Yesterday, we gave you a savory alternative to a tired Thanksgiving staple with our herb crusted fall veggie mash. Now, it’s time for something a little less on the nose. If the sweet potato casserole is already claimed by another guest at your Thanksgiving soiree, but you still want to bring a root vegetable. Perhaps you’re like me and prefer your vegetable dishes to be a little on the healthier side. Whatever the reason, you can’t go wrong by giving this carrot and quinoa salad a try at your Thanksgiving table.

The beauty of this salad is that it makes great leftovers, to be eaten hot or cold!

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots, chopped
1 medium red onion, quartered
1 cup red quinoa
1 cup kale
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss carrots and onions with 1 tbsp olive oil and roast for 30-40 minutes, until onions are translucent and tender. Carrots should be soft but retain some crispness.
3. Prepare quinoa according to package directions.
4. When quinoa is fully cooked, add the kale to your pot. Cover, remove from heat and let sit for 2-3 minutes so kale wilts slightly.
5. Toss quinoa, roasted veggies, kale,with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil and thyme.
6. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve!

We know that everyone loves marshmallows, and that sweet potato casserole is a favorite at Thanksgiving. But someone at your party is surely the Sweet Potato Casserole Queen and you don’t want to mess with that title. Plus, what if you prefer a savory dish? Or, you’re not so keen on just how sweet a sweet potato really is? Enter this fall veggie mash. It’s savory, it’s got several veggies, and it’s a beautiful color – really, everything you want on Thanksgiving all in one dish!

This brings out the best in the sweet potatoes, but also incorporates the less beloved parsnip, and features fresh herbs that bring it to the next level.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes
4 parsnips
1 small acorn squash
s/p
olive oil
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan
1 tbsp fresh rosemary 
1 tbsp fresh sage
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Roast your sweet potatoes, parsnips, and acorn squash at 400 degrees with a little brush of olive oil until fork tender, about 35-40 minutes. 
2. Mash the sweet potatoes, parsnips, and acorn squash together in a large bowl, salting and peppering as needed. 
3. Chop your rosemary and sage, then mix half into the mash. Spread your mash into a casserole dish.
4. Mix bread crumbs, parmesan, and the other half of the herbs together, with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Spread evenly over your mash.
5. Place a tablespoon of butter on top, and stick in the 400 degree oven for another 15 minutes, or until your bread crumbs are golden brown. Serve warm next to anything, and your family/friends/guests will be pleased.

Check back tomorrow for another veggie-heavy side dish that will fill up your guests without overdoing it with the fluff…

We eat this bread in our cars. We eat this bread at our desks. We stress-eat this bread.

And we offer it wrapped in bits of foil to friends visiting from far away places. Needless to say, this recipe is a permanent fixture in our lives.

At first, this recipe confounded us at the GMS kitchen. How could so much brown rice flour make such a moist, delicious loaf?

It just didn’t make any sense – except for that brilliant little trick at the end. Pour delicious liquids over delicious baked good and let them settle in the last few minutes of baking (right when pulled from the oven). It’s just a winner.

Give this incarnation of the recipe a try and then discover how natural it is to start thinking of different bread flavors and exciting drizzles.

Let us know what you come up with!

Ingredients

2 shots Malibu rum
1 cup limeade
¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown rice flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
3. Combine Malibu and limeade. Give it a good stir and set it aside too.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter.
5. Add in brown sugar and mix until fluffy.
6. Add eggs and 1/3 cup limeade concoction.
7. While mixing, add baking powder, salt and flour (be careful not to overmix).
8. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes, rotating after 15.
9. Remove from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Before allowing it to cool, use a fork or toothpick to make small holes all along the top of the loaf.
11. Drizzle the remaining limeade mixture over the top of the loaf and allow to cool before removing from the pan.

If you’re not into our baklava from yesterday, or maybe there is a nut allergy at your Thanksgiving, you should give crisp a try. Crisp is easy. It’s forgiving. It has fruit, even! We love apple crisp, but something about pear crisp screamed simple and delicious to us. Plus, whenever we’ve made apple crisp in the past the apples get watery – not so with these pears!

This dish is best served with crème fraîche or ice cream or whipped cream – the key is cream of some kind. For this dish, we used a 9 inch cast iron.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

3 large red Bartlett pears
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1  sticks cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Start with your pears. Chopped them roughly – they don’t need to be too small, and you don’t need to skin them. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well – hands are fine.

2. Put your nicely sugared pears in your buttered cast iron. Buttering it probably isn’t necessary, but it is delicious.

3. Next, make your topping. Dice your cold butter, and put it in a bowl with your flour, sugars, salt, and oatmeal. Mix together (hands also work) until the butter is crumbly and the mixture is coarse. Don’t do it too fine – you want some butter to be visible.

4. Now, stick the topping across all the pears, as shown above. Try not to leave any pear showing! Once you’ve done that, stick it in the oven for about 45 minutes, until browning and bubbling.

5. Serve warm with some kind of cream and a little sprinkle of cinnamon.

There you have it – a couple of steps and you have a crisp to make the others jealous. This crisp warms up nicely again, can be served cold, and can be doubled to feed a larger crowd.

Tell us – what’s your fave crisp for the fall?

So we’ve all been there before, right? Four people coming to your Thanksgiving, and each of them has a famous pecan pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie…what are you to do? You’re in charge of dessert, but you want to bring something that’s as pretty as pie without bringing the second of something.

Might we suggest Baklava? Baklava was one of those recipes that I made before GMS existed, and embarrassingly posted over on my personal blog six years ago tomorrow. Seven long years ago before I knew how much I loved cooking, but when I was starting to explore in the kitchen and branching out from chocolate chip cookies and roasted chicken breast.

Here is a secret about baklava you guys – it is easy! That’s why I could make it seven years ago, and that’s why you should make it for Thanksgiving. It takes some time. It is mostly butter. But on the whole, it’s pretty easy to make. So here goes:

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
phyllo dough, 1 package, thawed
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Mix walnuts and almonds with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside.
2. Melt a stick of butter. You’re going to use a 9 x 13 dish – butter the dish, and then lay one sheet of phyllo in it. You can go slowly/gently – phyllo rips easily. If it does rip, it’s fine – just piece it together. Now, brush on melted butter to the phyllo dough.
3. Add another layer of phyllo, followed by another brush of melted dough – you don’t have to get every single section of the phyllo dough soaking wet, just a little (but too much is never a bad thing!) Repeat until half your phyllo is gone – should be about 10-12 sheets, depending on the package you bought.
4. Now, sprinkle your nut mixture over the phyllo dough evenly.
5. Repeat the phyllo/butter scenario with the remaining phyllo dough.
6. Now you’re going to cut the baklava into diamonds. Trying to cut through most but not all the layers of the phyllo – cut baklava into four long rows, then diagonally to make diamond shapes.
7. Put your baklava in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
8. Meanwhile, you’re going to make your syrup topping; put your sugar and 1 cup of water over medium heat until the sugar is melted, and bring to a boil. Now, add your honey and vanilla and lemon zest. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until it’s reduced.
9. When you remove the baklava from the oven, immediately pour the syrup over it. Let cool and serve (warm is the BEST but cold is good, too.)

We hope you’ll consider making baklava for your Thanksgiving celebration – and may the best non-pie win!