Aside from being delicious, mustard is a ridiculously healthy thing. It has all sorts of anti-oxidants, and just a teaspoon of mustard seeds has 22.2 mg of potassium.

Also, it beats the pants off of mayonnaise, when it comes to taste.

Yes, I went there.

So, not only is this recipe simple and delicious, it's a little bit good for you too.

A gratin doesn't have to be just potatoes and cream, it can also be filled with delicious turnip slices too. Some friends of ours recently gave us some itty-bitty turnips, that were the size of radishes. At first, because they were so small, I thought I might showcase them by roasting them. But, then I decided that they could hold their own in a lovely gratin of potatoes, cheddar, onions, thyme and bacon. Amazingly, the turnip helped to make the velvety dish even more creamy. Pure deliciousness.

(This post originally appeared on Conde Nast's Santa's Hideout and BlogHer.)

The holidays make us goofy.

We spend a decent amount of time on finding or making presents, but we spend as much time working on riddles for the accompanying card.

A card from my husband: “Sort of like a double shot of fantastical warm milk and honey.” Present: The remastered CD of “Double Fantasy” by John Lennon.

A card for my husband: “Lebhaftlange und erweitern sich.” He doesn't speak German. But, in the card I told him to go to Babel Fish language translator and type in the Germanic phrase. When he did that he saw that it meant, “Live long and prosper” His present: The first season of Star Trek on DVD.

What we lack in money, we make up for in silliness.

But, last year we both were sick over Christmas, so we couldn't go to our annual family Christmas dinner. However, I was feeling perverse, and I didn't want the fact that we both had continual sneezes and low-grade fevers to keep us from having a good meal.

I needed to look at and eat something pretty.

Over the weekend I made this amazing open-faced sandwich, with Thanksgiving leftovers. I doubt that anyone has turkey left over at this point, but the next time you have some try this sandwich.  It's fantastic.

It's a dish in my recipe box that has a different origin than all the others. I first read about it in one of Sue Grafton's alphabet-themed detective novels, “O is for Outlaw." And in the book, Kinsey Millhone (the protagonist) doesn't fall in love with the appearance of the sandwich.

“I stared at the dish, which looked like a lake of piping-hot yellow sludge with a dusting of paprika and something lumpy underneath.

'What is this?'

'Eat it and find out.'

I picked up my fork and tried a tiny bite. A hot brown turned out to be an open faced, sliced turkey sandwich, complete with bacon and tomatoes, baked with the most divine cheese sauce I had ever set to my lips.

I mewed like a kitten.”