So what if you take the traditional sweet potato casserole then proudly update it, keeping the essentials, honoring the tradition, but somehow transforming it into something contemporary, very now . That's my Sweet Potato Casserole. It's less sweet and has hints of vanilla and ginger. It uses just a few mini marshmallows and intersperses them with a crispy pecan-panko topping. Delish! Fresh & Seasonal, Perfect for Make-Ahead Thanksgiving and Autumn Fall Gatherings. Vegetarian.

What a gratin this is, truly. I love how the individual fall-rainbow colors remain distinct -- the white of turnip, the gold of rutabaga, the orange of sweet potato. And yet the flavors stand alone and still meld together, married by sweet sautéed leek and a light cheese sauce. RECIPE for LEEK & ROOT VEGETABLE GRATIN Hands-on time: 45 minutes over course of an hour or more Time to table: 2 hours Serves 8 in standard servings, 12 in small-ish servings COOK ROOT VEGETABLES Salted water to cover 1 large rutabaga (also called a Swede or a yellow turnip, often has a waxy skin for preservation), about 2-1/4 pounds, trimmed, peeled, cut in chunks 2 medium purple-topped turnips, trimmed, peeled, cut in chunks 1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut in chunks Bring water to a boil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the rutabaga chunks as they're prepped, even if water's not yet boiling. Once it comes to a boil, cook for about 10 minutes before adding the turnips and sweet potato. (I cooked

[From now til Thanksgiving, A Veggie Venture is featuring new recipes using vegetables traditional at Thanksgiving. So far, there's been butternut squash and yams, today it's potatoes. To see what Thanksgiving vegetables are still to come, check the grand collection of 2007 Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes .] Oh! these twice-baked and slightly over-stuffed potatoes are good! And they weren't at all fussy to make, easier than expected. They are 'over-stuffed', with the flesh of three potatoes filling the skins of two. This made the taste all about the potato, rather than the cheese. For great potato taste, bake the potatoes for three hours -- yes, three hours. (No, that's not a typo.) I know, I know, 'one hour' is the standard answer when you ask how long to bake a baked potato. But you won't believe the difference in the texture of the flesh in Slow-Baked Potatoes . After three hours, the potato flesh is creamy (though not soft) and almost nutty in fla

Ten years ago, I was in New Orleans for a banking conference. Already a foodie, I seized the chance to meet Paul Prudhomme (the 'Emeril' of New Orleans pre-Food Network) and then score a table at his (then) no-reservations K-Paul, the Cajun restaurant that brought blackened redfish to fame and even post-Katrina, remains a N'awlins institution. I came home with an autographed cookbook inscribed 'Good Cooking, Good Eating, Good Loving' and stocked up on 'Chef Paul's' Magic Seasoning Blends . That was then. This is now. Spice blends are low on the priority list, I blend my own or go without. So when I spied the cookbook's lonely-only recipe for no-purchase-required ingredients, I paid attention. And hunted up real red-skinned yams, not their brown-skinned tuber-cousins the sweet potatoes. And peeled and chopped. And bathed for cooking in nothing more than water and sugar spiked with vanilla (!) and lemon juice (!!). And tasted. And savored. And praised

So even if one could eat nothing but vegetables at Thanksgiving (and I promise, there are many more vegetable recipes for Thanksgiving in the works, watch for them all this month), most of us are plenty attached to turkey and dressing and all the trimmings too. My food column Kitchen Parade is also celebrating Thanksgiving this month, starting off with two favorite cranberry recipes from a 2002 column. Cranberry Chutney (pictured) is so good that my friend Cindy requests it specifically and its cousin Cranberry Ginger Relish is frosty sweet with fresh ginger! Here's the column . So check out all the Thanksgiving recipes at Kitchen Parade, including thinking ahead for Thanksgiving leftovers . SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features ' fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful e

Creamy cheesy mac' n' cheese but given a twist by the addition of rich roasted butternut squash. Gorgeous color, love the crispy topping, a peppery mix of panko and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). WAY BACK IN 2008 Today we kick off the 2008 collection of Thanksgiving vegetable recipes (update: please see the latest collection, Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables ) with a recipe for macaroni and cheese that'll have your family asking, "Who made the mac 'n' cheese?" Oh boy oh boy, this is a mac 'n' cheese that's completely familiar and yet also a surprise, thanks to the secret ingredient, roasted butternut squash. If you're like me, and then a dozen Slow Food St. Louis taste testers, and then my dad, you'll wonder, 'Why didn't we combine these before?' The combination is deeper, richer, earthier and yet still completely mac 'n' cheese – it just works! Here's why.

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