, but the classic, basic mashed potatoes will never change on my table.

;)

Mom always made the Make-Ahead Potatoes with the sour cream and cream cheese, too, that's out of the Best of Bridge series.

Plain, basic mashed potatoes.
Light and fluffy.
Nothing to detract from,
interfere or compete with
the wonderfully flavorsome giblet gravy.

Those that don't care for gravy
Can top with a big dollop of butter.

With all the other rich,
often highly seasoned dishes,
served on Thanksgiving,
It's nice to have some "simpler" dishes, too.

One of those times when
Less is more.

Rusty

Way back when, I made scalloped potatoes every year because we do a baked ham not turkey for Thanksgiving, but our favorite for the last several years has been whole oven baked sweet potatoes with a drizzle of Michigan maple syrup, dab of butter optional, no salt needed. This year I'm adding a sprinkle of candied ginger on them.

Nancy

Mine is similar to Barnmom's:

Mashed Potatoes
5 lbs. potatoes
6 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp onion salt (don't omit)
pepper
2 tblsp. butter
Peel, cook and drain the potatoes. Mash and add all ingredients. Place in casserole dish and dot with butter. Cover & bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
You can make this a couple of days ahead and keep in the refrigerator.

I do the make-ahead also - which has the cream cheese and sour cream in it. But, I use 2 sticks of butter for 5 lbs of Yukon potatoes. I also use the chive cream cheese and 3 heads of roasted garlic. I then reheat and serve this in my slow cooker. Everyone loves them!

Jeri, I never considered reheating in my slow cooker. That would really free up needed oven space. How do you set it and for how long?

If completely cold, 5 lbs will take 3 hours to reheat and can then sit on warm for a couple more hours. I stir them close to the 3 hour mark to make sure they are heated through. :-)

I use Yukon Gold potatoes, cut them into small cubes and simmer them (barely covered with water) with fresh (or freshly dried) thyme and 2 or 3 minced garlic cloves covered for 15 minutes. Then I add three sweet Italian sausages on top, put the cover back on, and simmer for 15 more minutes. Then I remove the sausages and let them cool for a few minutes while I drain about half of the water out of the potatoes (and reserve in case I need it). To the potatoes I add S&P and butter and stir slightly, but not enough to mash the potatoes. Then I cut up the sausage into very small half rounds and add it back to the potatoes. Sometimes instead of salt, I will dissolve vegetable soup base into the potato water. I like the flavor that gives it, but if you abhor soup base, you do not need to use it. I serve the potatoes in Japanese soup bowls, since they are a bit watery, but they stay hotter that way. Cooked this way, they do not need gravy.

Lars

Plain old potatoes and some garlic cloves, then mashed with s&p, butter and cream. Made with yellow Bintjes. If DH makes the they will be peeled and whipped, and if I make them they will be smashed, with skins left on.

Lars, that sound really good. I made some sweet Italian sausage last week...now I with I would have stuffed it into casings.

No potatoes but we have two kinds of stuffing and macaroni and cheese.

I would not make mashed potatoes if I were the only one to choose the menu, but sadly I am the cook and doing other people's bidding. When I do make mashed the way I want them and when I want them, I prefer skins on, roughly pummeled with lots of garlic, olive oil and parm. But that certainly won't fly with my husband's traditional New England family.

So I am going to peel and boil russets - put them through a ricer - store in the fridge the day before - heat some milk and butter on the stove top and whisk the potatoes into the hot milk just before dinner.

Can you say vanilla, vanilla??

seagrass

My daughter makes this recipe.

Loaded Potato Casserole

6 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and boiled in salt water until just barely cooked i.e. when pierced potatoes are still a tad hard in the center

12 oz. Cabot�s Private Reserve cheddar cheese, grated

2-3 leeks, sliced 1/8" thick and separated in to rings, rinsed and patted dry

1 pt. heavy cream

4 cups of fresh bread crumbs made from day old artisan coarse texture bread (ciabatta bread works well)

16-18 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled.

Grate potatoes on large hole side of grater. Mix in cheese, then bread crumbs, then leeks, then bacon, then cream. Mixing gently between each ingredient addition. Gently pile in a 4 qt. buttered baking dish. Bake uncovered in preheat 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.

This can be made the day before but do not bake until ready to serve.

This is our favorite

Chantilly Potatoes

9 or 10 medium potatoes
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup hot milk
parsley and pimento (optional)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups whipped cream -- stiffly beaten

Cook and then mash the potatoes with the butter and salt. Gradually add the hot milk. Don't make this too soupy - you may not need all the milk. Put in a 13X9X2 baking dish. Sometimes I top it with parsley and pimento and sometimes just parsley. Blend the shredded cheddar with the stiffly beaten whipping cream. Mound on top of the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Can definitely put it together the night before and refrigerate and bake it the next day. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature first so the center isn't cold.

Jeri, thanks for the tip. I really don't enjoy cooking for Thanksgiving because everyone has favorites and they are disappointed if I deviate from the menu or established recipes. They like things the way mom/grandma always made them. "It's tradition": Grandma's dressing, Auntie Flo's potatoes and the ubiquitous green beans. It gets boring year after year but I always slip in one new thing.

The Christmas holidays are a lot more fun to cook for.

Lvmadison - I completely agree! Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family means I try to make the dishes I know people will like. If I want to try new dishes or make dishes for "me", I have a dinner party and invite friends who have a more adventurous palate (or who are kind enough not to care!)

If you want to make the Mashed Potatoes ahead of time and reheat them the day of your event, I think you have to use cream cheese and maybe even the sour cream - I think those ingredients are what allow this dish to be made ahead of time and have it turn out just as good. But the truth is - if you don't tell anyone what the ingredients are, they will tell you these are the best potatoes they have ever had. Do you ever read the Pioneer Woman? She can be very humorous - she puts cream cheese in her potatoes - calls it her "secret" ingredient. This is what she said:

Now, let me just say that Marlboro Man would never-NEVER-touch cream cheese with a ten-foot pole. Never. He'd sooner have his gums scraped than eat cheesecake or spread cream cheese on a cracker. But he loves my mashed potatoes. And he ate them for years before he ever got wind of the secret ingredient. He cried for a few days when he found out he'd consumed cream cheese, but now he doesn't even bat an eye.

In terms of culinary repertoire, it's all about baby steps with these cowboys.

LOL. My family would probably tell me they don't like my potatoes if they knew I put cream cheese and sour cream in them. People can be pretty darn silly when it comes to food! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pioneer Womanâs âDelicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoesâ

(((heavy sigh))) I just love Ree Drummond. She said it! "Oh baby, come to mama"!!! Potatoes are my drug of choice.

Whether for Thanksgiving or other occasions, I think these sound delicious.

jude

Recipe from Stonegable's Kitchen

Muffin Tin Onion Gruyere Potato Stacks

5 baking potatoes
2 onions, chopped
6 TBS butter
1 1/2 cups grated cheese, Gruyere or cheddar
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
heavy cream or half and half
cooking spray
thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Thinly slice raw potatoes. I use a Mandoline but they can be carefully hand sliced into thin even slices. Set aside.
Melt butter (about 4 TBS) in a large skillet and saute onion over a low heat until translucent and slightly golden. Add 2-4 TBS butter in the pan and melt the butter. Set aside.

Grate cheese. Gruyere is my favorite but cheddar works great too! Set aside.

Spray all twelve muffin cups of a regular size muffin pan.

Add 1 slice of potato to the bottom of each muffin cup. Salt and pepper. Add 1 more slice of potato. Top each potato evenly with 1/2 onion and butter. Add 2 more potato slices. Sprinkle 1/2 grated cheese evenly over potatoes. Add 1 more potato slice and salt and pepper. Add 1 more potato slice and evenly add the remaining 1/2 of onion and butter. Add 1 or 2 potato slices and top evenly with remaining cheese.

Pour 1 TBS cream over each potato stack.

Bake for 35 minutes until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

Run a sharp knife around the edges of each muffin cup and pop each stack out with a fork.

Garnish with thyme.

Printable Recipe

Those sound wonderful! I'll definitely try them soon.

Great thread! The Loaded Potato Casserole, Chantilly Potatoes, & Muffin Tin Stacks all sound really good to try this winter.

Moosemac, I received an email couple days ago from Cabot with a $2.00 off coupon for Private Reserve. I checked their website; but didn't see the offer. If you're not already, you might like to register for their emails. I've received many coupons that we always use.

/tricia

There are so many good potato recipes on this thread, I can't decide what to make first.
I'll still make plain mashed for Thanksgiving but I'll have fun with these for other times.

Any other recipes?

Nancy

I have to make those Muffin Tin Onion Gruyere Potato Stacks! Wouldn't they be awesome served with a Prime Rib for Christmas! Sadly, I don't think my extended family would appreciate them. :-\ I will be trying them soon though!

Potatoes, gruyere cheese and onions...whats not to like!!! And did I mention butter! And....they're so cute.I hope whoever tries the recipe posts their results/opinion.

jude