I've searched the archives and found a bunch of Thanksgiving related links for you as you prepare for a house of in-laws that you didn't really want coming over anyways but now you have to cook for. While I can't take your in-laws off of your hands, I can make it a little easier for you with some recipes and tips posted here. Hope this helps!

• How do you cook a turkey?
• How to prepare Thanksgiving Day dinner
• How to avoid a Thanksgiving Day disaster
• Thanksgiving 101
• How to make gravy without lumps
• How to grill up your Thanksgiving turkey
• Amazing barbecued or roasted turkey recipe
• Hearty turkey chili recipe
• Homestyle turkey soup recipe
• Smoked beer can turkey recipe
• New ideas for a classic Thanksgiving
• Beer can turkey recipe
• Dark chocolate and pumpkin cheesecake recipe
• Alternatives to pumpkin pie
• Easy pumpkin pie recipe
• Cider glazed turkey recipe
• Food Network's Thanksgiving Central
• Celebrate Thanksgiving with Epicurious

Technorati Tags : turkey, thanksgiving, Canada, recipes, pumpkin

• 1 pk Fast-rising dry yeast
• 3 c All-purpose white flour, (bread or high-glute is not right for, this recipe)
• 1 c Hot water (120F-to-130F)
• 1/2 ts Salt
• 1/2 c Mozzarella or other melting cheese thinly sliced
• 1 c Tomato sauce, -=OR= 1 1/2 lb -Fresh tomatoes, seeded, drained and roughly chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves (optional), peeled and minced
• 1/2 ts Dried oregano, -=OR= 6 -Fresh basil leaves, shredded
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tb Olive oil

Believe it or not, this pizza is ready in half an hour. PREHEAT OVEN TO 500F. (Mixing and kneading: 1 1/2 minutes.) Place the yeast and 1 cup of the flour in the bowl of a food processor and pulse once using the metal knife or the plastic dough blade. With the machine running, pour in the hot water (make certain it's hot when you use it). As soon as it's in, turn the machine off; add the salt and remaining 2 cups of flour. Next, pulse until the dough begins to hold together; then let the machine run continously until a ball of dough forms. (Assembly: 5 minutes.)

Lightly oil the pan with vegetable oil and dust with coarsely ground yellow cornmeal. Press the dough out into an 8-inch circle with your fingertips and then roll or stretch it out into a 15-or-18-inch pizza shell. Fit the shell onto prepared pan. Sprinkle desired toppings over dough, and finish with a drizzling of olive oil. Bake 15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the topping is bubbly. For a well-done crust bake 5 minutes longer. Makes 1 Pizza.

Technorati Tags : pizza, italian, recipe

An amazing soup recipe over at Apartment Therapy.

Technorati Tags : zucchini, soup, recipe, curry

Frank Bruni of the New York Times answers why he writes zero star restaurant reviews.

I do generally believe that zero-star reviews — some of which dub a restaurant “satisfactory,” as in the case of Freemans or Koi or Indochine or Mercer Kitchen, and others of which dub a restaurant “poor,” as in the case of Ninja — should be somewhat rare. There’s not always sense in drawing attention to something that you’re then suggesting people should avoid.

But the definition of one star as “good” would quickly lose any meaning if the review space didn’t occasionally present examples, and reviews, of restaurants that fall below that mark. That argues for zero-star reviews from time to time.

Moreover, the size and frequency of crowds at Freemans, which is still filling up even after its expansion, suggest that every week, curious people who’ve never been there are showing up, ready to spend what may be hard-earned money.

The restaurant is clearly already on their radar: I’m not introducing it to them only to tell them to beware. I’m discussing the cons and pros — in my view, based on my experiences — of a restaurant they may well be thinking about visiting.

Technorati Tags : Frank+Bruni, restaurant

Heidi at 101 Cookbooks has posted the best pizza dough ever. Today she posted a white whole wheat pizza dough recipe.

Technorati Tags : pizza, dough, recipe

• 2 c Drained, flaked, water-packd tuna
• 2 c Low-fat cottage cheese
• 3/4 c Sour cream
• 1/4 c Diced red onion
• 1/4 c Canned, diced green chiles
• 2 tb Salsa
• 3 c Cooked, drained noodles
• 12 Saltine crackers, crumbled
• 12 Dry roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In large bowl, combine tuna, cottage cheese, sour cream, red onion, chiles, salsa and noodles.
3. Turn into 2-quart casserole dish coated with non-stick spray.
4. Combine crackers and cashews and sprinkle over top.
5. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. NOTE: The amount of vegetable in this recipe works out to one tablespoon per person, therefore you don't need to use a vegie card for such a small amount. If you wanted to bring it up to 1 vegie card, you could serve this with 1/3 cup of steamed vegetables per person.

Technorati Tags : tex-mex, casserole, tuna, recipe

• 32 oz Jar spaghetti sauce
• 9 Lasagna noodles, UNCOOKED
• 12 oz Dry curd cottage cheese
• 1 Egg
• 8 oz Cheese, Mozzarella; shredded
• 1/4 Cheese, parmesan, grated
• 1 lb Beef, ground, or turkey
• 1 tb -Italian spices to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown ground beef and drain
3. Mix together ground beef and spaghetti sauce (add spices}
4. In Medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese and egg until well blended.
5. Spread 1/4 sauce on bottom of pan (approximately 7 x 11 x 3)
6. Place one noodle layer 3 across bottom of pan
7. Place 1/2 cottage cheese mixture on top of noodle, then layer 1/3 of sauce then the second layer of noodle.
8. Repeat, ending with top layer of noodle, and then top with sauce.
9. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
10. Cover tightly with foil
11. Cook 1 hour covered. Uncover and cook 15 min more
12. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces.

MICROWAVE VERSION USE 8 X 8 glass dish. follow above directions except cover loosely with wax paper. Microwave on high 18 min, turn dish and continue another 18 min. Let stand 5 min before serving. (Test for doneness - zap longer if necessary )

Technorati Tags : lasagna, pasta, recipe