My Ultimate Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes, made with the ease of a slow cooker, using peeled russet potatoes cooked in chicken broth, then beat with butter, heavy cream or whole milk and cream cheese. Pictured here with trinity seasoned green peas, chicken fried chicken and milk gravy.

Slow Cooker Ultimate Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes anytime, not just holidays!

While we may tone it down a bit when we make them on the regular, admittedly, holidays are when we usually break out the fancy potatoes. You know the ones. Cream cheese. Whole milk with heavy cream. Plenty of butter!

Those of y'all who have been around any length of time already know I'm not huge on the slow cooker, mostly because I am not a very good advance planner and generally speaking, slow cookers require that! I have some slow cooker recipes here and there because I know it's one more tool to make mealtime happen.

A potato salad made using half smashed and half chunky potatoes and finished with a sour cream and mayonnaise-based dressing.

Sour Cream Smashed Potato Salad

Hope y'all don't mind me sneaking in another potato salad before we roll into Fall in a few days!

Not that it matters much what the calendar says in the Deep South because yesterday it was miserably hot and humid. Not that the weather has ever stopped a craving on me, I sure do look forward to some cooler temperatures and some belly warmin' meals though - hopefully soon!

I wrote this version of potato salad in honor of my mother-in-law, who passed away a few years back. Although it's a bit different from her version, very different from my Mama's and different even from the way my father-in-law, who was also a great cook, made his, she prepared her potato salad mostly mashed, something that was very new to me.

Carrots and sweet potatoes, tossed with olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes and oven roasted.

Roasted Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

I love roasted vegetables, and this is the time of year - when you don't mind turning on your oven - to get your fill of them!

Roasting really brings out the natural sweetness and enhances the overall flavor of vegetables and you just can't beat the ease of preparation.

Sweet potatoes, baked, split, mashed and combined with butter, spices and milk, stuffed back into the shell and rebaked. A delicious side dish anytime, but great for a holiday meal.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love twice-baked potatoes! Just the expanded flavor from the additions and fluffy texture of the potato after you baked it, mash it, mix it with all the goodies and then bake it, again... outstanding! 

Bet you didn't even think of sweet potatoes. Yep, they're good twice baked too!

Fresh coin cut carrots, steamed in the Instant Pot, then tossed with a honey based butter glaze.

Instant Pot Honey Glazed Carrots

I tell y'all what. I am sure enjoying my Instant Pots {affil link} and I've used them an awful lot. To be fair, I have also enjoyed the other brands of electronic pressure cookers that were born before the IP brand was all the rage, all of which I still have, but what I'm saying is that you just cannot beat the ease of preparation and time savings with this appliance.

Oven roasted chunks of carrots, tossed with olive oil, seasonings, cayenne, balsamic vinegar and honey.

Honey Roasted Carrots

One of the best ways to bring out the flavors of vegetables is to roast them and carrots really shine. Bring them beyond the typical oil, salt and pepper with a few special enhancements and you've got a dish that is fit for your holiday dinner table.

Broiled Sweet Potatoes - Baked then brushed with a cinnamon honey butter and a drizzle of cane syrup before being passed under the broiler.

Broiled Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes, just about any way that you can prepare them. Just plain baked will do me fine, or even better, twice-baked. Roasted, glazed with buttery bourbon, candied with a simple syrup, grilled, baked in a casserole, in a quick bread, and, of course, in a pie. Just pass them over however they're prepared. Even The Cajun will eat them and thankfully, they are available year-round. I hope that you'll give this version a try too.

These potatoes are the perfect accompaniment to many main dish meats, poultry or pork dishes. Tossed in a mixture of herbs, butter and olive oil, and onion seasoning, roasted on a sheet pan, and deglazed with broth for a tasty finishing sauce.

Sheet Pan Onion Roasted Potatoes

I believe that onion roasted potatoes have been around at least as long as I have. They are a great side for just about any beef, pork or chicken entree and besides being a fantastic way to transform plain potatoes, they are also always well received.

I make mine just a tad bit different, adding a little more herbs and seasonings, along with the classic onion soup mix that made these famous, which by the way, if you happen to object to using, there are hundreds of copycat recipes on the internet you can use to make a homemade version, including mine that is included below. I also like to borrow from a classic dish called pommes fondantes ("melting potatoes"), deglazing the potatoes with chicken broth to turn that base into a nice finishing sauce.

This is my Deep South take on classic German Potato Salad, made with a warm bacon dressing, including our Holy Trinity of Southern cooking, along with pickles and juice, sugar, mustard, horseradish, hot sauce and black pepper. Best served warm or at room temperature.

Deep South Style German Potato Salad

We love our Classic Southern Style Potato Salad here in The South, but German Potato Salad is a popular Southern favorite too. I make no claims to the authenticity of this version, but with the inclusion of our Deep South Holy Trinity of Southern cooking, mine is a Deep South take on this classic favorite. Not only is it the perfect potato salad for our sweet and sour Southern palates, it's a great potluck, picnic and church supper dish too.

Butter stewed potatoes, are whole new potatoes or small, cut up red potatoes, steam cooked in butter and often sprinkled with herbs, such as parsley.

Butter Steamed New Potatoes

No secret here that I love potatoes I suppose. Seriously, set a pot of stewed potatoes in front of me and I'm perfectly happy to enjoy them as my meal.

Sliced potatoes are tossed with onion in seasoned flour, then fried in a bit of hot oil, covered and smothered with milk for a slow simmer. Simple, delicious comfort food.

Smothered Stewed Potatoes

This is one of my favorite potato side dishes, though I've also been known to make a pot just because I wanted some too!

It's very simple, classic country cooking - nothing particularly extraordinary about it or anything, but potatoes prepared this way are just so delicious and comforting. Simply sliced thin, then tossed with a tiny mixture of flour, salt and pepper, first cooked in a bit of hot oil and then covered in milk to low simmer until smothered down and tender.

They are as at home as a side dish with that nice Sunday pot roast, as they are with your everyday chicken, or if you're like me, as a meal all on their own.

Braun Bon Brown Good Smothered Potatoes

Seasoned potatoes, layered with onion and smoked sausage and slow simmered on the stovetop. Top layer of potatoes pictured.

Brown Good Smothered Potatoes

I feel so blessed to have so many of you email me with amazingly sweet notes, and often we correspond back and forth for no reason except just to chat. I am always humbled that you take the time from your busy date to write and it really means the world to me.

I am especially honored when you share your own treasured recipes - sometimes new things to try, sometimes new ways to try things. Nell, one of our readers from south Louisiana, is one such reader and she provided me with this wonderful recipe that I think you will really enjoy.

Fresh sweet potatoes baked in a cane syrup and brown sugar, bourbon glaze.

Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Here in The Deep South, we absolutely love our sweet potatoes. And we love our cane syrup. Oh yeah, and our bourbon. You'll find it expressed in an awful lot of recipes, especially around the holidays, so it's no surprise that we love our sweet potatoes glazed with a syrupy bourbon too. For us down along this way, that's most often made using Steen's pure cane syrup, a well loved and local favorite from Louisiana.

Perfectly Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Perfect Potatoes au Gratin, made with thinly sliced potatoes in a cheesy dreamy cream sauce.

Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Hello Scalloped Potatoes, meet the best, perfectly cheesy, Potatoes au Gratin, evah.

Ya know, seriously... I am of the opinion that it'd be kinda hard to mess up a dish of potatoes au gratin no matter what you do to them - I mean c'mon now. Potatoes. Cheese. Butter. Cream. Hello. If you're making this for the holidays, you'll probably want to double the ingredients and do extra layers.

Well, I personally love Julia's way with this classic potato dish, however I decided to play with it a bit. You know. For the holidays. 

Ways to Cook Sweet Potatoes ... Baked and More!

Some of my favorite ways to cook sweet potatoes ... baked, twice-backed, microwave, french fried, roasted, grilled, skillet hash, mashed and pureed.

Ways to Cook Sweet Potatoes

I realize that folks all over the U.S. eat sweet potatoes, and I also realize that they are grown in a lot of states {and even overseas}, but sweet potatoes sure speak southern to me.

Did you know that over 235 million pounds of them are produced annually right here in our fine state of Mississippi? Vardaman, Mississippi, located in the northern part of our state, is only one of the top five Mississippi sweet potato producers.

Every year in the first week of November they host a National Sweet Potato Festival, and Vardaman, in fact, lays claim to the title of "The Sweet Potato Capitol of the World." In truth, North Carolina is the biggest producer in the U.S., followed by close competitors Louisiana, California and Mississippi. Even still, China is the largest producer of sweet potatoes - about 80% of the world's supply.

A classic holiday casserole made with broccoli and cheese, and a few bonus veggies, topped with buttery crackers.

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Ahhhh.... broccoli and cheese casserole! Another one of those dishes that for us lovers of broccoli, is expected to grace the tables of several major holidays and usually does.

Lots of ways to make this - one of the most classic and well known versions back in the day, involved a little roll of garlic cheese. And then suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Kraft just discontinued the garlic cheese roll, without even giving an acceptable substitute! I really don't understand why they don't bring it back. Folks would be thrilled!

A few little twists on the old classic, this green bean casserole, includes freshly sauteed onion, sliced almonds, and a buttery crumb topping.

Green Bean Casserole with Crumb Topping

Green bean casserole is just about as traditional as you can get for the holidays, and I don't care how much folks try to knock it, it's another one of those dishes that are expected down South at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For me, it's not the holidays without it!

It's made most often in the classic way that has been around forever ... with our famous red and white can of southern béchamel - better known as Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup!

Traditional Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

Classic old-fashioned souffled sweet potato casserole topped with gooey marshmallows, pecan praline topping - or both!

Sweet Potato Casserole

I don't know what it is about sweet potatoes fluffed up souffle like and topped with gooey marshmallows, but we sure love this dish down here in The Deep South and it is a rare Southern table that is not graced with it on Thanksgiving or Christmas, or both.

A wonderful side dish combining seasonal butternut squash with sweet potato and a praline topping, perfect for the holidays.

Praline Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Casserole

Try adding this combination of sweet potatoes with butternut squash to your holiday menu.

We have a pretty short window of availability for any kind of winter squash in the south, and butternut barely gets a passing glance in the grocery stores here. Given that, it isn't a squash that I have experimented with much.

One thing I did find, however, was that I was not too wild about it at all in any kind of soup form, which seems one of the most common ways it is presented.

A twice-baked potato, stuffed with crabmeat, cheese and simple seasonings.

Crab-Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes

Every year, on the weekend near the 4th of July, Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (Mississippi's West Coast) hosts their church bazaar, the annual Crab Festival, though these days it has grown to be such a large event that it's not really a little church function anymore, but rather a very important coastal event. The festival has been held since 1984.

There are rides for the kids, all sorts of vendor booths, raffles, cash drawdowns, live entertainment, and of course lots of food. Besides the usual fair foods, you'll find loads of seafood dishes and of course, many of them made with crab.