Hello, hello my lovely holiday makers!  Lauren here from thoughtful living & entertaining site, LaurenKelp.com. Are you getting excited about Thanksgiving?! Raise a hand if you can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away. I hate to say it, but Thanksgiving totally snuck up on me this year & while I welcome it with open arms, I was a bit nervous about getting all my ducks in a row.

Did you notice how I said, “was nervous,” as in, I am not anymore? That’s because I found the most insane side dish – browned maple butter sweet potatoes – and everything is just kind of revolving around this magic incarnation of a carb.

Let’s be honest, I have never met a carb I didn’t like & these insanely delicious sweet potatoes totally fit the bill. Perfectly sweet, but not rich like traditional sweet potatoes with the marshmallow topping, and that browned maple syrup butter is beyond amazing. In fact I am now trying to put it on everything – coffee, toast, biscuits, you get the idea. Trust me, you will absolutely feel the same way!

Okay, okay, enough chitchat – let’s get down to it. Find your new favorite recipe below, ooh & pro tip from the chef, it tastes better when the cook has a glass of Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir when making the dish.

Not that difficult, right?! The actual cooking of the potatoes is the most involved part of the whole process the rest is just finessing. What could be better than that?

Now that you’ve got the side dish that will make even the harshest critics compliment your handy work, let’s talk wine. I am a red wine girl through & through and there are few things that I love more then a really delicious glass of Pinot Noir to sip on with friends and family while it’s cold outside, eating delicious food & playing games.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir because it’s a red that everyone can get behind. It is absolutely one of our go-to reds because its earthy and a bit oaky (so the big red fans will love it), has bright cherry and raspberry notes (so your sweeter wine drinkers will fall for it), and it’s a bit spicy (so you can please the cocktail drinkers). See what I mean? It’s a slam-dunk!

So, what do you say? Going to give this side dish a whirl? We highly recommend it! If you are looking for more Thanksgiving (friendsgiving or otherwise), check out our How to Host a Friendsgiving post! We’ve got lots of fun tricks up our sleeve to help make the evening a total success!

Love this recipe as much as we do? We want to see! Tag @KJWines & @LaurenKelp_com to show us your sassy sweet potato dish. Careful, we might just have to crash your dinner!

Happy Hosting!

Photography by Constance Higley (www.constancehigley.com)