Turkey Bone Gumbo - Turkey Carcass Gumbo

A delicious gumbo made from the carcass of the holiday turkey.

Turkey Bone Gumbo

Turkey bone gumbo, Thanksgiving gumbo or Turkey Carcass Gumbo - no matter the name you use, it is a great way to transform at least one of your Thanksgiving leftovers into a whole 'nother meal, by extracting every ounce of flavor from that holiday bird. While everybody is busy traveling and gathering for the big feast on Thanksgiving, I wanted to remind you not to toss that turkey carcass after your Thanksgiving feast!

And by the way, once all the feasting is over, pop back by here and check out my list of Thanksgiving leftover recipes too. You're bound to find something to transform those leftovers into something else your family will be happy to gobble down.

Fresh sweet potatoes baked in a cane syrup and brown sugar, bourbon glaze.

Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Here in The Deep South, we absolutely love our sweet potatoes. And we love our cane syrup. Oh yeah, and our bourbon. You'll find it expressed in an awful lot of recipes, especially around the holidays, so it's no surprise that we love our sweet potatoes glazed with a syrupy bourbon too. For us down along this way, that's most often made using Steen's pure cane syrup, a well loved and local favorite from Louisiana.

Top 10 Turkey Tips - How to Open Roast a Turkey Perfectly

Top 10 Turkey Tips - How to Open Roast a Turkey Perfectly

This time of year it's all about the turkey, or more importantly, not only how to roast a turkey, but how to roast a turkey perfectly so that it's at it's most juicy, tender perfection. Here are some of my favorite tips to help you achieve the perfect turkey.

7 Top Tips to Perfect Your Holiday Dressing

My top tips to perfect your holiday dressing or stuffing.

How to Perfect Your Holiday Dressing

The perfect dressing, or stuffing... however you look at it, can be a bit elusive, and to be honest it just takes practice to get it to the consistency that you like. Some people like their dressing on the dry side, others like it almost soupy. Here are some of my favorite dressing tips that I've picked up along my way of practice.

Another great way to enjoy green beans in a casserole is to add a little onion, bacon and cheese and top it off with a stuffing mix!

Stuffing Topped Cheesy Green Bean Casserole

I remembered seeing this cheesy green bean and stuffing casserole in Kraft's Food & Family magazine a few years back (okay, so I'm slow) and really liked the idea of a stuffing topped green bean casserole.

Or, I guess, technically this would be a dressing topped casserole since it's not stuffed into anything. 

But, anyway... I thought it'd be a great side dish anytime really, but especially for the holidays, if you are stuffing your turkey and always have that little bit of leftover stuffing. If you have leftovers, it sure would make a fantastic holiday leftovers casserole too!

Perfectly Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Perfect Potatoes au Gratin, made with thinly sliced potatoes in a cheesy dreamy cream sauce.

Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Hello Scalloped Potatoes, meet the best, perfectly cheesy, Potatoes au Gratin, evah.

Ya know, seriously... I am of the opinion that it'd be kinda hard to mess up a dish of potatoes au gratin no matter what you do to them - I mean c'mon now. Potatoes. Cheese. Butter. Cream. Hello. If you're making this for the holidays, you'll probably want to double the ingredients and do extra layers.

Well, I personally love Julia's way with this classic potato dish, however I decided to play with it a bit. You know. For the holidays. 

A souffle'd casserole of baked grits with cheese and sausage.

Baked Garlic Cheese Grits with Sausage

I love my stovetop version of garlic cheese grits. They are a creamy, cheesy, and perfect garlicky cradle for eggs in purgatory, shrimp and grits, or grillades and grits, or as a tasty side dish, great with scrambled or fried, dirty eggs.  Last week though, we were chatting over on the Facebook page about everybody's favorite way to make a baked, casserole-style cheese grits, like this one; souffle-like and fluffy.

Weekend Cocktails: Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot buttered rum. A warm drink made from butter, brown sugar and a few typical spices - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice - oh yeah. And rum.

It's a delicious, heartwarming winter drink that is just perfect for the adults over the holidays. Though it is traditionally made with plain water, I thought why not make it with apple cider?

Careful. These go down real smooth, especially on a cold night, but they are rich and with a punch. Enjoy, but drink responsibly!

Five cup salad, and all of its expanded cup versions, is another old fashioned fruit salad that is perfect for any holiday table. A very simple but delicious and well-loved dish.

Old Fashioned 5 Cup Salad

Five Cup Salad is another fruit salad that has been around forever - well, for as long as I can remember anyway - and, while it's good any time of the year, is a great addition to the holiday table too.

Many of us will remember it from days gone by in our Mama's and Grandma's kitchens, but as always, there are some variations that have appeared in this fruit salad over the years. Some adding additional cups of various ingredients, some even changing up the fruit, but I think this version represents the old, basic 5 cup salad.

A thick and creamy soup with all the goodness of a loaded baked potato - bacon, butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese and green onion.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

I blame the creation of this Loaded Baked Potato soup recipe on Facebook.  Yep. One day Randy, a reader over there, posted on the wall asking for potato soup recipes so, of course, I gave him links to my Creamy Potato Soup, and my Creamy Cheesy Potato Soup with Bacon. Then, I started thinking... one of those is a shortcut soup and is creamy; the other I used the immersion blender on, so it is also creamy. I really need a chunky potato soup up here on the site.