Of course this post is for a microwaved Thanksgiving!

In my ongoing attempts to provide readers with smaller, more affordable Thanksgiving meals this year, I've assembled a Thanksgiving meal for four to six from The Amana Radarange Cook Book (1975), and yes, it's prepared entirely in the microwave!

First, you will need an appetizer to get the party started.

How about some Party Tuna Balls? Nothing puts people in a celebratory mood faster than the smell of microwaved fish.

You'll need a main course, but a turkey might be bigger than what you need this year. How about microwaving a chicken?

I hope you have an Amana Browning Skillet, because otherwise that chicken cooked in cranberry sauce and vinegar might end up looking pretty flabby. (Hopefully the bright red of the sauce will make diners think about blood and distract them from the lack of browning.)

Of course, sweet potatoes are always popular. Make them festive (and extra labor-intensive) by cooking them in the carefully-hollowed-out peels of large oranges.

The shot of acid from the orange might even help balance out the sweetness of the marshmallow topping (since it won't get any bitter notes from oven browning).

Green beans are a must, so you can go with a microwave version of the famous casserole...

...or try something slightly new with Creamy Green Beans and Mushrooms.

It uses canned mushrooms, sour cream, and brown sugar instead of canned cream soup and onion bits. Whee!

Now, you could easily just buy an assortment of dinner rolls from the grocery and warm them for just a few seconds in the microwave, but why do that when the microwave can bake?

I'm sure the microwaved roll of refrigerator biscuits will be waaay better than fancy-shmancy bakery rolls.

And finally, you need dessert. Since this is a different kind of year, how about expanding your horizons beyond the expected pumpkin pie? Doesn't spice cake seem seasonally appropriate?

Yes, Tomato Spice Cake was popular enough to get its own microwaved version!

The microwave certainly has the potential to make this year's Thanksgiving festivities memorable! And luckily, the recipes are small enough that the leftovers this meal generates won't linger too long. I don't think there will be too many fights over them. Extra family peace at Thanksgiving! Another win for microwave cooking.