Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thanksgiving Fail



The other day, while surfing foodnetwork.com and trying to create a dinner menu, I became excited by the fact that Thanksgiving is only a mere 10 days away. So excited, in fact, that I decided to cook (with Dan's help) a mini-Thanksgiving meal.

Oh boy...


Although salad may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think TG, I find it to be a necessary dish among all the butter laden ones on the table. This salad is refreshing and easy. All you need is spinach, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a vinaigrette of your choice.


Number one reason for eating Thanksgiving dinner? Candied yams. Amazingly enough, yams are a pretty health starch, full of potassium and higher in protein than most root vegetables. These health benefits are only slightly hindered by the addition of brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows (a no-fat food!). Dan is not a fan of these, however I look forward to them every year, so they had to be part of our pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving meal. But these yams...they just weren't quite right. Normally I would be able to make an entire meal of these. Not this time.


So here is where all really fell apart. Herb roasted turkey breast. Sounds easy enough. According to Rachael Ray (whom I will never trust again), all we needed was skin-on turkey breast, fresh herbs—oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley—lemon, salt, and pepper. This turkey was the worst. Ever. It may have turned me off to turkey for life. The texture was bizarre and beyond explanation. And as Dan succinctly said "I'm not sure how this turkey manages to be overly-herbed and under flavored simultaneously, but it does."

Long story short, Dan felt especially disappointed by "Thanksgiving," so he ended up where all failed meals do: McDonalds. I stole a few fries.


That concludes the tale of Thanksgiving Fail. The next time I feel like recreating a meal that only happens once a year, I won't. I guess that means I won't be making any St. Patrick's Day corned beef. Oh well!


Til next time. 

2 comments:

  1. Haha, this is your BEST blog posting yet. Hehee, I am still grinning and chuckling as I write this. On a more supportive note,...everything LOOKED delicious and that is step one toward success. Keep this in mind, sometimes it isn't the cook who blows it but the so called "chef" who provides the recipe. For that reason I usually stick to "America's Test Kitchen" recipes as one can feel fairly confident that all will taste as good as the photos suggest since the whole premise behind The test kitchen is to test, test, and retest recipes so you, the home chef, will have nothing but success. I applaud your efforts, both of you, I love that you tried. Now start planning that St. Patty's Day meal, never let a "fail" permanently defeat you. In fact, it's the best lesson to learn from.

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    1. Sound advice! It was a funny and interesting night, to say the least. I guess this teaches me to not pick random recipes off Food Network!

      xo,
      Holly

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