Thanksgiving Countdown...

 All of our Halloween candy is gone, thank goodness. Already, Christmas commercials are in full swing. And now, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away!

Thanksgiving, at our home, has become very simple and traditional.  I'm, pretty much, the only cook and baker, so I've honed down the menu so that I can stretch out the prep work over three days.

These Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms turned out to be an appetizer that our guest kept raving about.  Of course, it's an Ina Garten recipe, so it has to be good!  I make the sausage stuffing a day ahead, so it saves time. Bring these to a holiday potluck, and people will be asking for the recipe.

This Make Ahead Turkey Gravy, turned out to be a life saver.  If you think that you can't make gravy, I'll show you how to do it. It's not that hard!

Here's another huge time saver!  These Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes are "Da Bomb".  I use unpeeled Yukon Gold Potatoes, and add high-calories ingredients like heavy cream, cream cheese, butter and an egg (for extra richness).  I'll be making these two days ahead of T-Day.  Sometimes I reheat them in a crockpot...or I'll put them in a casserole dish and heat them in the oven.  If you've been invited to dinner, and volunteered to bring the potatoes-- make these. You'll be a rock star!

This year, I'm planning on grilling our turkey. That means that I'll have to make gravy ahead of time.  Gobble, gobble.   Speaking of turkey...

The photo of this turkey doesn't do it justice-- which shows how far my photography has come, since this Thanksgiving two years ago. This is another Ina Garten recipe.  If you want a simple way to prepare your turkey-- without having to brine it, this bird turned out to be super moist and flavorful. Ina calls this recipe "Roast Turkey with Truffle Butter" but you don't have to add truffles for this recipe to work.

Let's keep the carbs going, shall we?  Sweet potatoes-- specially yams-- are my favorite Thanksgiving dish.  These are Candied Sweet Potatoes with an adult kick. Um, a little whiskey in these kicks up the flavor a whole lotta notches! Love these!

This Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow Fluff and Pecan Streusel is a lot more kid-friendly.  The year before, I made this in small ramekins-- minus the marshmallows. It seems that I had some sad faces, so I added marshmallows the following year.  There wasn't much left, because everyone loved this. Its a side dish-- it's a dessert. It's both!  Well, I did have some for breakfast, the next morning. Amazing!

Sweet potatoes with marshmallow not your thing? I got you covered.  If you want to get a bit more "gourmet" and fancy schmancy, then this Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin with Fresh Herbs should do the trick.  I'm competing with Paula Deen, with fat grams on this one. This has heavy cream, garlic, fresh herbs and Gruyere Cheese!  Can we say "yum"!  I served this for our Christmas Dinner, last year.  Guests went back for more...and more.

We need fresh rolls, to soak up all the gravy, don't we?  Besides, the next day, you can make mini turkey sandwiches with these.  These remain my #1 most favorite bread rolls. These are King Arthur Flour's Golden Pull Apart Buns-- and they are tender and buttery... wow!  Think you can't bake worth a darn? I'll show you how to make them.

However-- these One Hour Rolls come pretty close in carbohydrate deliciousness.  You can't mess these up, I promise.

Not everybody loves Pumpkin Pie.  I don't know what's wrong with them-- but, if that's the case with your family... make this Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Frosting.  It's a beautiful cake and makes a gorgeous presentation. 

As for me-- I'm as traditional as it gets. I love pumpkin pie.  For years, I've made Libby's Pumpkin Pie recipe-- and it's a good one. This recipe comes from King Arthur Flour-- and has a surprising "secret" ingredient. I was nervous about trying it, but this Perfect Pumpkin Pie truly was perfection.

This year, I hope to photograph a beautifully grilled turkey. I'm long overdue in sharing my Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing Recipe.  I want to try a couple of new appetizers.  Now that I think of it, I should post some veggie or fruit recipes.  Though, the men rarely touch those. My brothers remain bachelors, so I don't have any female kitchen assistants. Sigh.

The countdown begins--

Oh, and I'm wide open to be your dinner guest. I'll bring any one of these dishes-- as long as you do the dishes!  (Right.)