Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin

I just love potatoes, and I think they get a bad rap. This fascinating little tuber is actually quite nutritious, containing more potassium than a banana. It's surprisingly high in vitamin C. Boiled, or baked with the skin on will provide a multitude of nutrients, plus healthy dietary fiber (although most of the other vitamins and minerals are in the potato flesh itself). That is why I always leave the skin on. So here you go you can have your potatoes and eat them too. Healthy can taste good!

Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin

• Yukon gold potatoes skins on and sliced thin, about 4 cups
• 1 medium sweet vidalia onion sliced thin
• 2 cups fat free milk
• 4 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 4 Tbsp. Smart Balance margarine
• 2 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper, optional
• ½ tsp. garlic powder, optional
• 1 cup reduced fat grated Sargento Cheddar cheese

Wash potatoes well and then slice very thin. I like to use my mandoline slicer for the potatoes and the onion. Then peel and slice the onion too. Set aside and melt margarine in a small pot over medium heat and as soon as margarine is melted whisk in flour then add milk and whisk together well stirring occasionally. Add salt, pepper and optional seasonings at this point. As soon as mixture heats up and thickens slighty remove from heat. Spray a 2 ½ quart Corning bakeware dish with pam spray. Layer potatoes and some onion alternately until all is in the dish making sure that potatoes are on the top layer at the end. Pour milk mixture over top of  potatoes and onion then cover with lid and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Then remove lid and add cheese and bake an additional 30 minutes uncovered, for a total bake time of 1 ½ hours.

The yellow meat potatoes have a more buttery flavor to them and really help make these tasty without a lot of added fat.

Sherried Mashed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is a really nice twist on mashed sweet potatoes. The sherry adds a rich flavor to the dish. You may want to make these for Thanksgiving. Being able to prepare this in advance is a big plus. Enjoy!

• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1⁄3 cup milk, microwaved until warm
• 2 Tbsp. sweet sherry
• cooking spray

Dice sweet potatoes into chunks, leaving skins on and place into a large boiling pot of water. Boil for about 20 minutes or until a fork inserted into potato is tender. Drain potatoes into a colander.

At this point I use rubber kitchen gloves to protect my hands from the heat and peel off potato skins. If you do not want to wear gloves you will need to wait until they are cool enough to handle. You may need to use a paring knife on some spots, but they peel off very easily. When all potatoes are peeled place them in a large mixer bowl.

Then add next 4 ingredients. Mix well on slow speed with an electric mixer until blended, then raise to medium speed. Mix until free of lumps, stopping and stirring occasionally. Then I like to place them in a crockpot sprayed with cooking oil on high for about 3 hours. You may then lower crockpot to the low setting after that until ready to serve.

I make this every Thanksgiving. It is the sherry that makes these sweet potatoes taste so rich. Of course they are so good you will want to make them anytime.