Thanksgiving Dinner Will Be Magically Delicious!

The idea of not having cereal for Thanksgiving came up in a conversation with my boyfriend.  He cautions against this only because I am a known cereal-for-dinner kind of woman.  It comes from having lived in Mexico for a few years–we had a relatively heavy lunch, followed by a small dinner that usually consisted of cereal, coffee and a small pastry, or a couple of tiny, tiny tacos.  However, since that conversation ended, I’ve been composing a cereal-themed Thanksgiving meal in my head.  Never let it be said that you can’t possess culinary creativity with a dash of disgusting thrown in for good measure:

Honey Bunches of Oats-encrusted Turkey:  My mother decided to bread chicken breasts with Honey Bunches of Oats a couple of weeks ago.  I never tasted the results of this experiment suggest by her friends (read:  I’d already had my cereal dinner that night), but it does inspire me to now suggest a Honey Bunches of Oats-encrusted turkey for the main course on Thanksgiving.  Mmmm!  Sweet and crunchy turkey!  We’ll just roll the turkey in Honey Bunches of Oats before sticking it into the oven for hours on end.  Don’t forget the excellent gravy that’ll come of this.

Yams with Lucky Charm Marshmallows:  Oh sure, we could make sweet potato fries that are both healthy and delicious.  I could lend my talents like that.  But why when we can pick out pink hearts, purple horseshoes, red balloons, blue moons, orange and white five pointed shooting stars, yellow and orange pots of gold, pink yellow and blue rainbows and two-tone green Lucky’s hats and melt those over some yams?  Yum!  Imagine the striking colors as the marshmallows melt into one another to most likely create some purple goo over the yams.  Or, even more likely, burn themselves into a tough crust over said yams.

Green Beans Tossed with Granola:  Forget tossing the green beans with almonds–besides, some granolas have almonds in them, so you’re really not missing out on anything!  If you’re anything like my family, you totally douse your vegetables with butter, so you’ve got the saltiness of butter, the crisp healthiness of green beans and the sweet, satisfying crunch of granola.  And if it’s granola mixed with raisins?  Why, there’s your fruit serving!

Cranberries Mixed with Frankenberries:  I think Frankenberries are generally extinct, but I also know that there are certain stores that sell nostalgia foods.  Hey, if I contact them early enough, I could pull this off this year!  What better way to combine your berries–cran and franken–and create a visually appealing dish that all will enjoy, too?

Red-Skinned Mashed Potatoes with Kix:  Kix are mother-approved, so how can I go wrong with this cereal and red-skinned mashed potatoes?  If you really want to make things interesting, you’ll add Kix Berries, but I think that’ll detract from the striking visual that the cranberries will create.  You could also drop the Kix onto the already mashed potatoes, but I think it’d be much more interesting, as a sudden culinary maestro, to mash the Kix right into the potatoes.

Rice Krispie Treats Cheesecake:  Finally, for dessert, you have a cheesecake with a crust that is made not from graham crackers, but from Rice Krispie Treats cereal!  Imagine, combining two desserts into one–it’s almost like having a Snickers cheesecake.  Except no one’s been clever enough to make a Snickers cereal (though the Reese’s cereal exists–why?).

See, a Thanksgiving meal can be made with the help of cereal.  Never, ever "misunderestimate" cereal!