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Easy, Less-Expensive, Kid-Friendly Addition to Thanksgiving Dinner

By Nicole Donnelly November 12, 2019

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner was one of my mom’s favorite parts of the entire holiday season. She’d have holiday music blaring and she seemed to twirl around the kitchen while she prepared the turkey, kneaded dough, and peeled potatoes. As kids, we would occasionally be called into the kitchen to melt butter, spread marshmallows on a casserole, or mix in some fried onions. Generally, though, she was in her element in the kitchen… alone.

I’d like to say that I took that torch she tried to pass me and that I love cooking as much as she did. Unfortunately, the torch lost some of its light under my care and cooking isn’t as big a love for me as it was for her. Still, it is a goal of mine to give my kids an image of Thanksgiving as my mom gave to me. My family is painting a different picture, but we are making our own Thanksgiving memories together. Here’s how.

Together, we have found ways to make cooking Thanksgiving dinner easier, less expensive, and kid-friendly, so that our entire family can prepare our meal together. We use grocery store rewards to get our turkey for free or at a reduced cost. We use pre-packaged refrigerated rolls to save time and energy making the bread. And we use Bruce’s Yams sweet potatoes as an easy-to-use, inexpensive, quicker option to peeling our own sweet potatoes.

I know, I know. You’re calling me crazy because how does a canned vegetable even compare to using fresh, right? Well, I have been using Bruce’s Yams since the very first Thanksgiving dinner I cooked for two reasons. One, I hate peeling potatoes. Two, Bruce's uses freshly harvested sweet potatoes from nearby farms and triple peels them to ensure that only the sweetest part of the potato is used. This means that they are not only deliciously sweet, but they are all-natural and rich in vitamins.

What do my kids love about Bruce’s Yams? Because they’re canned, they are easy for my kids to open and use in one of the many casserole and side dish recipes Bruce’s offers online. They feel accomplished having contributed a dish to Thanksgiving dinner.




What do I love? I love that it’s healthy with no added cholesterol, low in saturated fat, gluten-free, and preservative-free. Plus, as a family that lives a low-waste lifestyle, I appreciate that the can is 100% recyclable, including the top and label!





Looking for delicious, side-dish recipes? Check out Bruce’s Yams website and their Pinterest page for holiday inspiration!

You can also get connected with Bruce’s Yams on Facebook and Instagram.