Low-cost holiday recipes from Milk chef Bret Thompson

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Although it is one of the most successful marketing catch phrases of all time, ‘Got Milk?’ is also one of the most annoying. Its ability to spawn singularly unfunny spin-offs (Got beans?, Got wood?, Got beer?) at an unprecedented rate only adds to the psychic chaffing it has inflicted on me during its 11-year existence.

Still, like the really bad neo hair-metal band that practices in my neighbor’s living room, the Got Milk campaign just won’t go away. Its latest manifestation came to me in the form of a cheerful holiday e-mail from the PR group that represents the California Milk Processor Board.

‘Got Milk?’ It asked me before informing me that Bret Thompson, chef-owner of L.A.’s Milk restaurant on Beverly, has joined forces with the milk board to offer low-cost, milk-based holiday recipes online. The recipes, which include sweet potato gratin with sage; corn soup with pico de gallo; creamy green beans with caramelized onions and toasted almonds; and apple cranberry bread pudding, are all tailored to cost you 50 cents to 80 cents per person. Or in the popular parlance of today’s cash-strapped reality: ‘less than that of a McDonald’s value meal.’

You can check out these milky creations at http://www.gotmilk.com/pdf/THANKSGIVING.pdf. (The recipes haven’t been tested by The Times’ test kitchen.)

-- Jessica Gelt