Trying a new dish for Thanksgiving this year?

I’m making Caramel Glazed Apple Cake that you poke holes in when it’s done and pour a caramel sauce all over the top, then serve with whipped cream. Soooo good. And I don’t like caramel stuff, but the caramel is more just butter, sugars, and cream.

Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake

Cake
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
1 ½ c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
3. flour
1 t. baking soda
2 ¼ t. vanilla
2 t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. salt
5 baking apples, cut up into ½ inch pieces
1 ¼ c. chopped walnuts

Caramel Glaze
4 T. butter
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
Pinch of salt
½ c. heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9×13 pan with Pam.
2. Beat both sugars and oil. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Mix together flour, baking soda, and spices.
4. Stir in apples and nuts. (Very thick mixture)
5. Pour into pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50–75 minutes.
6. Poke holes into cake with a toothpick or skewer and then prepare the glaze.
7. Melt butter over low heat. Stir sugars and salt into butter and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
8. Add cream and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
9. Poke holes into cake with toothpick or skewer. Pour glaze over the top of the cake. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

I love to cook and am a huge fan of Paula Deen so I’m using this recipe for Fried Cream Corn. (it sounds delicious) I’m making pineapple glaze that my friend taught me how to make. (Its one can of crushed pineapple, brown sugar, and corn starch. Bring it to a boil and your done. Its quick and easy and absolutely delicious with ham!) Going to make an apple butter pumpkin pie (a paula deen as well)

I´m actually trying a couple of recipes from allrecipes.com this year too! <the turkey will be my own recipe but is similar to the “Perfect Turkey” one on the site, then i´ll be making tiramisu, and a few select sweet breads…. and just for me (to munch on while i cook) maybe slow cooker white chilli and chicken pot pie.

@Dr_C I’m making tiramisu too, only it’s a super simple version that tastes just as delicious. I’ve fed it to tiramisu fanatics and received their stamp of approval. It only takes about 25 minutes (if even) to assemble and then a few hours to chill. I use Kaluha instead of rum/brandy/marsala though.

It drives me crazy when my mother wants to try something “new”, year after year it’s never been anything anyone wants repeated and we’ve always been craving for whatever was substituted in the first place. This year she has mucked up simple cranberry sauce which my sister and I absolutely love and would prefer from the can in the whole chunky version. We will smile through it, dab it a few pieces of bread to show we ate some. Thank goodness she made a trial run of making sweet potato gnochi because they turned out dismal and she scrapped the idea for the final table presentation. I rely on my sister who has more sway to plead with my mother not to bring any Martha Stewart magazine adaptations to our holiday meals. I get so worked up to be able to eat foods I wouldn’t any other time of year, it’s almost ridiculous :D

Actually, I AM thinking of making an “edible creation.” It’s like a centerpiece for the table, except it’s made out of different types of fruits, cut to l look like stuff you might find in a flower arrangement. I got the idea when I saw an ad on TV and they said, “Starting at $49.99!!” WTH??!! It had, maybe, $5 worth of fruit in it! So, that made me mad, so I’m gonna make my own!

I’m thinking about doing traditional food, but a little different. For example, instead of mashed winter squash, I think I’ll cut it up & roast it w/some olive oil. I’m trying to decide what green veg to make. We never had that when I was growing up but I feel a need to have something green. I guess I want the meal to be colorful! In the past I’ve done steamed broccoli, green beans w/toasted slivered almonds… I want to do something a little different. Time to look at allrecipes.

My family goes out for Thanksgiving (it’s actually great because we don’t have to cook or clean up!) and some of the interesting things at the place we go include a great glazed ham (it’s a nice contrast to the turkey) and a spiced Waldorf Salad. Unfortunately, I don’t have any recipes…

Shit. All these Thanksgiving questions are making me anxious to fly home and eat, but I don’t leave until Thursday morning!

@Dr_C – I make a turkey recipe from the website too; – I use an oven bag and pour a bottle of dry sparkling wine (e.g. Andre) inside the turkey, a cut up apple and onion, and the stuffing. Sooo yummy.

@hungryhungryhortence – I feel your pain, I made cranberry sauce from scratch one year, and it was good, but nothing beats the tart, congealed purple goodness that is cranberry sauce out of the can! I will have a few cans handy this Thanksgiving.

@Val123 If you do end up making that I would love to see a picture of it! I’ve been wanting to make an edible flower arrangement for awhile I just don’t know how to do it.

@sjmc1989 I have no idea either! I’m assuming wooden skewer sticks and Styrofoam inside the whatever. Like they use in flower arrangements, or something. Then you cut things like your melons into whatever shape an’ stick ‘em on the skewer sticks! I don’t know…that’s just what came to mind. See if you get any ideas from here

@Val123 If you like things like that another really cute idea not so much for Thanksgiving but more for summer or spring picnics is a watermelon basket with flower,star, and various other shapes of fruit. My grandma did this one 4th of July and it was so cute. Just an idea for you. A couple pictures for you

@Val123 Thank you for that link!

@sjmc1989 That is very cool! I will certainly remember that! Thanks!

I’m making a chestnut stuffing for xmas this year. We’ve had our Thanksgiving and deepfried a turkey’ Turned out sooo good. So does anyone have a for first timer chestnut hint?