mix it up: thankful

If you're going to be cooking this Thanksgiving, or just want to get into the food-related mood, nothing makes cooking more fun (or keeps your adorable holiday outfit safer) than a cute apron. I'm just going to be eating this year (score!) which brings me to my important Thanksgiving fashion tip: leave some room! I fretted over all of the dresses in my closet, until I realized that they were all (as I like them to be) well-fitted and curve-hugging. On Thanksgiving, you don't always want your clothes to be hugging you--they need to give you some room to, ah, expand your horizons (rimshot!).

In the Thanksgiving spirit, I also offer up a recipe I made this past weekend and was really pleased with. It's not necessarily Thanksgiving food, though it would definitely fit in on the table.

Potatoes au Gratin! So delicious...I combined the Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes and Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin recipes when I made them, due to ingenuity and lack of ingredients. Potatoes au gratin is a great dish because of its versatility and the likelihood that you have everything you really need for it.

I took 3 baking potatoes and washed them thoroughly, chopped into half inch slices, then quartered them. I also diced half of a large onion (it wasn't quite as much onion as I like, so I would probably put the whole thing in next time, but I really like onion, so tread carefully.) As per Pioneer Woman, I put half of the potatoes/onions into my buttered casserole dish and salted and peppered them mercilessly.

I then, taking my cues from AllRecipes, melted three (it may have been more like four--I was finishing off a stick!) tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, then whisked (or forked, as it were) in a half-teaspoon of salt and three tablespoons of flour. Once that was combined, I added two cups of milk and stirred until the sauce thickened. I poured half of my sauce over the potatoes in the dish, then added the rest of the potatoes/onions and covered those in the rest of the sauce.

I salted and peppered some more, then covered the entire top in shredded cheddar cheese (I love me some cheese). Cover the dish in foil and bake for 90 minutes at 400F, removing the foil when there's 20 minutes left. Results: buttery, creamy, cheesy, amazing potatoes that go well with anything! They're amazing alone, awesome with bacon bits, but my personal favorite is to heat them with some ham. I had a pre-cooked and pre-sliced one from the store, so I just had to layer a few slices over the top of my potatoes, and the ham juice would run through them and it would all be so astoundingly good together.

...yikes, I think I'm going to have to make those again before the holiday weekend is over! Have a happy thanksgiving, and be safe on Black Friday!