Thanksgiving Dinner for One

Are you going to be alone this Thanksgiving? Sometimes it just can't be helped what with family being so far away and the cost of a plane ticket and gas prices. I know that I am all the way in Guam and my parents are all the way on the other side of the globe practicly,in Maine. My husband is in the Military so he may or may not be home during Thanksgiving. You never can tell.

If your going to be alone, there is no reason to not enjoy a nice meal while you watch the Macy's Parade. Don't cook yourself a Hungry Man Frozen Dinner. Eat something hot and comforting. Just because your alone doesn't mean you should let it get you down.

First, if you don't feel like cooking a meal just for yourself, find out if local restaraunts in your area make single serving Thanksgiving dinners that you can order and go and pick up the day before or the morning of Thanksgiving. Some place like Boston Market offer single turkey breasts or ham with your choice of sides plus corn bread and your choice of pie. Depending on the area you live in many restaraunts are even open Thanksgiving. Not to mention many grocery stores these days offer pre-made Thanksgiving Dinner options.

Sometimes the best food you can make right from your home though. I found a few great food pairing ideas that would be perfect for single serving options.

Roasted Stuffed Turkey Breast:

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. First, prepare a single single of your favorite boxed or bagged stuffing mix. Then take a turkey breast half and slice thinly an opening underneath the skin, creating a pocket. Gently stuff the inside pocket with your prepared stuffing. If you enjoy nuts in your stuffing, feel free to toss some chopped pecans or walnuts into the mix before you stuff the turkey breast. Then place the breast into a shallow roasting pan skin side up. Roast for an hour and a half, and then take out to baste the turkey with either melted butter or the juices at the bottom of the pan. Cover loosely with foil and then cook an additional 60 minutes. Pair this turkey breast with a big baked potato with sour cream and shredded cheese and a side of cranberry sauce and you have a delicious meal.

Ham and Cheese with Cranberry Sauce
Prepare a small store bought ham(often times you can find one about the size of your first) according to directions. Prepare a boxed Macaroni and cheese mix, or if you prefer, make your own mac and cheese using this recipe taken from cooks.com. It's very simple to do.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter into a baking dish. Pour

Then you can pair the ham and mac and cheese with your favorite canned cranberry mix.

If you have a crock-pot, I know a great turkey soup recipe that I found on the cooks.com website.

1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. basil
3 tsp. beef bouillon
3 c. boiling water
1 c. (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 c. diced celery
1 c. diced carrots

1 lg. diced onion
1 c. fresh mushrooms
1 c. diced green pepper (optional)

Add each of the ingredients (except the mushrooms) into your crock-pot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Then add the mushrooms. Turn up the heat towards high and cook for an additional 15 minutes. This goes great with some store bought garlic bread or toasted bread and butter.

You could even roast your own small turkey or bake your own small glazed ham and use the leftovers up for quite some time with recipes for hot turkey sandwich's, make the turkey soup with sliced turkey instead of the ground turkey(just adding the turkey when you add the mushrooms since the turkey is already cooked.), make ham sandwiches FOREVER. You could stretch it out a very long time. So being alone on thanksgiving doesn't mean you have to eat out of a frozen meal container.2 1/2 c. uncooked elbow macaroni into the butter. Stir around to make sure all the macaroni is covered in butter. Slice a half pound of white or yellow cheese into very thin slices. Add the cheese plus 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and 1 qt. milk all to the macaroni and butter mixture. Bake uncovered for an hour and a half. No need to mix or stir the macaroni at all while baking.