Try fresh bread, pies early on Thanksgiving

But what do you start the day with? What's for breakfast tomorrow morning?

Whether the family is gearing up for football, watching the Macy's parade or simply sharing time together, they need something to hold them over until the turkey, stuffing and other goodies are ready.

Here are a few suggestions to start the day:

• Blend cream cheese and cranberry sauce together to use in your favorite stuffed French toast recipe.

• Put a twist on classic pancakes with pumpkin-ginger pancakes (recipe below) and garnish with a simple homemade vanilla maple syrup (recipe below).

• A simple hash brown, sausage and cheese casserole can be put together the night before and cooked quickly on Thanksgiving morning.

If you're looking for the perfect French toast bread for breakfast, stop by Fire Island Bakeshop on 14th Avenue and G Street. And the bakery is the place to stop if you don't feel like making breakfast at all on Thanksgiving. Fire Island will be open Thursday morning from 7 to 11 a.m. with its full line of breakfast items -- including croissants and scones -- along with extra rolls, bread and pies for the holiday meal.

Co-owner Janis Fleischman says the shop will have organic apple pie, an "old recipe" pecan pie with no corn syrup and a pumpkin pie made with organic pumpkin puree available today and Thursday, along with a lemon tart. The pies are $25 each and the lemon tart is $35.

And if you want fresh bread for the Thanksgiving meal, Fire Islanders will be working hard to provide it.

"We will be here at 2 in the morning," Fleischman says. "The reason we're open on Thanksgiving is that it's our favorite holiday and we believe bread is always best the day it is baked. If people want fresh bread and want to pick it up Thanksgiving, we'll be here.

"We're concentrating on rolls, bread, pies and lemon tarts. We're doubling the amount of bread and rolls we normally do."

Rolls available for the holiday include artisan rolls, wheat/seed rolls and onion-poppy seed rolls, which Fleischman says are "great for turkey leftovers."

The bakery is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. today but it will not have sandwiches available as the staff spends time baking pies, rolls and extra bread. It's open again 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday with its regular menu.

The Northway Mall inside farmers market will be busy today too.

The Rempel Family Farm will have sugar pumpkins, stripetti squash, parsnips, sweet daikon radishes, four varieties of beets, carrots, eight varieties of potatoes and free-range eggs. A.D. Farm will have potatoes, three colors of carrots, three varieties of beets, parsnips, cabbage, fresh eggs, honey and jams made fresh this week. Rob Wells will be at the market with Matanuska Creamery cheese and ice cream, including a new butter pecan flavor.

Mark Rempel says there have been five to seven vendors at the market regularly offering other items like Alaska grown oyster mushrooms, baked goods, herbs and spices.

Vanilla maple syrup

1 cup pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine the syrup and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and mix well. Heat until warm.

Makes 1 cup

Courtesy of Nielsen-Massey's "A Century of Flavor Cookbook"

Pumpkin-ginger pancakes

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk, room temperature

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup walnuts, natural, crushed to tiny pieces

1/8 cup crystallized ginger, crushed to dust size pieces

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups King Arthur Pumpkin pancake mix

Melt butter over a low heat. In a medium size mixing bowl, add next eight ingredients. On a medium speed, slowly add pumpkin mix, blending together until combined. It is OK if batter is a bit lumpy.

On a preheated hot skillet, place 1/4 cup of batter for regular size pancakes or one heaping tablespoon for mini pancakes, allowing room in-between each. When small bubbles appear on the top, flip over for 30 seconds or until cooked through. Remove and serve with slices of fresh pear and maple syrup.

Courtesy of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas

---

Steve Edwards lives and writes in Anchorage, but is taking three weeks off. So if you have ideas for something edible, seasonal, fresh and -- above all -- local, send them to Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com.