We are right
into Fall now. The weather is cooler and crisper and there are more clouds and
overcast days. The leaves are changing colours on the trees and on my way to
work I see all the squirrels burying their nuts for the months ahead. With
Fall, comes Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving is just over a week away and we
have a couple of posts dedicated to that.
This week we
are looking at that big Thanksgiving dinner. Some of the most important
elements of that dinner are the sides that accompany the turkey and ham. We
have put together a list of yummy sides to try out for your Thanksgiving dinner
along with a couple of recipes for ones that we have made in the past at our
own dinners.
Green Beans –
They seem to be a popular veggie for Fall meals. Try a Green Bean Casserole or Green Beans with Shallots.
Bread – You’ll
usually find some sort of bread or buns with you big Thanksgiving dinner and Cornbread
or Fresh Biscuits are perfect for that.
Cranberry...-You
will most likely find something cranberry with your turkey dinner for something
different you can try a Cranberry Relish or a Citrus, Apricot, and Cranberry Compote.
Brussel
Sprouts- You will love them or hate them, but they are a permanent part of most
Thanksgiving dinners and a way to try them is to crisp and “burn” them like in Samantha’sYummy Brussel Sprouts recipe or cover them with cheese in a Cheesy Brussel Sprout Bake.
Veggies-
Most of the time you’ll find your typical veggie mix on the table for dinner but
a twist on them would be a Holiday Roasted Vegetable mix or some Maple Bacon Carrots or some Smashed Broccoli.
Sweet
Potatoes – Something that always makes me think of turkey dinner is yams/sweet potatoes
and a Sweet Potato Salad or Sweet Potato Soup are different takes on this staple.
Here are a
couple of recipes that we like to make...
Caramelized Carrots
8-10 carrots
Brown sugar
Butter
Water
Peel and cut
carrots into sticks. Place them in a casserole dish and sprinkle some brown
sugar onto them along with blobs of butter. Add in a little bit of water so that
it just covers the bottom of the dish. Make sure you don’t use too much as you’ll
have water coming out of the carrots.
Put in the microwave
wave with the lid on for 5-10 minutes or until soft. Don’t overcook.
After they
have softened in the microwave, take the lid off and put the dish on the stove top
on medium heat. Let the liquid come to a boil and cook off. You want the carrots
to caramelize and get all goldenly brown. You can give them a stir here and
there while they are cooking on the stove. As soon as they look ready, take the
off the stove and serve.
Yam Casserole
3 large yams
1 Tbsp. of
butter
1 Tbsp. of
honey
Juice of 1
orange
Nutmeg to
taste
Salt and
pepper
Boil the
yams and cool before slipping off the skins. Blend or puree all of the
ingredients together. Spoon into a buttered casserole dish and bake at 325 degrees
for about 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
You’ll often
see mashed potatoes on the table at Thanksgiving dinner. One thing that
everybody loves is fluffy and flavourful mashed potatoes so take a look at this
super simple how-to to make the fluffiest mashed potatoes ever!
The key to
fluffy mashed potatoes is to remove as much starch as you possibly can. Boil
your potatoes as you usually would. Drain them and rinse them under warm water
for about 30 seconds; that’ll get lots of the starch off. Allow them to dry as
much as possible.
Pass the
potatoes through a food mill/ricer back into the pot that they were cooked in
and add 2 cups of whole milk and 12 tablespoons of butter (these measurements
were based on 4 pounds of Russet potatoes. Make sure the butter and milk are
warm before adding them to the potatoes. Fold the mixture until all combined
and season with salt and pepper.
