This Thanksgiving will be different for most of us. Families dividing, hosting smaller gatherings. Other families, like mine, attending or hosting multiple smaller Thanksgivings to see and include everyone. Many are breaking from their usual traditions and that can be stressful.
Luckily, food is comforting, and the holidays incorporate a lot of food!
Don’t let your menu be a stressor. If you aren’t hosting a big group, don’t think you have to prepare a whole turkey. Small turkeys will be harder to come by this season with so many more small gatherings. With your honed kitchen skills from more meals at home, this is the year to be adventurous!
Plus, if you’re hosting the second or third Thanksgiving for some of your guests, switching up the main course might be a relief to those who are turkeyed-out.
Keep in mind…a quality chicken is ALWAYS a tasty, familiar, versatile, crowd-pleasing option. A whole chicken makes a great substitute for a whole turkey. It takes less space and time to cook, and chicken comes in so many great convenience cuts – white meat or dark, bone-in or boneless, with skin or without. Cornish hens make a great presentation, too!
If you want to be more adventurous than chicken, try duck! Or if turkey is a must-have at Thanksgiving, try a turkey breast instead of the full bird.
Regardless, find an interesting recipe. Cook a different way, like using that air fryer you probably bought that also happens to cook chicken perfectly. Embrace the changes this year and make good memories from them.
If anything good came out of COVID, it’s that families are back in the kitchen together, or at the very least, enjoying home-cooked meals again. If you need ideas, we have plenty of recipes and tips on our website that we happily share.
Happy Thanksgiving from my family. We all have plenty to be thankful for.
Duck is truly delicious! I grew up eating it as a 5 year old visiting my great aunt yearly in Long Island, NY. For two people we will cook a Bell & Evans turkey as we always do. We were suppose to celebrate our grandsons 1st birthday this November along with my husbands birthday and our dog turned one also. Instead we are deeply grateful to be safe and to tell everyone we love them by phone. I can almost taste the duck with peach dumplings and red cabbage. I hope someone out there cooks a duck and thinks of my great Aunt Josie who truly created a memory for me. Simply put it is hard to find a duck in the area I live but I encourage others to try this cuisine
Enjoyed a most delicious plate over the weekend.