The cold weather has finally arrived and Thanksgiving is on the horizon, but don’t put away your ice cream maker just yet. The up and coming holiday is a great opportunity to offer your guests a refreshing non-traditional treat. Why not add a delightful Cranberry Sorbet in between courses or serve it as a light ending to an otherwise heavy dinner?  Maybe a little something to settle the belly before you break out the pies? It can be made well enough in advance and it would certainly be a welcome edition to the holiday table.

 When you are dealing with a whole turkey, cooking it to perfection isn't always an easy task. Many Thanksgiving tables are laden with dry breast meat. Leaving one to feel quite thankful for the copious amounts of gravy in which to drown it in. As most people know, the breast cooks faster then the legs and even the most talented of cooks can not change that fact. But if one is willing to forgo the presenting of the whole roasted turkey at the dinner table, then one can enjoy a deliciously moist turkey. The process is simple; cook the turkey in separate parts. Brining the turkey in a salt brine two days before roasting also lends moisture.

Yesterday I came home from grocery shopping, deposited the bags on the floor and got busy with the arduous task of finding homes for it all. I have a fair amount of cabinet space and big, giant chunky draws are in abundance in my charming, if not old kitchen. However, my cabinets are packed full with who knows what; remnants left over from various recipe contest experiments and other foodie adventures that were abandoned for a night at the local Pizza Chef, and rightly so in some cases. My experiments sometimes border on sheer craziness, as do the ingredients I collect to create them.

It happens every year around this time; a full fledged promise to lose weight by exercising and eating right. It also happens that a large percentage of us screw this up royally in the first few weeks. I am guilty as charged with the offense of making resolutions that I can not stick to. Unfortunately every year that passes without committing to a weight loss program is only making the road ahead that much harder. At what point do we say, "Enough is enough. Today I am making up my mind to become the healthy person I was meant to be." I don't know about all of you but for me, the trek to lose weight has been fraught with denial and lots of it too!

Yesterday I was perusing the meat section at the Franklin Hannaford when a gentleman who works there asked if he could help. I explained I wanted a cut of beef to use for Beef and Broccoli. He pointed me in the direction of some wonderful sirloin tips that were on sale, yet I opted for the usual top round (which, when you semi-freeze; can be sliced paper thin) perfect for beef sauté. As this exchange was going on I noticed a sweet older lady listening with interest. While I wasn't sold on the sirloin tips, she was. The problem she said was that the packages were too big and she didn't need that much meat. After all, her husband passed away and she was feeding just herself. The wonderful Hannaford employee told her it was no problem at all to go and package her a couple pieces of sirloin. He was back in a flash with a parcel just her size and she walked off quite pleased.

What would any Thanksgiving holiday be without revisiting Arlo Guthrie's, Alice's Restaurant? I doubt there is a single person from any generation, who at one time or another doesn't find themselves mindlessly singing the famous line, "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. Just walk right in; it's around the back, just half a mile from the railroad track. You can have anything you want at Alice's restaurant."  It's eighteen minutes and twenty seconds of pure talk-song, folk music with a twist; the story is true.

Their have been many moments in my life when I needed a certain ingredient and was at a loss when I realized I didn't have it. These glitches almost always send me on an internet mission to seek out substitutions that I may be able to make with what I have on hand. Buttermilk and self- rising flour are two of the biggest ingredients I tend to be at a loss for. Luckily for me, the internet has provided me with substitute recipes. So much so, that I never consider buying buttermilk or self rising flour anymore.

Deer hunting season is in full swing and before long many homes will have a well stocked freezer. We love venison, and although my husband doesn't hunt we have always been fortunate to have a friend or two share their bounty with us. I love getting creative with venison meat and am always willing to try new ways of preparing it. My husband could take a deer steak, salt and pepper it and eat it right off the grill. Not me. For example, I love a nice medallion with mushrooms, shallots, garlic, Marsala wine, herbs and spices all wrapped up in four buttery layers of Phyllo dough and baked. Oh, so good!

Growing up in a family as big as mine there were times when food meant war. Many times I witnessed our homey kitchen morph into a war torn disaster area. On one particular occasion my mother and I arrived home to see both of my uncles attempting to throw each other out of a window. They were the only ones home when we left and were peaceably watching a ball game on the tube; enjoying the camaraderie of beer, ball and snack foods. All was well or so we thought.

I love to bake and have built up quit a repertoire of favorite recipes. Brownies are a favorite here at our house, and making them from scratch is fun when choosing different chocolates and cocoas. Unfortunately they get eaten fast. After a time I decided to stop making scratch brownies and just stock pile a pre-made mix. At the rate the kiddos go through them, it made sense.