My husband decided for his 50th birthday he wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef and he wanted to take the family with him. So we saved for several years and although his birthday was in January, we finally made it to Australia in November.
Since we were traveling over Thanksgiving and we were staying in an apartment, we thought it would be wonderful to celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner. Australian’s don’t celebrate Thanksgiving of course, but I found that they don’t usually even sell turkeys in their grocery stores.
So I felt very fortunate when Australian food blogger, Lorraine, Not Quite Nigella, suggested David Jones food hall as a place I may be able to buy a turkey. David Jones food hall is a great specialty food store on the bottom floor of an upscale department store.
Not only did they have a wonderful bone-in turkey breast that we were able to buy, but we went back almost every day to buy something wonderful to eat. They had a great bakery and huge, delicious chocolate covered strawberries.
I decided to bring from home many of the ingredients I would need to make our traditional Thanksgiving dinner – green jello, crushed pineapple, jellied cranberry sauce, stuffing spices, a Reynold’s roasting bag, pop-up timer and my recipes.
The kitchen didn’t have many pans or utensils for cooking, so we had to buy disposable pans for the turkey, stuffing and jello, but they worked out great. Especially since I had brought the roasting bag and pop-up timer – the turkey was perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious!
We completed our meal with some bake and serve rolls, corn and an apple tart from David Jones. Not the fancy Thanksgiving meal with lots of side dishes we would have had at home, but everything was delicious and we were very grateful for a wonderful year. And the wonderful opportunity we had to travel to beautiful Australia! The trip was amazing. The Australians were so friendly and helpful.
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time this year to visit my blog. It has really been a fun adventure and everyone has been so great to comment on my posts. Meg was kind enough to give me an award while I was gone. I’ll blog more about that soon. Here are the two family favorite, traditional recipes I took to Australia.
Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 loaf bread *
- 2 t. salt
- 1 t. sage
- 1 t. poultry seasoning
- dash pepper
Instructions
- Simmer butter, broth, celery and onion until tender.
- Stir in spices.
- Pour over bread. Mix well.
- Stuff into turkey or roast covered in the oven for 30 minutes at 350º, uncover the last 5 minutes to toast the bread slightly.
Notes
Green Jello Cream Cheese Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large package lime jello
- 2 c. water divided
- 1 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 small can crushed pineapple
- ½ pt. whipping cream
Instructions
- Dissolve jello in 1 cup hot water.
- Add 1 cup cold water. Chill until soft set.
- Mix cream cheese and pineapple, do not drain juice. Blend jello and cream cheese mixture. Chill until soft set.
- Fold in whipping cream that has been whipped. Chill.
The Bentley Family and Aussiemuminthekitchen
I love that you still had a thanksgiving feast downunder. I am from Melbourne, Australia. I have lived in the US now for 6 years. The first time I ate turkey was at a thanksgiving dinner here in the US. Not many people eat Turkey back home. I hope you made it down to Melbourne. It really is gorgeous!
Elra
LOL, when I read your title. I thought, really? I didn’t know that Australian celebrate Thanksgiving? But then, I read the whole story… How wonderful that you were able to celebrate even while you were on vacation. I can imagine, how delicious your Thanksgiving dinner were. I am sure the whole family will cherish this moment!
Cheers,
Elra
Lisa magicsprinkles
How wonderful!!! I love the underwater shot of all of you. These will make a memorable Thanksgiving for all of you.
Maria
What a fun trip for the family!! Glad you were able to celebrate Turkey Day too!!
About the biscuits, we made them during the day, just for fun…so it was a snack! But they would be great for breakfast with fresh fruit, maybe some yogurt?? Or as a dessert, they are nice and sweet because of the lemon/glaze!!
Pam
What a wonderful feast and a great way to celebrate your husbands 50th birthday and Thanksgiving.
Kelly
What a fun way to celebrate the holiday a way from home. I traveled to Australia 10+ years ago (I cannot believe it has been so long) and have always wanted to go back. I have some amazing memories.
Jenny
Looks like a fabulous dinner indeed! I love that underwater picture, so glad you all had a great time!
Lisa
Welcome back! It sounds like quite a trip. Glad you were able to improvise and still have anice thanksgiving dinner.
Barbara Bakes
Lorraine – you made it all possible – Thanks so much!
Jodi – I hope you do go to Australia. It’s beautiful!
HoneyB – I loved your Thanksgiving post.
Cathy – we were very fortunate to be able to have the experience. Thanks!
Stephanie – thanks – we bought a new camera to use underwater and were so happy with the pictures.
Priscilla – as adventurous as you are, you’d love Australia.
Barbara – thanks for following my blog! It may have been a little obsessive to take the ingredients, but it definitely made things easier.
Marisa – Thanks! I didn’t want to kids to feel like they were missing anything.
Marisa
Welcome back! I was wondering where you had gone :-). What an amazing, incredible family vacation!!!! I’m so impressed that you still found a way to make Thanksgiving happen. The food looks awesome!
Barbara
Barbara, I have you posted to my blog spot to look at everyday and I was wondering where you were. I’m glad you enjoyed Australia and only a really foodie would take Thanksgiving dinner ingredients with them.
Love your pictures!
http://www.travelingaprons-barbara.blogspot.com
priscilla
what a neat experience and great pictures! going to australia is something i’d like to hopefully do one day!
Stephanie
What a neat experience! I love the underwater scuba picture!
Cathy
What a wonderful experience for your family and a lifetime of memories. And you were able to prepare a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.
HoneyB
How nice you were able to have a traditional thanksgiving away from home!
Jodi
What beautiful pictures you took! I’d love to go to Australia someday as well. I have a longtime penpal living near Sydney. Glad you could still celebrate Thanksgiving too!
Thanks for the note on my blog! 🙂 Have a great weekend!!
Lorraine E
YAY I’m so glad that you got your turkey and Thanksgiving dinner. DJ’s food hall strawberries are brilliant aren’t they-and they sometimes do whole figs which are even better if you get a lovely lusciously fat fig. I’m glad that everyone was friendly and that you had a great time! 🙂