Star Tv Turkey
Banda Philpot
Whether it's mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce, the sides will likely be the stars of Thursday's feast. Like I mentioned last week, the aforementioned sides are staples at our family gathering in Rushville. Throw in some variation of scalloped corn, dinner rolls and a variety of salads, and that about sums up Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's home.
If I had to choose, I'd rank dressing as my No. 1 favorite side, just ever-so-slightly beating out green bean casserole. To me, those two things just say Thanksgiving. Of course a given is the gravy, which is spread over just everything on my plate. I'll never forget a Thanksgiving feast of many years ago, when as a young teen, I said, "Where's the gravy?" as we sat down at the dinner table. As it turned out, hostess Aunt Susan forgot to make the gravy. Fortunately, Grandma Hodges and the rest of the ladies came to the rescue by whipping up the must-have brown stuff. Believe me, the "Where's the gravy?" story comes up every time we sit down for a Thanksgiving dinner.
But I was curious as to what my friends, readers, and local and even national celebrities put on their tables for Thanksgiving dinner. Not surprisingly, whether you're one of the world's most famous supermodels, a CNN anchorman, a coach, a nurse or a street department worker, we pretty much all like the same sides.
A Supermodel, you ask? Of course I'm now friends with Niki Taylor after she phoned me last spring to discuss Galesburg's efforts in the Reader's Digest "We Hear You America" contest. I dropped Niki a Tweet about midnight Sunday, and in a matter of minutes the new mom replied, "easy ... mashed potatoes ... I love them."
The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore, the guy you see getting blown every which way during our county's biggest hurricanes and standing in three feet of snow during winter's blizzards, had a tougher time deciding on his favorite side. Jim told me via Twitter: "Cranberry sauce or sweet potato pie. Too hard to pick just one."
Former WAIK Radio and current voice of the WIU Leathernecks Beau Spencer: I could eat a whole plate of stuffing, don't know if that counts as a side dish. I also love that green marshmallow stuff.
Landmark Cafe & Creperie owner Phil Dickinson: Stuffing that has pork sausage and wild rice as an accent but the real kicker to it?...extra sage. Also, my mom makes her "make ahead mashed potatoes." Carol Moore (Painter) published this once in your paper and I get more comments about her food than I ever have about mine (it's deserved though, she's an amazing cook).
Register-Mail Local News Editor Rob Buck: Pumpkin pie with Cool Whip count? Isn't that a side dish? If not, umm, creamed corn casserole. My crazy sister always adds something different to mix it up. Like Aunt Bethany's cat food in the Jell-O.
Carl Sandburg College President Lori Sundberg: I'm a comfort food person every day, not just Thanksgiving! My favorite is Reames noodles, but mashed potatoes and gravy are a close second!
Bill Spilman: My grandma's oyster dressing is delish. Cannot go wrong with the requisite mashed potatoes and gravy or cranberry sauce. Danner's rolls would have been a good nominee as well but, alas, no more.
(No disrespect toward Danner's or any other roll maker, but I completely pass on the rolls on Thanksgiving Day. Too many other goodies to waste valuable stomach space for bread. I'm in the minority in that strategy at our family dinner.)
City of Galesburg Public Information Officer Sue Davidson: I would like experimenting with sides but my family is very traditional. One year when I was following a popular diet regime I served a "legal" Thanksgiving dinner. It didn't go over very well but everyone was polite and didn't complain. I learned you just don't mess around with the traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus reporter and Knox College grad Bill Mayeroff: I consider turkey my favorite side dish. Between my mom's sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and various vegetables, turkey tends to take a back seat.
Knox College senior and editor of The Knox Student John Williams: Carrot Pudding. My mother makes it and it is my favorite thing ever. Yes its not your standard pudding, but pudding in the British sense.
Juley Douglass Allee: I love the dressing. My grandmother made it outside the bird. She would lay the white bread out on the counter 2 or 3 days ahead of time to dry it, use lots of onion and celery sauted in butter, add the broth from boiling the giblets and neck, and lots of sage, and salt and pepper--then she would spread it thin in a large pan, so that it would become dry and crispy in the oven. At the table, I would place a slice of breast meat, and a little dark meat right next to the dressing, cover generously with her incredible turkey giblet gravy, and take a bite that included all three of those--and I was in heaven. Mmmm....my mouth waters with all the tradition, and love, and family history that memory entails. Since then, all the cooks in the family try to emulate that wonderful recipe. But there's nothing like Grandma's own.
Dave Dunn: Natalie Kessler and I have a tradition of our own. We hunt rabbits on Thanksgiving day and fry them. Wild rabbit is our favorite meat. Plus we get plenty of exercise to overcome the guilt of everything else we eat. Natalie's favorite side is canned cranberry jelly. (must be in the shape of the can for proper slicing) Mine is cheap store-bought stuffing with Dave's Gator Sauce of course. I am after all a traditionalist:)
A couple of local television news anchors - Jason Fechner of WQAD and Kim Johnson of Fox 18 - were kind enough to fill me in on what a typical Thanksgiving is like for them.
Jason told me: This is the first Thanksgiving weekend in nine years that I'm actually off on Thursday and Friday (a rare feat in TV). Typically I've spent them with co-workers at my house or at WQAD, but this year I'll road-trip to my Aunt Karen and Uncle Rolands' house in Kildeer, IL. My Thanksgiving meals are typically a violent affair, fork-and-knife flying, bearing close resemblance to Nathan's Famous Hot Dog competition. I'm a big fan of stuffing, as an appetizer, main course and likely a dessert. Really looking forward to time with family this weekend and I hope you have an excellent holiday with yours!
And Kim told me: Working in the TV news business, my Thanksgiving meal varies because I often work on the holiday. Sometimes the station will cater a meal for employees which is always appreciated by everyone an devoured quickly. When I'm not working, I enjoy going home to Maple Grove, Minn., to spend it with my mom and sister and extended family. We like to open our home to any friends anyone we might know who doesn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time for open doors. I love sitting around a table with others and taking time to reflect on all the blessings that are SO easy to take for granted.
The Huffington Post is running a neat online feature called the Best Thanksgiving Side Dishs Bracket Challenge. In bracket format, The Huff Post matched 16 different sides against each other for readers to vote on, and they're now down to final four. And a pretty weak final four, it is.
Dinner Rolls matches up against No. 1 seed Stuffing on one side of the Final Four, while No. 3 Mashed Potatoes goes against No. 4 Fresh Cranberry Sauce in the other semifinal. Voting continues at www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/best-thanksgiving-side-dish_n_1105267.html?ref=food
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You might not think of chili as an easy weeknight dish, but this turkey version from Pierre Franey will change your mind. It's fabulous, it's healthy and it can be cooked in about a half hour. A combination of dark and white meat really adds depth and richness of flavor, so try to find a mix, but all white meat (or a mixture of ground beef and turkey) will yield a stellar batch too.
My recipe gets its name from using Texas Jet Lone Star Chili Seasoning, a packet of spices brought home by my boyfriend after a trip to Houston. However, you can make your own chili seasoning with this Taste of Home recipe, if you need it.
Saute the garlic and onions in a tablespoon of melted butter until soft before adding a pound of ground turkey. Over medium heat to medium-high heat, stir the meat with the garlic and onions continuously until it is cooked thoroughly, Because there is no grease to drain (healthier!), you can then add the canned ingredients, mix well, cover and allow to cook on a medium-low simmer until the chili reaches the consistency you prefer for serving (typically about 30 minutes).
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