My mom makes the best mashed potatoes. Hands-down! I've loved them all my life and so does the rest of my family. There are certain people (and I won't name names!) that basically eat an entire plateful of these every holiday, ignoring all the rest of the goodies! They're smooth, rich and quite possibly, the most perfect comfort food in existence! However, now knowing what I know about white potatoes--their carb count and relatively low nutritional value as well as the more than generous amount of butter that my mom uses to make these taste so awesomely creamy, these generally get saved for special occasions only now. So what's a mashed potato lover to do? Enter this different but equally delicious Turnip-Apple Mash. It's creamy, slightly sweet and utterly satisfying but has far fewer calories and carbs than my mom's version. If you've never experimented with mashed turnips, today's your lucky day!!

Look at the gorgeous purple! Don't you just love 'em! Surprisingly, I never grew up eating turnips but now I use them all the time, adding them to soups and stews or simply as part of a mixed veggie roast. Compared to the 59 calories in an ordinary cup of cubed white potato, a cup of cubed turnip has only 18 calories and only 4.2 grams of carbohydrates as compared with the 13.5 grams for the potato. But that's not the reason to make this. The reason is that this root veggie mash is absolutely delicious. It was a big hit with the home judges last night and I can see that this will definitely be entering a regular spot on my veggie/sides rotation.

The bitterness of the turnip is countered by the sweetness of the apple so in every bite you've got that exciting yin/yang thing going on. Plus, the apple addition makes the dish feel so seasonal and right. Nothing will ever replace my mom's mashed potatoes but until Thanksgiving, it's nice to know there's a relatively guilt-free version we can indulge in. Happy turnip eating!!I

Turnip-Apple Mash

Makes 4-5 servings

Prep Time:  10 minutes; Cook Time:  45-50 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds purple-topped turnips (about 5 medium), peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks (I used 1 Granny Smith and 1 Honeycrisp)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

The Recipe

1.  Place the cut up turnips in a medium pot. Cover with 4 cups cold water and place pot over burner over high heat. Bring to a full boil, then turn down the heat to keep the mixture at a brisk simmer, partially cover and let cook for 20 minutes. Add the apples, oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter. Continue to simmer uncovered another 25 minutes or so, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is beginning to sizzle.

2.  Remove the pot from the heat. Add in the remaining butter, season to taste with salt and pepper and mash well with a potato masher. Top with fresh parsley if using and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted from Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster. I cut down the amount of butter and entirely omitted the fresh thyme.