Thanksgiving

[Kailash]

I love Thanksgiving! It used to be a huge deal growing up, 30 plus people. These days it's usually just my husband, daughter and me. But I still cook. I always make my turkey in a Reynold's bag, breast side down. It cooks so much faster and is very juicy. We will probably have ceviche with tortilla chips for an appetizer. I'll make green bean casserole, and be the only one who eats it, mashed potatoes, colcannon, rolls, cranberry sauce, corn and Stove Top stuffing with onions and celery added before cooking. I might make pineapple casserole, but again, I'll be the only one who eats it. We'll probably have a pumpkin pie and a sweet potato pie for dessert. The day after I might bake some brie and serve it with crusty bread to go with the leftovers. I'm really excited for Thanksgiving. I'm a little more adventures with Christmas dinner, but not much.

 

[RabbitKM]

I love Thanksgiving! It used to be a huge deal growing up, 30 plus people. These days it's usually just my husband, daughter and me. But I still cook. I always make my turkey in a Reynold's bag, breast side down. It cooks so much faster and is very juicy. We will probably have ceviche with tortilla chips for an appetizer. I'll make green bean casserole, and be the only one who eats it, mashed potatoes, colcannon, rolls, cranberry sauce, corn and Stove Top stuffing with onions and celery added before cooking. I might make pineapple casserole, but again, I'll be the only one who eats it. We'll probably have a pumpkin pie and a sweet potato pie for dessert. The day after I might bake some brie and serve it with crusty bread to go with the leftovers. I'm really excited for Thanksgiving. I'm a little more adventures with Christmas dinner, but not much.

 

What is a pineapple casserole?

[catlady]

My mom's (and now my sister's) standards are turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pie.  Now that my nephew hunts, my sister will add venison.

i never enjoyed cooking, never got any good at it, so I would contribute the pie and another dessert that I can prepare on the Sunday afternoon before.  For about 25 years, my work schedule has left me with pretty much no spare time during Thanksgiving week.

When Mr. CL and I spend it with his family, his mom cooked before she passed.  Now we go to a nice restaurant almost out of necessity:  Mr. CL's culinary skills are limited to the turkey and literally nothing else, I work 32 hours in the 3 preceding days and have no prep time, SIL works for SouthWest and always works till noon, their dad does not cook, and neither does my disabled cousin.  There are a lot of good places in our area, so we can always find a really nice buffet.  We usually make our reservations around Halloweeen.

[sawasdee]

As a non American, I feel a bit left out! After Thanksgiving, can we have a Xmas dinner thread? Please?

[HerNameIsBuffy]

My sister recently reminded me of the year when I was a kid I got it into my head that we should only have what they had at the first Thanksgiving - the menu should be historically accurate.  My mom pretended to play along so I'd do the research myself.  Dropped that idea fast once I realized no sugar, no wheat flour for pies, no butter!  I am not showing up if sugar and butter aren't putting in an appearance. 

As a non American, I feel a bit left out! After Thanksgiving, can we have a Xmas dinner thread? Please?

Awwww - count on it!  And just remember you don't have to be in the US to enjoy a good stuffing recipe.  Holiday or no, you gotta eat!  

[Kailash]

What is a pineapple casserole?

This: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pineapple-casserole-recipe.html

It's sweet, almost a dessert.

[47of74]

We're going to have pretty much the same as we had other years - turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, cranberries, green beans, and pies.

In fact we're going to have two turkeys for our dinner.  One that's going to be baked in the oven the usual way, and a second one that's going to be fried in a turkey fryer.  I bought an indoor fryer a couple years ago so I can now fry turkeys in the basement instead of standing outside on a cold, windy day for an hour.  (Just one thing, after cleaning the fryer make sure all the connectors are nice and tight.  If you don't your liable to wind up with a whole bunch of oil on the floor). 

Plus we'll probably have the usual assortment of pies.  My doctor's having me limit my sugar consumption so my mom is making a pumpkin pie with artificial sweetener.  She did that a week ago as a test and we could not really detect any difference between that and one made with sugar.

[PennySycamore]

I've made a pumpkin pie with Splenda and maybe a little molasses before and didn't notice a difference.

[purple_summer]

We're having Thanksgiving with friends this year so I have no idea what our menu is going to look like. Our spread changes wildly from year to year, especially if we travel. We always have mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (not with marshmallow, ick!), green beans, corn pudding, and cornbread dressing. Add 1-9 additional sides and basically any kind of meat as a main and you have a "typical" Thanksgiving for us.

[O Latin]

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this year. My mom used to be vehemently opposed to anything that wasn't made from scratch from 100% "natural" ingredients, but she's loosened up about this over the last few years. This year I've got permission to make yams with marshmallow topping and green bean casserole, both of which I've always wanted to try but didn't think I'd be able to get away with because marshmallows and cream of mushroom soup definitely aren't "natural." I discovered oysters during a trip to the coast this summer, so I'm also making oyster stuffing. My family's "traditional" stuffing recipe involves the turkey insides (you know, the bits that come in a little package stuck inside the turkey, I forget what those are called) cut up and mixed in with the bread crumbs, which I think ends up being gross, so I've been trying different things for several years, but I've never found just the right one. Maybe oysters will be it. 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

(snipped)

My family's "traditional" stuffing recipe involves the turkey insides (you know, the bits that come in a little package stuck inside the turkey, I forget what those are called) cut up and mixed in with the bread crumbs, which I think ends up being gross, so I've been trying different things for several years, but I've never found just the right one. Maybe oysters will be it. 

Pretty sure you mean giblets. Now I want to go check my dictionary and find out why they're called that. (Once a word geek...)

[AlysonRR]

My personal reaction to sweet potatoes with marshmallows is "ick"! Mom used to make it and I absolutely hated it. I thought I didn't like sweet potatoes and then I tried a simple recipe for curried sweet potatoes - yum! We almost always have it for holidays, and I'll sometimes make it for a winter salad. 

My kids, however, both really dislike sweet potatoes and have since they were first given it as homemade baby food. Ah well, more for the rest of us!

[O Latin]

Ah, yes, WhatWouldJohnChrichtonDo, I think that's it. 

I'v made some variation of yams or sweet potatoes for years and nobody in my family but me really likes them, so if the marshmallow topped ones turn out to be gross I don't think anyone will be particularly upset. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Ah, yes, WhatWouldJohnChrichtonDo, I think that's it. 

I'v made some variation of yams or sweet potatoes for years and nobody in my family but me really likes them, so if the marshmallow topped ones turn out to be gross I don't think anyone will be particularly upset. 

I love marshmallows, but due to tradition and needing things to be the same every holiday I've never done them with the yams.  I make baked sweet potatoes plain (people can add butter at the table - but I'm just baking them in the oven with the turkey) and also a couple of the large cans of yams with a handful of brown sugar making the juice from the can even more cloyingly sweet and give them a rough mash.

One year I tried doing the yams from scratch with fresh - boiling then simmering them in OJ with some brown sugar, nutmeg, and some other spices and everyone hated them.  They were fine - but they weren't "thanksgiving."

 

[O Latin]

Ah, yes, tradition. Yams/sweet potatoes aren't part of our Sacred Family Tradition so nobody really cares. But when I asked my mom if I could perhaps do something with the turkey other than stick it in the oven and leave it there to overcook because everybody fell asleep watching football and can't be bothered to remember that we have had a convection oven for almost two decades so it's not going to take as long as they think it will, she said, "But that's the way we've always done it." Sigh. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Ah, yes, tradition. Yams/sweet potatoes aren't part of our Sacred Family Tradition so nobody really cares. But when I asked my mom if I could perhaps do something with the turkey other than stick it in the oven and leave it there to overcook because everybody fell asleep watching football and can't be bothered to remember that we have had a convection oven for almost two decades so it's not going to take as long as they think it will, she said, "But that's the way we've always done it." Sigh. 

Oh THANK you for this!  I needed the reminder that convection ovens cook differently - I have my first with the new house and need to look up the difference in timing.

Also need to figure out why the bottom oven cooks differently than the top.  Need to run trials and get the formula for how much faster the bottom cooks than the top because I'm burning all kinds of stuff using that one.

[purple_summer]

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this year. My mom used to be vehemently opposed to anything that wasn't made from scratch from 100% "natural" ingredients, but she's loosened up about this over the last few years. This year I've got permission to make yams with marshmallow topping and green bean casserole, both of which I've always wanted to try but didn't think I'd be able to get away with because marshmallows and cream of mushroom soup definitely aren't "natural." I discovered oysters during a trip to the coast this summer, so I'm also making oyster stuffing. My family's "traditional" stuffing recipe involves the turkey insides (you know, the bits that come in a little package stuck inside the turkey, I forget what those are called) cut up and mixed in with the bread crumbs, which I think ends up being gross, so I've been trying different things for several years, but I've never found just the right one. Maybe oysters will be it. 

Oyster dressing can be really really good. We made it a few years ago.

[Ali]

My personal reaction to sweet potatoes with marshmallows is "ick"! Mom used to make it and I absolutely hated it. I thought I didn't like sweet potatoes and then I tried a simple recipe for curried sweet potatoes - yum! We almost always have it for holidays, and I'll sometimes make it for a winter salad. 

My kids, however, both really dislike sweet potatoes and have since they were first given it as homemade baby food. Ah well, more for the rest of us!

I thought I did not like sweet potatoes for years until I tried them without marshmallows or sugar added to them. In my opinion, the only acceptable things to add to them are butter, salt, and pepper.

We are hosting this year because we are the only ones in the family with a house in the condition to host. I am trying to get excited about it. I am in the third trimester of pregnancy and starting to feel fatigue. Luckily, my hubby has volunteered to help me.

I will have to post our menu later once we nail it down.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

My sis in law likes sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon. (Or maybe cinnamon sugar?) She puts the toppings on the side, though, so everyone can make it to their taste. My mom does yams. She bakes them and then tops them with brown sugar glaze. I can't remember if I've ever tried the marshmallow version. The curried version sounds intriguing!

ETA I didn't say, "Congratulations!" to @Ali. Plus, I'm really impressed at your hosting Thanksgiving in your third trimester. Hope your hubby is a big help!

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I thought I did not like sweet potatoes for years until I tried them without marshmallows or sugar added to them. In my opinion, the only acceptable things to add to them are butter, salt, and pepper.

We are hosting this year because we are the only ones in the family with a house in the condition to host. I am trying to get excited about it. I am in the third trimester of pregnancy and starting to feel fatigue. Luckily, my hubby has volunteered to help me.

I will have to post our menu later once we nail it down.

Congrats!  So exciting!

[Ali]

My sis in law likes sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon. (Or maybe cinnamon sugar?) She puts the toppings on the side, though, so everyone can make it to their taste. My mom does yams. She bakes them and then tops them with brown sugar glaze. I can't remember if I've ever tried the marshmallow version. The curried version sounds intriguing!

ETA I didn't say, "Congratulations!" to @Ali. Plus, I'm really impressed at your hosting Thanksgiving in your third trimester. Hope your hubby is a big help!

Thanks. We decided to do it simple this year. I have hosted once before and I put far more effort into it, but this year I am going to be careful not to overdo it. My husband will be a huge help. He takes good care of me and loves to cook.

[Coconut Flan]

We know you have them - favorite recipes for the turkey, dressing, cranberries and all the other goodies.

[withaj]

Nom nom. I'm terrible at doing inventive things with leftovers but I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

[umsami]

Giada deLaurentis (with whom I have a love/hate...mostly hate relationship with) posted a recipe for Turkey Bolognese years ago, which my family loves. (Also uses up left over celery which I have from doctoring up the Stove Top.)   http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/turkey-bolognese-recipe.html

 

Our favorite though is to make a turkey sandwich....with rye bread, mayo, cranberry sauce (must be in contact with mayo), turkey, course salt, and optional cheese and stuffing.

Stuffing...never enough.  Leftovers are rare.

Mashed potatoes we add eggs and flour to and make a sort of potato pancake and serve with applesauce.

 

Oh...and BHG's Turkey Frame Soup.  http://www.bhg.com/recipe/poultry/turkey-frame-soup/

[JillyO]

We are doing a Friendsgiving potluck this year. This is actually the first time I'm going to be celebrating Thanksgiving in Germany, so I'm excited. We're a group of friends who have all lived in America at various points in our lives and decided that it would be fun to bring Thanksgiving to Germany.

So far, we're having:

• Pumpkin soup
• Vegetarian stuffing
• Mac & cheese
• Green beens
• Bread
• Cranberry sauce (made by yours truly)
• Apple pie (also made by yours truly)
• And tons of wine.

 I think some people are gonna need to make something from the "suggestions" list rather than bring wine (or in addition, since you can never have too much wine). Still on the "suggestions" list are:

• Mashed potatos
• Sweet potato casserole
• Some kind of salad
• Veggie gravy
• Cornbread.

No turkey since most of us don't eat meat. Anybody who can't live without meat is free to bring some for themselves, though. I doubt it will happen.

Mr. O still needs to figure out what he wants to bring, and since he has to work that day and I don't, it's more than possible I'll be making whatever he wants to bring as well. Good thing I like cooking!