Thanksgiving is just days away and the clock is ticking. Are you planning a traditional feast? You know … turkey, dressing, mashers, gravy, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie?

Roasted turkey, of course, is a given, but how about the sides? Want to have some fun this year? For starters, try switching up side dishes.

We got some creative ideas from a couple of local cooking teachers for taking good old standby dishes to a new level of culinary elevation. For instance, Janon Bourgeois, a personal chef instructor, shrugs off store-bought marshmallow fluff (marshmallow crème) for her sweet potato casserole and uses homemade marshmallow fluff instead.

“I’m obsessed with classics from scratch,” she said. “So, for sweet potato casserole I top mine with marshmallow fluff I make. It just can’t be beat. Especially now that I steam the sweet potatoes first in the Instant Pot with cinnamon sticks, cloves and star anise.”

And what would a turkey dinner be without cranberry sauce?

Again, Bourgeois is a fan of the ruby red sauce but says, “Real cranberry sauce. I was raised on the wobbly canned concoction, so same point as with the fluff. Once you make your own sauce, there’s no going back to canned sauce.”

As for a made-from-scratch cranberry sauce recipe, simply use the one printed on the back of the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries. The recipe is reliable and we have used it for years without fail. To level the sauce up a notch, add a whole split Madagascar vanilla bean. With the point of a paring knife, split the bean down its length to expose the tiny beans inside. Add the split bean to the cooking cranberries. This allows the vanilla bean flavor to bloom in the sauce. A pinch of salt brings up the sweet flavor too.

Next up we talked to Cortney Smith, co-owner and chef instructor of Gather Food Studio & Spice Shop.

“Really, I feel like the meal for Thanksgiving is all about the sides,” Smith said. “Turkey is great once a year, but it’s still just turkey. So, for me it’s really the sides that make the meal.”

She suggests people should try at least one new side dish each year. However, she points out that this is everyone’s once-a-year meal. So, to stave off a revolt, don’t just make the green bean casserole disappear from the table.

“I like to add new sides that are reminiscent of the originals, but with small changes,” Smith said. “I like to think about sides that can be prepped ahead of time so that there isn’t so much to do on the actual day.”

One of her ideas involves preparing a vegetable platter for snacking before the meal is served. The veggies can be prepped beforehand. She puts a fun spin on an ordinary crudité platter by artfully arranging the cut vegetables in to the shape of a turkey.

Colorful celery, carrot, red and yellow pepper sticks are shaped in a half circle fanned-out to look like a turkey tail. Then slices of radishes and cherry tomatoes are added to the base of the tail. She uses a scoop of hummus sprinkled with black sesame seeds in the center for a head. For the face she cuts off the end of an orange bell pepper. The beak is made from a yellow bell pepper . The eyes for the turkey pictured with this article are black beans, but olive slices would work too. The turkey body is raw cauliflower and cucumber slices. Smith adds a couple of dips for dunking the vegetables.

As for other Thanksgiving sides, Smith offers a few of her favorite recipes: roasted sweet potatoes with cranberries and candied pecans, chorizo and cornbread stuffing, and shaved Brussels sprouts salad with bacon vinaigrette.

“You can make the sweet potatoes and the stuffing the day before and just reheat it for Thanksgiving,” she said.

For the Brussels sprouts recipe, you can slice and prep them for the salad and throw them in a Ziploc in the fridge overnight. Then warm the bacon fat to make the dressing right before serving.

“I’m all about removing the stress of making a big meal so that I can also enjoy the day,” Smith said.

She also plans out what oven space she needs ahead of time.

“So that I don’t suddenly get to making the big meal and then realize that I have 10 things that all need to go into the oven at the same time,” she said.

For example — the roasted sweet potatoes need to cook on multiple sheet trays. But once they are cooked, they can fit in a 9-by-9-inch pan or dish, which frees up valuable oven space.

“Successful side dishes are all about the planning,” Smith concluded.

So, this year cut loose. Put some levity in the Thanksgiving Day meal with an upscale spin on traditional side dishes. Who knows, the updated dishes my become your go-to for future festive November feasts.

contact the writer: 636-0271.