"thanksgiving dinner" 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:

Next Food Network Star winner Melissa d'Arabian wants to save you money for Thanksgiving -- $20 for gobble grub!

We know you've been procrastinating -- rustle up a Thanksgiving menu on the fly and with facility.

Do you believe in utilizing bird innards?

What's a better complement to turkey: cranberry sauce or gravy?

Skip the fowl, make penne with mushrooms.

Kim Kardashian makes Carl's Jr. sexy.

Diddy offers party-hosting tips, because, you know, you'll definitely want to throw a post-turkey-day shindig.

I've been a bit in my own isolated world lately trying to unpack into a new home in a foreign land. When a friend in New York told me on the phone that he's busy making plans to serve 18 people for Thanksgiving this week, I gasped. How could I forget that this week is Thanksgiving?

Casa Cóctel's kitchen is still a work in progress, so we won't have a full-on Thanksgiving dinner in Mexico this year. We are still waiting for the arrival of the wine and spirit collection and the newly restored vintage Faema espresso machine. With all that in my mind, I decided to just make it all easier with a Kentucky Joe, a tasty dessert drink made with bourbon and coffee liqueur.

"The New Thanksgiving Table: An American Celebration of Family, Friends and Food"
by Diane Morgan
Photographs by Leigh Beisch
Chronicle Books -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Thanksgiving may be all about tradition, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a bit of experimentation.

In Diane Morgan's follow-up to "The Thanksgiving Table," she looks to new culinary traditions on the American Thanksgiving table. While there are old favorites like deviled eggs and giblet gravy, they share the spotlight with linguiça sausage stuffing and hazelnut popovers. This is not a T-day cookbook for your stodgy grandmother.

Hold the jokes about foil-wrapped potatoes and GORP-topped pie: Kentucky's state parks last year hosted more than 11,000 celebrants for Thanksgiving dinner.

"It's a longtime tradition, and a very convenient option," parks spokesman Gil Lawson says.

Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas will all keep at least one of their state park restaurants open this Thanksgiving for a holiday buffet. Insiders say the low price of in-park dining will likely enhance the appeal of an already popular program this year.

Kentucky, which operates all 17 of its park restaurants on Thanksgiving Day, charges $16.95 for a meal including turkey and dressing, baked ham, candied yams, green beans, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy and pumpkin pie.

"Not everyone wants to cook," explains Tennessee State Parks' Meg Lockhart. "This is a really simple thing to do in a beautiful setting."

Each Tuesday until Turkey Day, we're bringing you preparation tips to ensure your Thanksgiving is as smooth as your gravy (should be). If you've been following our advice, everything should be under control. But with just two days to go, here's a final check list before the big day.