So the real countdown happens now as I start making the dishes for Thanksgiving ahead of time. It really helps to get as many things “fixed” before hand so that the BIG day is relatively pain free. Here are two dishes I always make ahead of time, usually on Tuesday:

Fresh Cranberry Relish

2 bags of fresh cranberries
1 clean and blemish free seedless orange
1/2 – 1 cup of sugar
Food grinder

Rinse the cranberries and sort out the mushy ones and the ones that are really white. Grind the berries through the food grinder (I have a attachment for my KitchenAid mixer that does the trick). Quarter the oranges and send them through, rind and all. When you have it all ground, mix in a 1/2 cup of sugar. Taste it to see if it is too tart and then add a little more if necessary. Let it sit in the fridge so the flavors blend. On Thanksgiving, I love to put this relish in a beautiful cut glass dish that was my great-grandmother’s.

This next recipe is one my family begs me to make every year for any holiday. I found the recipe in Good Housekeeping years ago, and it was an immediate hit. Even better, it can be made ahead, put in an oven proof dish and warmed after the turkey is pulled. Oh, and did I mention it is quick to make and completely easy?!

Spiced Pearl Onions

Two bags of frozen pearl onions
3 T brown sugar
2 T butter
2 t raspberry vinegar
1 t tomato paste
1/4 t salt
1/4 red pepper flakes

Boil the frozen onions for about 10 minutes, drain and put into a skillet. Add all the remaining ingrediants and heat over medium high heat until the onions start to brown and the sugar carmelizes– about 10 minutes. Watch this dish carefully and stir often to keep them from burning. Then put them in an oven proof dish and let cool, and then refrigerate until Thanksgiving. Warm in the oven while the turkey sits and waits to be carved, or return them to a skillet and heat them quickly on the stove. Very yummy.

Okay, so do you want to share a side dish with the rest of us?