Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday for food. I love every bit of it! When I was at home we would have turkey, candied yams, corn, stuffing, cranberry jelly, dinner rolls, applesauce, maybe a salad, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, maybe pumpkin cheesecake too (we like pumpkin in my family!). My other family (being away at school) has introduced me to some new side dishes over the years such as green bean casserole, stuffing I will actually eat, garlic mashed potatoes, corn bread, apple cider, cranberry salad/ ambrosia. At first I was a little afraid , "what no corn? how can there be no corn? And what is green bean casserole, yuck!" But I quickly got over it when i realized how good it was.

For thanksgiving with my school family, we do a potluck dinner. For the second year in a row I hosted it. As per usual, I decided to make the candied yams. Boiled the yams till fork tender and skins are falling off. Pulled the skins off, cut in half, then half again making long skinny pieces. Placed them in a 13x9 inch pan, covered with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon (lots of them!). Baked at 350 until really tender and the butter and brown sugar have made a nice glaze over the top and the taste has set in. I usually make the pumpkin pies as well but I decided this year to make apple pomegranate cider instead. Brought apple juice, pomegranate seeds, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves to a boil. Added a few tsp of butter right before serving. I would recommend not leaving the pomegranate seeds in the mixture while serving. One, some start to float, two, the longer they sit in there the sweeter it gets and you don't want it to get too sweet.

Home Made Chili

Dad's recipe for chili. Not really sure if its his recipe or my grandma's but either way its delish, and simple too! I couldn't wait to make it now that its getting really cold outside, and its another great meal to make for the week. Brown ground beef, add onions and garlic, cook a bit, add tomato sauce and red kidney beans, cook a bit, add green pepper, salt, pepper and chili powder, cook covered on low heat for 1 hour, check and season as needed, cook for 1 more hour. I recommend not eating it the same day that its made, its much better the next day. This time when I made it though I didn't have tomato sauce, I accidently bought tomato paste. My other grandma said it should be fine, she uses paste in hers. However, she uses one small can, I had one regular can. So I'm thinkin, half a can. Then I realize it calls for two cans sauce, so maybe one can paste? I used about the whole can and a can and a half to two cans of water. Its really tomatoee which I like but I think its a little too much so maybe only 3/4th of a can of paste if that's the route you choose. I did taste it while cooking and it seemed fine but it must have changed when it sat in the fridge. Note made. Seven days of chili, here I come, body better get ready for it!

French Fries

MMMMM.... I love french fries! My favorite has to be steak fries, then straight fries like shoestring, plain, sweet potato, waffle, seasoned and curly. I don't know why I don't like curly fries that much, maybe its the type of seasoning? Anyway, I love fries and I love making them in the fall at home in the deep fryer. I haven't tried to make them on my own yet. I realized it was easy because we make them at work for the chimps, we just bake them. The other day I decided to try frying them in some oil like deep frying. They were good, a little greasy though, as to be expected. The next day I decided to try baking them. Much less greasy and still just as yummy. I baked them at 400 with just salt and pepper as seasoning for 30 min give or take, flipping them about half way through. I think I will try using lawrey's seasoning salt next time as seasoning. This could be a bad idea, not I know how to make one of my all time favorite foods, I will never stop making them now. Sooo good!