MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Next week many of us will be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.

So this week, we are looking at ways to spice up those traditional Thanksgiving foods. We turned to a chef to show us some ways to bring excitement to mashed potatoes.

Here’s what Rachael Perron from Kowalski’s Markets recommends: They’re called mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and bleu cheese. Here’s how you make them.

“We are going to use Yukon gold potatoes. These are peeled but you can use them unpeeled. It doesn’t make a difference,” Perron said.

But they do need to be cut into pieces that are about the same size so they cook evenly.

“It is important to start them in cold water and then bring them up to a boil. I didn’t know that. I usually get my water boiling and them put them in. A lot of people do that. But in the cold water the outside and inside cook at the same rate. Bring it up to a boil. It will take about 15 minutes depending on how large you cut them,” Perron said.

For the bleu cheese, add some to buttermilk in a saucepan and then warm and stir mixture until it’s creamy.

“And then caramelized onions, nice hot sautee pan with melted butter, we are going to add an onion, sliced really thin. These are going to take a while to cook, 25 to 30 minutes depending on size of pan and how high you have your heat,” Perron said.

After you’ve mashed the cooked potatoes, just add everything in. You can also add truffle oil, with extra virgin olive oil infused with truffle essence, and fresh chopped chives.