I made my raw cranberry relish yesterday so flavors can blend. Left out the slivered almonds but will add them tomorrow so they'll stay crisp. Some recipes for this call for blending up a whole orange, peel and all. I think the white part of the peel can be bitter, so I cut out the segments, and made sure there were no seeds. Grated the peel. My mom made it with candied ginger. I've made candied ginger before but decided just to grate some fresh ginger into it. I don't know why you'd need extra sugar since you put 1/2 c. of sugar in it anyway. But a little ginger is good with it. I think I put powdered ginger last year. Fig, I made the brussel sprouts according to your recipe a few weeks ago. I burned them cooking them that long. They looked good at 20 min. . I think 30 min total cooking time would have been better. Today we're making two pies, pecan and pumpkin, and cooked cranberry sauce, and cornbread for the dressing. Plain pecan pie is so good but we might try a bourbon pecan pie recipe from Acadiana Table. I hope everyone will have a wonderful Thanksgiving! There's a lot of wisdom in thankfullness in my opinion. How so? Because it is so easy to overlook the good as bad stuff seems so pressing and insistent and must be solved. The good waits. Ok, enough from me.

pkramer, Is her lupus the systemic kind or discoid (affecting the face)? I wandered over to the cooking forum today (I'm here once in a while, but not a regular) because I'm going to try a grain-free diet for my dog with discoid lupus. We went to the vet today and we're doubling her prednisone, again. We got some ointment for her eyes so maybe her eyelids won't bleed anymore. I started mixing in the grain-free food tonight. Snacks could be a problem though. My vet treats another dog who now gets a RAW diet. That dog doesn't have to take meds anymore. I'm trying to avoid the RAW diet, so I'm trying grain-free first. I have mixed feelings about the different foods. I feed my dogs expensive foods, but I have a friend who's shephard mix lived to be 17 and ate Pedigree her whole life. She was healthy for the first 15-16 years. My cats ate Friskies (canned) with varying dry food (I upgraded that several years ago) for the first 12 years (until they decided they didn't like ANY of the flavors anymore, right at the time of the food recall). They got higher end canned food for a couple years, until they decided they didn't like it anymore. We're back to Friskies & Fancy Feast. They are turning 13 and 15 this year. I have baked treats for the dogs for several years now. Actually, since I got two puppies (yeah, sisters, at the same time... 4 month old lab mix girls with no manners whatsoever...) and we were going through a box of Milk-Bones a week, and we were in big trouble if we ran out (we gave treats when they went into their kennels...). I made up a recipe that I can use it as a mix if I want, or can make a single batch. It takes about 15 or 20 minutes to mix, roll, & cut (not fancy shapes though) and an hour to bake and lasts us about 2 or 3 weeks (now). I'm trying to find out if I can modify my recipe (or find an easy) grain-free one. pkramer, if you have any advice on the lupus, please feel free to PM me. Email on my page should work. Thanks!

Gourmet, not, but something for a different sweet. This was popular "way back when" in the full sugar, etc. version. Sugar Free Pumpkin Eclair Cake 1 can pureed pumpkin (not prepared pie filling) 1/2 cup canned fat free evaporated milk 1/2 cup skim milk 2 small packages sugar free, fat free instant vanilla pudding 1 and 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1-8 oz. carton thawed sugar free whipped topping graham crackers Line an 11x7 dish with a layer of graham crackers. Mix pumpkin, milks, pudding mixes, and spices until smooth and slightly thick. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread half this mixture on top of the graham crakers. Top with another layer of graham crackers. Top with the other half of the mixture. Chill over night. When ready to serve, spread with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle lightly with crushed graham cracker crumbs, or pecans, or additional pumpking pie spice. I think some crushed ginger snaps might be a good topping. This could be doubled and do very nicely in a 9x13 dish or pan.

THANK YOU, LAVENDER, for alerting me to the danger of glycation. My best dinners were made in a slow-cooker (low heat with plenty of liquid), rather than fried !! Here's the link to my Pinterest slow-cooker recipes: THANK YOU, VAPORVAC, for setting a good example of hot whole-grained cereals for breakfast. I used to do the same, but neglected that, thanks to eating my kid's pickiness. https://www.pinterest.com/clonewar/slow-cooker/ My sister convinced me to buy a pressure-cooker, and it WAS HORRIBLE IN TASTE. The temp. was so high that it ALTERED FOODS and made everything stinky, be it cooked beans, meat, or soup. I used that a few times, and never again !! I boiled chick-peas in that pressure-cooker, and it stank so bad my kid complained loudly & I trashed the whole mushy pot. Compare that to aromatic chick-peas boiled with low-heat over the stove top, which retained its firmness & flavor. I use the microwave to quickly heat up food (with liquid) to zap out germs, rather than long cooking high temp. like pressure cooker which destroys food. Cooking food to death is not a good idea. The high-heat destroys proteins 1st, but microwaving vegetables with water for a short time to kill germs .. that still retains nutrients and beans & peas are still bright green. I checked on the nutrients retained with microwaving veggies vs. steaming veggies, and microwaving FOR A SHORT TIME IN WATER retained more nutrients, with less loss in water. My personal measure stick for AGE (advanced glycation end-products) is HOW MUCH JUICE I NEED TO DRINK to chase away the "stinkiness" or "rancidness" of high-temp. cooking or over-processed foods. More juice = more calories. http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2014/11-nov/foods-high-in-ages.html Which foods are high and which are low in AGEs. Protein-rich foods: Red meat and cheese tend to have the most. In descending order, chicken, fish, eggs, and legumes have less. Grains: Boiled grains, such as rice and oatmeal, and sandwich breads are low in AGEs. When grains are processed into crispy brown crackers or fatty cookies and sweetened with sugars, however, their AGE content can soar. Dairy: Milk and yogurt are low in AGEs, but when moisture is removed and fat is concentrated (as in cream, butter, and cheese), the AGE content rises dramatically. Fats: Vegetable fats tend to have fewer AGEs than animal fats. Animal fats are also more likely to be high in unhealthy saturated fats. To further reduce AGEs, cook foods at low temperatures and with lots of water-based moisture by steaming, stewing, poaching, and braising. Stay away from fried foods. deep-fried chicken has more than six times the amount of AGEs than steamed chicken. When you grill meats, marinating your food in an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar before cooking it will reduce AGEs by up to half. http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2014/11-nov/foods-high-in-ages.html