Two Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes

This post is my kick-off of the Green Holiday series by Eco-novice and miskellany. 

Are you thinking about Thanksgiving yet? Here are two of my favorite side dishes anytime, but especially for Thanksgiving. Both can easily be adapted for special diets: dairy-free, sugar-free, grain-free, vegan, etc.  Sadly, I can't remember the exact origin of either recipe (both have been adapted from whatever the original source was), nor do I have my own photos of either of these dishes.  Oh well.  Enjoy!

Photo from Martha Stewart

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, halved and sliced thin
4 T butter
2 T cream or milk
1/2 t salt
pinch pepper

Combine potatoes, butter, cream, and salt in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork, 30-40 minutes. Remove pan from heat and mash until smooth. Add pepper to taste. You can double the recipe -- just use a larger pot and increase cooking time. You can sweeten with 2 T maple syrup if you like (add with pepper). You can also use 1/2 cup coconut milk instead of butter and cream for a dairy-free version (which is delicious topped with cilantro). I usually make the basic recipe, because I love the taste of plain old sweet potatoes.


Roasted Spiced Carrots

2 T olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 T sugar
1 t ground cumin
½ t kosher salt
½ t ground cinnamon
2 pounds carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces, or baby carrots
¼ c white raisins
juice of 1 lemon
¼ c chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Heat oven to 400 F. Combine the oil, garlic, sugar, cumin, salt, cinnamon, and carrots in a shallow baking pan. Roast 20-25 minutes or until fork-tender. Remove from the oven and add the raisins, lemon juice, and parsley. Toss well. (Can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

Click here to read the complete Green Holidays series.

This post is part of

Meatless Mondays