Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, here's something I like to eat during the holidays, and it can be kept for a long time: Cranberry sauce.
Basically, bring one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a boil. Add 3 cups of fresh cranberries, lower the heat and let it boil for 10 minutes. Pour this in sterilized glass pots (the ones you'd use for jam) and let it cool down. You can keep this in the fridge or in a cool area for a very long time as long as it's sealed.

I like to serve that sauce with some chicken (since turkey makes too much for a single person) and mashed potatoes.

I just mashed this up today (Thanksgiving) out of about a dozen good-sized sweet potatoes. It's incredibly easy, especially if you have good quality sweet potatoes (which shouldn't be hard to find since they're in season).

Vanilla Chai Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Software (Ingredients):
10-12 medium to large sweet potatoes, peeled. (No canned stuff. It's the holidays. Live it up a bit.)
Water (to cover the potatoes)
3/4 to 1 tsp Chai Spice mix (you can make your own, but I bought mine from a reputable spice and tea dealer.)
1/4-3/8 tsp Vanilla extract (use the really good real stuff if you have it. It makes a big difference)
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon (or any other spice you think it needs more of)
1/4 Cup of brown sugar (you can use more I suppose, but honestly, if you have good sweets, you'll only need this much.)

Hardware (Utensils, etc.)
1 knife
1 pot
1 set of measuring spoons
1 mashing implement (that is clean and food safe. My sweets just mushed, no encouragement necessary.)
1 large spoon
1 strainer (for draining)
1 burner on your oven range or other heat source.

Phase 1: Cut the sweet potatoes into 3-4 inch chunks. Put them in a tall pot big enough for them to fit with some room left over. Pour the water carefully over the potatoes, just covering them.
Phase 2: Put the pot on your burner and turn it up to high. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until you can mark them with your spoon. (Don't toss the spoon, you'll still need it!) Drain the water off of the potatoes without burning yourself.
Phase 3: Smash the sweets until they form a relatively smooth, thick consistency. Pour in all of the rest of the stuff and stir until mixed in thoroughly. Serve heated and refrigerate leftovers for breakfast! (Bacon and Sweet potatoes are an excellent pairing, btw.)