3. PREPARE THE TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING SIDE DISHES

All the following dishes yield 8 servings. We'll leave it up to you to do the math if you're planning on more (or less) guests.

Also, you'll notice that the following side dishes are just about as "traditional" as one can get. While you can't go wrong with any of these, we understand the need to get a little wild in the kitchen every once in a while-which is why we've scrapped together a separate recipe list of three not-so-traditional side dishes (macaroni and cheese, corn chowder, and creamed spinach). Feel free to wander, O rebellious chef.

Cornbread
Cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes

Cornbread

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp. vegetable shortening
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1¾ cups stone-ground cornmeal
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450° F.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

  3. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl, then add buttermilk to it. Combine this mixture with the cornmeal mix. Stir everything until just barely blended to get that mealy cornbread texture.

  4. Drop the vegetable shortening into the center of an 8" x 8" glass baking pan. Put the pan in the oven and watch it until smoke starts rising from the shortening.

  5. Quickly remove the pan from the oven, pour the batter in, and bake the whole thing for 20-25 minutes. The cornbread is done when the top is brown and the center feels firm when you poke at it.

Cranberry sauce

Preparation Time: 4 hours (including chilling time)

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz. fresh cranberries
  • 1¼ cup sugar
  • 1¼ cup water

Directions:

  1. Boil the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.

  2. Add the cranberries. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

  3. When all the cranberries have split open from the heat, pour the contents of the saucepan into a strainer placed over a medium-sized bowl. Push the sauce through the strainer with the back of a spoon until there is no pulp left in the strainer.

  4. Stir the cranberry sauce and transfer it to a small bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge to cool for at least 3 hours.

Mashed Potatoes

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 8 medium sized potatoes
  • 6 tbsp. butter
  • ¾ cup warm milk
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • ½ cup chopped chives (optional)
  • ½ cup bacon bits (optional)

If you opt to use both optional options, incorporate only ¼ cup of each.

Directions:

  1. Peel the potatoes, cut them in half width-wise. If you want to make your mashed potatoes more nutritious, leave half the potatoes unpeeled (but washed very thoroughly!).

  2. Boil the potatoes in a large pot of slightly salted water for 20 minutes. Longer if they're not tender enough to be pierced easily. Drain them, stick them back in the pot, cover the pot, and shake the potatoes around a bit.

  3. Add the milk and butter, and bring out an electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until the potatoes are smooth and creamy. If necessary, add more milk, but go slow with that (add only one tablespoon at a time) or you might end up with really watery potatoes.

  4. Add the optional ingredients, then salt and pepper to taste.