Hi there, What’s For Dinner? readers! I am Jenn from Eating Bender and am so honored to write a guest post for Mara as she prepares for the best day of her life — no no, not Thanksgiving. Her wedding, of course :) As a fellow Chicagoan and an awesome person, Mara and her friendship mean a lot to me and are definitely something to be “thankful” for on this day before the holiday!
Before I get to the food, I just want to bring up a cause that is very special to me. As some of you may know, I work in the field of public relations. One of the campaigns I am most proud of this year is the work my company is doing on a program called Tweetsgiving. You may have read about it by clicking here or here on MizFit’s blog and several others who have shown support.
Last year, the non-profit group Epic Change launched a program called Tweetsgiving that aimed to raise $10,000 in 48 hours and ultimately raised $11,000 through hundreds of small, first-time donations, thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts and more.
This year, Tweetsgiving, the first successful Twitter fundraiser of its kind, is back again, proving the power of social media and Twitter in harnessing thousands of small dollar donations to support a cause. You can read more about the story by clicking here. If you are interested, consider supporting the cause and share what you’re thankful for during this special holiday!
One of the things I am most thankful for in my life is my family. I am fortunate enough to be going home for Thanksgiving and am excited to share in the quality time and cooking with Papa Bender, Mama Bender and Brother Bender 
In honor of them, I thought I would provide a few recipes that were featured on my blog in my Thanksgiving post from last year. You may see some of these again tomorrow, but just in case they inspire some of your own cooking, I thought it a good idea to share!
The picture above doesn’t do our spread enough justice. There is a story behind each dish on the table, and some interesting recipes, too!
My dad put the stuffing directly into the turkey last year. I thought it made the texture crispier and chewier, two positive changes. His Apple-Sausage Stuffing never disappoints!
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Papa Bender’s Apple-Sausage Stuffing (serves MANY)
But the cream of the crop – quite literally! – is always the Broccoli-Cheez Casserole.
It’s not exactly healthy since it calls for some good ol’ Cheez Whiz, but it’s a family staple and I can’t remember a Thanksgiving without it!
Papa Bender’s Broccoli-Cheez Casserole
Here’s what the casserole looks like prior to baking:
I volunteered to make my personal favorite parts of the meal: cornbread and sweet potatoes! The cornbread was super easy – all I had to do was add water to this mix.
I highly recommend this mix if you’re ever looking for the quickest and easiest way to make cornbread! I chose to put them into muffin tins to make them easier to serve, too.
I may have had two or three of these throughout the course of the day…
As for the sweet potatoes, I was surprised to find these staring back at me when I pulled them out of the bag my dad had picked up earlier in the week.
You may not be able to tell from the picture, but these are actually WHITE sweet potatoes. There was something about them that was a little off to me – they were almost too much like an actual Idaho potato and not enough sweet. But I did the best I could with what I had!
I cut the sweet potatoes into discs and layered them in the dish. Each layer had a sprinkle of brown sugar and light butter for flavor. I then baked the discs at 400* for 40 minutes, or until the discs were nice and soft. I pulled the dish out of the oven and topped the potatoes with marshmallows before putting it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the marshmallows begin to brown.
Here’s what the discs look like covered with the marshmallows.
And the final product, which was very gooey!
We enjoyed our meal with a glass of Chimney Rock. We also put on some Christmas music! It was such a pleasant holiday and I savored every last laugh and bite.
A little of everything to start – of course there were seconds…and thirds!
It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without dessert! For at least the past three years, it has been customary for me to make a cherry pie. It’s my mom’s absolute favorite – my grandma’s recipe. I get such a rush knowing that I’m creating something that has been passed down through the generations. It’s a very basic recipe, but it always comes out great! The outer crust is always a bit browned, but like most things in life – IT’S THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS!
BENDER FAMILY RECIPE: CHERRY PIE
Ingredients:
….
Wait — you thought I would actually tell you?! 
It’s not a top secret recipe, but I feel I must leave some room for suspense. Until tomorrow…GOBBLE, GOBBLE!
