Pass the cranberry sauce, we’re having mashed potatoes!

I've had "mashed" cauliflower, and it was OK but I wouldn't want to make it a part of regular meals.

For the B. sprouts, it's definitely the texture that turns me off more than the flavor. It's like trying to eat a tough onion. I'd rather eat a pound of kale than an ounce of sprouts (and I don't care much for kale, either).

 

The menu: Roast turkey with oyster stuffing. Mashed potatoes. Mashed turnip (Alice makes it, really good). Gravy, of course. Probably both my son's brussels sprouts and green beans. Cranberry sauce, Ocean Spray out of a can as God intended. Apple pie with either cheese or ice cream. And, oh, yes, a non-oyster dressing I'll make in a baking dish as my son's girlfriend is attending and she's a vegetarian. That's also why the two green veggies.
Wines: TBD, but we usually have both a white and a red as people prefer either one or the other with turkey.
Maybe a sparkling wine apertif, or maybe just an Irish whiskey.

 

I put cauliflower and Brussel sprouts in the same category: Complete bullshit. I'd rather eat nothing than partake of those two.

On the subject of reubens, I think I've posted this before, but there's a place near my hometown that serves the best reubens I've ever had. It's one of those dark taverns where if you don't order Old Style in a can, they give you a "you ain't from around here, are you?" looks.

They have the "standard" ones, and also turkey reubens, and what I've found to be odd-sounding but delicious: on cinnamon raisin bread instead of rye. The bread is all homemade, as is the sauce, and they are bigger than a standard dinner plate.

The tavern closed a couple of years ago, but they still make them, assemble them and sell them uncooked one day a week. Last time I was there, I bought a dozen of them, threw them in a cooler and we're still eating on them.

 

One of our local grocery stores carries cauliflower rice. They had a recipe for cauliflower risotto, so I made it last night. It's not going to fool anyone, but it did taste similar to risotto, and I find vegetables are a lot less upsetting to my stomach than grains. I made fried rice with it the other day and I'd be willing to have that in place of standard fried rice from now on -- and I say that as someone who absolutely loves fried rice.

 

When you're sautéing your brussels sprouts, make sure to use a good oil so they slide easier into the trash can.

 

It's all a matter of taste, and there are foodstuffs millions love and I can't hack at all, but I do have a question for the brussels sprouts and cauliflower haters. What are the vegetables you do enjoy?

 

Ketchup, of course.

 

Some of these may not be "officially" vegetables, but I really enjoy green beans, peas, snap peas, celery, carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes, broccoli, water chestnuts, tomatoes, corn, and beets if I'm in the mood.

I'll admit I'd probably like brussels sprouts and cauliflower if I tried them again. Had bad experiences with them when I was a child, and decided then they are the devil's food.

 

Those are all really good vegetables. I love beets, but I know many do not, especially I married a beet disliker.

 

Roasted is the only way we eat beets. And I'd love to take a spot at your table for a meal like that, Ragu. Very much good eating.

 

Cold beet borscht with a big ol' hunk of sour cream is fantastic.