Brian made it home before the snow started falling here in Apple Valley. Francesca was here within minutes of his arrival. Sam joined us for Hung Shao Rao (recipe in a future blog post), and Harry made an appearance for whole wheat chocolate chip cookies before the evening was over. Meg will travel on Thursday morning. I love having everyone home, hugging, talking and eating together.

The snow started while I was at work this morning, so I’ve cancelled office hours in the dr deb practice for the afternoon and headed home on slippery roads to blog and cook. Check it out, blog as a verb!

Happy Thanksgiving! Did you know that talking about food is my idea of the most fun ever?  Ask me a food question! Let’s talk about what you are going to make for your next dinner party, picnic, or ski trip. You have one guest who is lactose intolerant, someone who is strictly kosher, and a person who eats only raw food, dr deb is here to help! Comment on a blog post or send me an email by using the Contact page on the site menu. This will make me giddy with happiness, I promise!

I am feeding seven people for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Only five of them eat turkey. Mary is vegan, gluten and dairy free. Barbara is veggie. So, in a fit of total insanity, I bought a 23 pound bird. Good thing we like leftover turkey! Mary offered to bring some mushroom, lentil and walnut balls with cranberry pear sauce. And coleslaw.

Here is what I am planning:

Turkey with gravy
Sausage stuffing with leeks and quince
Vegan brown rice stuffing
Cranberry orange sauce
Sauteed shredded brussels sprouts with walnuts
Butternut squash and sweet pototo puree
Sweet potato and pecan pie
Homemade sourdough bread

Would you like a recipe for the puree? Here goes:

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Puree

Wash several sweet potatoes. Peel a butternut squash, take out the innards, and cut it into chunks. Toss with salt and pepper and a bit of oil of your choice. Roast both. Use whatever oven temp you already have going from all your other cooking escapades. Take them out when they are soft. Scoop the flesh out of the sweets when they are cool enough to handle. Pop everything into a food processor. Process in batches if necessary. These are things you may add for flavor: butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, salt and pepper. If you like spices, go for cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne and/or cumin. If you need a bit of moisture to loosen (depending on how dry your veggies are to start),  your options are milk, cream, stock, coconut or almond milk or even water. And if you want some crunch, you could top with some toasted nuts. Almonds, pecans, or walnuts are nice!

I’m sure I’ll have some extra time during the weekend and I’ll give you the cookie recipe, too.

All my love and best wishes for a peaceful, loving and delicious Thanksgiving!