Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Buca di Beppo®. All opinions are 100% mine.
When I was a kid, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. It was a time when all of our family gathered at our house and my mom and aunts made yummy food for us all to enjoy. Back then I didn’t understand or aprpeciate how stressful it can get when you have people over and have to cook for them. In my child’s mind, I just saw it as day to eat all kinds of food and play with my cousins. Now that I’m older, though, I see things in a completely different light, and I understand how stressful cooking a big meal can be.
Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner can be extra stressful for those who don’t know how to cook or can’t do it very well. Fortunately for me, I inherited my parents’ cooking ability, so I know my way around the kitchen. I can just imagine what I would be like if I didn’t though.
Heck, even knowing how to cook doesn’t eliminate the stress for me because something could go wrong at any time.
For example, two years ago, I decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for my boyfriend (at the time), his kids, his dad, his sister, her husband and his niece. I was TERRIFIED. I wanted everything to be perfect, but from the moment we woke up Thanksgiving morning, I was panicked. What if something went wrong? What if I ruined the meal?
My fears intensified when my boyfriend woke up sick and slept for hours while the kids and I decorated the house and prepared the meal. It was their first Thanksgiving following their parents divorced, and they were a little sad, whcih was understandable.
His daughter decided at one point to make an ice cream shake. No big deal. I figured it was still awhile until dinner, so she wasn’t hurting anything. Well, lets just say things didn’t go the way she wanted them to.
She FORGOT to put the lid on the blender and ice cream went EVERYWHERE.
The cupboards were covered, as were the counter and floor. I didn’t want her dad to find out, so we cleaned it up and he would have been none the wiser had we not said anything.
After that, I was even more worried about how dinner would turn out and was wishing I had convinced my boyfriend to go out for dinner.
Luckily, though, everything after that went smooth. My boyfriend woke up and felt better and was able to eat. And his dad gorged himself on the meal, which made me feel good. I desperately wanted to impress him. It was my first time meeting my boyfriend’s family, and I wanted them to see how good I was for my boyfriend.
He and I are still together. We are now married, in fact. But that doesn’t mean the pressure to impress is gone. I still want everything to be perfect. I actually strongly considered having us all go out for Thanksgiving this year. Even my mother mentioned that we should. For families like ours who are considering other options, Buca di Beppo offers a solution that can help eliminate the stress of preparing a meal or having people over.
If you want to host a get together at your house, but don’t want to cook your own Thanksgiving dinner, you can order Buca di Beppo Thanksgiving Feast.
It includes your favorite Thanksgiving dishes with an Italian twist. It includes a choice of sliced white turkey meat or hickory-smoked ham, homestyle gravy, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, spicy Italian sausage stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. YUM! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The sausage stuffing sounds delicious. I’ve never had a spicy stuffing before. It sounds delicious
If you choose to purchase a meal from them, curbside pickup is available at most locations.
If you’d rather eat at the restaurant, you can do that too. Buca di Beppo is currently taking Thanksgiving reservations.
In addition to their Thanksgiving Feast, they will also have their regular menu items available as well in case you’re craving something different and not traditional.
The Buca di Beppo locations open their doors at 11:00am. To find a location near you, please visit their official website.