I grew up dining at the kids table in all my family gatherings. With more than half dozen cousins of similar age, we certainly had the number to warrant our own little table. What I remember most is the kid-friendly dishes our parents would order for us. While the grown-ups dined on typical Cantonese banquet dishes, we dug in to grouper fillets braised in cream of corn or steamed tofu filled with minced shrimp. You know, dishes that are not heavily spiced and carry low risk of choking hazards.
Thanksgiving is a family-centric holiday with strong emphasis on home cooking. I can imagine hosting the kiddos at their own table makes lots of sense for large families. However, with already so many things to cook, preparing additional kid-friendly dishes is too much to ask for. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun though by serving the food in an unexpected way. Behold my Thanksgiving Turkey “Sundae”!
This sundae has layers of your traditional dishes including carrots, chopped turkey, peas, and cranberry sauce. The tromp l’oeil is achieved by the all-important scoop of mash potato and generous drizzle of gravy.
Of course, if you’re trying to please picky eaters who don’t even like different food touching each other on their plates, you’re out of luck. However, the concept of putting your whole Thanksgiving meal in one tall sundae glass is not that outrageous. I know many grown-ups who actually like to do the mix-and-mingle once they pile the food on plates. With all the bites in pretty layers, you can attack one or two layers at a time unless you really dig deep.
I think this is a fun idea to make Thanksgiving feast special for the little ones without going through much trouble. All the food are pre-cut to bite-size pieces not just to layer prettily in a glass, but also easier for younger kids.
The glasses that you see in the photos are sturdy and very cheap. They are the Pokal wine glasses from IKEA at a whopping $1.49. Nice find, huh? Speaking of IKEA, the winner of last week’s reusable dollies giveaway is Gabby whose favourite bundt cake is a lemon yogurt cake served with homemade blueberry lemon preserve. That sounds fantastic!
Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbour in the south! May tomorrow be filled with lots of great food and laughter with loved ones. Oh, and football. Boyfriend reminded me that Thanksgiving is not complete without football. I’ll just have to take his words.
