Thanksgiving Dinner... Need Side Dish Recipes

Hi J.,

I'm having my in-laws this year too. I'm making stuffing, mashed potatoes and a squash/zucchini/mushroom saute. I'll just heat up a pan of olive oil and saute the veggies. Quick, simple, delicious.

Have fun!

M.

Creamy Spinach:
2 onions
3 tablespoons butter
3 cans of spinach drained
salt, pepper
1 cup sour cream

Cut 2 onions into small pieces, saute on some butter until golden brown. Add drained spinach to the onion, add salt and pepper to taste and then add sour cream. Stir well together on low heat. You can add more sour cream to taste if you think you need more....

I've been making it this way for my family and even my kids love eating spinach this way....

Taste of Home
Comforting Broccoli Casserole
SERVINGS: 8
TIME: Prep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min

Ingredients:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 package (16 ounces) frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped broccoli (about 3 cups), thawed
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients; fold in broccoli. Transfer to a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cover and bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes or a meat thermometer reaches 160°.

I use a broccoli & cauliflower mix but you can obviously use whatever you like.Love this recipe.

Here's our family favorite: scalloped corn.
It's cheap, EASY, and always a hit!
A man could even do this. ;-)

1 can creamed corn
1 can corn (liquid removed)
1 cup sour cream
1 box cornbread mix (jiffy works great)
1 stick butter

Mix all ingredients, bake for one hour at 350. If you double the recipe, makes sure you have a larger pan or better yet use 2 pans. If it is too thick, it will not get done in the middle!

Make a relish tray with stuffed celery, carrot sticks, olives.

For a side dish,

Broccoli Casserole
1 lb. package frozen broccoli
1/2 pkg. velveeta
1/2 c. butter
1 c. crumbled Ritz crackers

Cook the broccoli in the microwave until heated through., put the broccoli in a casserole dish. melt the velveeta and 1/4 cup of the butter in the microwave until smooth. (Cube the velveeta as it will cook more evenly. Cook for about 3 minutes on high, then stir. Cook for additional time if needed.) Pour the melted velveeta over the broccoli. take the Ritz crackers and crush into smaller pieces (put them in ziplock bag and roll with a rolling pin until smaller.) Sprinkle the Ritz over the broccoli/ cheese mix. Take the other 1/4 cup of butter and melt it. Pour over the crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy

I'm a HUGE fan of the Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving book...I've made their Green Beans with sauteed pecans (instead of the traditional green bean casserole) & the maple-glazed carrots for the past 5 years & they're both fantastic & simple.

J.,
Taste of home online (www.tasteofhome.com) has some awesome dishes that are quick and very easy to make!

J.,
I'm also hosting thanksgiving dinner again and I also make corn casserole. 2 cans whole corn 1 can cream corn and 1 sleeve of saltines. Mash the saltines and mix with the 3 cans of corn, put a couple pats of butter on top and put in the oven 350 for about an hour. I also recommend William Somonia's turkey gravy, I have tried to make gravy the old fashioned way 4 straight thanksgiving in a row and the last 3yrs I switched to William Somonia's gravy, I add some of the turkey dripping from the pan to it also. Have a wonderful thanksgiving and good luck.

I make the a side dish of cheddar hash browns.
Country style hash browns
cream of mushroom soup or celery soup
1 cont. of sour cream
cheddar mild, or velveeta
1 small onion diced small
mix all together, bake in a caserole dish for about 45 min.
add on top crushed up ritz crackers or cornflake crumbs. bake another 10 minutes. I usually use a tin I can toss away cause it is a little messy to clean up.
For some reason this blows my inlaws mind. They always aske me to make it.It has replaced the green bean stuff my mother in law makes.

There is a great recipe for sweet potatoes with marshmallows baked on top, or you can do pecans, both are delicious and sweet, both of them at allrecipes.com. Also consider asparagus, cranberry, garlic mashed potatoes!

Cranberry Walnut Raisin relish.

1 Bag of fresh cranberries
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of white wine
1/4 lemon juice
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
2 tspns. lemon zest
2 tspns. cinnamon or 1 whole cinnamon stick and remove after cooking

Combine all ingredients except for walnut in a pot, and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium low for about 15 min. Cranberries will have burst. Remove from heat, stir in walnuts and lemon zest. Serve chilled.

Green beans sauteed in butter with slivered almonds is always a tasty one that satisfies that crunch factor. Trader Joes has bags of frozen green beans that are great.

Pumkin Soup

1 can of canned pumpkin per 4 people served
1 can (approximately 14 oz) chicken stock per 4 people served
1/2 cup of cream or half and half per 4 people served
1 tspn. salt or to taste
1 tspn. black pepper or to taste
1/2 tspn. ginger
1/4 to 1/2 tspn. freshly grated nutmeg

Heat chicken stock to boiling. Reduce heat to medium low, add pumpkin, salt, and pepper. Let simmer for about 30 minutes, add ginger and cream or half and half. Simmer another 10 or 15 minutes on a low heat. Remove from heat, and grate in nutmeg. I always count to 40 while I am grating it, and that gives me the amount I want. Definately get the whole nutmeg, it tastes so much better, and do not put it until the end, otherwise you loose the taste