
Every year, the night before
Thanksgiving, I like to treat my family to a luxuriously delicious dinner. I usually choose a dish (like pasta or seafood) that is simple to make, not too rich, and has nothing to do with the traditional flavors of Thanksgiving.
Tonight I'll be serving up a huge pot of mussels.

One of the most overlooked items on a
Thanksgiving table is the bread; often it is nothing more than store-bought rolls. Although I've made
buttermilk biscuits in the past, this year I was looking for a bread item that can be made in advance. I was thrilled to find a creative alternative in this recipe for savory madeleine.

After drooling over Party's
pumpkin cake and these
pumpkin pies, I wanted to experiment with my own unique concoction: a traditional pumpkin pie filling with baklava-inspired crust and streusel topping. With a belly full of
Thanksgiving fixings, eating a whole piece of pie can be a rather daunting task, so I made bite-size pies to satisfy everyone's sweet tooth. The pumpkin pie filling and walnut-oatmeal streusel are simple to make, but the cinnamon-sugar phyllo cups are more time consuming due to the very delicate nature of phyllo.

While some people
swear by canned cranberry, in my opinion, nothing beats a homemade variation. Making cranberry is incredibly easy. All you have to do is combine the components in a pot and simmer for 20 minutes.

Many people think that serving your family a classic, delicious
Thanksgiving requires days of work in the kitchen. However, with a little culinary savviness, one can make a complete
meal in a couple of hours. Pick up store-bought snacks to tide over your crowd until turkey time.