Home for Thanksgiving with Reser Fine Foods

Home for Thanksgiving with Reser Fine Foods

I remember last Thanksgiving – I slow cooked the Turkey all night to perfection. The smell permeated throughout the entire apartment. The first word out of my boyfriend’s mouth was a lingering, “Mmmmm!” My dog, Duke (a nosey little Peekapoo) stood at attention awaiting the release of the oven door. I am pretty sure he would have jumped inside the oven if I hadn’t stopped him as he adjusted his hind legs to lunge. Cooked Duke, anyone?

Everything seemed to be going glorious. That was until I realized that I wasn’t near finished cooking – not even a little bit!

On my list were the usual dishes:

• mashed potatoes
• gravy
• stuffing
• green bean casserole
• cornbread pudding
• cesar salad
• pumpkin pie (store bought, thank you lord)

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. With my boyfriend entranced by the Football game and the roar of the crowd filling the air – I realized that I was on my own! I scurried from the sink to the oven, and from the oven to the fridge, and on my way to the counter I dropped the milk – it was a milk explosion!

“Touchdown!” my boyfriend screamed from the living room, while I sat in a pile of dairy – my eyes swelled up with tears. The milk was no more – and there would be no mashed potatoes, gravy or green bean casserole.  I was mortified. All of our local stores were closed for the day. I spent the next 20 minutes crying in the bathroom and cleaning the mascara from my face. I had to get it together! It was Thanksgiving after all!

By the time my boyfriend, Duke and I sat down to our cheerfully decorated table we were minus the mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole. We still had a delicious mix of turkey, stuffing, cornbread pudding, cesar salad and pumpkin pie, but it just wasn’t the same. I was disheveled, with gravy on my new silk blouse and my boyfriend actually caught me falling asleep during our meal. That’s when I decided next year would be different. Next year would be easy.

My neighbor suggested that I try Reser’s Main St. Bistro® premade dishes for next year’s Thanksgiving, so I made a note to myself and sure enough that is exactly what I did!

I scoured Reser’s Fine Foods website (https://www.resers.com) and quickly made my Thanksgiving dinner list. It was decided – I would take care of this year’s turkey, gravy and salad, but Reser would take care of the rest! I even invited my parents!

I was able to purchase everything at my local grocery store.

Here’s what I bought:

• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Baked Scalloped Potatoes
• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Baked Mac & Cheese
• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Mashed Sweet Potato Bake
• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Baked Green Bean Casserole
• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Baked Homestyle Stuffing
• Reser’s Main St. Bistro® Spiced Apple Cranberry Bake

Thanksgiving day was relaxing and, most importantly, I was pleasant and able to spend time with my parents, boyfriend and dog, because I wasn’t nailed to the kitchen counter (or spilling all of our milk). Making dinner was convenient and quick!

The result? Everyone was joyous! My mother even chimed, “Are these scalloped potatoes homemade? I must have the recipe right this instant.”  As for Duke, he was too busy eating his yearly turkey feast to speak… My boyfriend and father took a stand and said they would only eat Reser on Thanksgiving from now on. Ha!

My favorite side dish was the sweet potato bake. It had all of those ‘farm fresh’ flavors I love, with a nice baked taste. Everything else, especially the mac & cheese, came in at a very close second place! Everything was delicious and exceeded my expectations.

There was practically no clean-up. I hadn’t dirtied a thousand dishes. It was fantastic. We all sat around – my boyfriend and father watched football while my mother and I went through old photo albums. Duke lay sprawled out on his dog bed – clearly in a food coma. It was our best Thanksgiving to date, and now that I know preparing a delicious family meal doesn’t need to take all day I will be sure to use Reser Fine Foods during the holidays from here on out!