This week was Thanksgiving—my favorite holiday. The CSA reflected the bounty of the season. It contained acorn squash, celery root, sweet potatoes, potatoes, napa cabbage, shallots, popcorn on the cob, collard greens, and apples.

For your Thanksgiving meal, do you make the same dishes every year or try new ones? After I moved out of my mom’s house (and about 800 miles away), I began to prepare my own Thanksgiving dinners. Every year, I would try different recipes for turkey, dressing, and vegetables. However, I always made the simple cranberry sauce my mom made—just cranberries, sugar and water. It’s the recipe on the bag.

Then, as time passed, I started finding recipes I loved. I now make Tom Colicchio’s Herb Butter Turkey every year, and last Thanksgiving, I finally found what I consider to be a perfect recipe for dressing. It has crisp cornbread, sausage, herbs, and pears.

In addition to the delicious turkey and dressing, we also feasted on cranberries, mashed potatoes with leek cream, and collards. It was a great meal and a great day, although we would have enjoyed it a bit more if the Bears had won their game.

And that everything-crusted cheese ball I teased in last week’s post? It was fantastic. Two of my party standbys are a Hungarian cheese ball, körözött, and pimiento cheese, but this one will now enter the rotation. All who attended my small Thanksgiving loved it, and I can’t wait to share it with a larger group.

I used the sweet potatoes and some of the celery root in a vegan curry I saw in the December issue of Bon Appétit while perusing recipes for Christmas cookies. I will make this again; it was hearty and delicious.

I liked the spicy southwestern-stuffed acorn squash from the week 18 post, so I decided to make it again. Last time, I couldn’t find the grated Swiss cheese, so I substituted pepper jack, and this time around, I did have the Swiss, but I substituted chicken chorizo for the turkey sausage. It turned out great both times. I may riff on it again by adding rice or substituting tofu for the sausage.

This week’s apple dessert was an apple galette with salted vanilla brown butter. It was beautiful and simple. I’ll be baking Christmas cookies soon. I’m trying to decide what to make. Do you have any favorites?