Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. Ummm. Okay, Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday in addition to Christmas and Easter. And birthdays. Oh, and Mother’s Day. As well as Father’s Day.
Apparently, I love all holidays! But I love them all for different reasons. For me, Thanksgiving is all about comfort and the feeling of warmth on days that are starting to become darker and cooler. It’s about comfort food.
Typically, comfort food means dishes that you’re familiar with and are tried-and-true. There’s not a lot of creativity involved in turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes! But over the last few years, I’ve found a few recipes that add a little something-something and I wanted to share them with you.
TURKEY
I’m not going to launch into a long story but let’s just say that after a couple of turkey-disasters, it was a number of years before I braved making a turkey again. I also opted not to stuff it because it’s easier and less icky.
I was attracted to this Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey recipe because it involves pouring champagne all over the bird. Champagne! How can that ever be a bad thing? And I was right…. it was tender, juicy and made one hulleva good gravy!!
STUFFING
Ever since my sister told me her friend made stuffing in a crock pot, I was obsessed with trying it myself. Personally, I don’t like to over-handle poultry otherwise I end up finding it unappetizing (don’t even get me started on chicken soup). I couldn’t let that happen with turkey so I set out to find a decent recipe.
This Slow Cooker Stuffing recipe makes SO MUCH stuffing that we actually had leftovers. So much so that the following day I made stuffing-waffles, which I’ll share with you another time.
CHEESY BROCCOLI
This one is “my dish”. The one I’m always asked to make when someone else is hosting. It’s hard to resist the oozy goodness of sharp cheddar melted over chunks of crisp broccoli and topped with a crumbly bread topping. Yum.
What I love about Broccoli Gratin is that it’s an easy one to make ahead, then pop in the oven while the turkey is being carved. It’s also a great recipe to make to scale, depending on how many guests you have.
APPLE JUICE-SPICED CARROTS
Here’s a quick one of my own. I don’t love boiled carrots but adding the tang of apple juice and bite of nutmeg takes them to another level.
Add however many baby carrots you need to a sauce pan, cover with enough apple juice to cover the carrots and add one teaspoon of nutmeg. Bring to a boil then simmer until carrots are soft. Drain and serve!
Happy Gobble-Gobble to you and your family!
xoxo,
Mary
Happy Thanksgiving to you! Thanks for these. I’m to bring a veggie for thanksgiving and sadly I really don’t like most cooked veggies. The carrots sound easy and the broccoli sounds cheesy enough it may not taste like broccoli? Going to give them a try, thanks 🙂
I serve that cheesy broccoli to non-veggie lovers and it’s a hit every time!! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!