Here’s the thing: Food professionals love good food and want to spread the food joy that we feel so deeply. But we also have jobs that rely on selling magazines and getting enough clicks to sell ads on the sites that hire us. So sometimes we can get a bit, well, aggressively helpful.
In this episode, Stacie and Meghan get honest about the holiday cooking tips, kitchen strategies, and even eating mindsets that we find actually helpful to get us through the holidays, not just feeling sane, but feeling happy and focused on what matters most: spending time with our families.
It’s Not Just About the Food
The thing that both Stacie and Meghan have come to realize is that the holidays are about spending time with families. A fantastic, gourmet meal shared over a tense family gathering will not be remembered well. And on the other hand, a mediocre meal shared at a happy table over laughs will be remembered fondly. So stressing too much over the food is never worth it, especially if it will put a damper on your mood or ability to enjoy your family and friends.
Also, everyone loves the classics. Take it from Stacie and Meghan, who have tested nearly every Thanksgiving recipe under the sun — from dump-and-bake green bean casserole made with canned soup to an 18-step version made with delicately fried shallots, fresh nutmeg inflected bechamel, and haricots verts.
Keeping it simple isn’t just for your sanity, it makes you and everyone around you happy.
Links From This Episode
Goldbelly for gourmet mail order desserts and other foods
How to butterfly a turkey (or how to spatchcock a turkey – ha!)
Thanksgiving by Sam Sifton (and some other basic tips on how to roast a Thanksgiving turkey)
How to roast vegetables: an easy guide
We Love Our Sponsors
A huge thank you to Raddish Kids for sponsoring this week’s episode of Didn’t I Just Feed You.
![Raddish Kids: A cooking subscription kit for kids that makes a fantastic holiday gift! | Didn't I Just Feed You podcast [sponsor]](https://i0.wp.com/didntijustfeedyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/RaddishBox-KitchenScienceTheme-2.jpg?w=960&ssl=1)
Even kids who don’t love to eat, love to cook. And it’s no wonder: The kitchen is a fantastic place for kids to flex their independence and learn in a real-life way. Plus, it cultivates healthier and more adventurous eating habits, which we parents like too! That’s why we’re such HUGE fans of our sponsor Raddish Kids, a cooking kit for kids ages 2- to 14-years-old that sends illustrated recipe guides, activities, conversation cards, a patch, and even a kitchen tool to your doorstep every month.
And by the way, we know first-hand that Raddish kits work for such a wide range of ages because we’ve used them with our own kids who range in age from 4- to nearly 12-years-old — and they ALL love them. In fact, the 12-year-old insists on using the kits all on his own, and hey, no complaints here. Life skills in the making!
This holiday season, give the gift of bringing a family together in the kitchen to experience the fun of taking risks, getting creative, and maybe even making a few mistakes before enjoying a delicious, well-earned meal together.
To learn more about how Raddish subscriptions work, what’s included, and pricing options, go to RaddishKids.com
Holiday Eating Mindset
This week, we skipped both What We’re Digging and Try This At Home segments because talking turkey takes a lot of time!
While we mostly focused on cooking tips, Stacie mentioned feeling like food media is complicit (often unwittingly) in supporting diet culture, too, especially in the way that we go from holiday to healthy new year coverage.
With that in mind, here are a few of her favorite Instagram accounts — mostly intuitive eating and anti-diet culture activists and nutritionists — who help her stay focused on eating in a way that keeps her from torturing herself about her body, desires, or habits, especially during the holidays when we tend to indulge:
@eathority, Carolina Guizar, MS, RDN, CDN (here’s Carolina’s post Stacie mentioned with the 10 principles of intuitive eating; above)
@dra.aridiavasquez, Nutrióloga Clínica, MD, Certified Eating Disorders Dietitian, Body Image Healer
@rebeccascritchfield, Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN, EPC, author of Body Kindness
i_weigh, movement for us to feel valuable and see how amazing we are, and look beyond the flesh on our bones started by @jameelajamilofficial
@decolonizing_fitness, Physical Therapist Assistant, Medical Exercise Trainer, Writer & Educator
@kristenmurrayrd, Dietician
@gofeedyourself_, RD, LD, ED Dietitian
Do you have favorite activists, influencers, nutritionists, or other folks who help you keep a positive attitude about your body image, desires, indulgences, and eating during the holidays and all year long?