Thanksgiving is the most food-centered holiday of the year, which means food writers all want to weigh in on it. Every year newspapers, food magazines, food sites, and food blogs all offer tips, suggestions, and menu ideas for the big day. For a few weeks now I've been watching for Thanksgiving advice to show up on my favorite food blogs and food sites.

I suppose there are a few people who love brussels sprouts right from the start, but there are many more of us who've needed a bit more convincing to embrace these mini-cabbage shaped vegetables. I was a bit of a slow adapter myself when it came to brussels sprouts, but these days I love them. Apparently a lot of other food bloggers do too, because right now brussels sprouts are hot, hot, hot on the food blogs, with drool-worthy brussels sprouts recipes popping up every day.

It's time to get serious about turkey. Thanksgiving is approaching, and this is a great opportunity to make the centerpiece of your holiday table a local and sustainable bird. I'm no stranger to alternatives to the traditional industrial turkey from the grocery store. Last year, I hosted Thanksgiving at my then-fairly-new Oakland apartment. It was just me and my parents, so I announced an Asian twist on the poultry theme. "We're going to have Peking duck," I said. "Not turkey."

For a few years now, I've been a fan of sweet potatoes. In fact, nearly two years ago I made the bold statement that Sweet Potatoes are the New Potatoes, in a BlogHer post outlining why sweet potatoes are a better choice than white fleshed potatoes. Since that time, my love for sweet potatoes has stayed strong, and I keep coming across new ways to use them.

How do you feel about butternut squash? Personally I never liked squash as a kid, but as an adult, I can't get enough of it, and I consider butternut to be the premium type of squash for roasting, using in casseroles, or for making yummy butternut squash soup. When variations of butternut squash soup start showing up on food blogs, you know Autumn is really here.

I'm old enough to remember when spaghetti squash first made an appearance on the culinary scene, but it's now a beloved vegetable among people who are interested in keeping calories and carbs low or avoiding gluten in traditional pasta. Spaghetti squash is a type of winter squash, so called because it can be stored through the winter.

By the time you read this post, the BlogHer Food Blogging Conference will have ended after lots of sharing of blogging knowledge and rhapsodizing over interesting things people have blogged about. I'm writing this in advance so I can't discuss what the conference was like, but I have no doubt, there'll be plenty of talk about interesting things people have eaten.

Let's finish up our celebration of whole grains month with some new thoughts and recipes for brown rice. You may not realize it, but brown rice now appears on the FDA list of whole grains, after being added last year. Sometimes brown rice can get a bit of a bum rap, and there's no denying it's a little trickier to cook than white rice. No worries though because food bloggers have some great ideas for turning brown rice into a menu item that will make you pay attention!

By now surely you've heard that there's a nationwide canning revolution going on. This Canvolution (Canning Across America) is all about getting people into the kitchen preserving the bounties of the harvest.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is one of the big nutritional superstars that's become popular the last few years. Although it's considered a grain, the edible seeds are the most eaten part of the plant, and because it's high in complete protein, quinoa is more nutritious than rice and wheat, making it a popular choice for vegetarians. And just when you think it couldn't get any better, quinoa is easy to cook and adaptable to many uses.

Last week I talked about canning tomatoes and vegetables, introducing BlogHer readers to an ad hoc collective called Canning Across America. This group of cooks, gardeners, food bloggers, cookbook authors, and food writers are promoting a movement they're calling the Canvolution, designed to promote home canning of food. If you've never tried canning, check my introductory post about Canning Across America for links to some good basic information about canning. Once you know the basics, fruit is a good place to start, so here are some ideas to inspire you.

Recently I was visiting my father and happened to pick up a small local newspaper that was on his table, only to discover that September is Whole Grains Month! This was the first I'd heard about it, but I'm a whole grains woman every month of the year, so I'd never pass up a chance to encourage people to eat more whole grains. To get the celebration started, let's take a look at bulgur, a whole grain that doesn't even have to be cooked!