Sweet potatoes for dessert? As I remember it, my mom’s traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole might as well have been dessert. She sliced the potatoes in half, coated them generously in a mixture of brown sugar, orange juice concentrate and butter. Of course, they were …

Pumpkin used to be about Halloween Jack o’ lanterns and pie at Thanksgiving. Then no more pumpkin until next autumn. Now it’s everywhere all the time. As a coffee lover, I’m alternately amused and horrified by the pumpkin spice latté craze. Why ruin coffee with …

Without Sarah Josepha Hale, we might not be eating turkey in late November. She grew up in the early 19th century celebrating a day of thanksgiving that was a widespread if unofficial practice in the U.S. As the editor of a popular women’s magazine, she …

What’s a vegetarian to do? Thanksgiving dinner is built around the turkey. Roast turkey is a showpiece food, plus it smells wonderful. The side dishes are typically vegetarian: green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberries and green vegetables. Even dessert is OK; pie …

There was once a time when cranberries weren’t everywhere, year round. Just a few decades ago, cranberry consumption was limited to canned jelled cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving dinner. Now cranberries in multiple forms are everywhere. And why not? They add interesting flavor, they’re a good …