Setting the Thanksgiving Table

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I’m teaching my three-year-old granddaughter to set the table. We have a family dinner every Friday night and she lays out the dinner plates, glasses, napkins and flatware. This feat is accomplished on tip toes, since her head barely clears the tabletop.

Thanksgiving and other special occasions are grandma’s turn to set the table. These days I no longer use my good china, silver and crystal. I feel it’s an imposition on the family because everyone pitches in to clean up, and I know they’re secretly happiest when we use everyday china that can be loaded in the dishwasher after dinner.

That doesn’t mean my table has to be ordinary. For Thanksgiving, I like an edible centerpiece as a celebration of the harvest. An extra benefit is that nothing goes to waste afterwards, since all the table decorations can be consumed later. Various kinds of squash, persimmons and pomegranates, interspersed with votive candles and bunches of grapes, make a beautiful table “runner” on my glass table. If I have time, I bake sugar cookies cut in turkey shapes to use as place cards.

This year, my sons are making the Thanksgiving dinner, and while they are both good cooks, they are time pressed, so I pulled together some of the easier, quicker recipes that they could make from the Special Fork recipe database.  You might like to use some of them, too, to fill out your Thanksgiving menu.

• California Harvest Stuffing is made with cornbread stuffing mix, dried plums, sausage, pecans and sage. You can complete this recipe in about a half hour, start to finish.
• Spiced Cranberry Chutney by Lori Powell, has more complex and interesting flavors than the usual cranberry sauce. Prep time is 10 minutes; allow 45 more minutes for simmering on stovetop, with an occasional stir of the pot.
• Pan Roasted Potatoes, Apples, Pears and Chestnuts by Andrew Hunter is an all-in-one side dish that’s both sweet and savory. Estimate 15 minutes to prep and 45 minutes in the oven.
• For dessert, finish with Pumpkin Panna Cotta, a light and refreshing way to end a heavy meal. It takes about 15 minutes to prep and 4 hours to chill.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Special Fork is a recipe website for your smartphone and PC that solves the daily dinnertime dilemma: what to cook now! Check out our recipe database for quick ideas that take no more than 30 minutes of prep time. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.