Week Four: Entertaining
Practice-run a dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another upcoming holiday.

Dudes, I cannot even think about the holidays right now! But I have to. Steven and I are hosting a (very low-key) Thanksgiving this year for his mom and step-dad, so we’ll have to come up with a Thanksgiving dinner menu. It’s not the first time we’ve hosted — back in 2011, back when we were in Wisconsin, we hosted Thanksgiving for my immediate family and his mom, all of whom flew in to join us. I’m a little shocked we did that, now that I think back on it — we’d only been dating for nine months, yet we tackled a holiday dinner together. And it was 100% vegan! And we didn’t strangle one another!

If I learned anything from that experience, it was to keep things simple. I made three main dishes (including my first-ever Tofurky), and it was overkill! This year, I think we’ll offer one main dish and a whole bunch of sides. I might tackle some kind of turkey Wellington… or maybe we’ll just stick with one of the commercially available ones. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy are a given for the sides, and I’ll probably do some roasted garlicky Brussels sprouts. Maybe I’ll add something new, like this cauliflower gratin or even this roasted kabocha squash. For dessert? My sweet potato pie, for sure, and whatever else catches my eye.

Boring? Maybe. Also classic and no-fail. No need to bring added stress onto a laidback Thanksgiving, right?

Save