Thanksgiving 2012

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year.  Conan was very excited to have ALL his grandmas and grandpas and GG and cousin Chloe and Uncle Jon and Uncle Brian and Abby and Nikki come over for a party.

 

A few years back I got a dinosaur muffin pan.  Turns out, dinosaur ice cubes for the punch bowl are even better than dinosaur shaped muffins.  They were a hit with all ages. I may never make muffins in it again!

 

Mom and GG had come over and helped with two days of cooking, and everyone else brought dishes to contribute as well. We had a great feast.

The menu included:
Turkey (salted and roasted in a traditional style - delicious)
Stuffing (with bacon and turkey drippings)
Grandpa Dave's vegetarian stuffing
Turkey gravy
Brian's Vegetarian gravy
Cranberry sauce (with lemon, rosemary and pears)
Oven-fried Red Snapper
Butternut Squash with browned butter & thyme
Parsnips with Pears, Apples, rosemary & Maple syrup
Mom's Homemade Rolls
GG's Apple Sauce
Abby's Roasted Sweet Potatoes (or are they Yams?)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Anita's Macaroni salad
Nikki's Potato salad

 

And that's not even counting the 6 pies we had for dessert.  It was truly a feast.  Everyone had a great time, it was a great group of people to be thankful with.

 

After dinner and dessert, the kids changed into their PJs for a 'jama party and stick dragon rides.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

THE Biscuit Recipe

Here's the  recipe that will change how you feel about biscuits.  It's simple, fast, easy, and always makes great biscuits.  There's no denying that following the recipe and using buttermilk, white flour, and butter makes the best biscuits, but I've also tried it with all kinds of substitutions - whole wheat flour, cake flour, olive oil, coconut oil, whole milk, soy milk, even water.  They always turn out acceptably, even if they aren't quite the pinnacle of biscuitdom.

BEST DROP BISCUITS (Cooks Illustrated Dec. 2007)

2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. cold buttermilk (OR 1 c. other milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, let rest 10 minutes)
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter

1. Preheat oven to 475º
2. Melt butter in microwave, then let cool slightly - about 5 minutes.
3. Mix dry ingredients together.
4. Mix cold buttermilk & cooled melted butter together.  Stir until it gets super clumpy.
5. Mix liquid into dry ingredients.  Stir until batter just comes together, don't overmix.
6.  Portion into 12 biscuits on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes.

That's it!  No cutting butter into flour, no rolling out dough, it's about 10 minutes to mix up the batter & get them into the oven.  Very do-able on a weeknight and these always get rave reviews at potlucks.  Of course, now that I've let out how easy they are I might have to come up with something else to bring to potlucks so everyone doesn't realize how lazy I am. Oops.

Some variations:

• Substitute 3/4c. masa harina for an equal amount of the white flour to make corn-bread-y biscuits.
• Cook & crumble 6 strips of bacon and mix into flour mixture, along with 1 tsp back pepper.
• Add 1/2c. grated cheddar cheese and 1/4c. green onions or chives to flour mixture.
• Add 3/4c. grated parmesan cheese and 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary to flour mixture.

The problem with Dinner

Some nights, this is what Conan calls "eating all up" his dinner (a burrito, in this case):


Yep, 6 little nibbles, and he's done eating. D-O-N-E. You can coax, you can cajole, you can try to bribe him with promises of dessert if he eats Just Three More Bites! He will stand firm. He may cry when everyone around him has chocolate cake and he doesn't get any because he refused (and continues to refuse) to eat, but he Will. Not. Eat. Another. Bite. Of dinner.

Sure, some days he eats well, even asking for seconds on favorite items. On the whole, he's not a picky eater - he doesn't have anything against veggies, or need the crusts cut off his toast, or generally refuse to try new foods. But dinner is a struggle, more often than not.

We've tried things like letting him eat at the coffee table, eating with his fingers instead of silverware, pretending to be animals - "baby doggy, eat your doggy bone" - but while these novelties might work the first time, so far none have proven to be a real solution.

Serving his favorite foods helps somewhat. Cauliflower, broccoli, rice, grated cheese and anything with ketchup on it are usually good for a few extra bites. But they aren't a guarantee - from time to time he'll refuse even his most favorite foods, declaring "Me no like blueberries!" and other absurdities.

I try not to get frustrated. I don't want to turn dinner into a battleground. Already, I often get wails of "Noooooooo, no dinner! Nooooooooo!" when I mention that it's almost time to eat. (This doesn't happen with other meals - only dinner. Maybe we should pretend we're British, and try calling it Tea.)

I remind myself that not every meal has to be balanced. If all he eats is carbs tonight, I'll just try to get some protien into him tomorrow. Or vice versa.

I remind myself that he won't starve. He'll eat what he needs, when he needs it.

I remind myself that it's more important to model good eating habits myself than to try to force them on him. It's healthy to know when you are full and to stop eating then.

I remind myself that it's a win that he even sat in his chair at the table with us for a few bites. He's two; sitting still doesn't come easily.

I remind myself not to say "No" unless there's a real reason to. If he wants to use his fork to eat soup, fine. If he wants to take his lasagna apart and just eat the noodles, fine. We have four unbreakable rules: no standing up on the chair, no throwing/wasting food, no playing in or with beverages, and we always wear pants (at least a diaper) at the table.

Most importantly, no matter how frustrated I get, I take a deep breath and remind myself that it's only an hour until bedtime. I can get through an hour.