Over the course of the next month and a half, most of us are going to be running around with a panicked glint in our eyes as we try to get everything done for the holidays. Food can be one of the most stressful aspects of this November-December stretch. Luckily Kim O'Donnel, the washingtonpost.com food blogger extraordinaire, recently wrote a cookbook to help us all come through the trials of holiday cooking with honors. The book is called A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays: Kitchen Tricks for the Feasting Season and it is full of terrific tips, stories, techniques and recipes (you can buy it here). She offers advice on how to brine a turkey, gives a 7-day cooking timeline for Thanksgiving and also includes a section on what to cook if you find yourself alone on turkey day.
One of the recipes that jumped out at me from the book fits nicely into the alternative side dish category we've been talking about lately. It's for a Parsnip-Potato Mash and seems to be a good way to mix up your regular old potato mashers. The recipe is after the jump.











