Of course, you can also put the Instant Pot -- everyone's favorite kitchen gadget -- to work. I use it to make mashed potatoes -- Marcus' favorite part of the holiday meal and the dish I've hated since I was a kid. (I've always loved Brussels sprouts though. Go figure.) Marcus likes to say that makes me not a true American yet I faithfully make this dish each year.

Some might recommend using a pressure cooker because it cuts down on time, but I prefer it because it concentrates the potatoes' flavor. Russets or Yukon Gold are the best types to use because their high starch content makes for creamier results. Peel and slice those suckers evenly, then slap them into the cooker's steamer basket with a little water in the bottom of the machine and cook on high for five minutes or so. Be sure to use a ricer afterward to keep them fluffy -- not gluey the way a food processor might -- and add plenty of butter and half and half. We keep a strict ratio of half potato/half dairy in our house.

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It's also not the holidays without traditional green bean casserole with those weird, dehydrated onions on top. I update the dish by abolishing all canned vegetables. You'd be amazed what flavor fresh beans lend to a classic.

Every authority will tell you to blanche most greenery in salt water before cooking it, because the high temperatures and sodium break down the pectin in the cell walls, leaving softer vegetables behind. But it's so retro to heat a big pot of boiling water, and it takes forever. I like to use one of my many electric kettles to boil water at the same time as I heat up more on the stove -- a basic hack, for sure, but one of the most useful time-savers I know of. This way the pot is ready in less than five minutes.

Put a rubber band around the beans so you don't spend forever fishing them out, dump 'em in, and then shock them in ice water a few minutes later to stop the cooking process. Snip them quickly using kitchen shears rather than a knife and cutting board (also a good trick if you're making stuffing). Just don't tell me if you use canned cream of mushroom soup in the finished product.