"round up" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week.

• Start your dinner party with a mushroom crostata.
• Enter to win a Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving prize pack.
• YumSugar takes Baconnaise out for a test drive and discovers it goes great with potato chips.
• Is it kosher to bring outside food in with you to other restaurants?
• Make your macaroni & cheese a little healthier with the addition of butternut squash.
• Get into autumn with a pomegranate-studded salad.
• The Food Network magazine seems to be here to stay.
• Need some help picking out a turkey? Here are some good tips to getting the best one.

A word to the wise. If you've just stolen the box of doughnuts you're eating, it is probably not particularly smart to offer said doughnuts to the officers who are investigating the robbery.

If you're planning on having a heart attack, doing so in a restaurant where a college student majoring in cardiovascular technology works is probably a good way to go.

The 85 chickens that were let loose in a Philadelphia high school have found a home at the Fox Chase Farm, where they'll be able to graze for bugs and lay eggs to their hearts' content.

Two German airmen are being court-marshaled after trying to start a sausage-making company in which they used human blood. They were found out when one of their fellow soldiers inquired to a superior as to whether the venture was permissible or not. [via Yumsugar]

A new grocery store in the Giant chain opened Willow Grove, PA yesterday that is the size of two football fields and has a babysitting center, a cooking school, an on-site nutritionist and valet grocery pick-up. Who knew that grocery stores were becoming the next place for family entertainment.

Source

For the last couple of weeks, I've been posting links to good Thanksgiving sides. Some of them have come from the recesses of my brain and some of have been pinched from other sites. I thought it might be helpful to round all those posts up in one place so that you can see some options in one place and narrow down your finalist dishes.

It all started with the Autumnal Casserole I made that combined potatoes, squash and cheese into one creamy, savory dish. Next came the Vanilla Flecked Sweet Potato Puree that Heidi at 101 Cookbooks posted a couple of years ago. Kim O'Donnel's Parsnip-Potato Mash was next, followed by Alanna's recipe for Cauliflower Cream (the recipe she posted today for a Spinach Casserole also looks like a winner). Finally, there was my cousin Jeremy's recipe (if you can call my loose instructions a recipe) for Gingery Squash.

If after all those posts, you still don't think you have enough side dish options, I'd also like to point you in the direction of the oven roasted brussels sprouts I made last month. They are also excellent (and add a nice, green counterpoint to your plate) on the Thanksgiving table.