Cholesterol Doesn't Count in this Newsletter!
Brought to you by the woman with 10 pounds of butter in her freezer
Hello again Food & Stuff Friends,
I’m so very excited to share today’s newsletter. It’s packed with recipes that you can use next week, plus I’ll share a sneak peek about one of my favorite things to do all year: bake Christmas cookies! 🎄🍪🧈
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I am really looking forward to eating some of the dishes my mom makes every year, like Betty Crocker stuffing and classic cranberry bread. I’ve made a bit of a tradition of making Bon Appétit’s Cranberry Lime Pie (we’re going on year 6!) which I make with a gingersnap cookie crust and serve with a generous dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream. I can’t wait to eat it again!
With no intention of doing so, I basically have spent November making recipes that form, when put all together, An Accidental Yet Awesome Thanksgiving Menu. In place of the “Everyday Eats” section of this newsletter, you’ll find that menu below, plus I compiled allll the recipes into a printable PDF! In my opinion, all of these would be good at any respectable Thanksgiving table.
Awesome Thanksgiving Menu
The Bird
Don’t tell my dad (he’s a fella who loves his turkey) but I could quit turkey cold turkey and never relapse. I just feel like chicken is better! I recently made a slow-roasted chicken recipe from Half Baked Harvest with a whole chicken I got in clearance at Aldi for $1 a pound! Not only was the chicken a bargain, but it turned out AMAZING! It was so tender and fell right off of the bone. The fresh herb rub with the balsamic vinegar made for just a delicious flavor combination…and the pads of butter on top didn’t hurt anything either (except my cholesterol levels, but remember, those don’t count in this newsletter!)
The Taters
“PO TA TOES! Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew!!!” There are so many ways to enjoy the humble potato at your Thanksgiving meal, as Samwise is wise to share with the less enthusiastic Gollum.
Lately, I enjoyed them sliced thinly, tossed in a parmesan/mustard/herb marinade, and crisped up in the oven! This recipe was also from my Half Baked Harvest cookbook, but she has a cheesier version and a sweet potato version on her website; find the recipe below.
The Rolls
Until recently, I never made rolls. So a few weeks ago, I decided to try making some. Of course, I turned to Smitten Kitchen, who never once has steered me wrong. Her Old School Dinner Roll recipe tastes delicious — yielding a dozen pillowy, flavorful rolls with less effort than I thought it would take to make rolls. I chilled my dough overnight as the recipe makes a note about, and I’d also say that I wish I had baked mine a few minutes longer to get that lovely golden color on top. They weren’t underbaked but they could have been a bit more golden!
The Vegetable
The Thanksgiving meal isn’t usually about the vegetables, but I actually think the vegetables can be simply delicious — a delightful dark horse of the entire meal! For a nice change in texture and temperature, this Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Kale salad with brown butter walnuts is a great side dish. Again, it’s Half Baked Harvest, and I will be making this again for my family’s meal on Thursday. I loved this salad (pomegranates, citrusy dressing, zippy cheese), and it tastes great at room temperature, too, in case you come from one of those families who say that dinner will be ready in 15 minutes and then…an hour has passed and the turkey is still in the oven. This salad will hold up while you wait!!
The Dessert(s)
I’ve got three dessert options for your Thanksgiving spread, which vary in baking skills & challenge! An easy, no bake option is this Triple Citrus Creamsicle Pie, a medium, baked option is a pumpkin cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting, and a third, more fussy option are these NYT Cooking Cranberry Lemon Bars (OG recipe behind a paywall, but it’s in the recipe PDF). I recommend eating the lemon bars with some sweetened whipped cream!
The Butter Era Begins (Again)
If you’ve been around here for any amount of time, you’ll likely know that I really love butter! Butter is the key to taking a cookie from good to great, and it’s about the time of year when baking cookies becomes a main activity in my life, akin to running or sleeping or working at my job. I have started to stock up on butter for holiday baking (I like to use Land O Lakes!!), and hope to send out another newsletter sometime in December with new cookie recipes.
In the meantime, I encourage you to check out last year’s rather comprehensive FOOD & STUFF December newsletter titled “Tis the Season (For Cookies),” which contains TWENTY-FOUR (24) cookie recipes, featuring categories including Chocolate Lovers, Peanut Butter Perfection, Fruity Favorites, and an Assorted section.
& Stuff
A quick update to last month’s soup poll! I asked if anyone else experiences “soup fatigue,” AKA, getting tired of eating soup due to the sheer amount one recipe typically makes. Here are the results:
32% answered: I could eat the same soup every day
68% answered: I am a victim of soup fatigue
And a final video — a throwback from 2015 — that still makes me laugh. This was released right around the height of Adele’s single “Hello,” which I might say is still one of the greatest songs to be released in my lifetime?? I’ll say it! I hope your Thanksgiving doesn’t require any Adele-assisted miracles, but in case it does, at least you get to have pie?
Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get to eat some of your favorite dishes and enjoy spending time with some of your favorite people, too. If you enjoyed this newsletter or made any recipes from it, do let me know — I love hearing from folks! And if you’d like, do pass this newsletter along to a friend who might enjoy it, too.