Centerpiece

Bread and Cheese

Napkin Rings

Relish Tray

Happy Kids

Buffet

Pie

From all of us here to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s to wishing you had a fun, enjoyable, fantastic day with your nearest and dearest.

Over the years, I have experimented a lot with cranberry sauces. I’ve been looking for the right recipe that is different, but delightful. This is it.

This cranberry sauce is about as easy as it can get. The addition of apple adds a nice (and slightly sweet) twist that really takes the sauce to a different level. Try it paired with turkey and other holiday concoctions.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
1 apple (sweet and firm variety such as Fuji), peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and lemon juice until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the cranberries and apples. Return mixture to a boil and then lower the heat to medium low. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring once in a while.

Remove from heat, pour into a bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Then refrigerate until serving.

I ended up going with a recipe for southern butternut squash. Somehow, in my head, it seemed like butternut squash must be a southern-type dish so that seemed to be the perfect recipe. Turns out that the “southern” style of making butternut squash is essentially a super-sweet custard. To this day, my family references that particular side dish when we discuss Thanksgiving or squash or side dishes or any combination thereof. It was that, um, memorable.

After that, I devised a cooking method that involved roasting a whole butternut squash (cut in half) and mixing it with butter, maple syrup and brown sugar. When it was done roasting, I would scoop it out and mash it together. My husband liked it a lot (though it still wasn’t the butternut squash he was looking for) and that became the squash that graced the table for several years. The rest of the family, myself included, would tolerate a bite or two, but I kept making it for him.

This year, in the interest of simplifying, I decided to forgo the whole cutting a big ol’ squash in half and preparing it for baking and then burning my fingers while mashing the hot innards about 45 minutes later. I just wanted something a little simpler. Then I saw a recipe for roasted butternut squash chunks in Woman’s Day — a magazine I don’t regularly read. While the ingredients didn’t meet the flavor combination I was going for, I saw some big opportunity to spin the super simple recipe into a good dish that would be a lot easier to prepare (no burnt fingers!).

When my husband found out about the change in recipe, he brought up the damn custard and asked why I always have to change things . . .

Fortunately, on first taste, all I got were wows — and suggestions that this is THE recipe to repeat next year. Yay for that!

2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 lbs butternut squash, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk together the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Add the butternut squash chunks and toss to coat well.

Spread the squash on a baking sheet (lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup) in a single layer.

Cook 25-30 minutes, tossing once halfway through. Serve immediately.

Wait for it . . .

I shared my kitchen.

Normally on Thanksgiving, I shoo everyone out of the kitchen (okay, the day before, actually) and then I cook dish after dish, course after course. What can I say? I am a control freak. I like things to be done a certain way at a certain time . . .

But this year was a little different. Unable to lift the turkey, I had to let my husband help me. It wasn’t easy to relinquish complete, absolute control and let him help, but it had to be done. And ultimately, I actually let him make the turkey himself. No honey maple turkey for us this year. Instead, we went with my husband’s recipe. And it was delicious. Moreover, with his help peeling and cutting and chopping, dinner preparation was less stressful for me. I was actually able to sit back and enjoy the holiday for once. How crazy is that?

And here’s a little secret: I actually liked having him help. It was fun. And I didn’t feel so isolated and alone making the meal for once . . . There. I said it.

But don’t tell him that.

Check back all week for Thanksgiving and holiday related posts. After all, the lessons we learn from Thanksgiving can easily be applied to all the holidays.

First, our menu. As I said, this year I went simpler and actually allowed help in the kitchen (more on that later). As a result, I wasn’t cooking for days leading up to Thanksgiving — in fact, everything could be accomplished over the course of an hour each for cooking and prep work. That was a huge bonus. And for once, I really enjoyed Thanksgiving. I guess that is something to take as a lesson. Simplifying things really does reap rewards for a happier holiday. So, simplify, simplify, simplify.

So, here’s what we ate:

Appetizers -

• Cheese plate (cut up cheese with crackers — chipotle cheddar, vermont extra sharp cheddar, gouda, port wine and another variety of cheddar — do you sense a theme?)
• Bruschettas (three varieties – tomato, gorgonzola parmesan, and sweet onion)

Main -

• Shawn’s sweet and savory rotisserie turkey (and if I can ever pin him down on the recipe, I will share it. It’s glazed with a mixture of butter, honey, special seasoning salt, and a few other things).

Sides –

• green beans with brown butter
• carrots ala Shawn (again, if I can ever pin down the recipe …)
• roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and shallots
• roasted butternut squash (check back tomorrow for the recipe)
• mashed potatoes
• stuffing (ultra plain stuffing this year)
• cranberry sauce with apples (recipe to come later this week)

Dessert -

• French apple pie
• pumpkin pie
• fresh whipped cream

And if you are like me, you have procrastinated making your Thanksgiving menu and are in crunch time. I’ll be off cooking and preparing for the rest of the week. To keep you going while I am going, here are a few good side dishes to help you spice up your Thanksgiving dinner this year:

Roasted Pesto Cauliflower

Garlic Tomato Spaghetti Squash

Swiss Chard with Tomato and Feta

Balsamic Sauteed Radishes

Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Pancetta

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

Garlicky Pan Grilled Asparagus with Romano

Grilled Herb Parmesan Asparagus

Grilled Herbed Carrots

Glazed Carrots

Sauteed Spinach with Mozzarella

Glazed Beets

Mushroom Broccoli Affair

Sauteed Broccolini

Green Beans with Brown Butter

This was my table. See the centerpiece? It was born of necessity . . . I wanted something fancy and didn’t have time to actually get all the things necessary for it. The strange thing is that I liked this even better than what I had planned. I wish I had just a bit more fruit for the bowl, but c’est la vie – it worked out as is.

This was my lovely antipasti tray: olives, fresh mozzarella, stuffed grape leaves, fillo clams casino and seared beef in fillo. Yum. This stuff went fast.

This was near disaster. While toasting my cornbread for the stuffing, I burnt it. Fortunately it was savable and after 20 minutes of chopping the burnt off, it was all okay. And everyone raved about the stuffing, so that’s a good thing too.

On a side note, I am sure the title of this post will garner me some interesting search hits. Don’t ya think?

After a delayed start, due to my need to reseason all my cast-iron pans (and I use the term “need” very loosely), the glazed carrots, cranberry apple chutney, roasted parsnips and honey maple glaze are ready. I also made (to my own detriment) walnut turtles — oops, the walnuts were for another dish and I forget. C’est la vie. And some interesting truffles.

I have the recipe a-go for my bacon apple cornbread stuffing (need to make the cornbread first thing in the A.M.). The mashed potatoes need to be made, the gravy, the turkey, the hor d’ourves . . . and the French bread for dinner too.

The table needs to be set, the house cleaned, the silverware shined.

Uh-oh.

But what’s important isn’t all this food. It’s not about how perfect the gravy is or how perfectly done the sides are. What’s important is that you are with your loved ones and giving thanks for all the blessings in your life – a home, food, family, friends . . .

From the Cucina Bella home to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And if you are outside the U.S., have a wonderful day.