Thanksgiving recipe suggestions

My favorite recipes to make for Thanksgiving are a stuffing recipe and a sweet potato recipe from Cooking Light. I can make them at the same time the day before the meal, and then just pop them in the oven an hour before we eat (at the same temperature!)

The stuffing is particularly great--it starts with a Pepperidge Farm package so I don't have to chop up bread (for some reason I find the task particularly onerous), and then you add sauteed onions and celery for homemade flavor, some dried fruit for a sweet touch, and soak it all in chicken broth. Sweet, savory, and oh-so-tasty. I won't eat any other stuffing!

The sweet potatoes are a nice change from the marshmallow variety--they are a little sweet and a little spicy, with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg and a sprinkling of toasted pecans.

I'll be making these on Saturday--on Sunday we'll be co-hosting a dinner for a few internationals. My co-host is making the turkey and the desserts, and we each think we got the easy part. That's why we work well together! :)

If you're looking for an update or a new addition to your holiday repertoire, give one of these a try!

things I never knew...

One of my main responsibilities at the library is planning and presenting BabyTalk, our storytime for babies and their families. We do this program three times a week, and we really do get babies who are only five days old all the way through 1-yr-olds. (Then they graduate to Toddler Time, where they mostly run around and dance.) I love watching the babies of course, and it is also a joy to get to know the moms and dads--I'm impressed with their motivation to get to the program despite a crying baby, terrible weather, work schedules, etc.

These great parents (from all walks of life) share tips and tidbits with each other and me--how to make cloth diapers work, what's on sale at the consignment shop this week, when to start putting shoes on your baby.

But one tidbit last week stopped me in my tracks. Apparently they (nurses) are now telling new moms and dads not to kiss their babies on the mouth. Ever. The rationale is that bacteria from the parent's mouth transfers to the baby's mouth and causes tooth decay.

I tried to verify this, and found this blog post, which is a big long rant against kissing babies and kids on the mouth; at the end there's a quote and a link about dental issues but I couldn't find the quote on the page it linked to. Also found this commercial post urging parents to buy this product to rid their mouths of bacteria. So apparently it is a matter of some discussion.

Conclusion? Maybe it's another sign of our obsessed-with-germs culture, that may actually be weakening our immune systems in the process. Maybe if I had a baby, I might try to brush my teeth before kissing him or her. (Then again, I have no cavities.) In any case, I applaud you parents out there who are having to wade through all these well-meaning suggestions!

Cranberry Orange Pinwheels

I found a recipe for pinwheels in Midwest Living that looked pretty good, and then I ran into a Date-Orange breakfast spread in Cooking Light, so I decided to combine them and this is the result. Next time I would cut them more like 2” thick, rather than 1”, and I’ll look for a different color tortilla. I might try a cranberry-walnut version sometime. The amounts of fruit, spread, and tortilla are rough estimates. These were the favorite snack at a recent library event, and they are one of the few things I've made that taste way better than they look.


Orange Date Pinwheels
Cooking Light/Midwest Living adapt.
~45 min
~40 small bites

8 oz package cream cheese, softened
2 T finely grated orange rind
4 T freshly-squeezed orange juice
1 t cinnamon
¼ t salt
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup minced, sugared dates
Dusting of cinnamon

1. To make the spread, mix together the first 5 ingredients.
2. Spread the mixture generously on a tortilla all the way across.
3. Sprinkle cranberries and dates on half the tortilla.
4. Carefully roll the tortilla tightly into a spiral, starting with the edge with the fruit. Cut on the bias with a fairly sharp angle, trimming the ends. Secure with toothpicks if necessary.
5. Dust with cinnamon and orange zest, if desired.