We have so much to be grateful for every day...even on the bad days.
With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought I would share a bit about how we feast. Both Derek's and my family enjoy a good meal to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we are rather casual.
I have hosted Thanksgiving a couple of times for Derek's family. Last year, I cooked for just my own family of five. (Number 5 was a newborn baby who screamed all day and most of the night...) It was a bit weird to cook a large meal for just us, but it was the right way to celebrate- for us. We feasted on the leftovers, too!
Today I want to share a little turkey tip with you. The turkey takes up so room in the oven, it's often hard to have a hot turkey beside hot side dishes.
Turkey Tip:
Plan for your turkey to be done an hour or two prior to meal time. (I've heard up to four or five hours, but I have not tested that theory.) Upon removing the turkey from the oven, cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil. Place some large towels in a box to make an insulated nest for your roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the nest and cover with additional towels, tucking them in tightly between the box and roasting pan. Now your oven is ready for all the other goodies!When you are ready to carve your turkey, it should still be steaming hot!
In addition to turkey, I prefer to serve...
~ mashed potatoes
~ sausage stuffing
~ corn (ideally from the field and not the grocery store)
~ broccoli casserole
~ homemade bread
~ homemade applesauce
~ apple pie
If Derek's family is joining us, they will bring or make...
~ pretzel salad (a strawberry dessert)
~ cinnamon rolls
~ zucchini bread (if I don't make it)
~ and another pie or two
~ cranberry sauce (if the people who eat it join us)
The side dishes I serve reflect the preferences of Derek's family, except the sausage stuffing which was my grandma's recipe. All of the food we serve is rather traditional. No recipes are unique to Thanksgiving except the stuffing; it is the combination of all of them together that provide the feast.
What is your favorite item to eat for Thanksgiving? Mine is probably the turkey combined with potatoes and gravy.
~ Annette {This Simple Mom}
Candied sweet potatoes, and homemade bread stuffing, and homemade bread...actually most of the meal are favorites :-) Can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteI've found that my Crock-Pot is perfect for stuffing (or dressing if you call it that.) It makes it very moist and delicious. The ingredients in stuffing are all cooked so it doesn't need to be in there all day- just 2-3 hours on low is fine. Spray your Crock-Pot with Pam to prevent sticking. Don't let folks lift the lid and let out all the steam-moisture. Doing it this way also saves the oven space. Think about if a Crock-Pot might be good for other dishes too.
ReplyDeleteThe other big helper in the oven space battle is a tray warmer. You plug it in and the set dishes on it to keep them warm. This way I can move mashed potatoes from the pot into the serving dish, put it on the warmer and cover it. I can keep gravy warm until I need to fill the bowl. I have two warming trays- each I bought at different garage sales for $1 and $2.
My sister-in-law and the cousins are coming in a few days. Because my brother isn't able to come after all (work! gah!) we arent sure we are going to do a traditional meal. We've talked about just making fried chicken (my mom makes FANTASTIC fried chicken!) or making pizzas. Just...something different because this year feels different. We'll see! I haven't really planned....which is sort of necessary if you are going to do a turkey!
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