Preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas: New Items, Sweet Potato with Cranberry Glaze Stuffing

Thanksgiving and Christmas Cooking

The holidays are here and it is time to cook! It is also time to check out some new items for the holidays hitting store shelves and figuring out ways to incorporate them into favorite recipes or use as appetizers. It is also the season for holiday cooking specials galore, and one of the best shows from which to get inspiration is, The Kitchen, and this year there were two recipes that stuck out, cranberry glazed sweet potatoes, and not only can this recipe be served as is, they can be incorporated into other dishes.

New Holiday Food Items

So many new items are out, along with the staple ones everyone waits for the other 10-10 1/2 months of the year. Several food items hitting the shelves include:

• Mocha Chocolate M&M's
• M&M's Hot Chocolate
• Cranberry and Sage Triscuits
• Salted Caramel Pringles
• Cranberry English Muffins
• Nestle Toll House Candy Cane Morsels
• Hot Cocoa Chips Ahoy
• Tasty Cake Red Velvet Donuts
• Cranberry Salsa
• Keurig Peppermint Bark Coffee

These are a few Holiday items on store shelves and as strange as Salted Caramel Pringles or Cranberry and Sage Triscuits sound, they are really good and can be used at the holiday table.
For the Pringles, use as a savory topping on a sweet potato or pineapple casserole or as broken pieces in glazed apples or an apple salad. For the Triscuits, use with a cranberry cheese ball or a seasonal dip as an appetizer.

Using the M&M's for toppings or inside baked recipes is always a good idea. When baking cookies, brownies, cakes, or even for an ice cream inspired treat, add these or broken up chips ahoy or candy morsels to the mix to add extra flavor, and enjoy those flavors more while sipping a cup of Peppermint Coffee (Keurigs Peppermint coffee is delicious!).

Use the Red Velvet donuts as appetizers as well as the cranberry salsa. Buying the prepared cranberry salsa is actually less expensive than homemade and will safe the cook time and money. As for the Cranberry English muffins, what better to use for the leftover sandwiches during the holidays? All of the foods listed are really good and certain to add flavor to anyone holiday.

Cranberry Glazed Sweet Potato Stuffing

The Food Network show, The Kitchen, featured several holiday favorites from turkey to desert, and one of the side dish items featured was cranberry glazed sweet potatoes. They are easy to make, minimal mess, and very economical friendly, along with delicious! Another plus, this recipe can be turned into a stuffing. Simply follow the recipe used on The Kitchen, but only pour 1/4 cup of the glaze over the sweet potatoes. Stir in the sweet potato glaze mixture into cornbread, sausage and apple, or out-of-the box turkey, chicken, sage, or cornbread stuffing (already prepared). Add about 1/2 cup of the glaze into the mix and spread into a large rectangular baking dish. Bake at 325 to 350 degree Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes. Half way through, butter the top of the stuffing and spread 1/4 cup of the glaze over the top, finish cooking. The result, a sweet and savory stuffing that incorporates everything from cranberry to sweet potato that still goes perfectly with gravy.