Thanksgiving sides...

The other night I made the sides for Thanksgiving ahead of time...

So that was three last night and one this morning...let's take a look, shall we?

 

 The easiest and quickest recipe was done first, Cranberry Orange Sauce:

Ingredients:

 

 1 16 oz bag of cranberries, rinsed

The zest and juice of two oranges (the original recipe called for three but I just used two)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
dash of salt

 

 Directions: 

• Add all ingredients in a medium saucepan
• Bring to a simmer over medium low heat
• Simmer, stirring occasionally until cranberries burst (about 5 - 7 minutes)
• Let cool and serve

I like that this can be made ahead of time. You can refrigerate this and keep it for up to a week.

Next up is Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots. I ended up doubling the original recipe so if you don't want to make a lot of this, just halve it:

Ingredients:

 

 2 lbs carrots (peeled and sliced thinly on the biast)

4 tbsp butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups water
dash of salt
black pepper to taste

 

 Directions:

• In a medium saucepan, combine the carrots with the remaining ingredients
• Stir to blend
• Bring to boil over high heat
• Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling (uncovered) 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated (in my case, I still had some liquid but the carrots were tender)

I really like this recipe but unfortunately only a few people ate it at my brother's house on Thanksgiving. I guess they aren't carrot fans. Sad vampire. Oh well, more for us! By the way, this would look nice with snipped chives but all the stores were out of their fresh herbs so these were served ungarnished.

Another go-to favorite of mine is Caramelized Onions:

Ingredients:

 

 8-10 onions

olive oil
salt
pepper

 

 Directions:

• Peel and slice the onions
• Heat olive oil in large saucepan (I used my two largest)
• Throw in the onions and let them cook over high heat until softened
• Season with salt and pepper
• Lower heat to medium-high and stir until onions are golden brown (about 20-25 minutes)

The onion fumes were pretty strong!

Be prepared to reek like onions when you're done doing this...

OMG, this would be so good with steak or a burger wouldn't it?

And now for something new folks!  At the last minute, I decided to do Scalloped Cheesy Potatoes instead of Roasted Potatoes, so here goes:

I bastardized a recipe I found on the internet and changed up the proportions. I had two bags of potatoes from Fresh and Easy and wasn't sure how much I was going to use so I eyeballed a few things. Bert was also a great help with this recipe which we executed this morning...

 

Ingredients:
12 potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced)  I guess the number would depend on the size of the potatoes and the size of your baking dish
6 tbsp flour (it was originally 2)
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups scalded milk (as you can see, I didn't use milk, but Half and Half instead; you could also use Cream)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions:

• Butter a large baking dish and layer 1/2 of the potatoes...

Bert was quite meticulous in making sure the potatoes were sliced uniformly and arranged "just so", even refusing my help...(I was on peeling duty).

Directions (continued):

• In a small bowl, combine flour with salt and pepper
• Sprinkle 1/2 flour mixture over the potatoes
• Repeat with the other layer of potato and flour mixture
• Top with remaining potato slices

• Dot with butter
• Pour hot milk or half and half or cream over the potatoes (I used the whole damn container)
• Cover with foil and bake at 375 F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

• Uncover and sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese over the top.
• Return to the oven and bake, uncovered for an additional 15 minutes  or until scalloped potatoes are tender and the cheese has melted

I'm happy to say that this recipe was a hit! I think next time, I might add bacon in here! Oh yeah, and garlic too! I'd probably season it a little more boldly as well, like smoked paprika or maybe even curry...

This was heart attack food - potatoes, cream, butter, and cheese but hey, it was Thanksgiving! The rest of the food to come...