Throughout history, every society has celebrated the end of the harvest. Many have set aside a day of thanks. In 1941, Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. It'€™s the one day of the year that we Americans can consume an abundance of food without a second thought about calories! The recipes this week are all Thanksgiving side dishes.

Team a couple (or all) of them with a roasted turkey for a modern twist on a traditional Thanksgiving menu. All you'll need to add is a pumpkin pie topped with sweetened whipped cream for a grand finale. Happy Thanksgiving! (Photography by Susan DeLoach)

My husband Vince and I love Greek food! Whenever we travel, we always look for authentic Greek restaurants. One of our all-time favorite Greek dishes is Spanakopita. It's a vegetarian pastry made with spinach, feta cheese, phyllo dough and lots of butter. I started to wonder if I could find a similar recipe that featured chicken.

Spirits can play a surprisingly versatile role in cooking. The good news is that spirits are used in modest quantities and burn out most of their alcohol content during the cooking process. The better news is that even though the majority of the alcohol does dissipate, the taste definitely lingers on and can add flavor to countless recipes.