Cranberry Sauce, Vegetables, and Pie

Is your homemade cranberry sauce boiling over no matter how low you turn the heat? Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the pot for every 12-ounce package of cranberries you're using. And remember, cook cranberries only until they pop. If you cook them any longer, they'll turn bitter and mushy.

If white potatoes that you've peeled and cut ahead of time have started to darken, cook them in milk (don't let the milk boil) to brighten them.

Large, fresh sweet potatoes can be very stringy and fibrous. If you've used a hand-masher and the strings are bothersome to you, use an electric mixer to beat the cooked potatoes. The strings will wind themselves around the beaters and your potatoes will be creamy and smooth.

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Lost track of time and overcooked your vegetables? Put them in the food processor with a little butter, cream, fresh-ground pepper, and salt and puree them until smooth. Don't tell a soul that isn't how you intended them to be served in the first place, and no one will be the wiser.

If your cream-based soup has curdled, strain the soup into a blender jar (fill it only two-thirds full) and blend until it's smooth. Make sure the lid is on tight and that you hold it while wearing an oven mitt. Return it to a clean pan and heat over low heat.

If a soup seems to have an excessive amount of fat floating in it, add a few lettuce leaves to the pot of finished soup and let it stand a few minutes. Lettuce leaves soak up fat.

Get a little overzealous with the salt? Fix it similarly to the way you fix an oversalted gravy: Peel and thinly slice a raw potato and simmer it in the soup for 10 minutes or so. It will absorb some of the excess salt. Scoop out the slices with a slotted spoon before serving.

If your dinner rolls are a little dried out, wrap them loosely in aluminum foil and heat in a 300 degree F oven for 15 minutes. The last 4 or 5 minutes of reheating, unwrap the rolls slightly so the outside will crisp up just a bit. Serve immediately.

If your pie dough has too much added liquid and is too wet to roll out, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it just until firm (but not hard as a rock) before you roll it out.

If your beautifully fluted pie crust is starting to burn before the pie is done baking, cut the bottom out of a disposable aluminum pie plate that is the same size as the pie you're baking. Turn it upside-down over the pie to cover the edges. The center will continue to bake and the crust won't burn.

If you've overwhipped the cream for the pumpkin pie, simply fold in a few tablespoons of milk or unwhipped cream.

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