I like to serve dessert for Thanksgiving buffet style. It looks pretty, and everyone can enjoy the sweet treat they like best. Pumpkin Pie with fresh sweetened whipped cream is a must. It really isn’t the holiday without this. I’m torn between two favorites: Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing and Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake that can be prepared with a basic graham cracker crust or jazzed up with ginger snap and pecan crust. The versatility of cream cheese seems almost endless. You could also consider making a few individual desserts like a cranberry triffle where you use individual dishes like a parfait, wine or martini glass. Line the bottom with pound cake drizzle with cranberry sauce and top with sweetened whipped cream. If there is room, layer one more time with cake, sauce and whipped cream and place a cranberry on top for garnish. The color makes this a show stopper. All of the desserts can be prepared in advance. This seems to be one area where people seem to enjoy getting their “assignment” of something to bring. At our house aunt Nancy always brings the Pecan Pie as this is “her area”. I’m happy people like to contribute the desserts they like best, and when Thanksgiving is over who isn’t happy to eat left over dessert while watching football on one of the biggest football weekends of the year.

This year if you are invited over to someone’s home for Thanksgiving dinner and are not assigned a meal item to prepare, go ahead and bring a gift of appreciation. I like any of the Thanksgiving Gift Baskets you can find over at HomeCookingConnection.com.

Cookie bouquets aren’t like all the other unique gifts on the market, and they’re not just gift baskets full of cookies.  Why do cookie bouquets make such excellent gifts?  It’s because even after the cookies are all gone—and everyone is full—there’s still something left for you to enjoy.  Cookie bouquets come filled with lots of other goodies for the person who receives the gift basket.

Since there are a variety of cookie bouquets available, a cookie bouquet can be filled with just about anything!  Each one is different.  Imagine getting a bouquet at a baby shower.  Not only are there cookies, but there are stuffed animals and other little toys for the baby.  There’s also a basket that will prove to be useful long after you’ve eaten the cookies.  You can’t go wrong with cookie bouquets, from TheBasketSpot.com.

I really wanted dishes that I could cook and serve in easily, and both of these square CorningWare Casserole dishes came with serving cradles, which I absolutely love. I wish all dishes came with these! The handles make carrying hot dishes so easy and the dishes look quite elegant on the table too. This particular set is a lighter-weight version, so the dishes are quite light to carry, even when they’re full. They’re still as durable as ever though, and clean up is a breeze. When you’re done, they fit neatly in your cabinets until you’re ready to use them again.

This classic covered baker has nice smooth lines giving it the modern flair I liked. Holding up to twelve pounds, it measures fifteen inches long and over nine inches wide, making it plenty big enough to cook many of our favorite dishes. What makes clay cooking so special and unique is the way it locks in the natural juices and flavors your your meals. You simply soak the baker for about ten or fifteen minutes in water prior use and place in a cold oven. Then you turn up the heat and cook for the recommended amount of time. You will be amazed at how wonderful your food tastes when you cook your dish in a clay baker.

There are many slowcooker meals that offer a time-saving or money-saving element to a traditional dish.  Those recipes are certainly valuable and I’ve used many of them.  Some twists on a classic dish work well, but there are others that just fail to yield the same results.  Beef Stroganoff happens to be one dish that doesn’t fare well if you change the basic ingredients.  Substituting or eliminating sour cream, for instance, would change the whole complexity, however using stew beef instead of round steak would be just fine.

It’s a beautiful set in 3 great sizes. The largest is nearly a foot tall and I use that one to keep a variety of the kid’s snacks in. The medium canister is perfect for storing coffee and I use the smallest one for my teas. I bought the ice blue canisters because it was the perfect color for my kitchen decor. I can’t believe how much more convenient everything is in my kitchen now that I have this great set of kitchen canisters.

I think I’ll check out some other bean soup recipes now… especially those that are made from dry beans. I kinda like the idea of being able to buy some food that’s rich in protein and can sit in my pantry for months. Then when I don’t have a chance to run to the store, I can still cook a filling meal for my folks. Sure, it takes a little time to cook bean soup from dry beans, and to be honest, that’s what kept me from cooking with them much so far. But the black bean soup experiment taught me that the soup mostly cooks itself and all that was required on my part was to occasionally walk over to the stove and give it a good stir.