Food

This simple cranberry tart is a breeze to assemble and can be made a day ahead. The crust is baked from crushed gingersnap cookies, but you could substitute a purchased no-bake graham cracker pie crust. Cranberry Sauce Tart

Downtown Winter Market – Local producers will be selling their wares each Thursday on the main floor of the Community Building, 35 W. Main Ave. Sellers include Rocky Ridge Ranch, Chattaroy Hills Honey Farm, Arabesque Baking, Susie-David's Beef and others. The market will be held from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., with some vendors staying until 5:30 p.m. Big Time Italians - Part of the Fall wine class series. Taste Barolo, Amarone, Super Tuscans and more. Thursday. 6:30 p.m., Vino!, 222 S. Washington St. $50. (509) 838-1229.

Over the river and through the wood To grandmother's house we go

We know you probably can't pass off instant mashed potatoes as homemade on Thanksgiving. But Idahoan makes some pretty tasty taters, according to The Spokesman-Review Reader Food Panel. Idahoan has always fared well with our tasting panel, so we recently whipped up two new varieties for tasters to consider. Panel members liked both the Baby Reds with Roasted Garlic and Parmesan and the Buttery Yukon Gold potatoes, giving them four-and-a-half and three-and-a-half stars respectively.

Idahoan Potatoes Thinking of using instant mashed potatoes on the Thanksgiving table? We'll never tell. Your guests might not be able to, either.

Bake up those holiday goodies with flour made from wheat grown in the Northwest. Stone-Buhr is the first major flour brand in the country to offer an all-purpose flour made exclusively from local wheat.

"Seriously Simple Holidays" By Diane Rossen Worthington

"Cooking Up a Story" Class - Presented by the Northeast Youth Center. Children 4-5 years of age will learn about counting and measuring through stories and various hands-on cooking activities. Class held every Wednesday for four weeks. Today. 10-11 a.m., Hillyard Baptist Church, 2121 E. Wabash Ave. $7 per session or $20 for all four sessions. (509) 482-0708. Ethnic Cooking Classes - Sponsored by Moscow Food Co-op. today, 5:30 p.m., Polish Cuisine, Bigos and Pierogi (hunter's stew and stuffed dumplings). Registration required. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 E. Second St., Moscow. $18/class. (208) 882-1942.

When you hear the words "slow cooking," does the image of a pot roast pop into your head? Well, think again. The slow cooker works beautifully in the preparation of versatile, meat-free dishes. Soups, chili, side dishes, main dishes and even desserts – the possibilities are endless when it comes to using this often-neglected appliance. Instead of using meat, protein can come in the form of beans and other legumes, whole grains, pasta, soy products like tofu, cheese and other dairy products.

Pop the cork. Tap that keg. Friday is the annual Cork and Keg Festival at the Mirabeau Park Hotel and Convention Center, 1100 N. Sullivan Road. There will be more than 100 wines and 30 beers from the Inland Northwest and beyond.

There's something about Thanksgiving that can bring panic to even the most experienced cook. Will the potatoes be lumpy? Do I have everything I need? Can I get everything on the table at the same time? How can I do it with just one oven? This last problem came to my attention recently when my stepmother called about Thanksgiving dinner. She's hosting the whole family, and that's a lot of us. We'd decided to cook two turkeys instead of one, because her oven isn't big enough to cook one of those mondo birds. She suggested cooking one turkey ahead of time and freezing it. I, worrying about the effects of freezing a bird that already tends to be dry, suggested that we cook one turkey in her electric roaster and the other in her oven.

Keep your holidays simple with Diane Rossen Worthington's new cookbook. "Seriously Simple Holidays: Recipes and Ideas to Celebrate the Seasons," includes suggestions for shortcuts, menus, wine pairings and make-ahead game plans.

Arbor Crest is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, a landmark event for any Washington winery. Perhaps more importantly, it is one of a growing number that have passed winemaking duties on to the second generation. Winemaker Kristina Mielke van Loben Sels is just now wrapping up her ninth Washington harvest since relocating from California, where she grew up, studied fermentation science (at UC Davis) and found work as enologist/assistant winemaker at Ferrari-Carano.

Epicurean Delight, Spokane's Ultimate Culinary Gala - The 26th annual event features the most exquisite restaurants, paired with the finest wineries and microbreweries of the Inland Northwest. Proceeds from this event benefit the Inland Northwest Blood Center. Friday. 6 p.m., Spokane Convention Center ballrooms, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. $150. (509) 232-4567. 11th Annual Fall Dinner and Auction - Raising money to help needy families. More than 80 items to be auctioned off including Chiefs box seats, professional golf lessons, Coeur d'Alene cruise and Hells Canyon boat trip and more. Friday. 5:30 p.m. dinner and silent auction, live auction at 7, Pasadena Park Nazarene Church, 8822 E. Upriver Drive. $3 donation for dinner. (509) 926-5858.

While you were sleeping this weekend, The Grub Rustlers were stoking the smoker fires at the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue in Lynchburg, Tenn. The Sandpoint team won an invitation to the competition after they landed top honors in the Montana State Barbecue Championship in August.

Food panel tasters are always suspicious when vegetables and fruits land on their plates. Taste testing new food products from the grocery store often means picking through the latest processed and convenience foods on the shelves. Steamed broccoli and carrots are sure to cue the alarm bells.