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Need an easy holiday side dish that will have your family and friends excited to dig right in? Our cranberry pecan fluff salad, adapted from That Skinny Chick Can Bake, is an old-school Thanksgiving salad that is deliciously timeless in its ability to always please a crowd. If you’ve never had cranberry fluff salad, you’re in for a lip-smacking yummy surprise. Made with a simple combination of chopped fresh cranberries, crushed pineapple, whipped cream and mini-marshmallows, and topped with roughly chopped pecans, this “salad” is more accurately a lusciously irresistible dessert....

The Birth of Jesus Based on a literal reading of the Old Testament, it is believed Jesus was born just as the year 4 BC began. The date of December 25 was chosen as the day of celebration by the Roman Catholic Church for a number of reasons, including the winter solstice and other Roman festivals. Just before Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary leave Nazareth to travel to Bethlehem. Following the birth and announcement, the shepherds visited to honor him....

1. Grilled strawberry cheesecake sandwich Appetizers on the grill? Check. Dinner on the grill? Check. How ’bout dessert? Yes, dessert cooked on the grill. Strawberry cheesecake sandwiches, to be exact. In fact, these little pieces of heaven might just be too good to wait for dessert, so you might want to make them as a breakfast treat or for a special lunch. Pick the reddest, plumpest, juiciest strawberries you can get your hands on for this....

“Research suggests that individuals who feel grateful experience lower blood pressure, improved immune functions, recover more quickly from illness, and can more effectively cope with stress,” explains Shilagh Mirgain, PhD, a health psychologist with UW Health (University of Wisconsin). “Gratitude has one of the strongest links to mental health, more so than even optimism.” And the benefits can be life-long. A sense of gratitude can reduce the lifetime risk for depression, anxiety and even substance abuse disorders....

Pinecone place card holders Make these simple Pinecone place card holders for a natural touch from A Little Claireification. Cinnamon stick place card holders Make these Cinnamon stick place card holders from allParenting — they look nice, and smell good, too! Candy corn flower vases Candy corn is all the rage this season, so make one of these candy corn-inspired flower vases for your Thanksgiving table. Candy corn filled vase with flowers Looking for a way to use up your leftover candy corn?...

This pancake recipe comes from chef Rick Moses of Scramble in Scottsdale, Arizona. Yield 2 servings Courses Breakfast 4 tablespoons softened butter2 tablespoons softened cream cheese1 cup powdered sugar1 tablespoon vanilla1 teaspoon cinnamon For the pancakes: 3/4 cup pumpkin puree2 cups multigrain pancake mix1-1/4 cups water1/2 teaspoon nutmegApple slices (5 per pancake)Caramel sauce (about 1/4 cup) For the pancakes: Combine pumpkin, pancake mix, water and nutmeg in a mixing bowl; mix well....

Because the turkey is already cooked, they’re pretty quick and easy to make, too. Tender turkey meat, creamy ricotta and cream cheese, melted Monterey Jack, and spicy buffalo sauce stuffed inside jumbo pasta shells make a delicious Thanksgiving weekend dinner. You can also mix things up a little with this Thanksgiving turkey pasta recipe and make your own additions — think pasta sauce, salsas, different kinds of cheese, add a little sausage or stuffing....

But if you’re not sure what wine is best for your Thanksgiving feast, Master Sommelier Andrea Immer Robinson has the tips you need to perfectly complement that holiday dinner. What goes best From tangy cranberry jelly, to gooey-sweet yams, to spicy stuffing and meaty turkey, the traditional Thanksgiving lineup surely qualifies as the most eclectic menu of the year. For a sommelier like me, that spells major job security, as every year at this time the distress calls, emails and visits to my web site start pouring in about what wine to pair with all those far-flung flavors....

When the temperatures start to drop and the days get shorter, nothing tastes quite as satisfying as a warm cup of soup. Onion soup is classic on cold winter nights, but this recipe turns up the flavor a notch. While it contains soul-warming staples like chicken broth, this recipe adds a touch of decadence with a hint of wine and the to-die-for creaminess of cream cheese. The addition of potatoes makes it heartier and more filling than traditional French onion soup, while the buttery rich flavor is contrasted by the toppings....

Craving a scrumptious fall holiday dessert that will delight your family and dinner party friends? Instead of the expected apple pie, this rustic apple tart deliciously surprises your holiday guests with a flaky crust and tender apple slices. At heart, a rustic apple tart is an apple pies without the pie pan. What makes rustic apple tarts better than traditional apple pies? They are less bothersome to prepare because you free-form the dough around the fruit filling on a baking sheet — no shaping or fluting the dough in a pie pan required....

The 20 words to find in this Thanksgiving word search: AUTUMN, BREAD, CASSEROLE, CORNUCOPIA, CRANBERRY, FALL, FAMILY, GRATEFUL, GRAVY, MAYFLOWER, NOVEMBER, PECANPIE, PILGRIMS, PLYMOUTH, POTATOES, PUMPKINPIE, THANKFUL, THANKSGIVING, THURSDAY. You’ll find words going up and down, left to right, backwards and forwards, and even diagonally. You can click on the image below to get a larger version to print — and if you’re using a homeschooling curriculum or are a school teacher, you are welcome to print off copies for educational/classroom use....

Craving a hearty Thanksgiving stuffing that isn’t loaded with carbs or unnecessary calories? Instead of serving the usual bread-based dish, sink your fork into our grain-free stuffing, inspired by Detoxinista, made with big, tender chunks of root vegetables, earthy mushrooms, toasted walnuts and fresh herbs. Root vegetables and mushrooms to the rescue! Instead of bread or rice, our low-carb stuffing flaunts satisfying chunks of parsnips, carrots, onions and mushrooms. Though not the typical ingredients for this holiday side-dish, root vegetables and mushrooms deliver bold flavors, mouthwatering textures and the bonus of being deceptively nutritious....

Instructions For the directions to make this incredible Green Bean Mushroom Tart head over to A Spicy Perspective!

This is the perfect pizza for summertime because it’s light and fresh… and grilled! Served with chilled white wine out on the patio, it makes an elegant meal for entertaining. You can make your own pizza dough for this recipe or you can keep things simple with a store-bought dough. But one thing is for sure, using summer’s bounty to assemble this grilled pizza is the way to go! Get the recipe for this Grilled Pizza with Fig, Prosciutto and Blue Cheese over at AZ Grab A Plate!...

Be sure to save the pan juices to make a rich turkey gravy! (Looking for gravy ideas? This citrus-infused lemon and rosemary turkey gravy will be the star of your holiday table.) Turkey recipe and photograph courtesy of McCormick & Company, Inc. /recipes/turkey-recipes/rosemary-lemon-roasted-turkey

These pretty pastel cookies are so gooey, airy, tender, and crumbly, they just melt in your mouth. The slightly chewy edges complement the crunchy, chocolaty M&M candies. Be sure to gobble up a few when they’re fresh from the oven so that the chocolate is still warm and melty. The kids will love to help bake these simple cookies, and they make the perfect sweet dessert for classmates, friends and family, or the perfect addition to a springtime potluck, picnic or barbecue!...

What are the best pressure cookers? Instant Pot is not a generic name for any old electric pressure cooker. It is a brand in and of itself. There are several other brands out there, like the Power Pressure Cooker and the Crock-Pot Express Multi-Cooker. The majority of the recipes you’ll find online are based on the Instant Pot, so cooking times on other cookers may vary. One big difference between the Instant Pot and other pressure cookers is that many of the Instant Pot models have preset buttons, like egg, soup/broth, meat/stew, bean/chili, cake and yogurt....

Don’t know about you, but bats give us the heebie jeebies. Big googly eyes, huge ears, scrawny black bodies – they’re just one big, flying ball of creepy! That’s why we love these rainbow paper tube bats, inspired by: Hello Wonderful, that are all bright, happy colors and ooze cuteness. Nothing scary about these at all! These paper tube bats are so simple to make and require just a few, inexpensive materials you’ll want a whole colony of bats to roost in your home....

This Simple Homemade Chunky Cranberry Sauce can be made days before and refrigerated, making it a very convenient recipe. The tiny bit of orange juice adds a nice citrus touch! We like it chunky so it spreads like fruity jam on dinner rolls or even better, these Rosemary-Maple Cornbread Muffins! So if it’s your first time making cranberry sauce from scratch, not just the canned kind, this is a no-fail cranberry sauce recipe....

Looking for a potluck-perfect dessert that will get gobbled up by a hungry crowd? This strawberry pretzel dessert, inspired by Sugar Apron, will have your family and friends talking long after the dish is scraped clean. Pretzels in a dessert, you ask? Absolutely! The crunchy, sweet and slightly salty pretzel crust makes a tasty foundation for cream cheese filling and a strawberry-studded gelatin topping. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it!...