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In the hierarchy of Thanksgiving side dishes, a big bowl of mashed potatoes is forever firmly planted at the top of my list. In fact, it’s my favorite dish on the holiday table, period. And this month I tested some of the most popular mashed potato recipes out there — from Alton Brown, Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, and Ree Drummond — to determine which one was the absolute best.

Cooking and tasting these four recipes back-to-back showed me the clear differences — sometimes small, sometimes big — that can set this staple dish apart from its peers. So, which one deserves a prime spot at your Thanksgiving table? Here’s how they ranked, from my least favorite to most favorite.

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Chocolate chip cookies are a classic dessert that are welcome year-round. You don’t need an excuse to bake a batch, like a holiday get-together, because you know that your friends will eat them literally anytime. But what if — and hear me out here — you didn’t have to bake cookies? I just discovered that Costco sells a three-pound chocolate cookie cake and, guys, this is epic.

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Magic Erasers (also generically known as melamine foam) are kind of amazing. Not only can they clean everything from grout to oven doors to tennis shoes, when purchased by the 8-pack, these sponge-shaped pads usually break down to about a $1 a pop. They are designed for cleaning hard-to-scrub surfaces in hard-to-reach places.

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All month long, Kitchn is testing some of the most popular Thanksgiving recipes on the internet. High on that list? Mashed potato recipes. It seems like everyone has their own take on the classic side, but whether you’re team creamy, chunky, ultra buttery, or some mix of all, we can all agree that no Thanksgiving spread is complete without them.

In Martha Stewart’s version, she gives you choices the entire time: from the potatoes (Yukon gold or russet?), to the milk (whole or heavy cream?), to the process (ricer or stand mixer?). Martha’s take was definitely more choice-heavy than the other famous mashed potato versions I tried (here’s Alton Brown’s, Ina Garten’s, and Ree Drummond’s), but I love an adventure. Here’s where this one took me!

Recipe: Martha Stewart’s Mashed Potatoes

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Sweet potato casserole is one of the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes for a reason: It serves up the vegetable in a creamy, sweet, and decadent way, and as we pile it onto our plates, it makes us feel like a kid again. Unfortunately, it’s often overthought and over-complicated, riddled with too many unnecessary steps and ingredients (I’m guilty of it, too, although this version is delish).

This year, we’re presenting you with the absolute easiest five-ingredient sweet potato casserole. In less than an hour (and with barely any dishes to wash), you’ll be rewarded with buttery mashed sweet potatoes piled under a layer of creamy, tender-crisp marshmallows.

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This may not look like your typical success story, but it’s still a primal success nonetheless! I have been blessed in that I’ve never had any illnesses or struggles with health. I’ve always been super active and that had helped me maintain a healthy weight, even throughout three pregnancies. My passion for running has always been deep and I completed my first marathon at the age of 31. I was hooked.

But with the growing number of miles, you can imagine how my appetite grew as well. I had the mindset that since I ran ten miles that morning, I could eat as much as I wanted, especially because I was eating “healthy” things like whole grain pasta, wheat bread, oatmeal, protein and snack bars, etc. I noticed that with every marathon training cycle, the scale would go up a little. I kept telling myself, “It’s okay, after my 20 miler this weekend I will drop the extra weight.” Nope. I noticed my clothes were getting uncomfortably tighter and my stomach was so bloated. I was confused because I would eat a big bowl of pasta and be hungry 30 minutes later. By this point, my weight was about ten pounds heavier than my normal, and the highest it had ever been! Most people probably couldn’t even tell, but I KNEW something wasn’t right. I felt horrible in my own skin.

As I was browsing for a new audiobook to listen to on my runs, I spotted one that caught my eye called Primal Endurance: Escape Chronic Cardio and Carbohydrate Dependency and Become a Fat-Burning Beast! I knew I had to read it, not just listen to it, so I ordered it right away. To say it changed my life is an understatement! Every chapter was describing my life exactly. I was one week out from my next marathon so I knew that wasn’t the time to make any drastic changes to my diet. I ran a 3-minute PR and qualified for Boston that Saturday, and on Monday I started the 21-Day Primal Challenge.

I cannot even describe how good I felt (except for a pretty bad headache on day two!). I followed the guidelines to a tee and saw incredible results. I lost seven very stubborn pounds during the three weeks and that was without doing any running. My exercise during the 21 days consisted of taking the kids and dog for daily walks. I was blown away that I could lose weight without running!

Needless to say, I didn’t stop after the 21 days. I have now been primal for 6 months and have never felt better. I’ve lost over ten pounds without even really trying. I love my eggs, avocados, nuts, berries, veggies, whole-fat Greek yogurt, and meat. My husband was skeptical at first, but saw my success and joined me in this lifestyle. He lost almost 20 pounds that he hadn’t even realized he’d slowly packed on over time.

I am currently training for the Boston Marathon and can easily go through the day after a run without ever feeling ravenous. If I have to wait to eat or skip a meal, it’s no big deal. I also make sure to avoid chronic cardio by keeping my easy days easy, and my hard days hard.

Thanks, Mark! Although I’m not quite ready to give up marathons, I’ll give up grains, sugar, and bad oils any day!

The post I Was Blown Away That I Could Lose Weight Without Running! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Earlier this morning, the hosts of a cable news channel morning show struggled to open the tiny doors on their wine-bottle advent calendar and they fumbled with the packaging until the commercial break. That made me think that maybe I’ll skip the calendar, buy a couple bottles of wine, and pretend that I’m capable of rationing them for 24 days.

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I always think of Aldi as Trader Joe’s quirky, minimalist German cousin. (Before you @ me, read this: The Biggest Thing You Get Wrong About Trader Joe’s and Aldi.) Like Trader Joe’s, Aldi really shines in the snack department — ditto for their wines. Aldi wines frequently win awards, and people who love them really love them. But for some reason, people don’t talk about Aldi wine the way they talk about Trader Joe’s wine. I’m hoping to change that a bit.

I held a blind taste test with some of my wine expert friends and these are the single best red and white wines at Aldi.

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America: it’s been an unbelievably bitter week, news-wise. For a little while there, it was easy to think it would be impossible to find the good in other people, but then I heard the story of a California donut shop, and now I know the world just needs people like this to help it find its way back.

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You’ve roasted your turkey, and now it’s time for gravy. You don’t need a recipe; this step-by-step guide will show you how to make delicious gravy to pour over your mashed potatoes and turkey with wild abandon.

The deeply browned and rich scrapings from the bottom of the roasting pan might not look like much when you first take the turkey out of the oven, but those drippings are Thanksgiving manna. Let’s make some gravy.

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