An Introvert’s Thanksgiving: Jessica’s Non-Traditional Holiday Meal

Thanksgiving is unfortunately over, and I am dreading going back to work this morning (honestly, I actually think I started getting the Sunday scaries on Friday afternoon?). Thankfully, at least, I feel rested and ready to push through until Christmas, where I'll get a week off from work and be able to spend it with my boyfriend, who has been away with the military for the past two months. How did I do that? I spent my Thanksgiving holiday how I wanted, not how others expected.

I love Thanksgiving, and any holiday really that involves good food and football. This is a holiday that puts Jessica in her happy place. When I went to law school, I learned that Thanksgiving, as I used to know and celebrate it, was a thing of the past since law school finals always started the week after. Sure, I'm not in law school anymore, but I already have gotten out of the habit of a somewhat more traditional Thanksgiving, thanks to studying for toxic torts with a plate of green bean casserole in front of me. I love my family, and my dad's side of the family is huge, so I always have family I could spend it with. But none of them live in Louisiana, and no matter who I went to spend the holiday with, half of the time would have been spent traveling... and that isn't how I wanted to spend this reprieve from work, which has been super stressful lately. Instead, I spent it alone with my cat, Goose. Truly, it was awesome;  I wore the same comfy sweatshirt every day and no one was there to care, and I didn't have any set schedule to follow or expectations to live up to.  I did a sheet mask every day, spent too much money shopping deals, and drank wine. It was me, Goose, and all of the professional and college football I could handle. It was heaven.

Of course, that doesn't mean I didn't eat traditional Thanksgiving foods. I love to cook, and have no issue cooking a Thanksgiving meal just for me because I find it fun. I knew I would go way overboard if I went to the grocery store though, s0 I didn't even bother. Instead, I signed up for the Blue Apron Thanksgiving meal kit and had everything I needed (except wine, but they do offer wine pairings) delivered to my door on Tuesday afternoon. No crowded grocery stores? No super insane grocery bill due to me taking on too much? I loved it. And the food was fantastic; those brown butter fontina mashed potatoes were some of the best mashed potatoes I have ever had, and since I still have some leftover I'm probably going to heat some up when I am done typing this. Doing it this way meant I didn't have stuffing with maple sausage or green bean casserole with extra fried onions on top, but those are things I can always make for Christmas or another time. And really, my Blue Apron box was designed to feed 6-8 people- I didn't need to make more sides to go with it. I will be 100% honest and tell you I am super proud of this Thanksgiving meal I made all by myself. Sure, the Blue Apron instructions made it easy- I am still accepting praise in the comments below.

Spending Thanksgiving hidden away in my lair also allowed me to do something pretty different for Thanksgiving dessert. The Blue Apron kit came with the ingredients for an apple pie, but I actually have never liked apple pie. Even the pies I do like, like pumpkin or pecan, are good but aren't my favorite dessert. And if I'm allowed extra dessert calories because of the holiday, I decided to use them on one of my favorite treats: a cookie cake from the Great American Cookies company. This thing was huge - I definitely am bringing a bunch to work tomorrow to share. It was also incredibly delicious. The color scheme is a little off, but that's what happens when I am given the ability to control the colors of icing during checkout and don't like chocolate frosting. This was an absolute treat, and I am definitely team cookie cake for next Thanksgiving too.

Thanks to my cookie cake choice, I had an extra pie crust laying around. I could have put it in the freezer to use at a later date, but instead I chose to make a breakfast quiche using random ingredients in my fridge and some of the potatoes in the Blue Apron box - I definitely didn't need all of them to go into the mashed potatoes. This was my first time making a quiche but it won't be my last, because this thing was delicious.

I d0 have a ton of leftovers. When I was growing up, the day after Thanksgiving my mom would always make turkey tacos for everyone to eat while watching college football. I think the record of most tacos eaten by a family member was 13 by a cousin, and I love those memories. I have all of the ingredients to follow that family tradition at some point, but that hasn't actually happened yet because I have embraced the laziness that is spending a holiday weekend alone. I did appreciate how the Blue Apron information sheets came with ideas for how to use leftovers - I don't like apple pie but I still want to try an apple pie milkshake.

This was my nontraditional Thanksgiving: I was able to be lazy, relax, and eat cookie cake, and I genuinely have no complaints other than the fact that the past few days feel like they have gone so fast. I could see how it can be hard to spend this holiday alone if you're used to spending it with loved ones, and I definitely empathize. If you're ever in a position where you're unable to celebrate a holiday with people you love, take a page out of my book and focus on doing some of your favorite things. Maybe you don't like football the way I do- watch binge-watch your favorite tv show. Get your favorite dessert, whether it's pie or cookie cake or something else altogether (my vote is cookie cake though).

Did you celebrate Thanksgiving in a nontraditional way? Let us know what you did in the comments below.