Last Minute Thanksgiving Dinner Dish Ideas

Whether you are hosting Thanksgiving Day dinner or you are going to someone else's home, you may find yourself in need of a dish you can make quickly. You want to prepare something presentable yourself, such as the following:

The Simple Soup

Although you may certainly use the canned variety of soup in a pinch, consider making a soup yourself. A homemade soup is sure to impress others and to be more satisfying. Soups are one of the most economical dishes to make. And, making a soup yourself need not be complicated or time consuming. If you can make spaghetti, you can make soup.

Get out your large stainless steel pot (think of the Swedish Chef's pot on The Muppets). To speed things up, be sure to have some bouillon cubes on hand rather than attempting to make the soup stock yourself. These can be found in the grocery store near the canned soups. Bouillon cubes typically come in vegetarian, chicken, and beef flavors. Follow the directions on the bouillon cube container, which is typically to boil water and then add one cube per cup or two of boiled water. Instantly, you have a boiling, aromatic soup on the stove to which you may add any of your favorite soup ingredients such as potatoes, carrots, or mushrooms.

Consider adding spaghetti noodles, some herbs such as parsley and tarragon, and a splash of lemon juice to the pot of boiling broth to make a quick noodle soup. Just allow it to boil the length of time necessary to cook the noodles, and you will have a wonderful, hot homemade noodle soup. (Bonus: after Thanksgiving, throw in some leftover turkey pieces and you'll have a nice turkey noodle soup.)

The Fast Fruit Tray

For a quick fruit tray, cut some apples into sections and set aside the apple cores to add to you compost pile (having a compost pile is a free way to get quality compost and to feel good about not throwing away food "waste.") Apples are generally one of the least expensive and most widely available fruits, especially in the fall. Add a few slices of kiwi and some colorful purple and green grapes. Arrange the fruit onto a nice serving platter in a whimsical pattern, and you have a beautiful and healthy dish.

The Bountiful Basket of Bread

Buy a package or two of dinner rolls and heat them in your oven as directed on the package. Place the warm dinner rolls onto a decorative cloth inside a basket or bowl, and cover with the remaining portion of the cloth. If you wish to give the impression of having slaved over the rolls, sprinkle a bit of white flour onto your apron.