Thanksgiving: The Round-up of Recipes

So before I forget and suddenly it's next year and I'm going "what was that sweet potato recipe that turned out so well?" and "was it this pumpkin pie recipe or that one that didn't turn out great?" I'm going to write them down now (or link to them, as the case may be).

Orange-Nut Sweet Potatoes

Source: Healthy Cooking Magazine
6 Servings

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2/3 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS
Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in orange juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add butter and orange peel; stir until butter is melted.

Drain sweet potatoes; place in a serving dish. Add orange juice mixture and gently stir to coat. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Comments: I love this! It's not overly sweet and the orange gives it some awesome flavor. I think I found it and made it a couple of years ago and then lost it, but I think this is now my go-to recipe. I cooked it up the night before and warmed it up in the oven and it was delish.


Green Bean Casserole, Pioneer Woman-style (ie it includes bacon and cream). Also major yum. I had some smoked bacon gouda on hand that I tossed in as well, and our crunchy topping was corn flakes mixed with breadcrumbs.

Pecan Pie - also a hat tip to Pioneer Woman - this pie was awesome.

Pumpkin pie - full disclosure: I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie. So I was not overly impressed by the pie. The pumpkin pie aficionado in our house said he wasn't a fan of the streusel topping, but the rest was good.

Ham - I made a glaze with apple cider vinegar, dark brown sugar, cloves, allspice, orange zest, nutmeg, and cardamom. Hmm...that sounds good still, I think I'm going to go grab another piece of that.

Stuffing - I cooked up some sausage with celery and onions, used turkey broth (made from the innards/neck simmered with onion and celery), and added chopped craisins, just to a regular box mix of stuffing. Ever since I had sausage stuffing at a potluck, I've been hooked. I think it's way better than regular stuffing.

I didn't do anything spiffy with the turkey or mashed potatoes, and I'll leave it to nutmeg to post her oatmeal/whole wheat rolls recipe.

-Thyme

Creamy ham and green bean pasta

Since the arrival of bouncing baby boy number two a month ago, dinners around here have been both simple and quick (or in the slow cooker, which isn't quick but is convenient). Today I decided to use up some of the leftover Christmas ham we had in the freezer and turned to the handy-dandy "red" cookbook (this refers to the red cover on the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and not to anything of the communist ilk) and found a recipe for creamy pasta. It looked pretty simple and amazingly I had all of the ingredients. So I did something I very rarely do - I followed the recipe. Not perfectly, since I didn't really bother to measure, but the only thing I actually changed was that I substituted green beans for broccoli.

And oh boy, was that a mistake. Don't get me wrong - the recipe turned out great - very yummy, rich sauce, which just might make it into our meal rotation. It was more the fact that when I was busy assembling my ingredients my son decided to pour a shower of breadcrumbs on his stuffed polar bear. And then when I was busy precisely stirring the sauce in the pot in the correct order, he was busy mixing syrup and parsley in the back of his dump truck. The moral of the story that I came away with is to never follow the recipe - it's way too distracting.

Creamy Pasta with ham and green beans

1 tbs olive oil
4 oz neufchatel or cream cheese
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs dried basil (or 1/4 cup fresh)
3/4 cup milk
parsley

Cook garlic and basil in hot oil for about 30 seconds. Add cheeses and stir them while they melt. Slowly stir in milk and parsley, let it thicken up a bit. Toss in pre-cooked ham and green beans, let it all heat up. Serve over pasta of your choice.

Thyme