Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes by Ingredient

It doesn't matter whether you're a newbie or a grizzled veteran; when it comes Thanksgiving dinner, we could use some inspiration. In that spirit, I've compiled a list of my favorite Thanksgiving appropriate recipes. I listed them by ingredient: sweet potato, potato, pumpkin, bread, greens, poultry, cranberries, pecans, so you can decide which one works best for you. Happy planning!

There are many recipes that are perfect for Thanksgiving in my first cookbook "Haute Potato". Two of my personal favorites are the potato cigars and the lavender and white chocolate potato torte. If you order it today from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, there's still a good chance it will arrive before Thanksgiving. And if not, it's packed with great holiday recipes as well! 

Marshmallow Popcorn Treat Yogurt Parfait Recipe (+ Giveaway)

479° Popcorn is my favorite snack of the moment. The packaging is fun and creative and needless to say this gourmet organic popcorn is awesome. I could finish an entire bag on my own. 479° Popcorn is a San Francisco company that features a very interesting array of flavors such as Fleur de Sel Caramel, Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt, Black Truffle, Chipotle Caramel + Almonds, Ginger Sesame Caramel, Madras Curry Coconut + Cashews, Pimenton de la Vera and Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar. The design is so original it makes the perfect holiday gift box. One of my husband's little sisters is obsessed with popcorn, and her birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so we're planning on buying her weight in 479° popcorn as a present. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration!


I love experimenting with just about anything, so I created marshmallow treats with their Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar-flavored popcorn. I made a yogurt parfait and incorporated the sweet treats as a substitute for granola. This recipe is flavored according to the season; I used mandarin wedges and orange and cranberry sauce. You could adapt it with what you like of course. You don't have to create these cups for breakfast or dessert (or whenever you eat parfaits); just savoring 479° Popcorn by itself is perfectly reasonable.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and 479° Popcorn, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "Sweet Tooth Gift Pack #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @479Popcorn: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".

Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar flavored popcorn.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed Steak Recipe

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m sure many of you have turkey on the brain. For those of you who don’t really much care for turkey meat, here’s a steak recipe that still manages to capture some of the flavors of the season. Specifically, I made a cranberry-flavored cream cheese that I stuffed into the steaks. I was inspired by a chicken recipe I recently made with a filling of Granny Smith apples. The only difference is beef doesn't need to marinate overnight. Allow beef to marinate for at least 15 minutes, but no more than 30 minutes. I used my usual meat tenderizer (green papaya paste).

After stuffing the steaks with cranberry cheese filling, I sealed them with twine. I gave them a quick searing and then transferred the steaks to the oven to bring them to a perfect medium-rare. The cranberries bring a hint of tartness to the beef in addition to fitting perfectly on your (non-traditional) Thanksgiving table.

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry Pear Dessert Recipe

Thanksgiving is over and I have some leftovers from last night. We always have extra cranberry jelly, and this year I decided to turn it into a mousse. But cranberries can be a little tart, so I added pears to balance the flavor of the dessert.

When serving mousse, I always try to pair the smooth, airy dessert with something of more substantial texture. I topped each mousse with a garnish of diced pears with dried cranberries as a reminder of the flavors in the mousse, plus a sprinkle of crushed pistachio for added color and crunch. The result is a fabulous dessert that no one will guess was made from Thanksgiving leftovers!

Cranberry Apple Pinwheel Cookies

After all the cranberry apple dishes I've made so far, I incorporated the same flavors and created pretty pinwheel cookies. The swirl is a lot easier to make than it seems. All you need is sugar cookie dough to roll around the filling. My choice for the filling was cranberry apple butter but you can use any other filling you like.

Don't get scared by the yield of this recipe! We're getting prepared for Christmas and make our logs of cookie dough in advance and store them in the freezer. They make great gifts, and the cookies are small and delicious, so they'll disappear very quickly.