Baked Apples

Ingredients:
5 apples
2 Tbsp Coconut oil
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Dice apples and mix with oil.  Sprinkle cinnamon over.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Coleslaw

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 8 cups finely chopped cabbage
• 1/2 cup grated carrots

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar and lemon juice until smooth. 
2. Add the cabbage and carrots and mix until blended with the dressing. 
3. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Braised White Beans

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dried white beans (preferably cannellini, buy navy would work, too)
• 1/2 large white onion, chopped
• 2 bulbs garlic, peeled
• 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, left whole
• 1 dried bay leaf
• extra-virgin olive oil
• kosher salt and cracked pepper

Directions:

1. Soak beans overnight or do a quick-soak method by placing the beans in a large pot or Dutch oven, cover with cold water and a sprinkle of kosher salt.  Bring the beans to a boil.  Boil for one minute. Remove pot from heat and cover with a lid.  Let sit for two hours.  Drain beans when ready to use.
2. In that same Dutch oven, to the beans add the chopped onion, garlic cloves (from the two bulbs), chopped rosemary, whole sprigs of thyme, bay leaf, a bit of kosher salt and cracked black pepper.
3. Just barely cover the beans with fresh cold water.  Then add a couple of glugs of olive oil — about 1/4 cup.   Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to a medium/low simmer.  Let cook for about one hour, stirring every so often, or until the beans are your desired consistency.  I like mine to be rather soft, but still hold their shape a bit.
4. When they are done cooking, remove from the heat.  Remove the thyme twigs and the bay leaf. 
5. Using an old potato masher or a fork, mash a few of the beans to thicken them up a bit,  3/4 cup or so.

Sweet Potato Casserole

(I tried to get a good picture, but I turned around for a second and someone had already swiped some!)

This is honestly the best sweet potato casserole I've ever had. I think you could actually classify this as a desert. This isn't your ordinary throw-marshmellows-on-top casserole, this one has class.

Ingredients:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (wash, don't pierce, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about an hour. If they are soft at that point, cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The pulp should be shrinking away from the outer skin and sugar should be leaking through)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs well beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk (as always whole is best)
pinch of salt

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup shopped pecans

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients together.
2. Pout into casserole dish that has been greased.
3. Crumble topping on.
4. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
5. Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli

I get tired of steamed vegetables. This is my go-to option for broccoli any more.

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli (or a crown)
Olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cut the broccoli into flowerets.
3. Toss with a bit of olive oil. Don’t drown the broccoli—if you have a Misto sprayer, this is the perfect time to use it.
4. Place on a baking sheet lined with foil (for easier clean-up).
5. Roast for about 15 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

Cranberry Sauce

Just in time for Thanksgiving! This recipe is based on a Food & Wine recipe I found about eight years ago. I never liked cranberry sauce until I made this and now I adore it. Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature; you can make this ahead of time and store it refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Ingredients:

½ C port (I've used tawny and ruby port and generally prefer a ruby port)
½ C raspberry juice (cran-raspberry is fine)
12 ounces fresh cranberries
¾ C sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the port and juice and bring to a boil.
2. Add the cranberries and sugar and simmer over moderately low heat until the sauce is jam-like and most of the berries have popped, about 25 minutes.
3. Enjoy!

Oven Roasted Potatoes

These potatoes cook up easily, require little in the way of prep or attention and you can add carrots, onions, garlic or even nasty turnips or parsnips to them. As pictured, I used just potatoes because I served them with the Sunday Dinner Pot Roast which already had carrots and onions.

Ingredients:

1 pound red potatoes, washed and cut into large chunks
About 2 t olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
3. Toss the potato chunks with the olive oil until they are lightly coated.
4. Place the potato chunks on the pan and bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper at the table
6. Enjoy!