Julia Child has a Brussels sprouts recipe with, what else, butter and cream? Minus the cream it is infinitely adaptable with whatever additions you want- nuts, cheese, pancetta... As far as cranberry sauce, I make different ones every year and have liked them all except the savory one with shallots. I browse Epicurious, they have tons, I like the one with Port, one with oranges, and this year I did a cranberry/ pear conserve and a cranberry persimmon sauce. Both are on blogs and are very easy. If you add enough sugar ( and booze) you can't mess up cranberries.