Blog Posts by Epicurious.com

Photography by Stephen Sullivan; food and prop styling by Roscoe BetsillHosting your first holiday feast? It can be daunting: A menu of familiar dishes for which everyone will have expectations, plus the pressure of executing a complicated meal in a timely manner, can make even the most experienced cook wish someone else would take over.

But there's really no need for this trepidation. Armed with good planning and some delicious, dependable recipes, you can calmly serve a wonderful holiday meal to friends and family. I've put together this menu of solid classics, plus I've shared tips drawn from my years of cooking, teaching, and writing about Thanksgiving. Finally, I've added a shopping list and a timeline to help you pull everything off with ease. Who knows -- even seasoned cooks might pick up a few pointers here.

Easy Thanksgiving Menu for Eight

Assorted Cheese and Crackers

Neo-Politan
(aperitif)

Mushroom and Leek Soup with Thyme Cream

For soup: 2006 Beringer Pinot Noir ( Napa Valley ) or dry sherry such as Hildalgo Napoleon

Sweet Cherry Cobbler and Baked Apples Stuffed with Dried Fruit and Pecans To many people "healthy dessert" sounds like an oxymoron. But the collection of recipes here proves that desserts, when selected carefully and enjoyed in moderation, can absolutely be part of a healthy diet. "I think it's important for people to recognize that foods that are delicious can be healthy and foods that are healthy are often delicious!" says Sue McLaughlin, a registered dietician and certified diabetes educator. McLaughlin, who is president elect of health care and education for the American Diabetes Association, says an occasional sweet treat is no big deal, as long as you keep the portions of the dessert small and have an overall wholesome diet. "A general premise is to make nutrient-dense foods -- those that are high in fiber and whole grains, low in saturated and total fat, and high in vitamins and minerals -- the foods you eat most of the time," she says. Read on for some tips that allow you to have your cake and eat it too.

Healthy-eating tips:

Seek Balance

Photo by Lara Ferroni Even if you didn't grow up with it, there's something about Southern cooking that just seems right for Thanksgiving. Maybe it's the area's reputation for gracious hospitality. Maybe it's the time-tested recipes that go back, in some cases, all the way to Colonial times. Jean Anderson, author of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, offers a third explanation: "The South is the original melting pot," she says. "Southern cooking is a mix of influences from all the different ethnic groups that mingled in this region -- the Spaniards who first settled in Florida, the French on the Gulf Coast, the British in Virginia and Georgia, the Scotch-Irish in Appalachia, numerous Native American tribes, and of course the Africans who cooked in the plantation kitchens." In her opinion, no other American cuisine can match this breadth and historical richness.

And Thanksgiving is, of course, all about paying homage to history. So, we asked Anderson to put together a holiday menu from her book. She

A few weeks ago, the first Thanksgiving e-mail of the year went out from one of my friends: "Want to do our usual potluck?" The responses started flying, with most of the negative ones centering around family obligation: "I was pointedly told that my niece 'misses her aunt,' which I highly doubt, since she's only one year old, so I'll be at home, though I'd rather be here," wrote back one friend.

The Ultimate Thanksgiving Guide: Make Turkey Day easy and stress-free with our delicious recipes and menus, entertaining tips from the pros, tools, and how-to videos

For the past 12 years, I and a group of friends -- our ranks expanding and contracting from four to a few dozen -- have held our own potluck because hauling turkeys, mashed potatoes, and pies back and forth via mass transit is actually easier and a lot more fun than schlepping across the country for an annual dose of crowded airports, clogged highways, and the worst kind of journey: the guilt trip. My gang's first New York

November is American Diabetes Month. Activities and information campaigns this month seek to raise awareness about diabetes, its complications (including heart disease and stroke), and controlling the condition, which affects 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8 percent of the population, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Diet, including eating balanced and nutritious meals and keeping a strict eye on portion sizes, is key to managing diabetes and pre-diabetes. Our new feature and recipe collection Healthy Desserts includes tips on eating healthily from Sue McLaughlin, a registered dietician and president elect of health care and education for the American Diabetes Association. Check out the story to find out how we can all fit treats into a balanced diet. And see the following links for more about diabetes and diet.

Six Myths about Type 2 Diabetes (from Epicurious.com's sister site Nutrition Data)

Diabetes and Nutrition (from the

Even though it's a bit more flavorful than its cousin chicken, turkey is still a relatively blank canvas when it comes to food matching. Keep your eyes on sauces and sides -- they're the elements that determine whether a pairing will work. Many people make the mistake of assuming red is the way to go. The truth is: Whites are just as likely to work. Stay away from big reds and heavily oaked wines of any color -- they don't do any favors for the sweet accents frequently found at the Thanksgiving table.

Boroli Quattro Fratelli Barbera D'Alba 2006

(about $19)

Barbera is Italy's most food-friendly red wine type: It's a classic, light-on-its-feet red, able to dance around complicated food-matching problems. Boroli is a small, high-quality producer that houses a hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant called Locanda del Pilone. So the owners clearly know their wine and food. This bottle hails from the grape's true home, the Piedmont region in the northern section of the country. The

Illustration by Matthew BrennanWith the economy in a major slump, a lavish Thanksgiving might not be on the table this year. But we can still -- and should -- feast. We just have to squeeze our fistful of dollars a little harder. Our menu and six creative and practical tips will help you extract the most from your money and feed eight with a lavish meal.

Our menu covers the high points of a Thanksgiving spread. If you feel flush with cash, $20 more will buy you the ingredients for your favorite mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and candied yams. And while the soup and pie might seem extravagant, first and last impressions linger longer than remembrances of the turkey and trimmings. In more luxe times, serving soup to start would run the risk of making everyone too full for the main event, but this year that is actually a good thing. You can count on leftovers.

The pumpkin-pecan pie is meant to be two favorite holiday desserts in one, with one outlay for the crust ($3.48). But you could certainly be more

Styling by Heather Tyree, photos by Steven TorresIn the days that lead up to Thanksgiving, you will likely be busy with last-minute shopping, cabinet inventories, brining the turkey, and baking pies. Table settings become an afterthought, cobbled together at the last minute -- a bouquet of generic flowers from the grocery store, a haphazard arrangement of seasonal pumpkins and gourds from a local green market, a dusty set of candelabra dug out of the drawer.

Instead of relying on old standbys, do something different this year. Many of the simple table setting ideas that follow can be put together in advance, using materials that you already have on hand, and with a little help from your kids. Search through your cabinets, raid your craft drawer, pick up a few extra supplies on your Thanksgiving grocery run, and get creative.

Vase Centerpieces

Fill glass vases with layers of colorful dried legumes (this would also work with dried fruits or nuts). Scavenge your pantry or visit a local supermarket to find more unusual