linnea, I'm assuming the squash is a mashed casserole type dish? If so it can be made ahead and reheats well. Sweet potatoes can usually be made ahead too, depending on the application. I'm cooking all the sweet potatoes the day before, then making a gluten free sweet potato torte, that sticky-sweet-marshmallow-topped casserole and probably chipotle mashed sweet potatoes for Elery and I, all the day before. Broccoli can be cooked ahead for most applications and will also rewarm well, the sauce can be added at the last minute if the broccoli is already cooked or if it's something like broccoli cheese it can all be done a day in advance. I also bake the pies and other desserts the day before, they all keep well, and I make butterflake rolls the day before and keep the unbaked rolls in the fridge, bake them the day of. I've never had anyone complain about a homemade dinner roll baked the day before, though. (grin) All the salad ingredients could be washed/cut/prepared ahead and then tossed with the viniagrette the next day, and someone here has made the mashed potatoes the day ahead too and I think they were warmed in the crockpot, but I might be confusing two techniques. Anyway, I know even the potatoes can be made the day before. Good luck and happy Thanksgiving! Annie

Hey, I did not see any asparagus last night. (wasn't looking) but it would be obvious if featured. Entering, i was distracted by the artichokes. Surprised they looked so good. Did not want or buy. Lucky for me escarole was one dollar a giant head and locally grown. Bought two. So misunderstood. It's in the endive family like radicchio. Very hardy in the garden and survives a few light frosts. The thick/lush green leafy parts keep the core from the sun so the hearts are white and less bitter. Always tucked near heads of lettuce but iceberg it isn't. @Daisy. You will have to do a test. All our stovetops are different and our sauté pans. I'm on gas burners and use a big heavy white ceramic pan. Easy enough to lift and wiggle or use a wooden spoon. I also have a big stainless heavy bottomed braising pan w/lid that works for a large batch. I also have Lacinato Kale AND collards. We'll have this for a light dinner tonight while I'm elbow deep in chopping anyway. Use it as a test run so it will be a 'park walk' tomorrow. Tonight I'll probably saute a slice of bacon in a blurb of avocado oil, add garlic, take out bacon, add loosely chopped rinsed and 'wet' escarole leaves, med heat, cover to steam, then add slices of the white core/heart and slivered kale and collards, toss and cover...3-4 min, done. (kale and collards have been previously massaged with lemon/olive oil.) Toss in a mustard lemon vinaigrette. Garnish with bacon, slivered golden beet and watermelon radish. Tomorrow I'll 'tart it up' with pomegranate and toasted/spiced garbanzos, prosciutto crisps instead of bacon. Just a bit. ...dressing/stuffing has wild mushrooms and lamb sausage, so enough things are on the heavy/rich side.

AND, I also wanted to thank Jojoco for her recommendation of Ina Garten's Portobello Lasagna (and the link to it). I made it for dinner a couple of days ago and we loved it! But, because we try to avoid empty carbs whenever possible, I had to first search for and then wait for these Green Lentil Lasagna Noodles to be delivered (via Amazon). Happily, there was no noticeable difference in the overall flavor using them. And, one box was all I needed for this dish. I also used plain almond milk instead of whole milk, and the green labeled Smart Balance instead of butter. Oh, and as an afterthought, I would recommend cutting the one tablespoon of salt back to half that amount. Because it's just the two of us, we ate only 1/3 of it and I froze the remaining two thirds for two more dinners. I love having good homemade meals frozen for us to eat on my super busy days, especially during the holidays! P.S. With these noodles, you do not boil them first. Just place them as directed in a recipe and they cook perfectly as you bake. Also, they're NOT cheap, which is frustrating! I had to order a package of (I think) 6 boxes to make it a reasonable purchase. That and Amazon Prime! Soooo, bring on more healthful lasagna recipes (LOL)!!!

Tonight I sort of made the Vivian Howard turnips. I probably should have looked at it analytically first but I'm glad I sort of mad it (except where I didn't). It's called "Gratin". I read the ingredients. A gratin is usually a cheese dish, the word referring to the grating of the cheese. This is indeed a cheese dish with a custard carrier and enough bread to make it bread pudding. Here are the ingredients: 2 tbsp butter, divided 8 oz greens , wilted to 1 cup 3 medium onions, halved and sliced with the grain 1 egg 1 1/2 tbsp salt, divided 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated on a microplane 2 cups turnip roots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 cup Fontina, grated on a box grater 2 cups heavy cream 10 turns of the pepper mill or scant 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 5 garlic cloves, sliced thin 3 cups stale crusty bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1/2 tsp dried thyme I just didn't want to go so heavy, so I used 1 tbsp butter in the veg and sunflower oil spray on the dish, 2 bunches of baby turnips and their greens, which just about filled the measures correctly, a tiny bit on the scant side. I had a really big onion, closer to softball sized than baseball sized, which filled the sauté pan, so I went with that. It didn't say what kind of salt, but I assumed coarse from the quantity, and used about half. I have parm and fontina but want them for something else, and I had some Lamb Chopper which needed using and was tasty enough and mid-dry to sub for both. I also have cream, but I just didn't want it to be that heavy, so I used a 12 oz. can of whole evaporated milk and made up the quantity with half a cup of non-fat leben. No crusty bread, so I used a slightly freezer burnt bakery croissant. And I spilled the thyme a little, but it was curly and airy, so that probably didn't spoil the measure. I used about three handfuls of the cheese in the body, as directed, plus another handful on top, or about a third of the total amount called for. What a mess!! She points out where you can reuse the sauté pan but given all the other pots and vessels, how could you tell you were saving washing up? I didn't want to boil my turnips so I precooked them in the microwave, so that was only a Corelle bowl rather than a 6qt. pot. It was still a lot of vessels. I hope they pay their scullery workers fair wages and plenty of perks! So ratios by volume: turnips + greens = bread = cheese = cream + onion + egg-ish. This is not a vegetable recipe. It came out fine. Very tasty. I didn't do the long soak because the custard had no trouble permeating the croissant. Conclusion, the bread pudding is very tasty. Using cream and the correct amount of cheese would have made it that much more gooey and decadent. It did nothing for the turnips, however. The sweetness of the caramelized onions fought with the sharpness (which is mild in these tiny turnips. The greens were more about hey, what's that in my pudding than desirable. If you need to bribe people with fancy fats to eat turnips, I guess this is a way to do it. Definitely worth the try, and it'll make nice breakfast food. ETA--it's something of a hit (though the greens get picked out and eaten separately). I doubt there'll be any left tomorrow.