Holiday Dishes

_{Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?}

This year I decided that I’d had my fill of traditional cooking in regards to long hours in the kitchen preparing the families favorite dishes. There’s nothing like getting up at 5am to get a 22-pound turkey dressed and into the oven. So, I looked to less labor-intensive recipes and found by spatchcocking our bird I’d cut down on coo0king time from 5 ½ hours to 2 ½ hours.  

While shopping from my list I looked to the turkey’s cousin for a replacement and found capon’s, poussin’s, along with Cornish game hens. But these are items I would slip past my family during a Sunday dinner instead of introducing at a Thanksgiving dinner.

While I feel confident straying from the family’s conventional fowl for Christmas, I will keep the customary side dishes fairly traditional. Everyone loves my mom’s recipe for broccoli casserole. It’s fairly simple but you can make it your own by adding items to make it taste phenomenal. What I’m proud of and enjoy most are the newest members of the family learning to make this favorite dish for their table. And, though I may tire of turkey, I’ll never give up the pecan pie.

_{A few sides that must be part of the holiday menu each year; candied yams, sweet potato pies, alway a ham with a turkey, and most importantly a broccoli casserole..}

_{^{This is Eli making the “broccoli casserole” last year at Christmas and his sister Aria making the dish for Thanksgiving yesterday.}}

^{My mom’s recipe for broccoli casserole.}

^{Happy Thanksgiving,
Kathleen}