Thanksgiving is less than a week away. This year we’re breaking tradition and the whole family is headed to Florida for some much needed vitamin D!
Last week during one of our regular big fat Italian family dinners, we started talking about our upcoming trip. If you’ve ever sat in on an Italian family gathering, you know how it goes -- everybody speaks at once and the loudest person with the most extreme hang gestures gets noticed.
Winner: my mom (always). She and my aunt decided that since my cousin, sister and fiancé are all experts in the kitchen, the “kids” could handle preparing Thanksgiving dinner while they go to the beach.
“Wait a minute! I’m sitting right here! (arms fly into the air well above my head) AM I NOT CONSIDERED A KID ANYMORE!?”
(Truthfully I should have thought before I spoke – why would I want to be sentenced to the kitchen when I could have been laying on the beach. But another fact about Italians: we rarely think before each outburst.)
So my aunt took pity on me and decided that I can be in charge of something. She suggested maybe the salad or the corn. Clearly my family has little faith in my ability to cook and I don’t blame them. In this case, my reputation is unfortunately based on their real experiences.
But this year is going to be different. I’ve come to terms with my sacrificed beach hours and am now determined to make the best darn something this family has ever had on Thanksgiving.
Of course I need some help. Please share your best Thanksgiving recipes with me. I’ll give one or two a whirl and report back.
Happy Thanksgiving!
What about dessert?! I'm making pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon vanilla cream cheese frosting! Have fun at the beach!!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like such a fun thanksgiving trip!! I am a big fan of stuffed acorn squash with wild rice. It's not very hard to make and i think it's perfect for thanksgiving! There are lots of different variations, if you google it you can find a bunch. i like ones with dried cranberries and pecans (like this one: http://www.chow.com/recipes/13566 )
ReplyDeleteHave a great time!!
I just made these Smashed Potatoes with a roast chicken and I am sold. No more mashed potatoes for me! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aida-mollenkamp/smashed-potatoes-with-chives-recipe/index.html
ReplyDeleteMy money is your mom is awesome...hand gestures, volume and all. Remember the apple never falls far from the tree!
ReplyDeleteTry this and really impress them:
Pumpkin Tarts with Spinach and Garganzola
The same thing happened to me (sort of). I was put in charge of the mashed potatos, and pretty much right up to the night before Thanksgiving, I was trying out different recipes. They turned out AOK in the end, with lots o'help from Rich. And my favorite part is that his mom felt bad for me, so gave me 2 BOXES of instant mashed potatos in case I screwed stuff up for the big day. They have so much faith in us, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI spelled "potatoes" wrong :(
ReplyDelete