Handmade Holiday continued

Another part of a Handmade Holiday, let's all face it, is FOOD! I'd like to come out of the holidays skinnier than I went in. Thanksgiving usually isn't a problem since I don't really like the traditional foods so there's not a lot of over-consumption going on there. This year, my parents are between houses so Thanksgiving is being held at my sister's house. Now this sister was never the one to play house or Barbies or anything that involved "domestic engineering", so the deal is that she's a venue. I got assigned birthday cake for our November birthday girls (easy peasy - they want a Carvel cake - eh, handmade only goes so far!) and potatoes. I think I'm going to make a couple of varieties. There's been a request for Au Gratin potatoes and the second is up to me. Mashed potatoes are the go to but not my favorite so I'm testing out recipes on my family.

Test 1 (Nov 9): Hasselback Potatoes
Yeah, I never heard of them either but I'm expanding my horizons with Pinterest. Here's the gist: garlic baked potatoes. These are not my pictures (I kept cutting the ends off - mine were yummy - I had to pick the garlic bits out after cooking for my kids - but I'm not sure I can cut that many potatoes like that for potentially 10 adults and 4 kids)


So this weekend, I have to come up with test 2 (au gratins from scratch?? or just go with twice baked potatoes using muffin tins to keep them standing up?)...and get ready to RUN!!