For me, the best part of the holidays is cooking a fabulous meal for my family and friends. I enjoy the planning, the cooking, the setting of the table and all of the good fellowship that goes with it. I don’t much care for the shopping. Crowds in the grocery story make me crazy, so you will find me in the isles of the supermarket before the sun is up. It’s just me and the folks stocking the shelves. In other words, it’s food store heaven.
I think a big part of enjoying the day is getting some of the prep work out of the way before the big day. One thing I always do a couple of days ahead is the cranberry sauce; it actually tastes better after a day or two in the fridge. Homemade cranberry sauce is one of those recipes that seem like it’s a lot of work but really isn’t. My family used to just like plain old cranberry sauce. They turned their noses up at any of the fancy stuff, until I started making a Cranberry Relish, which is old school, but with a couple of little twists that up the flavor. 
I also like make-ahead Mashed Potatoes. Making the delectable spuds isn’t hard, I just don’t like dealing with the peeling of potatoes and last-minute mashing on the big day. The make-ahead mashers that our family has come to love is made with leeks. Leeks? Yes, leeks! Now before you stop reading and head to another blog, the leeks just add another layer of flavor without messing around with good old traditional mashed potatoes. Give it a whirl, you’ll be glad you did.
With the last recipe I am going to share with you today, you can’t make it ahead of time. It pretty much needs to be made just before serving. But I promise they are the Best Brussels Sprouts Ever. Even the person who swears they will never let the lowly sprout touch touch their lips goes for seconds of this fabulous dish. To keep it simple do the chopping and measuring the day before your holiday meal. The french call it “mise en place” which means to have everything in place and ready to cook. The French are smart that way. Basically you are making your own “kit” to pull from the fridge and whip up just before serving.
- 12oz fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup apple juice ( If you like boozy berries replace half the apple juice with Grand Marnier)
- 1 apple peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 large slice lemon
- Stick the cloves into the rind of the lemon and put in a large sauce pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Put in fridge until ready to serve. Remove lemon and cinnamon stick before serving.
- 3 pounds Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes
- 6 leeks washed well and sliced. (Use the white and palest part of the green only or your potatoes will have a green color)
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup cream
- Put peeled potatoes in a pan of cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender – about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a pan, cook leeks with 6 tablespoons of butter on low heat until very tender. Do not brown the leeks. Add salt and pepper and an optional 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Thyme goes really well with turkey and gravy! Add in the milk and cream and bring back just to the boiling point..
- Drain potatoes and return to empty pot. Add the milk and leek mixture and mash to your desired consistency.
- Spread the mixture in a large shallow baking dish. Cover with tin foil and put into fridge for one day.
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- To serve:
- Preheat oven to 350f
- Dot potatoes with remaining butter and bake, covered, in preheated oven until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through. If your dish isn’t deep it should just take about 20 minutes.
- 1.5 to 2 pounds Brussels sprouts
- 2 thinly sliced shallots
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¾ cup dried apricots chopped or 1 cup fresh sliced (dried cranberries work great too)
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice (Go for the fresh stuff and Squeeze a lemon!)
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Shred the Brussels sprouts in a food processor, or slice thinly.
- Melt butter in large fry pan over medium heat.
- Add shallots and cook for 2 minutes, add sprouts, apricots, and water.
- Sprinkle in sugar.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook to your desired doneness.
- I usually cook for between 5 and 10 minutes
- They don’t take long to cook and you don’t want them to turn to mush!
- Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve!
All the recipes above sound delicious-but I am especially intrigued with the Brussel Sprouts one! I happen to love brussel sprouts and this sounds like a good way to make them just a little different!
I have never made my own cranberry sauce and this looks really good and the potato recipe…Yum! I love potatoes and will be making some this week.
The cranberry relish looks so good! Thanks Pattypie for posting the recipes.
Waving hello to Snickers! How are you doing? What are you cooking for Thanksgiving? Expecting a crowd?
I am so bummed that my family doesn’t do the American style Thanksgiving! I love turkey, mashed potatoes & the whole shebang!
Wow, great recipes! I’m particularly intrigued by the potatoes; I’m always doing those at the last minute!
Waving back Pattypie!! You know this cook here is always expecting a huge crowd, been cooking and baking for a couple of weeks, the freezers are full of good things. I am going to make your cranberry sauce, changing things up here this year! Had a couple of extra requests this year along with the traditional menu, cabbage rolls! I don’t think I could sneak leeks in the tator’s tho. 🙂 Excited to see all of my family, about 35 here and we always take carry out to elderly neighbors, they are our city Grandparents. Hope everyone at IW and all the posters have a wonderful day.
LOL Snickers! I want to come to thanksgiving at your house!
Funny thing about leeks in the tators is …you don’t really think “hey there are leeks in these spuds” It’s just a nice mild flavor! However I have a feeling you have the mashed potato thing down, so there is no use messing with perfection!
I love cabbage rolls but haven’t made them in ages.
Speaking of cabbage rolls I promised some friends my recipe for perogies..I just need to make them again and measure the ingredients so I have a recipe to give!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Snickers! 😉
I like that you added leeks to your mashed potatoes. I bet they taste really good and I love that you snuck in some veggies!
Perfect timing, I am getting ready to try to make my own Cranberry Relish this year and need to make it ahead. I will try this out later today.
Thanks for sharing this:) Looks yammie!
I love making my own cranberry sauce. I made it last year for the first time and it was so good. Going to try it with the lemon and apple this year.
My mouth is watering just LOOKING at the cranberry dish. Nothing tastes better to me than fresh cranberries in a recipe.
The Cranberry Relish looks amazing and the recipe looks pretty easy! I’m considering trying it!
My family and I Absolutely LOVE cranberry sauce and I have never actually made it!!! Thank you for the good tutorial and inspiration. I am going to give it a go this Thanksgiving!! (But I will have the cans too, just in case) lol
I’m going to try the make ahead mash potatoes! Those are the one thing I dread making every holiday season!
The sauce looks yummy! I’ve never tried Cranberry sauce although I love cranberries. This is in my to-do list.
I’m going to try the potato recipe for Thanksgiving!
I can imagine how good that cranberry relish smells cooking on the stove.
I don’t have to put any of my delicate little fingers near the stove on Thanksgiving. I am merely my mom’s lackey on that day. But, I am looking forward to trying out your mashed potatoes. They sound absolutely delish.
I really really don’t like cranberries but my whole household does. I think they would love this Cranberry Sauce, as opposed to the can I would simply dump in a dish. Great recipe!
My Mother-in-law was just asking about cranberry sauce yesterday! She would absolutely love that recipe!!
We love leeks in our mashed potatoes too!!
You mean cranberry sauce isn’t supposed to come out of a can? That’s what we do every year lol. This does sound delicious and I like that it can be made ahead of time!
I can hardly wait to have cranberries. I make them in a similar way, and they are so darn good!
leeks in the potatoes… interesting! I’ve never been a cranberry fan, but I always made the dressing before for my dad. I was just thinking about an hour ago about when I should plan to make my pumpkin pie! Preparing before the day can save so much stress!
Awesome post. Now I’m really hungry. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving dinner 😀
We usually host a lot of people for Thanksgiving so I try to cook as much the day or two beforehand as possible. I’m definitely hanging onto your cranberry sauce recipe! I have a similar make-ahead mashed potato recipe that I love. Also, can’t wait to try your unique twist on brussel sprouts.
We make a homemade cranberry relish too and it is so good. I bet my son would like those brussel sprouts!
I actually used to hate cranberry sauce until I made it one year from scratch. I can tell you that making it yourself is easy and it bears no resemblance to the taste of the stuff in the can.
I love that you could prepare these in advance in order to prioritize your cooking time at the last minute. My husband loves Thanksgiving with all the trimmings so he would love all these recipes.
It helps so much to make things ahead! I try to do that too!
That looks delicious! I think it would make a great app if added to crackers! Yum! DD2 loves cranberries too!
I love that cranberry relish. I’m a big fan of cranberry sauce. I’ve never made my own though. This sounds delicious!
The recipes sound delish!!!!!
Every year at Thanksgiving I have cranberry sauce from a can and have never tried it fresh. Curious to try but I am sure the difference in taste would be greatly different.
The Cranberry Relish looks amazing! Looks like i’m missing out on something good.
I always make my cranberry relish. It’s a must. Also I make Brussels Sprouts with bacon & butter. Yours sound so good. I think it will be our new favorite 🙂
I am not a big fan of cranberries but I sure would love to try this, I think I may like it!
I have never been good at making cranberry sauce very good. We always have the canned ones. I’m going to try this! Thank you!
These all sounds delicious! I would definitely like to try making the Cranberry Relish! Have always wanted to make it myself, but haven’t gotten a chance to.
I’ve always bought canned cranberry sauce. I bet it tastes delicious when you make it yourself!
OH MY YUM!!! I love the cranberry sauce recipe, I’m going to be trying that.
i looked and looked but couldn’t find cranberries in India 🙁
That cranberry sauce looks great! I love cranberry sauce and I’ve always wanted to try making my own! Thanks for posting!
Everything looks so good but I have got to try those brussel sprouts!
Thanks for the recipe.
I make a cranberry relish like yours.The only difference being that I chop up a large Chinese pear instead of the apple.Yours looks very delicious though and thanks for posting all the other make ahead recipes.
Oh My Gosh, the cranberry relish looks delicious… my daughter would love that. I think I’ll make it to go with Christmas dinner! Thank for sharing these wonderful tips and recipes!
I never thought of adding apples to my cranberry sauce – what a great idea. Thanks!
We made our Cranberry sauce the day before but then we forgot to put it out. LOL
Love all the recipes here and I intend to try them. I have never had the Brussel Sprouts like this and hubby and I both love them. Thank you and Happy Holidays!!
I am going to have to try your cranberry sauce and mashed potato recipes.
I like the recipe for Cranberry relish… I have never made it myself, but this looks good enough to try. Thank you.
I like the make ahead recipes! I saved the whole thing to my favs rather than print because I know I will be using several of them. brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes for sure. thanks!
the brussel sprouts recipe looks soooo good! Definetly pinning this one!
this sounds really good i will try this
These sound really delicious, I will have to try these out!
This looks amazing. I’m not a big fan of brussel sprouts but my husband loves them with butter, so I think I’d make an exception.
great recipe i know everyone will love it thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing the recipes and how to make them ahead. I am going try this. It will save a lot of time. I have always worked production jobs and am always looking and trying different ways to make things go faster.
I’ve never been really into cranberry sauce before, but that recipe makes it sound so yummy! I’ll have to try it next Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for sharing it with us!
I like the Brussels Sprout’s recipe. It looked easy!
Ok, my mouth is watering….I’m getting really really hungry! lol
I am going to have to try some of these recipes, especially the cranberry relish. Thanks for sharing and have a very Merry Christmas 🙂
I love make-ahead meals. It makes the day of so much less stressful and enjoyable. I really like the brussel sprout recipe. I am going to make something similar!
these are great recipes! thanks for sharing
All of these recipes are wonderful! I especially love the Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, great idea to save time 🙂
Nothing is better than homemade cranberry relish. IT really adds to the turkey itself, I think! This is a great twist on my usual recipe. It sounds delicious
My mom used to make make all of these.
Your Best Brussels Sprouts Ever recipe looks so yummy, I can’t wait to try it!