Reinventing Thanksgiving Classics–King Arthur Giveaway

Pretty cresecent rolls, but how to tweak?

From simple tweaks like orange-zested cranberry relish to curiosities like turducken (you know, the chicken stuffed into a duck tucked inside a turkey creation invention that peaked in popularity a few years ago), there’s been a trend toward mixing up classic Thanksgiving fare.

I like it.

Seems like reworking dishes is the tradition—I mean, someone thought, “Hey, I bet these yams would taste better with marshmallows on them.” And now in kitchens everywhere come November 25th there’s grandmother’s lonely yam dish on the corner of the buffet, untouched.

Or, there’s the brilliant baker who thought to throw some crisp-friend onions on top of the green beans. Bless her!

So what tweaks are you planning this year?

I’ve been thumbing through ideas at the Mixing Bowl, a cooking forum sponsored by Better Homes Gardens. I found this recipe for the green bean bake using one of my favorite ingredients, bacon. And a whole group discussion dedicated to stuffing.

I wish I could have gotten a better photo--but check out the buttery basil roll

Here’s what I’m thinking:

-Instead of just my regular dinner rolls, I’m adding fresh herbs into the roll for parsley and basil-infused crescents. They’re beautiful and make the buttery rolls stand out more on the buffet spread.

-Mashed potatoes—how about in lilac? I’m stocking up on purple potatoes to whip up with plenty of real butter. I’m saving the pumpkin for cookies and making a chocolate-raspberry truffle cheesecake for dessert (recipe to come Thursday:).

-Forget iceberg or even romaine lettuce, what about a Southern-style inspired kumquat salad? That sounds good too.

Now I want to help you get baking this season so I’m offering my own giveaway–

A $60 Gift Certificate to King Arthur Flour (my favorite baking company)

To enter:

leave a comment below with your Thanksgiving tweak

To increase your chances of winning:

• “like” MyKidsEatSquid on Facebook
• follow MyKidsEatSquid on Twitter
• subscribe to MyKidsEatSquid (you can use the email box, if you prefer–top left:)
• announce the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with the link here

Each time you comment, subscribe, like and follow, I’ll add another entry with your name on it. Contest ends, November 29th midnight EST. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on November 30th.

Looking for more chances to win this holiday season? Check out this list of recipe contests. I’ve been looking through the site as part of the Motherboard team. Once a week, I’ll be posting about the exciting things not to miss on the their site, and their affiliates.