If someone invites you over for a homemade Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, cranberries & pumpkin pie) no matter how good or bad the food was, you should lift them up, in their chair, and carry them around the neighborhood like the Rose Parade with everyone following and cheering for the cook. You might even build a float for them made out of plywood and turkey feathers, because cooking Thanksgiving dinner is a huge accomplishment for even the most experienced cook. After the parade, send them to Hawaii for a week. They’ll need it.
After every Thanksgiving turkey dinner I make, I always say, “Next year, we’re going out. I’m not doing this again. It’s too stressful!” But then we go out and the food is awful and I miss my home cooking so I do it again. All this is to explain why I have no turkey dinner recipes to share. But I do have sides and desserts!
I wish I could share a fabulous roast turkey or stuffing recipe but I’ve never made my stuffing the same way twice. I make a bread stuffing and sometimes I add mushrooms, sometimes shredded apple, sometimes walnuts, and sometimes all of the above. And my turkey? Well, I’ve roasted it upside down, right side up, brined it, bagged it, rubbed it, and I still don’t have a recipe I can share.
But I do have these four contributions to Thanksgiving cooks that I hope you enjoy.
For my Fresh Cranberries recipe that cooks in 5 minutes, click here.
For my Easy One-Rise Dinner Rolls recipe, click here.
For my Healthier Easier Pumpkin Pie recipe that uses no butter, click here.
For my Easy Pecan Pie recipe that you can also make without butter, click here.
Happy Thanksgiving! – Jenny Jones
My mother never taught me to cook, but she wasn’t a good one anyway, so didn’t matter. Through the years I have learned through trial and error, which has led me to guess at measurements and amounts. When someone asks me for a recipe, it’s impossible to give them one because I don’t use them.
I totally understand, Jenny. My grandmother made the best dressing/stuffing. She had no recipe for it. She said she couldn’t put measurements together for us to use, because she just threw everything together. She had a great feel and love for cooking and didn’t need to measure certain things. I watched her make it a few times and got a feel of how she did it, plus watching my Mom make it as I was growing up helped me when it comes to Thankgiving dressing…
Holiday cooking can be stressful for one person to do I agree, so take it easy and relax when you can. Don’t push yourself. That’s why we break it down to who cooks what so it won’t be so stressful for one person…
I was told once by a neighbor to cook turkey upside down. I start off with it upside down and the last hour or so I turn it upright to get it golden brown on top. It turns out great and they love it…
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