Thanksgiving Tips from Mom, with Love

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Congrats to Stephanie H. from Dallas Texas who won our Logitech wireless speaker sweepstakes!

All this week, Special Fork bloggers will highlight Thanksgiving with tips, tricks and recipes for your holiday, culminating on Video Friday with a stuffed delicata squash demo, the perfect Thanksgiving main dish for vegetarians and a wonderful side for everyone else. For more recipes, visit our Special Fork database of recipes. Use the keyword, “Thanksgiving,” for your search.

When Dave made his first Thanksgiving dinner while at grad school in Massachusetts, I was prepared to be his personal Thanksgiving hotline until the meal was done. Actually, my son seemed to have survived his first major entertaining experience unscathed. As he pointed out with a chuckle, since many guests were international students, they had no great expectations.

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Taking Leftover Turkey South of the Border

By Katie Barreira

It can be hard to gobble up all of those Thanksgiving leftovers. Well in Spanish, turkeys say gluglú gluglú and if you’re still picking your way through a holiday bird and just can’t bear the thought of another turkey sandwich, here’s a Mexican-inspired recipe that will have you gluglú-ing every last bite.

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Get a Jump-Start on Cooking your Thanksgiving Feast

By Lori Powell

So I’m still trying to remember to breathe… I am obsessed with helping everyone around me manage the greatest food holiday of the year that often requires jumping through not one, but several hoops, on so many levels.

If you haven’t read my prior post featuring my Thanksgiving tips, I suggest you start with that one. Today I am going to give you some tips on how to make ahead items on your menu and how to tackle the Thanksgiving feast.

Happy Turkey Day and remember, what happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen….

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Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Special Fork is happy to announce that Andrew B of Riverside, California, won our prize package of cooking tools. Thanks to all our Facebook fans who participated.  We plan to have more contests in the future, so please stay tuned.  Congratulations, Andrew!

And now for today’s blog.

By Sandy Hu

I can’t wait for Thanksgiving. I’ve planned the menu and Steve, the family grocery shopper, has my comprehensive shopping list. To beat the crowds, by 7 a.m. on Saturday we were at the Alemany Farmers’ Market. We came home with bagsful of goodies – precious Gravenstein apples for the second pie; turnips, parsnips and Brussels sprouts to roast; gourds and pumpkins for a centerpiece; pears, pomegranates, persimmons…a Thanksgiving bounty.

Steve has already picked up all the staples and will get the last of the perishables tonight. And the free-range turkeys are on order. So I’m ready!

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California Roast Turkey

By Andrew Hunter

The biggest Thanksgiving challenge for most people is getting over the psychological hurdle of cooking the big bird. Whenever a cooking project intimidates me I think to myself that it’s only food and then, how hard can it be? I also do a little extra homework before starting, like reading cookbooks, searching for instructional photos and making sure I have all the right ingredients in place.

I thought I would share my favorite turkey recipe with you this year. I like it because the results are delicious and it has very detailed instructions from opening the turkey to basting it while roasting and making the gravy. Don’t let the length of the recipe intimidate you. Instead print it out, read it two or three times, organize your ingredients and equipment, and enjoy yourself in the kitchen…just make sure you chill an extra bottle of Gewürztraminer for the “chef’s cooking wine.”

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