It's so hard to come up with what the best Thanksgiving foods are - but it is also IMPOSSIBLE to forget the stuffing!

From the Kitchen of: Jeanne (aka Mom!)
Yields: 12-15 servings

Ingredients:
* 2 bags of bread cubes
* 2 sticks of butter
* 2 medium yellow onions
* 2 cups sliced mushrooms
* 2 cups chopped celery
* 3 cups of turkey or chicken stock
* salt, pepper, any herbs you'd like to season with...

Directions:
1. Saute the onion, mushrooms, and celery in the butter in a (very) large pan.
2. Add the bread cubes and start to mix everything together.
3. Start adding the turkey/chicken stock (about a cup at a time) and continue to stir well.  (Add any additional seasonings as well)
4. Remove from the stove and add your stuffing mixture to a casserole pan.
5. Cover in foil, and bake in the oven at 400°F for approximately 30 minutes.  You can bake it for an additional 10 minutes without the foil to brown the top a little...  :)  (And if it seems too dry, feel free to add a little more stock to it.)

Some tricks of the trade...
* You may want to saute the onions in one stick of butter (initially) depending on the size of your pan, and then add the second stick of butter and the other veggies once the onions start to turn a little clear.  This helps your onions cook a little more without over-doing your mushrooms and celery.

* I used one bag of plain bread cubes and one bag of herb-seasoned bread cubes - a little something-something without being overwhelming... :)

* If you're looking to start off all plain-jane like, get 2 bags of unseasoned bread cubes and then I would recommend adding a little salt (only a little!), ground pepper, parsley, and maybe some rosemary and thyme.

The Italian side of my family has a tendency to make anything from scratch as they possibly can, especially when it comes to the all-important holidays.  When it comes to Thanksgiving (or any other time you need a turkey),  "cranberry sauce" just doesn't do it justice... Ergo?  "Cranberry Love"  :)

From the Kitchen of:  Jeanne (aka Mom)
Yields: Approximately 3 cups

Ingredients:
* 2 (12 oz) bags of fresh cranberries
* 2 cups of granulated sugar
* 2 cups of apple cider

1. Gently bring the ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Reduce heat (if necessary) and continue to boil until most of the cranberries have burst/popped.
3. Remove from heat.
4. (optional) Use an immersion blender to slightly blend the whole cranberries to make your sauce a little smoother.  (You can definitely leave them whole, if that's your preference!)
5. Pour into a dish and chill in the refrigerator.

Some tricks of the trade...
* Be SUPER careful when using the immersion blender with the hot sauce - if you even slightly lift the blade out of the mixture, you end up spraying hot, red sauce EVERYWHERE... (been there... done that... more than once...)  Resist the urge to rush and just blend slowly and in bursts...

* You may want to make this the day before so that it has plenty of time to chill (otherwise it just turns out a little more saucy) :)

* If you put saran wrap over the dish in the fridge, you can avoid having a weird film form on top of your cranberry.

* Turkey left overs?  DEFINITELY make sandwiches and use Cranberry Love instead of mayo!