Macaroni & Cheese For Thanksgiving Dinner

[katie111]

My son has his "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner every year....Kraft mac & cheese. And a couple of rolls and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

 

[MrsDuck]

Sounds delicious! Do it.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

If it's for the kids, why not?

..

Honestly, it's not just that I don't like it...it completely turns my stomach. The sight and especially the smell of it can make me gag. DH has to make it for the kids, last time I tried I nearly vomited. I can tolerate being near the homemade stuff, but I'm not going to have something that makes me feel like I'm going to vomit at my Thanksgiving dinner. I know it's weird. This is really the only food I have this bad an issue with.

 

[rlk]

I have one very picky eater who requests mac and cheese. It is requested for every holiday meal now, although, I leave out the tomatoes. This recipe is delicious! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mac-and-cheese-recipe2-1945401

 

[NYCgrrl]

There is NEVER not enough room for a good fresh hot bread and butter.
Fake crescent rolls... ummmmm, not so much.
But nothing beats a good hot fresh yeast roll with unsalted butter that has been doused with salt!!!!
OMG....

Nope, I def. do not allow myself to indulge in rolls and butter, except for an occasion like Thanksgiving.
And, that is one of the things that makes Thanksgiving SO good!!!!!

As a family, nobody serves yeast rolls anymore since my Nana died. Apparently I was the only one with the recipe and uhm I lost it during a move. Massive oops. Tried to make it up by recreating the receipt from memory but the best I could get from the gathered assembly was "nice but not Nana's". Recently found an Edna Lewis method that reads much like Nana's and they both came from the same part of VA so I've hopes.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We'll likely have Instant Pot Mac and cheese on our Thanksgiving table. DD22 is a vegetarian, so I like to have a couple sides that'll really fill her up. Plus, DD14 and DS11 love it. I'm doing it in the Instant Pot because I have a really small oven that will be put to better use.

What better use, you say? Well, we go for the Rhodes rolls. These are sold as frozen dough balls--they do take a few hours to thaw and rise, but they taste AMAZING!!! If I don't have Rhodes rolls, I'll have a mutiny on my hands. And don't even think about serving them with anything less than real butter. In fact, there's no place for margarine, anywhere, on Thanksgiving. Real butter, or maybe lard (or vegetable shortening) in your pie crust.

OTOH, no green bean casserole here. Nobody would touch it--whether I make the standard cream of mushroom soup variety, or fancied it up and made it fresh. We're going with glazed carrots and sweet potato casserole with a streusel topping, because I HATE sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

 

[sam_gordon]

As long as someone will eat (most of) it, why does it matter? I don't get the hate.

 

[RedAngie]

OP back. DD says she'll make the mac & cheese that's in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I've made it about a dozen times over the years. A different version than that in post #84. No tomatoes.

Ham on Thanksgiving- blasphemy Easter ok, Thanksgiving NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 6 years ago we went to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. Me, DH, DDs, my parents, and a few other relatives. I was the only person to order turkey. The rest ordered ham, or fish, or pork, or whatever. I was kind of insulted. What's wrong with you people???!!! Don't you like the turkey I make every year????

It would be a "no" from me, but only because I'm super-rigid and my holiday dinner menus are sacrosanct.

If somebody else brought it though, I'd politely put it on the table {{sigh}}. Remember that fun thread about the noodle salad, Red?

Yes, I remember that you're not too keen about guests bringing unsolicited side dishes to your chic dinner parties, especially if the dishes clash with your carefully selected menus.

But I thought you posted that you'd chuck the offending dish into the trash right in front of the violator's face and then banish him/her from your home forever.

 

[rlk]

OP back. DD says she'll make the mac & cheese that's in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I've made it about a dozen times over the years. A different version than that in post #84. No tomatoes.

I make that recipe without the tomatoes.

 

[wenrob]

We'll likely have Instant Pot Mac and cheese on our Thanksgiving table. DD22 is a vegetarian, so I like to have a couple sides that'll really fill her up. Plus, DD14 and DS11 love it. I'm doing it in the Instant Pot because I have a really small oven that will be put to better use.

What better use, you say? Well, we go for the Rhodes rolls. These are sold as frozen dough balls--they do take a few hours to thaw and rise, but they taste AMAZING!!! If I don't have Rhodes rolls, I'll have a mutiny on my hands. And don't even think about serving them with anything less than real butter. In fact, there's no place for margarine, anywhere, on Thanksgiving. Real butter, or maybe lard (or vegetable shortening) in your pie crust.

OTOH, no green bean casserole here. Nobody would touch it--whether I make the standard cream of mushroom soup variety, or fancied it up and made it fresh. We're going with glazed carrots and sweet potato casserole with a streusel topping, because I HATE sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

They stopped making the margarine I’ve used my entire life. After many trials we permanently made the switch to butter year round. If they started making my margarine again I don’t think I could go back. The real thing or nothing now.

I’ve never understood the appeal of green bean casserole. It’s visually appalling. They say you eat with your eyes first and for me it has to look tasty. The one time I tried it so as not to hurt feelings it tasted about as good as it looks. If I make green beans for the holidays I sauté them with bacon and onions, the way green beans were meant to be eaten.

 

[RedAngie]

I make that recipe without the tomatoes.

I'll have to check my cookbook. It was published about the same time as the on-line recipe (2002). Maybe it's the same recipe, but like you, I've always skipped the tomatoes.

 

[JaneBanks]

My younger kids hate homemade Mac & Cheese. It’s boxed or none for them.

That’s weird that you like broccoli with cheese but not Mac & Cheese. The sauce is essentially the same thing.

I know, it is weird. Maybe it's the pasta. I'm not very big on pasta.

 

[pigletto]

Aye or nay?

Not as the main course, but as one of the sides.

DD says she wants it, but I've never served it before on Turkey Day. Nor have I ever been to anybody's house who served it.

I know it's popular in some areas.

DD can bring it over. Hopefully she'll make a "real" one, not Kraft from a box.

We've never had it for Thanksgiving but I would be totally open to it. My sister makes my grandmas recipe and it wins first place at the local fair every year. It's that good. Definitely deserves a place on the Thanksgiving table .

 

[LilyWDW]

I don't make it but that is because these days I cook for one person and am already making enough food that I can eat for a week without cooking again. I already make a whole turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole (I am one who LOVES this stuff but I only make it twice a year), sweet potatoes (the way I make them changes every year), rolls, gravy, and peanut butter pie (I don't like pumpkin pie). No room for macaroni and cheese as well.

My family goes out to eat every year and the buffet has a great macaroni and cheese on it that I eat way to much of. So it's not that I have a problem with the stuff, I just don't want to cook it on top of everything else.

Also, I can't find a recipe I love. All the baked versions come out way to dry in my opinion. I like my macaroni and cheese super creamy.

 

[wenrob]

I know, it is weird. Maybe it's the pasta. I'm not very big on pasta.

I think also some people lose their minds with the cheese in Mac & Cheese thinking more is always better. IMO that’s not true and can ruin it. You may be experiencing people going overboard because it can’t be the pasta, pasta is always a good thing.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I'll bet you miss her, and those rolls....
Good luck! They sound amazing!

 

[wonder whisper]

Why not!
Everything doesn't have to be the classic, American, turkey and dressing.

IMHO mac and cheese can be a winner around holidays, if it is truly a well done version. But as for having it for Thanksgiving, my sense is it fits better as a cold weather comfort food item for a casual pre-Christmas (or perhaps Christmas Eve, for those like yours truly that reserve the big feast for Christmas Day) meal.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I know I'm in the minority but I am not a fan of homemade mac and cheese. I'm not a huge fan of boxed either but if I had to choose between the two, I pick the boxed.

For some reason, I find homemade mac and cheese to be very greasy and if you're not eating it when it's piping hot, it turns in to a ball of gritty, cold cheese and pasta. No matter who makes it, I never like it...

I was like that as a kid. Looking back, my poor mom was probably really confused because neither my brother nor I liked her carefully homemade version, but we would both eat Kraft. For years, I wouldn't try anyone else's either, just thought I hated homemade mac 'n cheese. Then I finally tried making my own for DH, and actually liked it! It turns out it was just hers I didn't like, because she loved it extremely creamy (to the point that I thought of it as "cheese soup with macaroni" ) and I like the drier baked kind with lots of crumbs on top.

(Not that any of that will help you, if you don't really like pasta, but I didn't want you to feel alone!)


To the original question, mac 'n cheese as a Thanksging side would be fine by me. As long as my favorite parts of the meal (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and rolls) are there, I love experimenting with whatever different sides anyone cares to bring!

 

[NYCgrrl]

IMHO mac and cheese can be a winner around holidays, if it is truly a well done version. But as for having it for Thanksgiving, my sense is it fits better as a cold weather comfort food item for a casual pre-Christmas (or perhaps Christmas Eve, for those like yours truly that reserve the big feast for Christmas Day) meal.

I bet there are major differences between holiday menus based on where you live and the surrounding weather. Most of my immediate US family lives in the NE so we are quite ready for comfort food by the time Thanksgiving comes around.

I spent one memorable holiday meal (can't recall if it was T-Day or a December holiday anymore) hosted by my would be MIL if only I'd stop regarding her son as my toy boy; I'm allergic to ever getting married again but have no problem living in sin for decades on end.
It was Publix takeout...their turkey platter (tasted like sawdust), fruit platter (worked for me), shrimp platter (not overcooked so truly thanks much!) but no hot food of any sort. We just noshed through the day and I found it culturally and regionally different. Not unpleasant just different.

For my family it still is all about getting dressed for every get together between November and January 1st. Talking about family memories of those long gone and still here. Cooking a work your butt off home meal that draws on all our traditions. And my sisters and I fight the losing battle of watching TV sports whilst eating. My immediate family will be spending this Christmas Eve and Day, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve and Day (Yes. We celebrate them all, LOL) in a new environment, Disney World. Trying to embrace the new w/o forgetting the old.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Honestly, it's not just that I don't like it...it completely turns my stomach. The sight and especially the smell of it can make me gag. DH has to make it for the kids, last time I tried I nearly vomited. I can tolerate being near the homemade stuff, but I'm not going to have something that makes me feel like I'm going to vomit at my Thanksgiving dinner. I know it's weird. This is really the only food I have this bad an issue with.

This is exactly me with the boxed orange mac and cheese. I can handle the smell of Annie's grass fed white cheddar fine, but the orange stuff in the blue box makes me physically sick when I smell it. Mustard does the same thing to me. I've never known anyone else who had a reaction like that, so I'm glad to finally know it's not just me.