Healthy Winter Potato, Kale and Apple Gratin

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the US Potato Board. 

The Potato Board website

You know what's great? Versatile, classic and simple things. Like nude heels or a structured bag. Or potatoes. Yeah! The potato is like the structured bag of your kitchen: you can build an entire outfit/meal from it and change it up every time you use it. 

For winter, having potatoes on hand to work from makes my cooking life a little bit more relaxing. I can just grab a few to roast, mash, or even turn into soup. But maybe one of my favorite preparations of all is a gratin. Except, a typical gratin is just LOADED with cheese and cream, so I pared it back and brought in additional flavors and nutrients (apples and kale and aged cheese) to make it a healthy part of a warm night in together.

And when I saw 'warm night in', as I type this we've had sub zero wind chill days here in the DC area. So all the warm, please and thank you. The husband and I seriously at this right out of the dish (we couldn't help ourselves) but NORMAL people could sit down and pair this with a rotisserie chicken or grilled sausages as well as a large dose of Netflix. Unless it's Making a Murderer, because you'll need to make double the recipe to sustain your energy through that marathon... Food and murder mysteries. It's how we sustain our marriage. 

Potatoes have a ton of nutrients that the general public seems to forget about. A medium potato with skin is about 110 calories. HELLO. Wouldn't you want that over those stupid 100 calorie junk food packs? YES. Please make me a potato with salt and pepper! They're also a source of antioxidants. YES. Those sexy things that sometimes people only think are in tropical fruits. They've got vitamin C, carotenoids and anthocyanins.  And I can't forget about vitamin B6 which is a metabolism helper. To  learn more about the nutrition benefits of potatoes and more ways to prepare them beyond my  caviar bites, roasted potatoes with lemon, or pizza potatoes  check out Potato Goodness. 

Potato Goodness website

Potato, Kale and Apple Gratin 

serves 4

/// Ingredients ///

• 2 large yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 gala apple, cored, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch kale (roughly 2 cups), de-stemmed 
• a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp crushed dry sage
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 2 cups low-fat 1% milk
• 2 tablespoons butter

/// Directions ///  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or lightly oil a baking dish (10 inch or so works well) or cast iron skillet. Thinly slice potatoes and apples. Chiffonade kale leaves. Create a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Top with salt, pepper, half the parmesan cheese and a pinch of sage and chili. Create the next layer of apples, add kale and add one final layer of potatoes. Top with the rest of the parmesan, salt, pepper and spices. Pour milk over the top, into the dish and add pieces of butter on top. Bake for half an hour and drain off the remaining milk. Return the gratin to the oven and bake for another 30-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are soft and easy to pierce with a fork.