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Learning Laboratory: Thanksgiving Dinner

Emma, Johnny and Lily admire Thanksgiving dinner

I used to be terrified of Thanksgiving dinner, so I was really pleased to make nearly all of it (my sister supplied cranberry relish and stuffing) without even feeling that stressed out this year! I still have a couple things to learn – the potatoes and green beans were so-so, and I cooked the turkey upside down – but I’ve come a long ways in the past couple of years!

Things that worked:

  • Cooking the yams and pumpkin pie the day before
  • Steaming the yams and the potatoes – less work than watching a boiling pot, and you have the perfect amount of water left from cooking the potatoes to make gravy
  • Adding cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the yams, along with a little butter
  • Filling the turkey with carrots and celery (a trick I learned from my sister)
  • Having Mike around to play with the kids!

Things I need to work on:

  • Cooking the turkey right-side-up
  • NOT turning the oven off accidentally while the turkey is baking
  • How to make green bean casserole where the sauce doesn’t all sit on the bottom
  • Convincing Johnny to eat something besides marshmallows from the top of the yams (to his credit, he ate at least some turkey)
  • Remembering that mashed potatoes taste best when you don’t think about making them “healthy”

How was your Thanksgiving? What should we make for Christmas dinner?

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

14 thoughts on “Learning Laboratory: Thanksgiving Dinner”

  1. You’re doing better than me! I’ve never cooked a turkey, a chicken, but not a turkey.

    Your dinner turned out great!

    As for Christmas, your guess is as good as mine for now. I am undecided, but leaning towards a Christmas breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls, but no big dinner. We’ll see.

    I hope you are having a wonderful week!
    .-= Susana´s last blog ..Discover Christmas Days 1-5 =-.

  2. @Elisa – You’re smart to avoid handling hot things. I burned one of my knuckles pretty badly – and realized I’ve done it roughly once per decade, starting at 9 or 10 years old. Hopefully this means I get a break for the next 10 years!

    @Elisabeth – Thanks! And I think you’re right about the green beans…

    @Quadmama and Kelley – Now I feel like a gourmet chef – thanks! ;)

  3. joyce:waddleeahchaa.com

    Having Mike around to watch the kids is a super PLUS! We are having a south of the border
    Christmas: Tortilla soup, tamales, beans, spanish rice and guacamole, plus some wonderful desserts. YUM! :) joyce

  4. Maryanne, I cook my turkey upside-down all the time for the same reason quadmama does. I have a slightly different way of cooking it, though, than most people. I don’t even bother thawing it. I cook it from frozen solid, and it is the best turkey I’ve ever tasted. No such thing as dry leftovers with this method!

    Thanksgiving was crazy, but fun, this year. We had two other families here for a total of 15 people. I’ve never done anything like it before, but it was grand fun. We also had an ENORMOUS amount of food since we split it up between us but still made 6 or 7 dishes each. It was delicious, and the leftovers were great! We split all of them up between the three families so there was just enough to enjoy, but not so much that we got tired of them.

    I tend to stay pretty traditional for Thanksgiving, but I do something different every year for Christmas. A few years ago I started a Christmas journal where I keep all the traditional recipes (Christmas candy, frozen fruit salad, clam dip) and also the menus that I’ve used each Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I’ve then written reviews in the journal on each menu as to how it worked and whether I want to try those dishes again. It’s fun to look back and see what I’ve cooked. And I LOVE having all my traditional recipes in one place. I pack the journal with my decorations so I always know where it is.

  5. Mary Anne, good for you for taking on such a big challenge, especially with 3 little ones! It all turned out perfect in the end, plus you have a few funny stories to share for future holidays! ;-)

  6. Looks scrumptious! We turn our turkey a lot when roasting. I can email you the recipe if you like – it turns out perfect every time, though that could be because my husband handles that aspect of our Thanksgiving dinner! (I get scared about handling hot things in and out of the oven.)

    I laughed so much about your “healthy” mashed potato comment. Mash is one of my specialties (regular and sweet potato), and definitely the less healthy the better. :)
    .-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..a hat for Vi =-.

  7. This made me want to have another turkey for Christmas, but Lars would never agree. Maybe ham for Christmas? We will have pot roast, I think.
    .-= Natalie´s last blog ..What My Child Is Reading – Dec 4- 2010 =-.

  8. I cook my turkey upside down so the top of the turkey will stay juicy. See… that’s what you meant to do, right? My mother-in-law makes Thanksgiving dinner, so I usually cook a turkey for Christmas just for the six of us.
    .-= Quadmama´s last blog ..Double the Birthday Fun =-.

    1. @Quadmama – Now I feel like a gourmet chef – thanks! ;)

      @Elisa – You’re smart to avoid handling hot things. I burned one of my knuckles pretty badly – and realized I’ve done it roughly once per decade, starting at 9 or 10 years old. Hopefully this means I get a break for the next 10 years!

  9. I thought it was all delicious. I think the simplest solution to the green bean challenge would be to transfer them to a shallower dish.

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