Joey's Celery, Apple, and Fennel Slaw

 I've often had the debate about which recipes are a MUST at Thanksgiving. For some people, it's just not Thanksgiving without Mac n Cheese. For others, you can't have Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes, cranberries, and stuffing. We all have our family traditions and favorite dishes.
In my family, one of the things that MUST be on the plate, is home made cole slaw. Cole slaw, you say???? Yes! It's something my Mom always made for Thanksgiving, and so it will always be on my Thanksgiving table.
 Just as with cranberries, I have my favorite recipe for cole slaw, but I still like to try other different versions and variations. Especially when you have a big plate of heavy casseroles, you definitely want something bright and acidic to cut through everything and balance it out.
 I've always loved the crisp anise flavor of fennel, so I wanted to try it in a delicious slaw. Funny thing... I searched and searched for what I thought would be the perfect recipe, and then I wound up not following it anyway. LOL I have a habit of doing that! Well, what can I say? I like to taste things and then say "what else does it need? And then I go from there.
 So if you'd like to try a new something to brighten and freshen up your meal, give this slaw a try. It really goes SO well with a big Thanksgiving feast!


1 tbs vegetable oil
3 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs mayonnaise
salt and pepper
 2 granny smith apples
3 ribs of celery
2 bulbs fennel plus 1 tbs chopped fennel fronds 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, mayo, and S&P. Set aside.
Core apples, (no need to peel). Slice the apples thinly, then cut into thin match sticks. Slice the celery into thin slices on an angle. Slice the the fennel as thinly as possible across the bottom of the bulb.
All of this slicing is even better if you have a mandoline slicer. (just be very careful of that blade!)
Toss everything in the dressing. Adjust seasoning if needed.



Tips:
Unfortunately, this is not one of those dishes that can be made very far ahead. No one likes a soggy cole slaw. If you absolutely MUST make it ahead, I wouldn't go sooner than the night before.
For an extra hit of fresh anise flavor, you could add a little chopped fresh tarragon. I probably would have added some to the recipe, but I didn't have any on hand!

Spinach Gratin

 I recently invited a few friends over for a Friendsgiving dinner, and I made a bunch of dishes for everyone to try. I was pretty pleased with all of the recipes, but I think THIS one was the absolute stand-out. As you can see in the picture, it makes a pretty big casserole, and there was not very much left at the end of the night. That's a definitely WIN, in my book.
 This recipe is from Ina Garten, and it's absolutely DELISH. Now, I have to say, my sisters and nieces and I are always joking about how she always says "use fresh, but store bought is fine." But for this recipe, it's an absolutely MUST to use store bought frozen spinach. Because spinach cooks down to practically nothing, you'd need, like, a metric ton of fresh spinach to fill up the pan! So, frozen is the way to go.
 Usually, when I'm looking for recipes for Thanksgiving, I don't always go for the rich heavy casseroles, but this one looked so good, I decided to give it a go. Fun fact, it's not heavy at all! Rich and flavorful, yes. Heavy, nope! As Miss Ina would say "How perfect is that?"
 When I made it, I prepped and assembled it the night before, and then just popped it in the oven on the night of my dinner. Easy! For Thanksgiving, you can put it in the oven when you take the turkey out. The turkey needs time to rest anyway, so that will give you plenty of time to bake the casserole.
 So, thank you, Ina, for yet another fabulous recipe. I'm definitely not gonna wait until next Thanksgiving to make this one again!



4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

4 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large)

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups milk

3 pounds frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (5 (10-ounce) packages)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the flour and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Add the cream and milk and cook until thickened. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach and add the spinach to the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the spinach to a baking dish and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and the Gruyere on top. Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve hot.

 


Tip:
To squeeze the liquid out of the spinach, place a clean tea towel flat on your work surface. Place your defrosted spinach (in small batches) on the towel. Just dump it right out of the box onto your towel. Pick up all four corners of the towel to make a little bundle of spinach. Twist the bundle so that the towel tightens around the spinach, which will squeeze out all the liquid. 

Cranberry Grape Compote

 For me, it is just not Thanksgiving unless you have home made cranberry sauce. I mean, yes, I know many of you are a fan of the can, but for a day as special as Thanksgiving, it's time for something fresh and homemade. Many many years ago, I asked my Mom how she made her cranberry sauce, and now I'm happy that I get to make it for my family every year. But I still like finding other versions and variations! (frankly, I've never met a cranberry sauce I didn't like) And that brings us to THIS recipe from Martha Stewart.
 This is what I like to call "stupid easy." Like, I don't even think it could be any easier. You literally just throw everything into a sauce pot and let it simmer. That's it. Done. How awesome is that?? And as with everything Thanksgiving, we all know that doing as much as you can in advance is the best option. You could make this DAYS in advance, so it's really a no brainer.
 So lets talk about the most important thing.. how it TASTES! I would venture to say that if you are not usually a fan of cranberries, then maybe give this one a try. The grapes mellow out the tartness of the cranberries and it's a perfect blend! Kind of like if grape jam and cranberry sauce had a baby.
 If you've ever felt intimidated by the thought of making home made cranberry sauce, this is the recipe for you!! And if you love cranberries as much as I do, then you absolutely MUST give this one a try!


12oz bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen, no need to thaw)
3 cups seedless red grapes
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt


In a large sauce pan, over medium high heat, bring cranberries, grapes, sugar, and 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until most of the cranberries and popped and the grapes are falling apart, about 10-15 minutes. Remove heat. Add salt and stir to combine. Let cool to room temperature (compote will thicken as it cools.) Serve at room temperature.



Tips:
Because of the amount of natural pectin in the cranberries, the sauce will gel firm when you refrigerate it. I think it looks prettier as more of a loose sauce, so I gave it a quick stir just before serving.
Serve leftovers as a spread on bagels with cream cheese or heat it up and serve it warm over vanilla ice cream!

Slow Cooker Mashed Sweet Potatoes

 One of the trickiest things about tackling a Thanksgiving dinner is oven time management. The turkey is taking up ALL of your oven space, and you only have so many burners on your stove. So how do you get everything else done? Well, the easiest thing to do is to remove the oven/stove from the equation altogether! Use your slow cooker!
 Seriously, your slow cooker is your BFF when it comes to preparing your holiday feast. It not only frees up your oven, but it also frees up your time because it's a total do-ahead! You can prep your potatoes a day or two in advance, and then on Thanksgiving morning, just turn 'em on! Just a quick mash before you serve, and then you can keep them warm, right in your slow cooker. Easy!
 This recipe is from The Magical Slow Cooker, and it's absolutely perfect.  If you know me, you know how much I absolutely LOVE using slow cookers, so much so that I literally have a collection of them. Actually, I think I may need an intervention (is seven too many?). But here's the thing... I use ALL of them! They're all different sizes, so I can use different sizes for different things!! For this recipe, I didn't need to use the biggest one, because I only had a handful of guests. But if you're feeding a crowd, go ahead and fill up your biggest crock pot! This recipe is so good, it will all still work! You can also tweak it and add whatever flavors you'd like.
 This one is DEFINITELY a keeper.
And if you don't own a slow cooker, this recipe is the perfect excuse to buy one! or seven!



6 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (this was about 7 cups, measured)
1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup water or apple juice

Add these items at the end:

1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbs. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt


 Add the peeled and diced sweet potatoes to the slow cooker (5-quart or larger). Slice the butter and place on top. Pour over the water. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time. When the cooking time is done, add the maple syrup, heavy cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth OR use a potato masher and mash by hand. Serve with additional butter if desired.




Tips:
Yes, that's all the water it needs. Just 1/4 cup. I promise it will work!
I actually went longer than 4 hours, and it was fine!
When you're adding your flavors at the end, you do you! If you like a lot of something, add a lot! Tbh, I didn't even measure anything. I just added a few glugs of pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup), and then tasted it to see if I wanted more.
If you'd like it to be much sweeter, add a couple tablespoons of brown sugar!
I like the flavor of orange with sweet potatoes, so you could add a little grated orange zest, or even just a couple tablespoons of orange marmalade. YUM.
Is it too dry? Add a little extra heavy cream and/or butter. And definitely don't forget to add the salt! Season it the way YOU like it!

Cinnamon Pie

  As I was trying new recipes for Thanksgiving, the question that always came to mind was "is it Thanksgiving worthy?? Allow me to explain.
 In my family, Thanksgiving isn't just a meal, it's an event. It's a HUGE deal, and it's my very favorite holiday of the year. So, a few weeks ago, I tried a couple recipes, and my thought was "Is it GOOD enough for my family's big event on my favorite holiday?" Unfortunately, several of those recipes didn't make the cut.
 And then, ladies and gentlemen, I discovered THIS recipe. First, let me just say that this may possibly be my favorite new recipe this year. I found it on a blog called A Spicy Perspective, and it is HEAVEN in a pie plate. It's absurdly easy to make and it literally proves what I always say...."There's no such thing as too much cinnamon." At first, the recipe kind of reminded me of my family's favorite cherry cheese pie, sans cherries, and of course with the addition of a TON of cinnamon. Of course, I needed an excuse to try it. I had planned on having a few friends over for a sort of meeting/dinner, and this was the perfect chance to test the pie.
 It got RAVE reviews from my friends, and soon they were asking me for the recipe. My friend Chris described it as tasting like the inside of a cinnamon roll. OMG YES THAT'S IT! That's the perfect description! It's rich and creamy, but yes, if a cinnamon roll and a pie had a baby, this would be it!
 So, if cinnamon rolls are your thing (Anthony, I'm looking at YOU), then you clearly need to make this pie! And YES, this is DEFINITELY 100% Thanksgiving worthy!!




8 ounces cream cheese softened 
1 cup brown sugar packed 
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk 
1 1/4 cups heavy cream 
1/4 cup all purpose flour 
3 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
1 pie crust homemade, or store-bought 
Powdered sugar for dusting



 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll and fit a pie crust into a deep dish pyrex pie plate. Crimp the edges and place the pie crust in the refrigerator. Place the cream cheese and brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Beat of high until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a spatula, then beat in the eggs. Scrape the bowl again, then set the mixer on low and mix in cream, flour, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and nutmeg until very smooth. Pour the cinnamon filling into the prepared pie pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until the center seems set when jiggled, but not totally firm. Bake another 5 minutes if needed. Cool completely. Cover and chill. Take out of the refrigerator 1 hour before serving. Dust the top of the pie with powdered sugar. Cut and serve with whipped cream if desired.



Tips:
Yes, that says 3 1/2 TABLESPOONS of cinnamon. That is NOT a typo. I know, I know, that's quite a lot, right? Well, what do you expect? It's a cinnamon pie!