Thanksgiving Spectacular

My boyfriend and I cooked Thanksgiving for my parents this year, who came to visit me from about four hours north, and we managed to hit all the great basic spots.

Our main course was turkey burgers with some Italian seasoning on top of basic out-of-a-box stuffing, covered in cranberry sauce.

I used two cups of cranberries, 1 cup of water, and a 1/2 cup of sugar. I boiled sugar nad water together, stirring frequently, then added the cranberries. Brought it back to a boil, then set it to simmer for about ten minutes. Then let it sit in the fridge for about four hours before dinnertime.

Our side dishes were yam fries-literally strips cut out of a yam, layered on each other on a cooking stone, covered in brown sugar and just a bit of regular sugar too. Delicious. We also had green bean casserole, an easy, cheap basic Thanksgiving staple.

I had also made Irish soda bread, easy and cheap!

You'll need whole wheat flour, baking soda, and buttermilk. It's seriously as easy as that. To make a small loaf, I used 1 lb of whole wheat flour (eyeballed, not measured exactly, worked just fine), two teaspoons of baking soda, and about 1 and 2/3 cups of buttermilk. Oven was pre-heated to 400 degrees farenheit.

I mixed the dry ingredients first, creating a small well in the center of the mixing bowl. I whisked the buttermilk in gradually, until I had a giant wet lump of dough. At which point the boyfriend kneaded it for a few minutes-I must encourage you to cover your hands in dry flour, as much as you can manage. It does not hurt the taste at all.

Then I placed the rounded, kneaded bread on the baking sheat, put about 1/3 cup extra dry flour on it, and cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife. Then I baked it for about 35 minutes. Divine with butter.