Thanksgiving Sides, Part 2
Hello everyone and welcome back, it is one week from Thanksgiving and we are in the final stretch! Today I wanted to share three more of my favorite traditional Thanksgiving side dishes: stuffing, cranberry sauce, and candied yams. These simple recipes are perfect for any size gathering and can easily be cut in half or doubled!
Candied Yams are delicious, I know most of you are thinking of the syrupy sweet canned version but trust me, these yams are nothing like that. The sauce uses brown sugar, maple syrup and spices to create a delicious, not too sweet, glaze.
Candied Yams
Ingredients
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish.
- Clean and peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces.
- Mix butter, sugar, maple syrup and spices in a small pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar has melted and is no longer grainy.
- Place potatoes in prepared baking dish.
- Pour sugar mixture over potatoes and stir to coat.
- Cover baling dish with foil.
- Bake for 20 minutes, stir, bake 20 minutes more, stir again and bake for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Cranberry sauce is so easy to make, with just 6 ingredients you can seriously impress your friends and family. The combination of orange zest and juice give the sauce a bright, citrusy punch. I like to make my cranberry sauce at least a week before Thanksgiving, the flavor is much better.
Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz. fresh cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- 1 cup fresh orange juice (3-4 oranges)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium pot.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes covered.
- Uncover and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
- Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for several weeks.
What Thanksgiving spread is complete without stuffing? This is my go to herb stuffing, I use homemade white bread but you can use any bread you like.
Stuffing
Ingredients
- 8 cups dried bread cubes
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup celery
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 2 1/2 cups warm chicken stock
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Brush an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with butter.
- Place the bread cubes in a large bowl.
- Heat the butter in na medium skillet over medium heat.
- When the butter has melted add the onion and celery and a big pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Lower the heat if the vegetables begin to briwn.
- Add the herbs and garlic, stir and continue to cook for another minute.
- Add 1 cup of the stock to the pan and heat through, about 3 minutes.
- Pour the vegetable and stock mixture over the bread cubes and stir to coat.
- In a small bowl whisk together the remaining stock and the egg, pour that over the bread mixture and stir.
- Bake for 45 minutes, be sure to tent with foil if it is getting too brown.
Notes:
You have a lot of options when it comes to bread cubes. You can buy them, unseasoned, at the grocery store, you can also cube homemade bread and leave it overnight with a paper towel covering it or you can toast bread cubes in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes until they're dried out. You can you any savory bread you like!
