It’s November, and Thanksgiving is early this year. If you’re anything like me, you’re already making mental checklists of everything you want/need (really, is there any difference?) to cook and bake for this holiday that beats all other holidays, culinarily speaking.
I’ll be baking a pie this week on local television. (For those of you who want to see the segment, I’ll link to it when it’s on-line.) In preparation for Thanksgiving, and since I now reside in New England, birthplace of the pumpkin in this country, I’ll be making the fall classic– pumpkin pie.

But this post is not about the pie part of pumpkin pie; it’s about the pumpkin. For those of you who have never roasted a pumpkin, I implore you to give it a try this year. Homemade pumpkin puree is richer, smoother, more pumpkin-y. It really is delicious– and so easy to make there is hardly a [...]

Did everyone have a splendid Thanksgiving? Was it filled with turkey, pie, and maybe a little bit of booze? Was there enough food? That is a silly question. If your Thanksgiving is anything like mine, it is all about abundance. Abundance is great; but after the turkey is packed up, the sides are nestled in their Tupperwares, the brussels sprouts two ways (yes, you read that correctly) are chilling in the refrigerator, and each guest has his or her own care package to take home, and you still find yourself looking at a bowlful of homemade cranberry sauce, what are you to do?
Make scones, of course!
For the past two years one of our guests has made the most delicious cranberry sauce, based on this recipe. The cranberries are tart yet sweet, flavored with just a hint of orange, and blooming with those warm spices of [...]

Did all of you have a nice Thanksgiving? It’s hard to believe this Fall holiday has come and gone as quickly as a potato waiting to be mashed. Now, gearing up for the Christmas holidays begins. I must say, that for as excited as I get each November, I am always happy to say goodbye to my gravy boats and my roasting pans until next year. For as festive as Thanksgiving may be, it always makes me feel like I have been run over by a freight train for the few days following.
Away go the potatoes, scrape the bowl clean; the stuffing is neatly wrapped in crinkly foil; cranberry relish is nestled in Tupperware containers, waiting to dye the plastic; globs of congealing gravy go into the fridge; and the crowning achievement, the bird, is sliced and ready to be saved. Just like the shopping [...]

I am a Thanksgiving traditionalist. I don’t like anything fantastical at my feasts, and I come from a long line of traditionalists. Parsnip-Potato Puree may be scrumptious any other day of the year, but on Turkey Day it has to be pure– Russet Potatoes mashed with milk and butter and slathered in homemade turkey gravy. For me a ginger-lime rub on the turkey would be sacrilege, I’ll take butter anyday, and I’m getting racy if I add some bourbon to the sweet potatoes. For one day a year I forget about being bourgie, and it’s true Americana at my house.
But this year I borrowed from another family’s tradition and made the weird and wonderful Layered Raspberry Jello Salad. Salty, sweet, and pungent, this is a bizarre trio of flavors– raspberry jello with whole raspberries, Cool Whip, mixed with cream cheese, all plunked on top of a crust of [...]