We get loads of fabulous food magazines at our offices. The ones that pop up around the holidays always have amazing food photography that gets you geared up for that big turkey dinner or a festive cocktail party. I read all these great recipes for stuffing with chestnuts and fresh crazy herbs. And free range turkeys. And homemade pies.

My family doesn't eat like that. We're more of a meat and potatoes crowd (or more like a steak and fries/meatballs in gravy with whipped potatoes crowd). Nothing fancy ever gets to that table, unless you count Miracle Whip which for some reason is the white spread of choice.

Maybe it's cause there are so many of us (my dad has 11 brothers, no sisters... you can imagine how many people we pack in for the holidays). Maybe it's because we're just a midwestern meat and potatoes crowd. Or maybe it's the fact that my grandma always opted for easy recipes. I made dinner for the whole crew a few weeks ago (a pork recipe that failed MISERABLY from one of Rick Bayless' cookbooks) and learned the "make it as easy as humanly possible" lesson the hard way.

I thought it might be funny to post a few pictures of some of the "faves" of my family's turkey day. The top photo from this blog is the ol' canned sweet potatoes with mini MARSHMALLOWS (!!!) on top. I love sweet potatoes, but this is a little wacky for me. Mallows belong by a campfire. However, a Mogren family friend stopped by on Thanksgiving just to have some of these puppies, so maybe I don't know what I am talking about.

This is what we call green fluff. My cousin Maggie loves it. Does this or something like it ever make it to your dinner table? It's a fine blend of pistachio pudding, Cool Whip, mallows (again), crushed pineapple with some lovely cherries on top. It's the consistancy of shaving cream, but tastes better to some people. Even as a child, I never cared for the green fluff, but it's tradition.

We also had turkey, traditional stuffing, green bean hotdish, rolls, peas, corn, gravy and of course pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving food is really not my thing; I wish pho or sushi was part of the tradition. But I will say when I'm an old lady myself, you'll probably find me in the marshmallow aisle.

Anyone else have a funny/weird family food tradition? Extra points of it has "hotdish" in the title.