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Forget Boring Mashed Potatoes And Go For This AWESOME Gratin Instead!

Here’s a dish that will knock your socks off! And your dinner guests, too! This potato gratin is something I make for every special occasion, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Easter or just a birthday celebration dinner. It’s a dish so yummy that you could probably serve it as the main course, and you wouldn’t hear any complaints. However, so far I’ve just served it as a side dish.

Except on those rare occasions when we’ve had leftovers. Then I’ve just enjoyed those for lunch the next day – and my family knows I won’t share! I’ve reserved the right to eat any leftovers of this potato gratin, unless they have helped me make it.

Not that it’s a difficult dish to make – it isn’t, but it does take a little time to peel and slice those potatoes. I recommend getting a mandolin slicer; it will make the task a lot faster and easier! Plus, it’s such a fun tool that I wouldn’t mind slicing potatoes all days long, haha!

Serve this gratin at your next family gathering and watch it disappear in minutes!

Image credit Dreamyshade.

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Quick Tip: This potato gratin makes the perfect side to any entree, but I especially enjoy this with a good steak.

STOP With The Post-Dinner Cleanup Craziness!

Before we get started with the recipe, I have a confession to make. I’m the laziest person on the planet, when it comes to cleaning up after dinner. There, I said it! I feel a little guilty because my husband often steps in to do the cleanup. I guess I shouldn’t feel that way – after all, I made the dinner so it’s very nice of him to offer a helping hand.

The problem is, whenever he makes dinner, he always washes all the pots and pans and cleans up the kitchen before we even start eating. And that, my dear readers, is why I feel guilty.

I don’t know how he manages to do all that; it’s almost as if he had an extra pair of hands! But lately I’ve been trying to find ways to improve my kitchen skills. And recipes like this one have turned out such lifesavers! There really isn’t a cleanup at all, if you can make your whole meal in one pot. But I didn’t think a pasta dish would turn out this good, until I gave it a try!

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Quick Tip: You can use any kind of pasta for this dish.

How To Get Dinner On The Table In 45 Minutes

Raise your hand if you’ve struggled trying to get back to the usual school day routine again! I sure have, and I don’t even know what it’s about. You’d think when you finally get your kids to school, you’ve got the whole day to prepare a meal and then you can just sit back and relax. NOT! At least that’s not what it’s like for me, at all! When dinnertime finally comes, I couldn’t care less what’s on the table, as long as IT IS THERE.

But that’s exactly why this wonder meal from Michele over at Ladle Full Of Love makes me feel so happy. My kids are crazy about this 3 cheese baked rigatoni (and so is my husband), it’s super easy and quick to make, and on top of it all it makes me feel like a better Mom. You know, when you can provide such a tasty meal in the middle of all that chaos.

The recipe also leaves plenty of room for changes, in case you didn’t have time to stop by the grocery store. Because that happens to me a lot.

Recipe and image courtesy of Ladle Full Of Love.

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Quick Tip: Use any kind of pasta noodles for this recipe.

Up your mac and cheese game with a few awesome tweaks!

I feel blessed today. Actually, I feel blessed most days of my life but today especially. Here I was, working in my home office and suddenly waking up to the noise coming from our kitchen. Maybe I shouldn’t refer it to as “noise”, since it was one of my favorite sounds in the world. My husband talking to himself while cooking something that smelled really good!

I hadn’t even asked him if he could cook today but the sweet guy had realized I was really busy, and decided to surprise me. I asked him what he was making in there but he refused to tell me. All I knew was that it involved mini meatballs!

Just a short while later I heard him shout; “It’s ready!” and I could have beaten Usain Bolt when I rushed to the kitchen. What was it that smelled so heavenly? It was the yummiest mac and cheese ever! Apparently he had come across a tasty-looking recipe and wanted to make his own version of it. Did I already mention I feel blessed?

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Quick Tip: Use your favorite cheese for this recipe.

Kids And Adults Alike Are Going To Beg For Seconds!

You won’t believe what I have gotten myself into now! My sister’s two kids are coming over for the weekend while she and her husband are traveling for work.

These two boys, aged 5 and 6, are the most adorable and lovely kids ever, but they are not exactly very adventurous when it comes to food. My sister has been struggling, trying to find them new foods to eat, since it does seem occasionally that all they like is cheese. Somehow I blurted out; “Twenty bucks says I can make them love fish” – and now she is absolutely certain I will fail…

Maybe I was a little overconfident, but I have a special trick up my sleeve that my sister doesn’t know about. You see, I’ve found the recipe to the tastiest salmon cakes on the planet, and I’m pretty sure the boys are going to fall in love with these, without even realizing what they’re made of!

These are the crunchiest, tastiest fish cakes I’ve ever tried, and I have been making them this way ever since I first tried the recipe. No fancy ingredients needed! You probably have all of these at hand.

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Quick Tip: Serve with potato wedges.

This soup never lets me down!

You know that dreadful moment when you’re trying to find an outfit for your friend’s wedding, and you suddenly realize none of your clothes fit anymore?

I am pretty sure there’s a mysterious creature living in my closet and it’s replacing all my dresses with the same ones, only two sizes smaller. How else would you explain it that the dress I was wearing in February, is now impossible to zip? Surely it has nothing to do with all the summer BBQ’s and daily ice cream cones.

Until I either catch that creature, or win the lottery so that I can replace all my clothes with new ones, I’ve found a brilliant way to ease into those dresses and skirts I would like to wear. I don’t like diets; I just don’t have the patience, but occasionally I feel the need to shed a couple of pounds. That’s when I start eating a bit healthier and adding some exercise into my days.

As most of us probably know, it can be a lengthy process. So I’ve come up with a way to jumpstart it! I eat this super tasty cabbage soup for a few days and it makes me feel lighter immediately.

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Quick Tip: Add any of your favorite chopped vegetables!

I think you should make two loaves… It’s so delicious, it’ll be gone in a heartbeat!

What every family needs is a good meatloaf recipe, and this one is the best I’ve found so far. I’m saying “so far” because I’ll probably keep trying new ones for as long as I live.

It’s not that I don’t think this is good enough – in fact, it’s just the opposite. I think this meatloaf is so tasty that it’s going to be hard, if not impossible, to top this. But that’s exactly why I occasionally search for new recipes. If I get lucky, some day I’m going to end up with another one that is even more delicious!

That’s exactly what happened to me with this recipe. I had made plenty of meatloaves before; I love the stuffed ones, and also the mini meatloaves (those are the kids’ favorite) but as soon as I realized you could cover your whole meatloaf with bacon, I knew it was going to be awesome.

You can choose turkey bacon if you want to make this a bit leaner – but personally I think you should always go for the real thing! Choose your favorite brand or try special flavors each time.

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Quick Tip: Instead of making one big meatloaf, make several smaller ones and wrap them in bacon. Adjust the baking time accordingly!