Okay, so my mom asked me what I want to bring for Thanksgiving. I’m not an accomplished cook, so I’m looking for easy recipes for side dishes, etc that I might want to bring. She’ll be doing the turkey and stuffing (and, I assume, gravy), so that’s set. Also, Mom is the only one who likes yams, so anything yam-based she’ll do also.
I’ve got a recipe for apple cake that a friend gave me, that I’ll be testing on my co-workers a couple days before and making if it works well. Pies are also already taken care of. What other Thanksgiving-type dishes are easy and doable?
PS: There will be somewhere between 5 and 9 of us, not sure how many yet.
It’s not Thanksgiving without green bean casserole and it doesn’t get any easier than the classic recipe: put green beans in a dish, pour over Campbell’s mushroom soup. Bake. Top with French’s onions. Bake some more. Eat.
You can gussy it up and make the components individually if you like. Or not. I like the traditional recipe except that I make sure to use fresh green beans and cook them just enough to avoid crunching on them.
I was thinking that too – some green crunch to offset the yummy beige food. Green bean casserole or a szechuan green beans – sesame oil, garlic, green beans, pine nuts, soy sauce, ginger.
Hard to screw that up. Heck, even make them “rustic” by not taking the peels off and not bothering to purree them until they are smooth as silk.
Boil em, leave the peels on, mash them a bit, throw in a good bit of pepper, salt, garlic, chives, and cream and call it a day. Supply lots of real butter on the side.
We are cooking a full meal for a different set of relatives on Friday, so on Thursday I’ll be taking it easy, making a cauliflower salad that requires no cooking. Bit of a pain in the ass to chop a bunch of raw cauliflower into small bits, but it’s not a hard recipe to follow.
I usually make Waldorf salad for any family potluck, because it’s so easy. Apples, grapes (or raisins), walnuts, celery, and mayo (NEVER Miracle Whip). If you’re feeling fancy you can throw in some of those little marshmallows. The secret is to add just enough mayo to moisten everything without making it soupy. Nothing worse than an over-dressed salad.
This recipe for rosemary roasted butternut squash is on my regular Thanksgiving rotation now. The only hard part is peeling and cleaning the squash, and you can avoid that if you buy precut veggies at the supermarket.
Ambrosia if anyone in your family will eat it! (I love it.) Mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, mini marshmallows, sour cream. Let it sit overnight and work itself out.
Mashed sweet potatoes… peel, dice, boil, drain, mash with LOTS of butter, a dash of salt, a dash of cinnamon and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts. Sooooooo yummy!
Another vote for cranberry sauce! I substitute orange juice for some of the water, and also add some cardamom. Use slightly more sugar if you expect people to just scarf it down as a side dish; use slightly less sugar if it’s meant to be a condiment for the turkey.
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 tablespoon dried parsley (or one handful fresh chopped parsley)
1 cup mixed wild and long-grain white rice*
2 cups turkey broth, made by boiling the giblets
turkey giblets, chopped
butter (as much as you want)
salt
pepper
sage-based poultry seasoning
Cook the rice in the turkey broth. Saute the vegetables and chopped giblets in the butter. Mix everything together and season to taste. Best served hot. Supermarket chicken broth can be used if you need to add more liquid.
*Available in the rice section at the supermarket. Wild rice by itself is too tough and chewy. Brown rice can be substituted for long-grain white if you’re blending them yourself. You can also use plain white rice in a pinch, but then you’ll have to change the name of the dish.
