Thanksgiving Edition!

Welcome to the Thanksgiving Edition of Kiki’s! 

I wanted to share a few recipes in case anyone is still looking for delicious additions to their Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving tables.

These recipes are either staples on my family’s table or other dishes I’ve made that I think would work great!

Sides: 

White Cheddar Cracker Mac (From one of Saint Louis’s best, Salt + Smoke)

• Full recipe here

• This is best with freshly grated white cheddar, but I’ve used shredded cheese many times with great results. I usually buy one 6 oz bag of medium cheddar and one 6 oz bag of sharp cheddar and end up using both full bags :) Someone asks me for the recipe every time I make this!

Corn Casserole

• A Susie Chen staple! Coming at you from the text message I refer back to every time I make this (hi mom 🙂 ). Can make as stated in a 9x9 or double it in a 9x13 - we always double it!

Popo’s Green Beans

Girl & the Goat Magic Beans

• Full recipe here

• Highly recommend checking out Girl & the Goat if you’re in Chicago

• Even if you don’t make this for Thanksgiving, it’s worth a try another time!

• Note that the aioli recipe makes 1 cup - we have never needed this much. I would recommend cutting the aioli recipe in half

The Best Twice Baked Potatoes

• Full recipe here

• My family usually opts for mashed potatoes, but these twice baked potatoes are incredible if you want to switch it up or maybe for a friendsgiving

Mimi’s Sweet Potato Casserole

• Potatoes: 

  • 4 cups sweet potatoes, canned or fresh (if fresh, 4 to 5 potatoes)  

  • 2 eggs 

  • 1/4 cup half-and-half (or milk)

  • 1/4 cup sugar (optional)

  • 1/2 tsp. salt 

  • 1/3 cup butter

  • 1 tsp. vanilla 

• Topping: 

  • 1/3 cup butter 

  • 3/4 cup brown sugar 

  • 1/2 cup flour 

  • 1 cup chopped pecans 

• Directions: 

  • If fresh sweet potatoes, wash, wrap in foil, and bake in oven till soft (45 min - 1 hr) 

    • You can cook in the microwave in a pinch, but I do notice a difference when we roast in the oven!

  • Blend potatoes, eggs, cream (or milk), vanilla, sugar, salt and butter. Helpful to use electric mixer.

  • Pour potato mixture in buttered baking dish. 

  • Crumble topping on top. 

  • If you like lots of topping (or don't want it to run out when people first dig in and scoop up all the topping with the first serving), consider making more and/or consider layering potatoes, then topping, then potatoes, then topping (we always make this layered)

  • Bake in 425-degree oven till hot and bubbling. 

  • Serve and enjoy. : )

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

• Full recipe here

Food for a group: 

French Toast Casserole (can be prepped ahead of time!)

• Full recipe here

• I’ve made this with challah and sourdough and had great results with both 

• If you’re like me and forget to let the bread get “stale” or are on a time crunch, you can bake the cubed bread at 350 for 10-15 min before following recipe instructions

• We love this topped with fresh berries and maple syrup

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

• Full recipe here

• Recommend doubling the slaw

Popo’s Olympic Salad

• Salad: 

  • 1 pkg broccoli slaw

  • ½ red pepper - chopped

  • 1 bunch of green onions - chopped

  • 1 pkg craisins

  • 1 apple diced, with red skins

  • 2 pkg Ramon noodles soup, chicken flavor, uncooked, broken up

  • 2 cups of diced cooked chicken breast

  • 1 cup sunflower seeds

  • 1cup sliced almonds

• Dressing:

  • 1/3 cup of sugar

  • 1/4 cup white vinegar

  • 2 pkg Ramon noodles seasoning

  • ¾ cup salad oil

• “Mix well, chill and enjoy! Actually, it's better the next day.” - Popo

• This would be great to make ahead and have in the fridge for an easy lunch

Grinder Sliders

• Full recipe here

• A little more effort than the slow cooker sandwiches but totally worth it

Home: 

Christmas Decorations

I know Thanksgiving weekend is a popular one for putting up holiday decorations, so I wanted to share a few handmade decorations I’m adding to my house this year. I was feeling especially inspired by some colorful light blub garland I got at Michael’s last year and wanted to incorporate more color outside the typical red and green. I also drew inspiration from the movie The Holiday. I love the coziness that homemade decorations can add (the $ savings is a plus, too!).

Paper Chains & Dried Citrus Garland

• For the citrus garland, I used a combination of oranges, lemons and grapefruit (note when picking out your fruit, firmer fruit is easier to cut straight)

• Slice fruits thin and squeeze out liquid between two towels (the more liquid you can squeeze out before baking, the less baking time needed)

• Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a 200 degree oven for 5-6 hours or until dried. I flipped them every 30-45 min

  • May be faster in an air fryer or convection oven

  • I picked up 3 lemons, 4 oranges and 2 grapefruits. This translated (after a fair amount of botched slices and Erik eating ½ a grapefruit) to about 3 baking sheets worth of cut fruit (which is all I can fit in my oven at one time)

• I’ve seen people use a ton of different materials to string the garland (fishing line, wax thread). I ended up using fishing line from the hardware store, which worked great, and a sewing needle to thread the fruit

• If you don’t want to eat your botched slices you could use them in a simmer pot :)

• For the paper chains, I used basic colorful construction paper from Target but leftover Christmas wrapping paper would be beautiful! All you need is paper, scissors and a glue stick!

• The live garland pictured here is from Trader Joe’s - it smells amazing!

  • It’s their 10ft Cedar Garland, $12.99 ea (I’m using two strung together here)

Paper Stars

• Inspired by this video

• I used a combination of wrapping paper and scrapbook paper for the stars and the same fishing line and needle as the garland to hang them

I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!

I would love to know or see photos if you try any recipes or crafts. Any feedback is super helpful for me!

Please feel free to share Kiki’s with anyone you think may enjoy.

Thank you so much for checking out the thanksgiving edition of Kiki’s 🦃 

Love,

Christina

p.s. Happy Birthday Dad!!!! ❤️