Season 1, bonus episode - small plate: talking turkey 2019

Transcript

Conner: (00:00)
Welcome to Kiddos in the Kitchen, a podcast hosted by my mom.

Stephanie: (00:15)
For most of my life, Thanksgiving foods have not been foods I wanted to eat, much less cook. Turkey, blah. Mashed potatoes, gross. Green bean casserole, blech. So when it came time for volunteers to host Thanksgiving dinner, I was out.

Stephanie: (00:34)
I didn't want the stress. The stress of a perfect table, the stress of getting the turkey perfectly golden brown, the stress of dealing with everyone's expectations of what perfect side dishes should be on the table. But one year when no one else in the family wanted the stress either, I raised my hand to host and something kind of crazy happened. I loved it.

Stephanie: (01:00)
I loved being able to create allergy-friendly dishes for my son. I loved learning how to make a turkey. I've enjoyed experimenting with stuffing recipes, and mostly I've loved having my whole family at my home. I've loved it all.

Stephanie: (01:18)
This is a Kiddos in the Kitchen Small Plate. We're all about helping busy adults find the inspiration and information they need, to teach the kids in their lives how to cook, and our small plates offer a bit of bonus content. I'm your host, Stephanie Conner, and today with Thanksgiving coming up on us, I want to share a couple of sweet stories.

Stephanie: (01:43)
I also want to share the Kiddos Cook Holiday Food Guide, which you can find at kiddoscook.com. In this ebook you'll find tips for getting kids in the kitchen this holiday season, resources and links to some of my favorite articles for holiday food and several allergy-friendly recipes that I lean on for the holidays.

Stephanie: (02:05)
The first story I want you to hear is from Toria Frederick, co-owner of The Step Stool Chef. Toria appeared in episode 1 of Kiddos in the Kitchen, and today she reminds us to slow down at Thanksgiving and savor cooking with our family.

Toria: (02:32)
One of my favorite times of the year is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is very big in our home. It is my favorite holiday because it's an opportunity to practice one of my favorite virtues, which is gratitude, and to really truly be thankful. But also part of that holiday is a big cooking holiday in our family.

Toria: (02:57)
Now, we're able to divide up meals and everyone can take ownership of their own dish to contribute to our Thanksgiving meal. And typically, my husband's responsible for the turkey. We each get some type of side dish, and it is so much fun for all of us to be in the kitchen at one time. Everyone's able to create their own dish.

Toria: (03:24)
So if it's my youngest doing our apple pie bites, or if it's Julian making a souffle, or if it's me making my Southern collard greens, it's just a fun time for all of us to... We're singing songs. Thanksgiving is when we start playing Christmas songs, we're that family, that plays Christmas songs at Thanksgiving.

Toria: (03:48)
I think it's the first part that you can just slow down and just be in the moment. And I think cooking allows for you to just slow down and be in the moment when you are making it such a fun family event, versus cooking switches from a chore to an act of love. That it feels different, feels better on Thanksgiving.

Stephanie: (04:12)
I had to share this tidbit from Margie Saidel, who will be a guest on the podcast this spring. She's a registered dietician, and the vice president of Nutrition and Sustainability at Chartwells K12, a contract food service management company. I asked her about a memorable time in the kitchen, and she's shared a funny and relatable story, not about Thanksgiving, but about that terrifying bird. The turkey.

Margie: (04:39)
When my husband and I first met... Now this is embarrassing. We had his parents over for dinner. It wasn't Thanksgiving, but we had a turkey and we were making a turkey. We always cooked together. We had a lot of fun. We argued quite a bit, too, because I followed the recipe and he didn't. I'm a more creative cook now, after I've gotten a lot of experience, but this was in my early twenties. And we cooked the turkey with the giblets inside of it. We didn't take anything out.

Margie: (05:07)
Now, not only is that a failure, but probably a bit dangerous also. But we made sure the turkey was the right temperature, and we didn't even figure it out. Of course the parents did, so that was pretty embarrassing.

Margie: (05:25)
You know, it's probably not that uncommon though, if you never did it. We had Thanksgiving dinner at home every year, but I guess I never made the turkey. We made... I have fond Thanksgiving memories of the vegetables, so I probably should have known even at that point as a child, that I was going to go into this business and be so passionate about fruits and vegetables. Because that's what I remember making and being excited about. And of course it's stuffing, too, but I guess I never made the turkey.

Stephanie: (05:53)
Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Let me ask you this, just because Thanksgiving is upon us, and it's something I love cooking for myself. What vegetables got you excited when you were younger? What are your traditional side dishes?

Margie: (06:07)
Well, what I got excited about when I was growing up, is really different from what I cook now. Only because... I succumbed to what my kids prefer, but I remember parsnips, which are not really that common. And I remember creamed onions, which are also not that common. But my favorite side dish... And of course everybody wants the same food every year in my family. Like God forbid you should change the menu. Oh, God, they...

Margie: (06:40)
So my favorite dish is the cranberry relish... And everybody makes some sort of cranberry. But obviously fresh cranberries with tangerine zest... And tangerine is one of my favorite fruits, and a little bit of sugar but not a lot. And it's just so delicious. It's a little bit tart and a little bit of a sense of the tangerine, but it's such a pleasure eating it.

Margie: (07:06)
Next to... Everything is a little bit creamy at Thanksgiving... the sweet potatoes, the stuffing, the gravy, and this is so different. The texture's different, the taste is a little bit different. And the color as you can imagine really pops, because also on Thanksgiving, there is lots of things that are brown and beige, even if you're cooking colorful fruits and vegetables, is it's quite a bit of brown and beige on the plate. So, that's my favorite side dish these days.

Stephanie: (07:45)
Thanksgiving is a special day. It's family and food and tradition. We eat too much turkey and stuffing and pie. We watch football. We drink too much wine. As with any family gathering, there's love and laughter and yes, the opportunity for tears too. But for all of its faults, Thanksgiving has genuinely become one of my favorite days of the year. So however you're spending your Thanksgiving, I wish you a joyous holiday and a giblet-free turkey.

Stephanie: (08:29)
Thanks for joining me for this Kiddos in the Kitchen Small Plate. I'm your host, Stephanie Conner, with a reminder from my son.

Conner: (08:36)
If you like my mom's podcast as much as I do, you can subscribe on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Stephanie: (08:55)
That's right, Conner. You can also view the show notes, subscribe to our newsletter and check out all of our other content@kiddosinthekitchen.com. Or Kiddos Cook on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And I'll be back next month with another fresh episode. Until then, I encourage you to get your kiddos in the kitchen.