There’s not much I love than gathering a bunch of people around a table and sharing good food and fellowship together.

We’ve got space for ten – maybe fourteen if we squish – at our table, and when I get around to revamping our island, we’ll have another four or so bar stools there for people to sit on. A full table means a full heart.

It just feels so good to sit together and share time, food, and stories with good friends without distractions. When we can all just forget about smartphones and who has posted what and what’s on the news and just be.

We miss out on those times a lot these days. Is it wrong if I blame it on the phasing out of formal dining rooms?

It’s not a bad thing if you’ve given up your dining room for a home office or some other use and migrated to a kitchen table or eating together around an island.

But if dinner has become something you grab haphazardly in the kitchen while standing or eat while sitting on the couch, watching TV or doing something else, it loses a lot.

We lose things when we multitask – if not our direction or our thought processes, we lose our ability to really focus on and appreciate a moment.

If I do nothing else for you around the Home Front, let this little lesson be a lesson to all of us – to try not to do all the things at once, to allow ourselves the luxury to focus on one thing at a time, absolutely and fully, and to be present in that moment.

Whether that moment is following a creative thought, solving a problem, or enjoying the smooth buttery taste of garlic and gruyere together, it’s worth giving that moment time to flourish.

Gruyere Scalloped Sweet-Potato Stacks

What You’ll Need:

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup freshly shredded Gruyere cheese
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
•  Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh thyme to garnish

How to Make Them:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.

2. Layer half of the sweet potatoes in a lightly greased 12-cup muffin pan. Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 cup of the Gruyere cheese. Top with the remaining sweet potatoes.

3. Whip together the cream, pressed garlic clove, salt, and pepper. Pour the cream mixture into the muffin cups {it should be about 1 tbsp per cup}.

4. Cover the cups with aluminum foil. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes or until softened. Uncover and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, and bake 5-7 minutes more, or until the cheese is slightly golden.

5. Let the cups rest for about 5 minutes. Then run a sharp knife around the rim of each cup and lift the cup from the muffin tin using a spoon or a thin spatula. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with a little bit of fresh thyme.