When you think of a casserole, you might think of some 1950s artifact, made with a can of cream of mushroom soup and topped with crispy onions (also from a can).

Indeed, the 1950s brought us a number of enduring culinary traditions, like fruit salads made with Jell-o, deviled eggs, and of course, the mashed potato volcano.

Now, of all of these dubious culinary innovations, it's really the casserole that deserves a chance to rehabilitate itself — like some wayward teen who fell in with the wrong crowd. And obviously, foremost among those bad influences is that canned cream of mushroom soup.

But the '50s were all about convenience — and there's nothing wrong with that. If you can save time by using something from a can, I say, go for it. And yet, something in our culinary DNA seems to reject the notion of using canned cream of mushroom soup as a base for, well, anything.

Fortunately, you don't have to. Instead, do this:

1. Make béchamel sauce.
2. Sauté mushrooms.
3. Combine.
4. Use the resulting mixture in place of canned cream of mushroom soup.

The steps above will serve you well for any casserole recipe that calls for cream of mushroom soup. You'll enjoy all that 1950s comfort while maintaining your 2000s culinary integrity.

So here's the scenario: It's the day before Thanksgiving. Your local grocery store has been picked clean and there isn't a box of "stuffing mix" to be found within a twenty-mile radius. Do you panic? Sob? Skip Thanksgiving altogether?

Hardly. Remember, store-bought stuffing consists of nothing but seasoned cubes of bread. You still have to melt butter, sauté veggies, add stock — basically, everything. If you're going to do all that, why not cut up your own bread, too, and make stuffing from scratch?

Check out this basic stuffing recipe. If you can make toast, you can make your own stuffing. Besides, you didn't really want to go the store on the day before Thanksgiving anyway.

As holiday side dishes go, sweet potato purée is in the same category as gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing — in short, foods that are moist, flavorful, buttery, tangy and/or sweet. Basically, everything turkey isn't.

These mashed sweet potatoes feature a hint of cinnamon for warmth and festiveness. One thing you won't find in this recipe is marshmallows. The first time I saw sweet potatoes served with marshmallows, I thought it must be a practical joke of some kind — like putting bubblegum on a burger. I still feel that way.

Here's a recipe for simple, delicious mashed sweet potatoes.

The key to happiness, it seems to me, is being able to turn adversity into opportunity. As the folks at Sun-Kist say (or was it Sun Tzu?), when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Which is all right in the abstract, but what happens when you find yourself staring adversity square in the face? That's how most of America probably feels this morning after hearing about the nationwide shortage of waffles that was first reported yesterday.

Talk about blindsided. Who knew? But before you sell the house and take the family off to live in one of those bunkers in the mountains, consider this: It's really easy to make your own waffles. Once you get the hang of it, you'll never want to touch one of those miserable frozen things ever again. Here's a basic waffles recipe.