Beyond The Bird

Mark Clayton, Ravens receiver

SWEET POTATOES OVER CORN MUFFINS

"I could eat it as a meal by itself," says Clayton, who helps cook all the Thanksgiving trappings--mac-'n'-cheese, greens, the great bird itself--during his family's annual chowdown. When he was a child, Clayton, his mother and his two siblings briefly lived in a homeless shelter in Oklahoma City, which led to their other Thanksgiving tradition: delivering food to the needy. Last year he passed out 350 turkey dinners at a center in Baltimore; this year he and his mother, JacQuetta, and teammate Ray Lewis will go to an inner-city school. "At one point we were in line receiving food just like the people I am helping now," says Clayton. "After we got out [of the shelter], we always did volunteer work in the local shelters. Giving back is so important."

SWEET POTATOES

Ingredients
One large can of sweet potatoes; 1/4 cup sweet butter, cut into pieces; 1/2 cup brown sugar; one teaspoon ground cinnamon; one teaspoon ground nutmeg.

How to make it
Preheat oven to 350�. Place potatoes in shallow baking dish. Combine syrup from the can, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg in sauce pan, stirring until mixture boils and thickens. Pour sauce over sweet potatoes. Cover and bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

CORN MUFFINS

Ingredients
( Clayton follows a recipe for JIFFY brand corn muffins.) Two 8.5-ounce packages of corn-muffin mix; two eggs; one 12-ounce can creamed corn; 1/4 cup vegetable oil; 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

How to make it
Preheat oven to 375�. Grease a large muffin pan. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, blending well. Pour into the muffin pan, filling each cup half full. Bake 22--28 minutes. Let cool, remove muffins. Spoon prepared sweet potatoes over the corn muffins and serve. Makes 20 muffins

Kris Draper, Red Wings Center

MASHED POTATOES

"I'm an aggressive masher," he says. "I can't have lumps, so I have two mashers on hand. I tend to bend one in the process." Draper (below), his wife, Julie, and children, Kennedi, 6, and Kienan, 4, will host family and friends, and he'll mash a potato-and-a-half per guest. "You don't want to run out," says Draper, who adds that after his spud-smashing he slips away to watch football. "With my wife and mother-in-law in there, you can only have so many cooks in the kitchen."

Ingredients
Ten russet potatoes; 1/2 cup skim milk; 1/4 cup organic sour cream; one tablespoon salted butter; salt; pepper; parsley.