I’ve made the same two Thanksgiving recipes since college friendsgivings: 1) green bean casserole and 2) sweet potato casserole. (Jewish Apple cake is my go-to if I’m on the hook for dessert) I didn’t grow up eating American Thanksgiving dishes at all, so I only had casseroles when my friends’ moms made them… until I learned how easy they are to whip up for a crowd.
Many a friendsgiving later, I have yet to get nice photos of either dish… These aren’t much to look at (let’s face it – most Thanksgiving food is brown and ugly), but for future reference, this is easier than scrolling through really old emails to myself and drafts saved in my Notes app 🙂
While I’m at it, here are some of my favorite Trader Joe’s finds for entertaining around the holidays:
- for when no one wants to make turkey: turkey cranberry meatballs
- for when no one needs the extra carbs but it feels wrong to not have rolls: Holiday herb rolls
- for when you don’t have enough oven space to make a dessert: pumpkin cheesecake
- for when you need something to nibble on before everyone arrives: Spanish Cheese Tapas sampler
Happy cooking!
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or any other milk substitute)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 lb frozen green beans (do not thaw, and don't use canned)
- 1/2 cup French fried onions (comes in a can)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a 9x13 baking dish, mix all the ingredients except for the fried onions, coating the green beans thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.
- Sprinkle the fried onions on top and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Variations: sprinkle slivered almonds on top for extra crunch, and/or mix in turkey breast for extra protein.
Using frozen green beans instead of canned is the easiest way to make this taste 1000x better than the typical version, with the same amount of effort! It makes a HUGE difference.
There are a lot of different kinds of sweet potatoes. For this recipe, I learned from a friend’s mom to use the Korean sweet potatoes that have purple/red skin and white flesh. Their flavor is milder and slightly nutty, a perfect complement to the butter/sugar mixture. Look for them in Korean/Asian supermarkets! That said, orange sweet potatoes are much more common so I’d recommend dialing down the sugar if you use orange. They to be sweeter, and can be overpowering.
- 4 cups cubed sweet potato (skin removed with a vegetable peeler)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 TB butter, softened
- 1/2 cup almond milk (or any other milk)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tb butter, softened
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- Boil the diced sweet potato cubes until soft. While the potatoes are boiling, butter a 9x13 baking dish and set aside. Drain and mash the potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand). Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Beat the remaining filling ingredients (sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk, vanilla) into the sweet potatoes, until smooth. Transfer into your prepared baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut the softened butter into the mixture until it's crumbly - I find it easiest to go in with my (clean) hands for this part. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle topping over the mashed sweet potato
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.
This is a good recipe to make with kids, because there are very straightforward "jobs" to assign - peeling the potatoes, mashing the potatoes, mixing the topping.
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