Kosher Parve Mashed Sweet Potatoes Stuffed in Oranges

These are a great presentation dish for a dinner of 8 or less. If you're having a dozen or more people over for Thanksgiving, they can turn into a hassle.

Ironically, the best oranges for stuffing are not the tastiest ones for seasoning. Pick big, fat navel oranges with as flat a bottom as you can find. They're just for cosmetics. The actual orange juice should come from whatever OJ you normally drink at home (I go for the pulp free Tropicana with extra calcium myself.)

The banana may seem like an odd addition, but it helps firm up the potatoes while also adding an extra hint of sweetness. Go on. Give it at try.

• 8 large, attractive navel oranges, roughly the same size
• 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 banana
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  Peel and boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Drain the potatoes. If you don't need the pot for other things (holidays can be hectic) just dump them back in. If you do, put them in a large bowl for mashing. Add the banana, cinnamon, oil, salt, and orange juice. Mash the whole mess until it's well blended. The oil is just there to act as food glue, helping hold all the other ingredients together.

  Give it a taste. Some people like their holiday potatoes sweeter. Feel free to double the cinnamon, add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, or, if they're still fairly firm, 1/4 cup more orange juice.

  Cut the tops of the oranges. Hollow out the insides with a spoon and throw away the pulp. The goal here is to keep the oranges as solid and presentable as possible. Once you have nice, hollow oranges, stuff them with the sweet potato mix. Top the mix with generous sprinkles of brown sugar.

  After stuffing the oranges, there should be enough remaining for leftovers. These reheat just fine in a microwave. If in doubt, add 1 tbsp water or OJ before nuking.

  If you're in a hurry or not interested in schmancy presentation food, just put the whole mashed mess in a bowl and top it with brown sugar.

  VARIATIONS

  A slightly tropical flair works well for these. Try substituting pineapple juice for the orange juice.

  If you're not afraid of the spice blends, a teaspoon of "pumpkin pie spice" adds some flavor.

  You can add some Kosher Marshmallows to the top as well, but keep in mind that while the marshamllows are parve, they're made from fish gelatin and therefore aren't vegan. If serving vegetarians, check to see if fish is permissible in their diet.

Kosher Parve Honey Lime Yams

This parve alternative to the usual butter drenched candied yams goes great with spicy foods. It's also lower in fat and calories, but that's just a bonus.

• 2 large yams or sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup honey
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne

Preheat your oven to 400F. Peel the yams and slice them into roughly 1/2 inch circles. The thinner you slice the yams, the faster they'll cook, but you don't want to slice them so thin you end up with slightly mushy yam fries.

Mix the honey, lime juice, salt, and cayenne in a bowl.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Dip each slice of yam into the honey/lime mix. Spread the yam slices in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Repeat on a second cookie sheet if you have more yam slices. Drizzle the remaining mix over the top of the yams. You don't want to take the easy route by layering the slices then drowning them in the mix because the honey will just pool between the slices and burn.

Bake at 400F for 30 minutes, or until the yams are tender.

Kosher Bourbon chicken with pan fried apples

I interrupt the flow of Thanksgiving themed recipes for something I threw together for guests last night. It was a great opportunity for me to break away from my usual fallbacks, as one of them detests both garlic and onions. Shocking, I know. I wanted to make something nice, but not intimidatingly fancy. More important, I wanted something I could cook mostly on autopilot while still hanging out with friends. Nothing is more dull than twiddling your fingers in the living room while someone else is cooking.

Really, this is just stir-fry using currently trendy western ingredients. You don't even have to keep a close eye on it - which is great for entertaining.

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 cup bourbon (or whatever whiskey/scotch you drink)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup parve margarine
• 2 tbsp Chinese Five spice
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Peel the apples and cut them into thin slices. Cut the chicken breasts into around 8 pieces, depending on the size of the breasts. Rub the chicken pieces with the Chinese Five Spice powder.

Melt the margarine on a medium-high heat in your largest skillet. Brown the chicken pieces for a couple of minutes. Add in the bourbon, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until you have a nice, thick liquid. Throw in the sliced apples and stir until they're well coated.

It should take around 15 minutes for the apples and chicken to fully cook. Stir from time to time to make sure everything is cooked evenly. You'll end up with a nice, creamy bourbon sauce. Feel free to add more five spice cinnamon, or delicious artery-clogging fat.

(Benecol, Earth Balance, and Fleishmans all make parve margarines that work decently in cooking.)

Kosher Parve Wasabi/Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

I find these wasabi/horseradish potatoes go great with beef dishes. Try them alongside a nicely peppered New York Strip Steak (with a bit of extra horseradish on the side for the meat.)

• 3 pounds potatoes
• 1 cup soy creamer OR 1 cup soy milk + 1 tbsp light vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tbsp horseradish - FRESH, NOT PREPARED! (Prepared horseradish often has dairy)
• 1/2 tbsp green wasabi paste
• 1 tsp fresh ground white pepper

I recommend peeling the potatoes. You can leave the skins on if you prefer, but I think the added texture distracts too much in this recipe. Skinned or not, boil and drain the potatoes then return them to their original pot. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl until smooth. This is just to ensure even distribution in the potatoes. You don't want to accidentally bite into a lump of pure wasabi. Add the mix to the pot of potatoes and mash until you reach your desired texture. I like mine a little lumpy, but you're welcome to get out a hand mixer if you prefer them uniformly smooth. If you'd like your potatoes a little creamier, add 1/4 cup soy creamer/soy milk. Don't add more sesame oil. It's more for flavor than texture.

If you want the flavor with a little less kick, cut the wasabi and horseradish in half and double the salt. If you're the type who loves the way horseradish clears your nostrils, go nuts with it. Or try adding a few cloves of garlic to enhance the flavor.

A note of caution - both prepared horseradish and some cheap wasabi pastes can be made with dairy. Please check the labels to be sure of what you're getting before you take anything home.

Kosher Parve Garlic Mashed Potatoes

In this age of excellent milk substitutes, parve mashed potatoes don't have to be mealy and dry. You can get that rich, creamy texture from nut milks.

In exchange for the texture, you're going to have to spice the potatoes up a little. Silk brand coffee creamer is a real joy in mashed potatoes, but there's no denying the heavy the nutty taste. I haven't been able to lay hands on Wildwood Organic's soy creamer, although I hear good things about it. 8th Continent soymilk tastes a lot more like the real thing (I especially love their light chocolate soymilk), but like most soymilks, is too low in fat to give the full, creamy mouthfeel. Regardless of which milk/creamer alternative you use, you'll want to disguise the flavor with spices. Luckily, those spices include garlic. You can never go wrong with garlic.

• 3 pounds potatoes
• 1 cup soy creamer OR 1 cup soy milk + 2 tbsp light vegetable oil (or parve margarine)
• 10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh grated mixed peppercorns
• 1 tsp onion salt

Boil and drain the potatoes. It's entirely up to you whether or not to leave on the skins. Dump everything else in the pot you boiled your potatoes in and start mashing. Again, it's entirely up to you whether to stop while they're still a little lumpy or get out the hand mixer and blend them until smooth.

The stealth ingredient here is the onion salt. Somehow, the slightly acidic tang of it really covers any nutty soy flavor. If you can't get ahold of onion salt, try throwing the garlic, 1/2 cup of diced onion, and a tsp of oil into a blender until you have a nice, smooth paste. I'd add a couple extra cloves of garlic, too, since a few precious scraps will still be left in the blender. Add the paste to the pot of potatoes and blend as per the other directions.

Just as some people like their potatoes lumpy versus smooth or with bits of skin versus pure pulp, there are degrees of creamyness. If these are a little dry for your taste, try adding 1/4 cup creamer (or 1/4 cup milk + 1/2 tsp oil or 1 tsp parve margarine) until they reach your ideal texture.

Kosher Crockpot Turkey

Oh, yes. There's a chill in the air and a new Bon Appetit in my mailbox. It must be Christmas. Wait, no, that's not until after Halloween, right? I'm so confused. My local Walgreens has a display with a cheerful green faced witch sitting on Santa's lap.

But here at home, I can dwell on the best fall Holiday of them all - a secular one shared by all Americans (even if I see gobbler turkeys decorated with skull necklaces next to a bed of mistletoe). It's finally time for Thanksgiving.

I literally can't get enough of those seasonal foods - and not just because most of them are delightfully parve. Thanksgiving isn't just a one day event for me. It' s more like eight weeks of hearty fare indigenous to our continent. Try to imagine a world without potatoes, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin or turkey. Okay, you can stop now. If you think about it too long, you'll get the shakes.

I let my Mother-in-law handle the dramatic Presentation Turkey for Thanksgiving itself. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking you must spend ten hours carefully crafting a hand basted golden brown bird every time you want a little turkey. No, no, no. In fact, as long as you don't mind a little judicious slicing before you bring it to the table, no one needs to know how easy this fall-off-the-bone moist turkey really was.

• 1 four to six pound bone-in turkey breast, thawed
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 head garlic (or 3 - 4 tbsp minced from a can)
• 1 tbsp basil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup water

Make sure you remove any neck, giblets, gravy packets, or other extras that come with your turkey breast. You don't want a greasy surprise later. Now mix the garlic, basil, salt, and olive oil into a thick paste. Loosen the turkey skin and rub the paste between the skin and the breast. Wipe any leftover on your fingers on the outside of the skin. Stuff one bay leaf on each side of the breast.

Roughly chop your onion and carrot. Honestly, if you don't plan on making any gravy or using the juices, you can skip this step. I think it makes the broth taste better. Put the turkey in the crockpot, stuff the chopped vegetables under the bone, and add the water.

Cook the turkey on low for 8 to 9 hours. I put it in before I go to work and come home to a great smelling dinner. The turkey will literally be falling off the bone at this point. Remove the largest chunks you can and let them cool before slicing. Add a couple tablespoons of the juices to keep it extra moist (or just bring a bowl of the drippings to the table and let people add their own.)

NOTE: If you can only get whole turkeys, this recipe works just as well. The only real problem is fitting the whole thing in your crockpot. If you have one of the huge ones, you're all set. If you have a normal sized crockpot, you can always chop off the legs (kids often enjoy helping with this part) and wings, save those for later, and throw the breast in a crockpot.

LAZY GRAVY: Add a cup of the cooked vegetables and two cups of the drippings/broth to a blender. You might want to add a few ice cubes first if your blender doesn't play nicely with hot liquids. Add in a teaspoon each of salt and fresh ground pepper, then blend until smooth. This will be a little thicker than broth, but not really as thick as gravy. If you'd like to thicken it up a little more, add 1 tsp of cornstarch to 1/2 cup cold water and blend until smooth. Once the cornstarch mix is smooth, add it to the gravy. Stir well and wait for it to cool a little more. That should give it some body.