Thanksgiving dish ideas anyone?

scb1990

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This is my first thanksgiving cooking for my family at home it's just me my son and my boyfriend and I need some good meal ideas. Nothing too tough please
 
I find that the traditional Thanksgiving meal is actually pretty easy to do, and good. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams (from a can are totally good just heat them up in the oven with a little brown sugar and marshmallows), green beans or something green (I actually loved steamed asparagus at Thanksgiving), and rolls. Don't forget the cranberries.

Totally easy. Totally good.

If you are up for it, a new favorite of mine that came from a Thanksgiving meal is Jiffy Corn Muffin mix, a can of creamed corn, half a stick of butter, a scoop of sour cream, an egg, and enough milk to make it the right consistency. Bake according to the directions on the box. Mmmm.
 
If you have a slowcooker you can cook turkey breast in it quite easily. That plus mashed potatoes, veggies and a store bought pie and you're pretty much there!
 
If you don't want to tackle making a whole bird, you can usually pick up some bone in, skin on turkey breasts instead. It's a lot less work since you don't need to fuss around with cleaning, trussing and stuffing the turkey. If it's just the three of you I would get a couple of turkey breasts instead of a whole bird. They usually sell them in the refrigerated section, so you don't need to deal with thawing either. Keep it simple with some sea salt, ground black pepper, fresh parsley and garlic. Work the chopped parsley and garlic under the skin.

For the mashed potatoes, I would really recommend getting a potato ricer if you don't already have one - there's a few different kinds, but the one in particular I'm thinking of looks like a giant garlic press. These make the smoothest fluffiest mashed potatoes with practically no work. You don't even need to peel or chop the potatoes. Just get some potatoes that will fit whole into it, toss them in the oven during the last hour - hour & 15 min of cooking time and don't open the oven. In the mean time, get a bowl ready with little milk and chopped up butter along with some sea salt and black pepper. Let this come to room temp while the potatoes are cooking. Then all you need to do is squash them in the ricer right into the bowl - the peels will stay in the ricer. A few stirs of the bowl with a spatula and it will all come together. You don't have to worry about over mixing them and having them turn gluey. Nor do you need to deal with lumps.

You can cheat with the gravy, and just get it jarred instead of trying to do a pan sauce. Add a tiny splash of cream and some extra black pepper to make it look more homemade. Maybe even a little fresh parsley too.

If you're not a fan of the standard green bean casserole, try some green bean almondine instead. Just get some fresh Haricot Vert grean beans and trim steam them till they turn a bright green. Toast some slivered almonds. Then in a pan saute the beans in a little olive oil, butter and fresh garlic. Towards the end toss in the almonds. You could also add some crumbled bacon too.

You can cheat with the stuffing as well. Try mixing a couple flavors such as regular and corn bread boxed stuffings, and tossing in some veggies and herbs to liven it up. Also use chicken stock instead of water and add some extra butter to make it more rich.

You can even liven up a side dish of steamed carrots by using several different colors such as orange, yellow and purple instead of just the usual orange.
 
I had never heard of a potato ricer before, and now one is on my Xmas list. I looooooove mashed potatoes.
 
For the turkey I would wrap the turkey with bacon and bake it that way. I have seen this done before and it looked epic! I would think/hope that the fat from the bacon would be absorbed by the turkey so the turkey would have more flavor to the meat as well. It just sounds so delicious, unless you are not a fan of bacon. But come on who does not love bacon?! It will also create a crunchy layer around the turkey for more texture :)
 
For the turkey I would wrap the turkey with bacon and bake it that way. I have seen this done before and it looked epic! I would think/hope that the fat from the bacon would be absorbed by the turkey so the turkey would have more flavor to the meat as well. It just sounds so delicious, unless you are not a fan of bacon. But come on who does not love bacon?! It will also create a crunchy layer around the turkey for more texture :)

You had me at "wrapped in bacon"!

I don't even know how I'm going to manage it, but I'm definitely going to try working this into my Thanksgiving meal this year.
 
zestery
I have not done it myself yet but I would like to this year! My boyfriends brother-in-law did it last thanksgiving and I heard it was amazing! It looked epic as well!
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Oh. My. God.

That is completely ridiculous and I love it.
 
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