Side item recipes/ideas for Thanksgiving Dinner

[CalyCoRose]

Thanks MaggieTheCat! I knew I was meaning to ask you about the longevity of the applesauce.

She told me that her ears hurt so I made a doctor's appointment with her regular pediatrician's office. Hopefully they'll tell me she has something or send me home with a pat on the head and a smile and tell me to wait it out.

[CalyCoRose]

Made the applesauce. I used 3 gala, 6 Fuji, and 6 red/delicious. I added 1 1/4 cups water (I think next time 1 cup) and 1/4 cup sugar. It's a hit with daughter. She had 2 helpings (small). Clyde was "disappointed" that I didn't add any cinnamon. (I hate cinnamon applesauce - though next time I might maybe try it with cinnamon).

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! But I think I found the side item I'm bringing (besides my World Famous Green Bean Casserole).

[Jester]

Sure Jester! Do you want to PM me the recipe?

Hell, I'll post it publicly.

Although, since my desktop seems to be down for the moment, and the recipe is on there, I am going to have to go from memory. Luckily, I have made this several times, and have it pretty much down in my mind. Also, it's pretty damn easy.

You'll need a pound of cranberries (typically the normal size bag you'll see in the stores), some sugar, some water, possibly some juice, and possibly some fruit. I'll explain.

First you want to make sure you rinse the cranberries, making sure to remove and stray stems.

You'll also need a either a cup of water or, better yet, a cup of half water, half orange juice. Lately I've been using half water, a quarter oj, and a quarter pineapple juice, but this year I'm going to go half and half with water and pineapple juice, and see what happens.

Combine your cup of (whatever) liquid with a cup of sugar, bring the whole thing to a boil. Add the cranberries. Allow the whole thing to boil until the cranberries have all burst and become soft. (Check this part of the recipe against a typical recipe for cranberry sauce on the net, just to make sure I'm right about the boiling, rather than simmering....)

Once the berries have become gelatinous as described above, remove from the heat and allow to cool. When they get to about room temp or so, add some fruit into the mix, pour the whole thing into a bowl, and chill in the fridge. For fruit, I have used various combinations of canned mandarin oranges, canned or fresh pineapple chunks, and fresh mango, but feel free to use whatever you want. Just don't overdo the fruit. (This year I am going straight pineapple chunks, to go with my straight pineapple juice approach.)

Sounds simple, but it is so much better than canned cranberry "sauce," and the juice and the fruit each add new dimensions to it.

Enjoy!

[Food Lady]

Jester, that's basically my mom's recipe, except that she puts cinnamon and orange rind in hers. It blows canned sauce out of the water.

[Jester]

Hell, even if you just use the basic cranberry sauce recipe of cranberries, water, and sugar, it's STILL going to be better than canned sauce!

[CalyCoRose]

Daughter won't eat canned cranberry sauce. I might try that recipe for Christmas. XD

The applesauce went over really well with the family. However, my husband is already tweaking it. (You have to add cloves! How about cinnamon! How about this, that, and eleventy billion other things I can think of?) Oi. I told him if he wants to "improve" the recipe, he can do so with my blessing. He shut his mouth after that.

And daughter has decided that she's going to eat applesauce today, but not on Wednesday. But she'll definitely eat it on Thanksgiving. (My daughter's thought processes are ... interesting to say the least. )

I'm probably also going to be making the mac & cheese recipe that I found on the net too. SIL is bringing, as I said, sweet potato casserole and biscuits. (Talked to MIL yesterday as hubs said she volunteered to make the Green Bean Casserole. I had to intervene as hers is disgusting).

[dalesys]

...You have to add cloves!...

How about I stud your hide with the cloves?

[MaggieTheCat]

I'm glad the applesauce went over well! Of course, it's easy to customize by adding different spices and even other fruits. I've made pear-applesauce, cranberry-applesauce, and strawberry-applesauce, just by adding some other types of fruit instead of all apples. I've also added cloves, nutmeg, and ginger, along with cinnamon. Personally, my husband and I still like plain cinnamon applesauce the best. (you can also try using brown sugar instead of white to sweeten it, which is very good.)

Jester, your cranberry sauce recipe sounds very similar to one that I'm going to try this year, except it calls for the rind of an orange instead of orange juice (but hell, I'll go ahead and throw the juice of that orange in there, too) and an apple as the extra fruit. My recipe says to cook the liquid, sugar, and cranberries together over low heat until the cranberries pop, so I'd probably simmer it...just so it doesn't boil over.

Also, I know you said you're bringing Mac&Cheese, Caly, but here's a recipe for Butternut Squash Mac&Cheese I thought I'd share. I've never made THIS specific recipe but I have taken pureed butternut squash and mixed it with boxed mac&cheese and it's amazing! So I'm sure doing it all from scratch is even better.

[CalyCoRose]

This is the Mac & Cheese recipe I'm going to make tomorrow.

It calls for chopped pickled jalapenos and prosciutto. It sounds ... interesting.

[thansal]

I will say that pickled veggies + meat in mac and cheese is wonderful (Beechers in NYC does it with pickled fennel stems and lardons).

The standard sides for my GF's family (where I have been spending my thanksgivings for the past few years) are:
Scalloped Potatoes (an excuse to use huge amounts of cream and butter)
Cranberry sauce with massive amounts of cinnamon and some apples

Last year the GF made Maple roasted Brussels sprouts for our 2nd thanksgiving (we do a party with our friends).

This year we are cheaping out on our 2nd thanksgiving and making stuff that can all be made ahead of time, and just popped in the oven.

The only one we have tested is this:
http://www.thesweetslife.com/2011/10...key-bread.html

It's great, not exactly Thanksgiving standard, but really damn good

[BroSCFischer]

Clem (BIL the younger) and his wife Casey are going to be there too. Casey has "requested" that anything we bring be "healthy". (I rolled my eyes so hard at that, eyes almost fell out of my head ).

How about a salad. I make one every year for Thanksgiving and X-mas. I use a Spinach base add tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, and cheese. Very healthy, and a good start to the meal.

SC

[Jester]

Tomorrow my friends are having a Thanksgiving dinner, and I will be heading there after I finish my day shift at The Bar (sometime between 5:30 and 7:30, depending upon business volume). While someone else is making cranberry sauce, I am making some for my coworkers for the day shift, and whatever is left I'll bring to the party, but I'm also making a sourdough stuffing that I have made before, the recipe of which I got online sometime ago....you can find it here. I'm making the stuffing because the hostess was just going to use boxed stuffing. I mean, seriously...which would you rather have?

Jester, your cranberry sauce recipe sounds very similar to one that I'm going to try this year, except it calls for the rind of an orange instead of orange juice (but hell, I'll go ahead and throw the juice of that orange in there, too) and an apple as the extra fruit.

Sounds to me like they are using all water and throwing orange rind in it to flavor the water. Personally, I think using actual juice as either half or all of the boiling liquid will add even more flavor (and sweetness) to the sauce. I am actually debating using all pineapple juice instead of a half and half water/pineapple juice mix, but I'm afraid of what may happen if the juice doesn't boil right.

As for apples, I am using tropical fruit because I am in the tropics (shorts and t-shirt weather today, again), so it makes more sense down here, but where it's cold, apples and cinnamon and other such ingredients would make total sense. Hell, try using some apple juice with the water, AND the orange rind, and see what happens!

It calls for chopped pickled jalapenos and prosciutto. It sounds ... interesting.

Having not even looked at the recipe, I have a suggestion. If your local grocery stores sell them, pick up some fresh jalapenos, rather than canned/jarred/pickled. The taste improvement is extraordinary, though you may want to go easier on the jalapenos than what the recipe calls for, as fresh jalapenos usually (though not always) are spicier than pickled.

[Marmalady]

Do you ever have a soup to start the meal? I have a recipe that uses roasted red bell peppers, red onions and tomatoes and it is seriously good, and just about fat-free.

[MaggieTheCat]

Hell, try using some apple juice with the water, AND the orange rind, and see what happens!

Derp...wish I would've seen this right when you posted it! I just put the cranberry sauce on the stove to simmer and already added 1 cup water plus the juice of an orange...and I even have some apple cider in the fridge that I could've used. I bet that would've been really good. Ah well...next year!

[Jester]

Apple cider might have been brilliant.

By the way, I feel the need to point out that the recipe I posted calls for replacing part of the water with juice, not adding juice in addition to the full amount of water. In other words, the amount of LIQUID should stay the same, i.e., 1 cup of liquid to 1 cup of sugar to 1 pound of cranberries.

Of course, if you just added the juice FROM one orange, plus the orange rind, it shouldn't make much difference. (The OJ and pineapple juice I always use is from a can or a carton, not fresh-squeezed.)

By the way, don't know what your recipe calls for, but I would make sure to remove that orange rind from the sauce before it all gels. Unless, of course, you simply zested it and put the zest in the sauce, in which case that's perfectly fine. But since you said rind, and not zest, I am going to assume you just put a big strip (or several) of rind in there for the flavor.