Thanksgiving break is just around the corner and with it an abundance of food. Unfortunately, most college friends live far away and can’t come over to enjoy each other’s traditions. There’s hope there, though, as you can easily make a quick Thanksgiving dinner between now and break. Or you can just wait until after the break.
The traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and of course, turkey. Obviously, replace any of these with your classic dishes or add more. Consider Friends-giving as a time to allow your traditions to merge together.
For the turkey, go small if you’re only having three or four friends eating. Giant does have a coupon for a free turkey if you’re a part of the rewards program. No worries if you only do turkey breasts too as they are cheaper than a full turkey. No need to baste or brine the turkey unless you want to. Otherwise, make sure there’s nothing in the cavity of the bird either full bird or breast. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Fill the cavity with spices like rosemary, thyme, pepper or fruits like apples and lemons. Put the turkey on a greased pan and brush some melted butter and herbs over the bird. Put the turkey in for roughly two hours, typically 13 minutes per pound of turkey.
For the mashed potatoes, you can go the easy route and use dehydrated potatoes from a box and add some garlic and chives to the mix to season it up. If you want to go classic, peel some russet potatoes and cut them into small pieces or chunks. The smaller the pieces are the easier the mashing is. Plop the potatoes into boiling water and wait til they are tender, but still firm, which should be about 15 minutes. While you wait, mix a cup of milk, three tablespoons of butter and some chives and garlic powder until the butter is melted. Drain the potatoes and slowly pour the milk-butter into the potatoes, mashing the potatoes and blending them together until smooth.
The stuffing is pretty similar to the mashed potatoes. You can buy a package of croutons made specifically for stuffing or you can break up some bread and dry it. Either way, pour the croutons into a baking dish. Add in some veggies like onions and celery and herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme as well as pepper and salt into a pan and saute the veggies. Once the vegetables are cooked, mix them into the baking dish. Pour in some chicken broth and melted butter. Stick the baking dish into a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Green beans are fairly simple to make. You can pour the frozen green beans into a microwave-safe bowl and put an inch of water at the bottom. Cover the dish and put the dish into the microwave, zapping it for a few minutes. Of course, you can boil the green beans in salted water for a few minutes and drain them.
Last but not least: pumpkin pie. You can easily get a premade crust or make the crust yourself. Either way, you’re gonna need canned pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and two eggs. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F and combine the milk, pumpkin, the spices, eggs and salt in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and pour into the crust. Pop the pie into the oven for 35 minutes and let it cool. Obviously serve with dollops of whipped cream on top or with vanilla ice cream.
If you want to get fancy this Friends-giving, get some nice sparkling cider or sparkling grape juice to go with the dinner. Remember to be thankful for the friends you have and have fun making the dinner. It’s best to make the dinner together and each contributes to the feast. Just don’t set off any fire alarms!
