Cranberry Salsa & Refried Bean Nachos (or Quesadillas)

It's the 4th Wednesday of November. In America, most everybody knows what's for dinner tomorrow. 

What's for dinner tonight?

I've finalized my Thanksgiving menu with a whole 30 hours to go. My Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers delivered our turkey and final Fall share last night. I've plotted my Stuffing Strategy and my cornbread is getting drier by the hour. The cranberry sauce is chillin' in the fridge, squeezed in between the turkey from Maker's Meadow and the jar of stock I remembered to thaw for gravy. I've gathered all the ingredients for MA's Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole and Alanna's World's Best Green Bean Casserole. My daughter and I will be successful with our Caramel Pumpkin Butter Cheesecake [that will happen after this post goes live, so as I type it's hopeful optimism. While I'm being hopeful, I'll hope neither Robert Barker nor Simon or Vincent will jump up and steal any food].

I am in the zone.

The last thing I want to think about, or act upon, is fixing food for those housemates of mine who have strange ideas about eating multiple meals in the days running up to the Big Event. I don't even want to eat out because people are running around like crazy right now, and I don't want to order in and cause more leftovers to need a home in my packed fridge.

Enter these nachos. They are easy to fix, are made up mostly of pantry ingredients (no need to use much fridge space), can be vegetarian and gluten free--and don't result in leftovers that I'll need to store. Plus the flavor and texture are unlike what we'll be eating tomorrow.

With all the cranberry recipes I've shared, this could be the most unexpected.  It's delicious, unusual, and a departure from the usual seasonal fare.  If you happen across cranberry salsa (link to my recipe if you want to make your own) and/or cranberry cheddar cheese (which I found at Costco), grab some refried beans and treat your taste buds to this change up dish.  This can be a fast and flavorful snack, which was well-received by the whole family during a hectic time. For other recipes using cranberries, please refer to my Cranberry Recipe Collection.

You have a choice in what blogs you visit. I'm thankful you chose to visit mine. Happy Thanksgiving!

3 Cheese Fast-baked Cauliflower

Great for a quick fix side dish when you've already got the oven on.

I like quick to throw together side dishes and I especially like being able to use the oven while it's already warm from baking something else. This recipe combines both of my likes into a cheesy cauliflower side dish good with roast chicken, pot roast, or panade.

I deliberately don't include Thanksgiving in this list because between the bird and MA's Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole there are enough white foods on my plate. I prefer more colorful side dishes like Colorful Roasted Squash, Potato & Pepper or Cranberry Pecan Green Beans. However, if you like cauliflower and especially if you've got some in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, this dish finishes quickly and tastes great.

I took a bunch of photos of steam and couldn't pick one. Choosy bloggers choose gif.

I made it for lunch the other day while I was baking cookies and making soup, and decided after the first bite that it was blog-worthy. We don't get much cauliflower in the farm share which is pretty good, because the males in the household aren't big fans. Indian food is the best way to enjoy cauliflower they say, and I am a big aloo gobi fan so I'd agree.  In fact, this will be the first cauliflower recipe in my Cauliflower Recipes collection (considering I've got 8 recipes for kohlrabi I think that's saying a lot).

Tasty Pumpkin Treats

Spiced roasted pumpkin sandwiched between layers of oatmeal coconut pecan bar cookie.

When you're in the midst of a big project that requires some hands on but not constant attention, it's easy for you mind to wander. It's easy for your mind to wander to sweets.  With a recent cold snap I decided to get busy roasting all the pumpkin and pumpkin-like squash that had been hanging out on my porch.

Why aren't these squash in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve? I'm glad you asked. It makes me think you've been paying attention each time I mention the SWSR, and I'm glad of it. I left these squash outside because they came from my garden and the varmints had nibbled them before I harvested. I wasn't sure if they would decay quickly because of the blemishes, so I kept them on the porch. They did fine.

Since I had so many large-ish squash I could only fit one pan in the oven at a time, and this was an all-day affair. Chop the squash in half, scoop out the guts to the compost bucket, place face down on a rimmed baking sheet, add a cup of water, bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour, poke to see if it's tender, take it out if it is/leave in for another 20 minutes if it's not, cool, scoop out the flesh, add the skin to the compost bucket, and repeat. Let the dog out every 30 minutes so he won't pee in the house, and empty the compost bucket while you're out there. Or just refer to this Processing a Pile of Pumpkins post from my first month blogging.

While craving something sweet and scooping endless cups of pumpkin flesh (I ended up with about 12-13 cups) I got a wild hair to replace the jam in my friend Lasar's Tasty Raspberry Treats with a sweetened pumpkin filling. While the last squash was baking I assembled the dough, and as soon as the pumpkin was tender I changed the oven temperature and popped the treats in to bake.  We sampled the first batch but I was already thinking of ways to change them. My second batch, for work, incorporated those changes and I liked them even more.

This recipe uses ¾ cup pumpkin puree and makes a 9 inch square baking pan. I like that size because it makes enough, but not too much, dessert for our family so we're not eating the same thing for days. If you're not blessed with a bunch of pumpkins from your garden or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, canned plain pumpkin will jump right in as a good substitute.  If you're serving folks who aren't crazy about pumpkin pie--try this on them for size. It's more like a spiced bar cookie, with subtle pumpkin flavor, than an in-your-face pie.
I debated sharing this so close to Thanksgiving, so close to pumpkin overload, but decided I'd rather share a sweet than more turnip recipes.
Oh, and the other Thanksgiving Leftover Pizza I'd promised? It seems I'd forgotten to jot down the specifics of how I made the stuffing-flavored pizza dough. So I'll be making that again next week, for our Thanksgiving Leftover Remake Pizza, and I'll blog about it next year.

Have a cookie instead.

For more recipes using pumpkin, please see my Pumpkin Recipes Collection.