Thanksgiving with Press-Citizen staff: Costa Rican rice and beans, cheesy macaroni and pumpkin cookies

So far this year, the Press-Citizen staff, a small but dedicated crew of young professionals, were busy presenting robust local coverage on midterm elections, the latest on local high school sports and keeping you up to date on some of the many uniquely Iowa City events happening.

Of course, photos taken by Press-Citizen photojournalist Joseph Cress provide additional, essential coverage and color to everything above.

So it’s a welcome change of pace when Thanksgiving approaches, because it allows our staff to gather and have a meal in what remains a simple, but important Press-Citizen tradition supported by Cress a few years ago.

In this tradition, Press-Citizen staffers will present a dish meaningful to them.

Then, we share the recipes with you, the readers, in hopes that these recipes connect you to the reporters, your neighbors, in the Johnson County community.

However you do — or don’t — celebrate the holiday, we wish you good health and full stomachs.

Happy cooking.

Gallo Pinto

Here’s the real scoop.

The Barraza family doesn’t have any special Thanksgiving recipes.

No special twists to a traditional dish. No recipe passed from generation to generation. Nothing.

There’s no particular reason, though some of it could be due to the fact that my mother and her family moved from Costa Rica to America in the 1960s and casually adopted this very American tradition.

So the most authentic I can be is to present a dish special to me, but not because it’s Thanksgiving.

Gallo pinto, which translates to spotted rooster, is a common white rice and black beans dish served in Costa Rica.

Breakfast time, you’d likely have it with a fried egg. Dinner time, a thin slice of steak or chicken might accompany it.

It’s a simple dish, but it’s essential to sauté the red bell peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro and add a splash of Salsa Lizano, a popular Costa Rican condiment, or what you’ll more likely have in your fridge, Worcestershire sauce.

Those ingredients make for a tasty dish. Otherwise, you’ll be scratching your head thinking, “What’s so remarkable about mixing together rice and beans?"

Ingredients and instructions:

• 1 cup of cooked rice

• Black beans (one can or about a cup cooked)

• 1 bushel of cilantro

• 1/2 onion, minced

• 2 cloves of garlic, or more depending on preference

• 1/2 red bell pepper, minced

• 2 tablespoons of Salsa Lizano, (available to order on Amazon) or Worcestershire sauce, mixed with a dash of cumin

• Beef chorizo (optional)

1. Cook your rice to your preference. Brown rice can be used, though it is typically served with white rice.

2. Sauté your onion, garlic and bell pepper with your beans.

3. Gallo pinto doesn't typically incorporate meat, but you can add chorizo, however much you like, for added flavor and a slight spice. My family has also added chopped bits of cooked bacon, and other folks have mentioned adding vegan sausage to bulk up the dish. If you do add meat, cook it and add it to your beans.

4. Add in the rice and cilantro and mix. Finally, add in your Salsa Lizano or Worcestershire and cumin mixture and mix again.

5. Enjoy!

Paris Barraza, Press-Citizen entertainment and features reporter

Baked Chicken Thighs

Truth be told, aside from sweet potatoes, I am not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving food.

However, growing up, chicken was always a delicious, mouth-watering and filling alternative. Of the many great ways that chicken can be cooked, baked is one that is the easiest to master.

So, if anyone else does not get caught up in the Thanksgiving hoopla and wants a meal that is hearty, cost-efficient and easy to make, then the baked chicken thighs are for you.

Ingredients and instructions:

• 4 unthawed chicken thighs (more or less depending on the people in attendance)

• 2 teaspoons of Lawry's Seasoning Salt

• 2 teaspoons of Mrs. Dash

• 1 teaspoon of Cajun Seasoning (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Put one teaspoon of Lawry's and Mrs. Dash on side of the chicken thigh.

3. Repeat the same action on the opposite side.

4. Add the Cajun seasoning.

5. Put into the oven for 50 minutes.

6. Serve and enjoy.

Raven Moore, Press-Citizen high school sports reporter

Five-Cheese Mac & Cheese

Thanksgiving at the Shillcock household is pretty standard every year (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole etc.) and never included mac & cheese. I never really knew it was a common side dish for other families until I was a teenager.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was just starting my post-college career in journalism and living on my own for the first time in Columbus, Ohio. In my spare time, I taught myself to cook a lot of different dishes and learned I had a knack for it.

Baked mac & cheese is probably my favorite food, so it ended up being one of the first things I taught myself to make. Instead of winging it, I looked up several online recipes to see the different ways people make it, combined some best practices and ended up with what I have today.

I make this recipe unique to myself with the cheeses I pick and I usually pick a different pasta every time. I don't think I've ever used regular elbow macaroni in the five or six times I've made this.

It’s been a while since I’ve cooked this dish, and my prep for making this last week showed. Instead of buying regular whole milk, I bought heavy whipping cream, and that ended up being my first attempt’s downfall.

As I made the cheese sauce while the pasta cooked, it turned into a concrete-like concoction and I knew it had failed. There was about 3 hours left before the Press-Citizen was to meet at the office to eat all our food.

I rushed to Hy-Vee and picked up whole milk and the ingredients I had used up in my first attempt. When I got home, I quickly remade the cheese sauce and the consistency was so much better.

And thankfully I made it to our meeting on time.

Ingredients and instructions:

• 1 box of your pasta of choice (I did shells this time).

• 1 stick of unsalted butter (½ cup).

• ½ cup of flour.

• 2-3 cups of whole milk.

• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

• 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

• 1 cup of shredded mozzerella cheese

• 1 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese

• 4 slices of havarti cheese shredded

• Panko bread crumbs (with or without Italian seasoning).

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Mix together cheeses in one mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Fill pot with water, salt it to taste and bring to a boil.

4. Cook pasta in water just shy of al-dente (per box instructions).

5. Melt butter over medium heat in pan.

6. Once butter is browned, add in ½ cup of flour and whisk over medium heat until cooked. The consistency of this mixture should look like mud.

7. Whisk in 2 cups of whole milk until the combination thickens.

8. Remove from heat.

9. Slowly add in cheese 1 cup at a time, saving 1 cup for the topping later.

10. If mixture is too thick, add in another ½ to 1 cup of whole milk and mix it until it is smooth.

11. In a greased baking pan, add in half of the pasta and some of the cheese sauce and mix together. Continue adding until all of the sauce and pasta is in the pan.

12. Add on remaining cheese to the top and add a layer of bread crumbs on top.

13. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes and serve.

George Shillcock, Press-Citizen local government and development reporter

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know cookies are not your average Thanksgiving dessert, but these cookies are the perfect blend of chocolate and pumpkin. That make them an excellent addition to your table, regardless if you celebrate Thanksgiving or not.

In all honesty, I thought I was going to mess these cookies up and be late to our gathering at the Press-Citizen (I almost was, but was comforted knowing Shillcock messed up his dish). The first time I made these cookies in 2020, it was a disaster, I added too much flour and not enough egg. So, instead of making a perfectly fluffy cookie, it became a hard and dry mess.

I learned my lesson this year and followed the directions to a 't.' It paid off because the cookies came out perfect!

Don't let my clumsiness sway you from making these cookies for your holiday gathering. Just make sure to stick to the recipe!

Ingredients and intructions:

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar

• 1/2 c. granulated sugar

• 3/4 c. pumpkin purée

• 1 large egg

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

• 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375° and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice and salt.

3. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until combined, then add flour mixture. Beat on low until no raw flour appears, then fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

4. Scoop 1-inch balls onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart, and bake until puffed up and golden around edges, about 12 minutes.

Emily Delgado, Press-Citizen reporting intern

Chocolate cookie balls

These chocolate cookie balls are delicious. They're half dairy, half your favorite chocolate cookie. For many folks, that's probably going to be Oreo, but I prefer the predecessor and very hard to find in stores cookie: Hydrox. You can buy them in bulk online, or so I've heard, in stores at Cracker Barrel restaurants.

I've got a case of Hydrox cookies in my pantry, so you can probably gander a guess I didn't drive to Davenport for this recipe. The dark chocolate melting wafers used in this recipe are downright delicious. Most bags are 10-ounce ones, and conveniently my version of the recipe only used about 8 ounces.

This is an easy recipe, and can be prepared ahead of time as long as you have the will power to not eat them all.

I topped these with melted Reese's Peanut Butter cups, but a white chocolate or any other candy bar melted down probably would be quite delicious, too.

Ingredients and instructions:

• 1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (I used Hydrox)

• 1 large mixing bowl

• 8 oz cream cheese

• 8 oz Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers

• 2 Reese’s peanut butter cups

Crush one package of chocolate sandwich cookies in a bowl, mix in softened brick of cream cheese and form mixture into balls. Place balls onto a lined baking sheet and chill in a refrigerator.

Melt 8 oz. of chocolate in a heat safe bowl using a microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Dip the balls in the chocolate sauce, tapping off extra before transferring to the lined baking sheet.

Chop two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups into quarters and microwave for 30 seconds.

Decorate with remaining crushed cookie pieces. Drizzle the melted Reese's Peanut Butter Cup sauce over the balls using a fork.

Place completed cookie balls back in refrigerator until time to serve.

Joseph Cress, Press-Citizen photojournalist.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: See our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, from chicken to mac & cheese