On Thanksgiving and non-convenience food
This is partly a reply to sylph's response here to the QotD. She is taking a retrospectively satirical look at convenience foods and recipes of the post-war period that used them (retrospective also meaning some posts she made earlier and on other blogs), and some of her response was concerning how such things have persisted to Thanksgiving dinners.
I mentioned there how some of this is difficult to escape, since canned foods are non-perishable and usually comprise the donations made to the food bank. We always get canned cranberry jelly there at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and often canned sweet potatoes.
As a general rule, we have yet to make a formal Thanksgiving dinner on our own. We have gone to my in-laws each year, and since we are but a few of the kids that show up, my mother-in-law will do whatever she can to make sure we come. Mashed rutabaga is now my favorite Thanksgiving food as a result, and of course, it has to be made from whole food. I thank my acquired taste to cafeteria staff exposing me to raw rutabaga years ago in elementary school during a nutrition education day.
I admit that mashed potatoes and gravy by my own preparation is sometimes from mix and flakes. I am certain, however, that my mother-in-law makes it from whole potatoes. But ever since I had mashed potatoes with a bit of the peel added back in at Whitman (in the middle of my undergrad years), I can appreciate retaining even more of the potato skin. I also discovered that the Yukon Gold variety is especially suitable for a nice batch of mashed potatoes.
Although I have yet to make gravy from scratch, I seem to remember my in-laws usually make it as such for the meal. I quite like how my father-in-law adds giblets (from the turkey, or chicken parts) to the gravy.
I am still trying to figure out how to puree pumpkin easily. Is it better to cook it first, so it can be scooped from the shell? You've already seen the stitches in my finger; Cimmy had to have her pinky stitched because we tried to do it the hard way-- peel off the shell and then blend it. But that year we were able to bring pumpkin pie made totally from scratch. I could taste the difference, even if others could not. We've already missed the window of opportunity, though, as far as pumpkin-- once Halloween hits, they're gone-- usually carted away the day after. But... a squash is a squash is a squash. I'm fairly sure other winter squashes can be used the same way pumpkins are. At the very least, I've been in the habit of saving the seeds and toasting them. It's quite easy now that we have a contact grill with removeable plates, one of them being a griddle plate.
Speaking of pies, we got a lot of apples through various means, and Cimmy decided to make some pies for our dinner with her parents. She decided to get pre-made shells, but homemade filling made from a mixture of Granny Smith, Gala, and some other varities should be quite delicious.
Relatively little of the meals will be leftovers of our own making. Besides the main meal with my in-laws, my parents have regularly begged us to come over to their place the day
after. (Since such Friday dinners are generally very small
affairs, we retain our option to duck out quickly when some family
members get too saucy.) We will always have leftovers from the meal with my in-laws, and maybe we might get a few leftovers from my folks. When we get high-processed convenience foods from area foodbanks and the LDS bishop's storehouse, more often than not, it will wind up as an ingredient to something else. I mentioned earlier how I like to use canned sweet potatoes as a Moroccan-style chicken dish. The jellied cranberries will usually wind up on store-bought bread with leftover turkey and stuffing usually made from a mix. Oh well. Nothing can be perfect, hehe. If we can tame a loaf made from the bread machine to make solid slices, maybe it will be homemade instead.
I mentioned there how some of this is difficult to escape, since canned foods are non-perishable and usually comprise the donations made to the food bank. We always get canned cranberry jelly there at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and often canned sweet potatoes.
As a general rule, we have yet to make a formal Thanksgiving dinner on our own. We have gone to my in-laws each year, and since we are but a few of the kids that show up, my mother-in-law will do whatever she can to make sure we come. Mashed rutabaga is now my favorite Thanksgiving food as a result, and of course, it has to be made from whole food. I thank my acquired taste to cafeteria staff exposing me to raw rutabaga years ago in elementary school during a nutrition education day.
I admit that mashed potatoes and gravy by my own preparation is sometimes from mix and flakes. I am certain, however, that my mother-in-law makes it from whole potatoes. But ever since I had mashed potatoes with a bit of the peel added back in at Whitman (in the middle of my undergrad years), I can appreciate retaining even more of the potato skin. I also discovered that the Yukon Gold variety is especially suitable for a nice batch of mashed potatoes.
Although I have yet to make gravy from scratch, I seem to remember my in-laws usually make it as such for the meal. I quite like how my father-in-law adds giblets (from the turkey, or chicken parts) to the gravy.
I am still trying to figure out how to puree pumpkin easily. Is it better to cook it first, so it can be scooped from the shell? You've already seen the stitches in my finger; Cimmy had to have her pinky stitched because we tried to do it the hard way-- peel off the shell and then blend it. But that year we were able to bring pumpkin pie made totally from scratch. I could taste the difference, even if others could not. We've already missed the window of opportunity, though, as far as pumpkin-- once Halloween hits, they're gone-- usually carted away the day after. But... a squash is a squash is a squash. I'm fairly sure other winter squashes can be used the same way pumpkins are. At the very least, I've been in the habit of saving the seeds and toasting them. It's quite easy now that we have a contact grill with removeable plates, one of them being a griddle plate.
Speaking of pies, we got a lot of apples through various means, and Cimmy decided to make some pies for our dinner with her parents. She decided to get pre-made shells, but homemade filling made from a mixture of Granny Smith, Gala, and some other varities should be quite delicious.
Relatively little of the meals will be leftovers of our own making. Besides the main meal with my in-laws, my parents have regularly begged us to come over to their place the day
after. (Since such Friday dinners are generally very small
affairs, we retain our option to duck out quickly when some family
members get too saucy.) We will always have leftovers from the meal with my in-laws, and maybe we might get a few leftovers from my folks. When we get high-processed convenience foods from area foodbanks and the LDS bishop's storehouse, more often than not, it will wind up as an ingredient to something else. I mentioned earlier how I like to use canned sweet potatoes as a Moroccan-style chicken dish. The jellied cranberries will usually wind up on store-bought bread with leftover turkey and stuffing usually made from a mix. Oh well. Nothing can be perfect, hehe. If we can tame a loaf made from the bread machine to make solid slices, maybe it will be homemade instead.