I know, I know, it's already mid-December and I'm only just sharing my Thanksgiving with you now. Is there a 12 days of Thanksgiving? No? Bummer. Well, maybe you can pick up some of these recipes for Christmas. The two dinners are pretty similar (at least, in my family), so there's that at least.

So I bring you Cook's Corner as opposed to Baker's Corner. And this is a special Thanksgiving edition!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

I found this while looking on Sunset magazine's website for recipes. I saw the secret ingredient - Earl Grey tea - and knew it must be made. I love the brightness of cranberries, and the punch it gives to your meal. The best part, though, is putting git on a turkey sandwich. We were originally going to skip this one and buy cranberry sauce to save time, but Josh gave the saddest face, so we ended up making it. Glad we did!

Rustic Herb Skillet Stuffing

[aka Dressing - my parents call stuffing dressing. I'm not sure how I ended up calling it stuffing. Weird] Now here's something about me. I don't like stuffing. But, this stuffing made me change my mind. No joke, it was that good. I picked it because it was mostly made on the stove top, and I knew I wouldn't have much time with the oven given the turkey and all. The other reason was the parmesan. I am a sucker for parm - Josh and I put it on practically everything. Oh, and we used a tasty potato bread from a local bakery, Marcina. So give this one a whirl, you won't be disappointed.

Mashed Potatoes

This is more of a method than a recipe. I used the video to make these lovely mashed potatoes. They turned out perfect - smooth, creamy, and oh-so-good. I watched the video and then wrote the recipe out, printed it, and then deleted it (sorry). Watch the video though, it'll be great. You could be doing it all wrong!

Roasted Veggies

I wanted to make both sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. Alas there was not enough time. So I cooked both in one! So clever. This was a classic roasted veggie dish, and they were a great side to the meal. I added some brown sugar for the last few minutes of roasting to add some sweetness.

And I didn't make my own rolls. I wanted to, but there wasn't enough time. Just pop them in the oven and they taste homemade. Guess there is always next year!

Turkey Breast

The main event: the turkey! Although in my opinion, it should be dessert. Wink wink. For one, I totally need to take the time to brine the bird. Just do it. I use this brine from Allrecipes. Then I used this recipe for the bird itself. I only did a beast - we just don't need the whole bird. This was just enough for the four of us, and it even made leftovers (and we used the carcass for soup - eh carcass, that sounds gross, but the soup is good).

Pumpkin Pie

Now, this is what I'm talking about - dessert! This is the main event, no doubt. I made the pumpkin pie the way I like it - with a gingersnap crush. This pie was perfection. I think it helped that I made my own pumpkin puree. I found that this is actually pretty easy. You know what made this even better, the spiced whipped cream. And Nada & Don bought us a special whipped cream dispenser. I reminded me of my Starbucks days. I know there are fun creations with this ahead.

The Table

The flowers were a gift from my father-in-law. Isn't he sweet. Without them, the table would have been lacking. This was the wonderful table upon which we ate all the food above. If you go to so much trouble to make the food, let's dress the table up too. The table wants to be part of the party.