Sweet Potato and Chard Gratin

Last week, my friends Lisa and Mandy came over for a discussion of the latest Sookie Stackhouse book (see my other blog for details). When the three of us hang out, we always have a-ma-zing meals (and are each responsible for the entree, salad, or dessert). This time, I was responsible for the entree. I was ready to go with fish tacos when I found out that neither Lisa nor Many like them! So, I saved the tacos for another day and scrambled for a new idea.

As usual, I went to my trusty smitten kitchen for advice. Even though a gratin seems kind of wintery, this Sweet Potato and Chard Gratin sounded great! My version is fairly similar bar a few changes:
1. My chard looked way different and the stems were thick and tough so they went straight to the compost instead of in the dish.
2. I used my food processor to chop the taters (and onions... and shred the cheese) so they were a little on the thin side-- I just used two layers instead of one.
3. I used 1% milk instead of whole milk and I think the bechemel tasted just fine! (I also added ground thyme to it)

I made everything the night before, so it was all in a casserole dish in my fridge just waiting to be popped in the oven (400 degrees for an hour).

It was absolutely delicious! Sweet, savory, creamy, and filling. And very light! Each of six servings (fairly large since it was our main-dish. If you were serving this as a side you could probably serve 10-12) only had 290 calories so it is definitely a guilt free dish.