In the spirit of all things new and fun we are inviting you to the Great Thanksgiving Challenge.

That’s right. Come on over and join us at the kid’s table for an elbows out non-boring small talk free haven of good food made fast. Ok, it’s not always about making things quick, but it is about learning something new.

We challenged ourselves to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner in our pressure cooker, and the weird thing is I think it worked.

Yes we overcooked our first turkey and had to make another one (it was still pretty good just basically falling off the bones), and we had to make the cornbread twice because we ate the first batch before the video compilation day, but it was worth it. We learned how to make new recipes and more about the advantages and disadvantages to pressure cooking.

Here’s what we made (remaining posts over the next few days):
How to cook a turkey
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Cornbread
Green Beans & Toasted Almonds
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Turkey Stock
Pumpkin Cheesecake

The Great Thanksgiving Challenge

Here’s what we are challenging you to do:

1. Try to make something new this holiday.

Cooking Newbies: If you are new to cooking we challenge you to take that first step and try something simple, it doesn’t need to be a pressure cooker recipe or an all day thing, just find something that you know everybody really loves, find some cool videos showing how to make it, and take a stab at it.
Cooking regulars:If you are a regular cooker maybe take a step back and try something completely from scratch, or really dig down into a recipe and understand what makes it work. For example we’ve “made” green bean casserole before, but what we really did was maybe more assembling than making. Take some extra time this holiday and really get dirty. An awesome example is Alton Brown’s Green Bean Casserole. (he’s the master)

2. Share what you know

Maybe you just learned it, maybe you’ve known it since you were 8. Share a recipe, show someone how to make something, tell them the carrots are purple because they came from the farmer’s market. Cooking is about sharing and that’s what we challenge you to do.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

In honor of the Great Thanksgiving Challenge:

We are giving away a Free Pressure Cooker

Free Fagor Splendid 6 qt Pressure Cooker

We are excited to give away to one lucky winner a 6 qt Fagor Splendid stainless steel pressure cooker! All we ask is that you try the challenge above (honor system, but we would love to hear about what you did) and help us spread the word below. The contest goes until November 30th, 2011. (If you don’t want or need a cooker maybe it’s a good way to cross someone off your list. :~D )

There are a few ways to enter and you can do one or all of the following methods once for extra chances. You can use just your first name and e-mail in the options below if you want. Here’s how to enter:

Good luck in the contest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We can’t thank everyone enough for your questions, comments and feedback. We love hearing from you.

P.S. If you haven’t done so already, shake off those pre-Thanksgiving advertising messages and take the pledge to respect the bird.