Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Plans Are A Bit Unusual This Year

Martha Stewart has been giving out tips, tricks, and advice for creating picture-perfect Thanksgiving meals for years. It's no wonder she's dubbed the Queen of Thanksgiving with all the turkey, pie, and fixing recipes she's written. But this year she wants to spend the holiday a little differently — instead of being in the kitchen, she hopes to be traveling. In an exclusive interview with Daily Meal, Stewart said she has not started planning any Thanksgiving menus for this year because she wants to take a family trip to Rome. 

"My grandchildren travel with me a lot, and their mother. But we go on very exotic vacations, but they have not yet been to Rome, and they are really anxious to see Rome," Stewart told Daily Meal. "I want to take them to the Vatican while this Pope is in residence, and we're going to have, I hope, a wonderful trip to Rome."

It's not the first time the cookbook author hasn't hosted the Thanksgiving feast. Last year, Stewart canceled her own get-together, due to a dwindling guest count and also just feeling "turkeyed out." Having made nearly 20 turkeys in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we would probably all feel the same way. Instead, Stewart celebrated the holiday at another friend's gathering.

While Stewart and her family are wandering the Vatican or the Colosseum, many of us will still be stressing about making all the necessary components for Thanksgiving dinner. But never fret, Stewart has a backlog of helpful advice for home chefs — especially for this time of year.

In 2021, she shared the secret to her favorite mashed potatoes: cream cheese. We all know that the more dairy you add to mashed potatoes, the better they will taste, and cream cheese creates a luxurious bite with a hint of sweetness. For the best mashed potatoes, Stewart suggests using Yukon Golds, and make sure you don't over mix. And no Thanksgiving is complete without gravy, so avoid making these common gravy mistakes.

If you're more of a store-bought person, that's okay, but there's one dish Stewart believes should always be homemade — desserts. More specifically, pies. But to perfect that tricky pie crust, Stewart recommends using unsalted butter for a perfectly balanced bite.

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