When I was in first or second grade, we learned about cornucopias. Somewhere between coloring the ditto sheet and learning about this so-called horn-of-plenty, I decided that my family was totally missing the boat on this incredibly important holiday tradition. I went home and all but demanded that our Thanksgiving table feature one. And it needed to be made of bread (sort of like this).

What? Me? Demanding? Nah. Never.

I thought of that today when the kids and I went to Michael’s today for Thanksgiving centerpiece supplies. There on the shelf was a beautiful, dark, woven cornucopia basket. I yelped – yes, outloud – when I saw it. And, of course it came home with me. The basket was about $15, and you fill it as much as you can with fruits, veggies, flowers and leaves. It’s meant to symbolize a bounty. Bonus: if you use fruits and veggies, you can eat them post-Thanksgiving.

If a once-a-year basket isn’t in your budget, and you aren’t mildly obsessed with cornucopias like me, I have a few more centerpiece ideas for you. Read the rest of this entry…

Yesterday, we were just sitting down to breakfast when Paige said, “Mommy, water please?” (She’s two, so that’s a pretty darn good sentence!) Will echoed the request. Shawn laughed a little and said, “Kids who like water, well done, honey!” And really, they do love water. Paige will choose that above just about any other drink.

They are a lot different than I was. Growing up, I drank way too much soda. Seriously. We won’t get into quantities, but it was a lot. Too much. (Hey, it was the 80s, and many parents just didn’t know better. My kindergarten best friend brought soda in her thermos to school once. It exploded all over out desks … true story.)

My kids? Aside from Will having a sip maybe once (he wasn’t a fan), they don’t drink soda and haven’t really had it. And they aren’t interested in it either. I am so glad for that. I really don’t want soda to be their go-to drink like it was for me.

That said, on holidays, things are a little more lax. And considering that half of our Thanksgiving guests are of the under-18 variety, I like to have something a little special for them to drink. This spritzer fits that bill.

Since you are cutting tart pomegranate juice (I like the POM brand) with sweet ginger ale, it ends up with a nice not-too-sweet, just a little bite, flavor. And with the bubbles in a stemmed glass, it feels special too.

Will my kids drink this? Will might. Paige probably won’t. But if she does, that’s okay too. After all, it’s Thanksgiving – A special day.

Read the rest of this entry…

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Really, it feels like the day has crept up on us. Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were frantically running around buying last minute accessories for Halloween? Wasn’t it just a week away that we were mourning the end of summer and the beginning of the school year?

As much as we might like to hide under the covers and wish time to stop, we can’t. With a mere five days to Thanksgiving, we need to get planning for the big day. Don’t worry if you haven’t started planning yet … you can plan and prepare a fantastic, fresh Thanksgiving dinner in just five days. Seriously.

Ready? Let’s go. Read the rest of this entry…

The Turkey

Centerpiece

Bread and Cheese

Read the rest of this entry…

Yesterday, I was floating in Long Island Sound in the kayak that my uncle bought me as a college graduation gift … or it feel s that way at least. In truth though, that day was nearly three months of yesterdays ago. Yes, folks, time is flying and it’s flying faster than fast. We’ve kissed summer goodbye, rounded the corner into autumn. The apples have come and gone and the leaf peepers are back to Sunday’s on the couch watching football. Now, we are closing in on Thanksgiving.

Already.

So what does that mean? With only nine days to go before Thanksgiving Day in the United States, it’s time to kick Thanksgiving dinner planning into high gear. Not sure where to start? I’m here to help.

Thanksgiving Planning Timeline

9 days in advance: Plan preliminary menu. Order specialty items such as pies or special turkeys, as necessary. Begin testing any new recipes you want to use. You should never, ever, ever test out a new recipe on the big day. It’s bound to fail miserably like my southern butternut squash custard a few years ago. Blech.

7 days in advance: Confirm the number of guests.

5 days in advance: Finalize menu. Beginning cleaning house for guests.

Read the rest of this entry…

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.

The first year that I made Thanksgiving dinner, my then-boyfriend (he’s since been upgraded to husband) requested butternut squash. Frankly, my family doesn’t (or at least didn’t until then) eat squash. Not at all. And I had never had it before, let alone cooked it. So I did what any good girlfriend would do – I scoured the internet for a recipe. Having no frame of reference, I had no idea of what I was looking for though . . .

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.

Okay, so I was supposed to give you the delicious recipe for roasted butternut squash and I still will — just later than I intended. It’s been a rough week. Regardless, I wanted to catch up on my Thanksgiving recap and tell you about something amazing that I did this year.

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.

I don’t have a million photos of our meal from Thanksgiving this year, but will be posting a few periodically throughout the week. To tell the truth, there wasn’t a perfectly planned table to fawn over and the menu wasn’t as intricate as it has been in previous years. But I found that modifying our celebration to be a little simpler really worked in our favor. After all, good food and good company is all you need.

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

As promised, here is the recipe for Apple Bacon Corn Bread stuffing . . . everyone raved about this on Thanksgiving. I know it seems like a lot of ingredients but the prep goes very quickly and it comes together easily.