Seasonal Sundays (Week 48) Thanksgiving Week

And so Thanksgiving is upon us, the lists, the shopping, the recipes, the cooking, the table setting, the pie baking, the turkey carving, the gravy making, the potato mashing, the gathering, the praying, the eating, the talk-talking, the going back for seconds-ing, the cleaning up, the big sighing of relief. It's a lot. Might it be sacred work, this?

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays

So I love the concept of sacred kitchen work, preparing the place and the sustenance that brings people together. There are certain meals when it seems that way, yes? So if Thanksgiving is feeling more burden than blessing, perhaps thinking of it as sacred work might help: a little simplification, a little letting go, wouldn't hurt either.

Thanksgiving is a day of union, if not unity. There we all are, kitchen to kitchen, city to country, state to state, all of us on the same day, eating the same turkey and the same mashed potatoes and the same green beans and sweet potatoes: it's a reminder of how more we're united, than divided.

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PICK ONE

Pick One is for those of us who are overwhelmed by life's choices. If that resonates, then check out this one recipe and then call it a day. It's one that I think could make the most difference, the one I hope will become a regular in your kitchen, as it is in mine.

Oven space is always at a premium at Thanksgiving but I love this recipe because it not only works for holiday meals but for every day. Enjoy!

• Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry & Orange, chunks of sweet potato cooked in a slow cooker in a sauce that's sweet with orange and tart with cranberry. Delicious!

Holes In Your Menu? Still Figuring It All Out?

BREATHE. Make your lists. BREATHE AGAIN. Then execute.

Our Thanksgiving is up in the air. Am I cooking? Is anybody cooking? Are we going out and if so where and who's going to figure that out? But I've got my lists ready, focused on what can be made last minute. There are holes, for sure. Writing this, I've decided to buy a turkey, just in case, and if doesn't get cooked now, I'll move it to the freezer for later.

As for you, may I help?

• Thanksgiving Menus, Recipes & More, the one-stop page is all very organized for easy browsing and targeted searches.

• My Very Best Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture, super-organized by vegetable, so many side dish options!
• TOO MANY CHOICES? In last week's Seasonal Sundays, I cherry-picked my recipes, "just one" recipe per course.

But First? A Little Turkey Day Pre-Prep

MAKE WAY clean the fridge, top to bottom, before loading w Thanksgiving groceries!

MAKE SOUP before you start to cook, y'know, cuz people are gonna want food Mon-Tue-Wed too.

MAKE HAPPY pour a glass of wine the minute the turkey goes in the oven, this one courtesy of my sister, who's celebrating early today

Make Soup!

• Sausage & Kale Split Pea Soup, pictured, just 15 minutes to get moving.
• Hamburger Soup, a hearty soup with chunks of meat and a cornucopia of bright-colored vegetables.
• Oven-Cooked Lentil Soup meaty and hearty, cooked in the oven on low heat.

COMPLIMENTS!

"... just what we like in a cranberry sauce" ~ Pat Y

• Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce for the Slow Cooker, sweet aroma of cranberries, fresh ginger and orange zest! Sweetened with either maple syrup or sugar. And it can be made now, several days before Thanksgiving!

Just Updated

• World's Best Green Bean Casserole, a fan wrote this week, "... twelve years later, the message is still the same. This is THE BEST green bean casserole and it still makes a yearly appearance on my Thanksgiving table and is demanded if I try to shirk out of the responsibility."
• Mashed Potatoes with Vegetarian Apple Cider Gravy
• Simple 'Sweet Potato' Potato Salad with Hardly Any Mayonnaise
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Maple Ginger Sweet Potatoes
• Pioneer Woman's Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole

Signature Pies for Each State

First Question. Ever heard of a pawpaw pie? Me either but supposedly it's the "signature" pie here in Missouri, my home state! I found this a fascinating list, worth a quick around-the-country tour. Does your state's pie match up a little better?

We haven't done #PieDayFriday for quite awhile now but man, there's some pies on that list I'd like to try!

In the mean time, Thanksgiving.

• No-Bake Pumpkin Cream Pie (pictured)
• Honey Pumpkin Pie, sweetened with honey, otherwise a classic
• Pumpkin Pecan Pie with a no-roll oatmeal crust
• American Apple Pie, the classic double crust and worth every single bite
• Flaky Tender Pie Crust, people love the step-by-step instructions and insights
• Last-Minute Pantry Pie, the easiest pie ever, anybody can make one, a crowd favorite too

Thanksgiving Leftovers

I don't know about you, I never get tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, I just don't. (And besides, after a marathon week of cooking, the kitchen is c-l-o-s-e-d.) But what I am starved for is a salad, a really good salad. And this is a good one!

• Turkey Salad Supper with Green Beans & Dried Cranberries, not "turkey salad" per se but a "Turkey Salad Supper", a light and healthy main dish salad.
• Turkey Tetrazzini
• Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
• Easy Chicken or Turkey Tortilla Soup

Thanksgiving Respite: Popeye's!

We've tried for weeks and finally got to taste the Popeye's chicken sandwich that's created so much fuss.

The verdict? We l-o-v-e-d it! That's big, considering fast food isn't our style and while we do eat it some times, it's never with particular relish.

Anyone else given it a try?!

Text Me Back!

That's it for today, people. Good luck and see you on the other side!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com, dot-dash in Morse code, build a fire for smoke signals, whatever.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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