Thanksgiving is approaching. It’s the time of year when we gather with family and friends, sharing and creating traditions. Thanksgiving is also a time to eat and enjoy a most delicious meal. Our friends at Cooking Light have put a delicious spin on the classic holiday side, stuffing, with this Apple, Cranberry and Pecan Stuffing. Your little chef can help by cutting up the fruit, vegetables and tearing up the bread.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Arrange bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes. Place bread in a large bowl.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion, celery, and carrot to pan; sauté 6 minutes. Add apple; cook 4 minutes. Stir in pecans, cranberries, parsley, salt, and pepper. Add apple mixture to bread; toss.

5. Combine stock, butter, and eggs in a bowl. Drizzle over bread mixture; toss. Let stand 15 minutes. Spoon into a 13- x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.

Tips & Trick:

• For the vegetarians at your table, you can substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.
• Raisins and walnuts can work in place of the cranberries and pecans

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Double Crust Apple Pie

“A double crust seals in the apples’ natural juices as the pie bakes for full-on apple flavor. Tossing the apples with apple juice keeps them from browning as you peel and slice them, and it adds a boost of apple flavor.”

Ginger Pumpkin Pie with Toasted Coconut

“Ginger and coconut add warm, flavorful accents to this Thanksgiving classic. If you’d like a dollop of something creamy, top with fat-free whipped topping.”

French Apple Tart

“The free-form apple tart is mighty easy because it works from a store-bought crust—yet it’s just spectacular, and so evocative of the season.”

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Image credit: Campbell’s

Ingredients:

4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
4 cups cooked and shredded turkey
2 cups cooked vegetables, such as green beans or squash
2 tsp. tomato paste
1 yellow onion, diced
1 cup chicken or beef broth
½ tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
½ tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. When hot, add onion and cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Add cooked vegetables and turkey to pan and heat through for 2 minutes. Then add tomato paste and herbs, stir to combine.
4. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Cook for another 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. In an oven safe glass pie dish or small casserole dish, pour in sautéed ingredients and top with mashed potatoes and Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Optional: serve with cranberry sauce and gravy.

Tips & Tricks:

• Use what you have! Don’t have fresh rosemary or thyme? Any fresh, or even dried, herbs will go great with this dish – it is all about using your leftovers after all!
• Make it a skillet pie! To keep yourself from washing an extra dirty dish, make the filling in an ovenproof skillet. Then simply top it off with the mashed potatoes and cheese and pop the skillet in the oven for baking.

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Thanksgiving can be really challenging for vegetarians – with side dishes laced with chicken broth and turkey as the main event. Thankfully, our friends at Cooking Light have rounded up a bunch of delicious, meatless holiday recipes that are sure to be a hit with your vegetarian and non-vegetarian dinner guests, alike!

Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Squash, Arugula, and Pine Nuts

“This fresh and easy dish packs in lots of seasonal flavors, and you can put everything together in the 25 minutes it takes for the squash to roast. The recipe makes six filling servings, so it’s great for a family dinner or casual get-together, but you can always double or triple it to be the main course at any holiday party.”

Click here for the recipe!

Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan

“Cauliflower is a versatile yet often overlooked vegetable. Roasted here until just tender and browned, and flavored with Italian herbs, garlic, Parmesan, and lemon juice, it’s the highlight of any meal. It’s heavy on flavor but light on calories, with only 89 per serving.”

Click here for the recipe!

Honey-Roasted Butternut Squash

“This side is simple and fabulous. The cooking is mostly hands-off, and the prep is easy. Serve the tender butternut squash in large pieces to catch every last bit of the honey butter drizzle.”

Click here for the recipe!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Thanksgiving is known for turkey, delicious sides, and tasty pies. Between roasting the turkey and cooking up all the side dishes, there’s little time left to make pies from scratch. Homemade pies can take hours in the kitchen, but not with these quick and simple recipes! Both recipes for Impossibly Easy Pumpkin Pie and French Apple Pie have the crust baked right into the pie itself – taking away tedious steps and saving you time in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Whip toppings, if desired

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease 9-inch pie plate.
2. Stir all ingredients except whipped topping until blended. Pour into pie plate.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. Serve with whipped topping. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 6 servings

Tips & Tricks:

Save even more time on Thanksgiving day by making this pie ahead of time! It keeps great in the refrigerator and is delicious served chilled or at room temperature.

Ingredients:

Filling

3 cups sliced peeled apples (3 large)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

Streusel

1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix

1/4 cup chopped nuts

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 325ºF. Grease 9-inch glass pie plate. In medium bowl, mix apples, cinnamon and nutmeg; place in pie plate.
2. In medium bowl, stir remaining filling ingredients until well blended. Pour over apple mixture in pie plate. In small bowl, mix all streusel ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over filling.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Store in refrigerator.

Makes 6 servings

Tips & Tricks:

If apple pie isn’t your favorite, try using peaches, berries, or pears instead of apples in this simple and versatile recipe!

Video:

For more tips and a video how-to by Cricket Azima, view the video below.

 

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Looking for ways for your little chefs to get involved in the family meal preparation? Cooking Light offers a scrumptious spaghetti squash recipe that’s a nutritious contribution to a well-balanced winter-time family meal AND is easy enough for the kids to help assemble. And, the kids will get a kick out of how the squash truly looks like spaghetti!

Ingredients

1 (3-pound) spaghetti squash 

Cooking Spray

1 T. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14.5 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, divided

6T. shredded pecorino Romano cheese

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds; discard. Place squash halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350˚ for 1 hour or until tender.

3. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in 1/3 cup basil.

4. Cool squash at room temperature for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Scrape inside of the squash with a fork to remove spaghetti-like strands to measure about 5 cups. Divide squash evenly among 6 plates; top each serving with about 1/3 cup sauce and 1 tablespoon cheese. Top with remaining basil.

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner.  Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children.  She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.