Thanksgiving. Time to feed the masses.

I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner for many years. I have cooked for my family since before my children were born, before my brothers became adults and before my Grandma died. Thanksgiving in my family means many things, especially family and good food. These days, a holiday meal for my entire family means inviting my parents, my two single brothers and any girl they may be dating at the time, my married brother with his wife and their daughter, my best friend, my aunt and uncle and their son, and my own household of four. We always serve certain foods such as turkey, mashed potatoes, two or three vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce, garlic bread. That’s a lot of people to cook for and a lot of food to cook.

When I started cooking, all I had at the time was a hand mixer, also known to some people as a hand blender. I’m sure you’ve seen one somewhere along the line, they’re sort of round and less than a foot tall with a little blade on the end. Well, you can’t mash more than one or two potatoes at a time with those, and we usually make at least ten pounds of them. It was noisy and the handle got hot. Back then was when my tradition of having a little father daughter time on Thanksgiving morning started. See, I’m a Daddy’s girl and even now as an adult married more than twenty years I still call my Dad for help. The first year I called it was because there was stuff in the turkey and I didn’t want to touch it. Ten minutes after he left I had to call him back because I was having a problem mashing the potatoes. That’s the year he started helping me mash the potatoes, because he told me he liked them a little smoother. We make simple potatoes. We peel and boil them, and then mash them with butter and milk. After maybe two years I burnt the tiny motor on it and killed it. I moved on to a hand mixer, the kind you hold and attach the two beaters. Dad still thought the potatoes were too lumpy, so he helped. I’ve decided I’ll look at a Hamilton Beach mixer when it does come time for me to have to buy another mixer, because I’ve read many good reviews on them and they look nice too.

If I were going out to buy a new mixer now, today, I’d be looking at a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer. The Eclectrics Mixer all metal stand mixer has twelve settings and 400 watts power, so it’s much stronger than any hand mixer I’ve ever had. Lots of potatoes could be mashed at once in a big stand mixer like that! And it’s got a splatter shield, which anyone that knows me knows I could really use. (Anyone who doesn’t know me only need ask my brother or husband, who had the privilege of seeing me splatter smoothee all over the ceiling.) I was surprised it came in such nice colors, everything I’ve ever seen was white. I’m not sure if I’d get the black or the blue. Way cool mixer! Maybe Santa will bring me one….

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Filed Under: Family • Food • House and home • This and That