Or do like my mom does and mash carrots up in a casserole with sweet potatoes (or acorn squash, if you’re yam-averse) and plenty of butter, garlic, and brown sugar or maple syrup.

Or bake acorn squash halves with butter, garlic, and brown sugar or maple syrup.

Or serve baby peas with pearl onions.

Or serve green beans with sauteed slivered almonds.

Or, if you want to be especially adventurous and kitsch, make one of those molded salads with lime jello, mayonnaise, cottage cheese, pineapple and apple chunks, chopped walnuts, and (drum roll, please) mini-marshmallows. I don’t know why, but both my grandmother and my mother-in-law always served the same recipe. They both must have read it in some homemaker’s magazine in the 1940’s.

If you do that, though, it’s most effective if you also hang this on the wall over the sideboard.

Or if you want to be adventurous and insufferably esoteric, rather than adventurous and kitsch, try a Middle English vegetable or fruit recipe. One of these, perhaps:

Caboges.–Take fayre caboges, an cutte hem, an pike hem clene and clene washe hem, an parboyle hem in fayre water, an þanne presse hem on a fayre bord; an þan choppe hem, and caste hem in a faire pot with goode freysshe broth, an wyth mery-bonys, and let it boyle: þanne grate fayre brede and caste þer-to, an caste þer-to Safron an salt; or ellys take gode grwel y-mad of freys flesshe, y-draw þorw a straynour, and caste þer-to. An whan þou seruyst yt inne, knocke owt þe marw of þe bonys, an ley þe marwe gobettys or in a dysshe, as þe semyth best, & serue forth.

Rapeye.–Take half Fygys & halfe Roysonys, and boyle hem in Wyne; þan bray hem in a morter, an draw wyth the same lycoure þorw a straynoure so þikke þat it be stondynge; þanne take Roysons of Corauns, Pynys, Clowys, Maces, Sugre of Siprys, an caste þer-to: þan putte it on a potte; þan take Saunderys a fewe, Pepir, Canel, an a litel Safroun; an yif it be noght stondyng, take a lytil flowre of Amidons, an draw it þorw a straynwoure, an caste þer-to Salt, & serue forth stondyng.

Applade Ryalle.–Take Applys, & seþe hem tylle þey ben tendyr, & þan lat hem kele; þen draw hem þorw a straynour; & on flesshe day caste þer-to gode fatte broþe of freysshe beef, an whyte grece, & Sugre, & Safroun, & gode pouder; & in a Fysshe day, take Almaunde mylke, & oyle of Olyff, & draw þer-vppe with-al a gode pouder, & serue forth. An for nede, draw it vppe with Wyne, & a lytil hony put þer-to for to make it þan dowcet; & serue it forth.

[Note: Middle English “þ” is the same as early Modern English “y” is the same as Modern English “th”.]

Parsnips, with the slight spiciness, are a Thanksgiving staple for me. They are wonderful in a maple glaze and add interest when mixed with carrots. Puree them, and you have an exotic dish people over which people are bound to exclaim.

Brussels sprouts are a controversial vegetable, but I think that is because they are usually overcooked. I don’t like them either when they are boiled gray. Roasted, however, and topped with a mustard cream sauce, they are very elegant.

Thie year, we are having some vegan friends, so I’m sure we will have tons of good veggie dishes.