This Thanksgiving I am very thankful for all of the memories I have of the past year.  Thank you to all of the wonderful colleagues, new friends, and organizations with whom I’ve had the privilege of working.  I’m grateful especially to my family and dear friends for all of the love and support.  Thank you also to everyone who made the time to attend one of my performances – you are my inspiration and it’s a wonderful blessing to be able to perform for you and do what I love to do!!  I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and safe travels.

Just in case you are in need of some last minute recipe suggestions, here are the #FabianoFive Recipes for Thanksgiving. I’m sure you all know how to do Turkey, so I’ll leave that off here.

Sweet Sausage and Rice Stuffing

Sauté 1 and ½ pounds of Loose Sweet Sausage.  Choose a box of rice you like (Recommended: East of Eden Wild Rice) and cook rice separately.  Meanwhile, mince and sauté 3 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, and 2 stalks of celery.  Add Sausage and the above garlic, onion, and celery to the rice.  Since this is a dish that re-heats well, this can be prepared the day before and then warmed when needed.

Simple and Refreshing Cranberry Sauce

Gather 1 pound of fresh cranberries (a can will work in a pinch) and cook.  Mince 1-2 stalks of celery and a small can of mandarin oranges.  Mix the cooked cranberries and the minced celery and mandarin oranges.  Chill for a couple hours for the flavors to mix.

Sweet Potato Puff

Bake 6-8 Whole Sweet Potatoes in the oven at 375 degrees until tender.  Meanwhile gather ½ can of drained crushed pineapple and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  After the potatoes are finished, mash the potatoes with 2-2.5 tablespoons of butter and add ¼- ½ cup of milk or cream depending on the consistency of the potatoes and to your liking.  Next, whip in the crushed pineapple and sprinkle cinnamon.  Put the potato mixture in a baking dish and cover the top completely with marshmallows.  Bake at 350 degrees until the marshmallows are tanned.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Clean and take stems out of big mushrooms (enough to fill a 9×13 baking pan).  Next, use a can of good crabmeat and mix the crab with ½ cup of seasoned breadcrumbs and ½ cup of shredded mozzarella.  Place the crab mixture into the caps of the mushrooms into the baking pan.  Melt ½ stick of butter and drizzle over the mushrooms.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.  Clean and trim sprouts.  Mince 2 ¼ inch rounds of pancetta and throw on top of brussel sprouts.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.  Bake for 30 minutes, but watch carefully to make sure you don’t burn the sprouts! This one is (relatively) healthy too. 🙂

Feel free to leave your favorite recipes in the comments – I’d love to hear them!