People, people, people! Let us not forget about the gravy. TDay is all about the gravy. Everything else is just a side dish. Seriously if the giblet gravy ain’t right, might as well throw everything out.
Did I mention the giblet gravy? 
We used to have both Thanksgiving and Christmas at my MIL’s house. After Ivylad and his sisters were grown and had children of their own, we talked about how fun it would be to host Thanksgiving on our own rather than be a guest.
Ivylad cornered Mom, told her that we thought she should have a break making two big meals in two months, and asked if his sisters and I could take over Thanksgiving.
It worked out well, I think. I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but stretching your cooking skills, experimenting with new ideas, and planning out a big fancy meal for family is fun once in a while.
swampbear, what’s your recipe for giblet gravy? Giblets stink when they’re cooking, and I wasn’t quite satisfied with the gravy the last time I made it. I just made it with the neck.
Woah there buster. My birthday lands on Thanksgiving every so often and I better get a present and candles in the pumpkin pie.
We are also ready for Thanksgiving. I think we have everything except the brown and serve rolls and the fresh mushrooms, it is just to early to buy them.
I don’t think we have ever been prepared so early.
Dinner consists of:
20 pound HoneySuckle Turkey
mashed potaoes
sweet potatoes
stuffing
gravy
corn and green beans (my mom can’t eat corn)
rolls
pumpkin pie
apple pie
It will only be my BF, my two kids, my mother and myself. I like it that way. We can all be ourselves and pig out on food. I also have Glad take home containers for my mom, I can’t give her our tupperware as we will never see it again.
I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday, with Halloween and Christmas coming in second and third.
It is the BFs turn to cook so I don’t have to do a dang thing all day but have several drinks, just enough to feel good, and then chow and take a nap.
Next year will be my turn but I think I will teach my daughter again, she needs more practice, how to make Thanksgiving dinner, leaving me to do next to nothing and have a few drinks until I can pig out.
If I calculate this right that leaves two more years before I have to actually do it myself. Of course by then it should land on my B-day and well who is going to make me cook on my birthday?
I actually like to make the Thanksgiving dinner. I am just being nice as my BF and daughter like to make it more than I do. Really, no lie.
Happy Birthday! Will owe you the present.
My birthday also falls on Thanksgiving every so often. Last year was my turn.
I don’t know about swampbear, but I sorta-kinda make mine up as I go along. Basically I boil the neck and internal organs in water to make stock, which I use in the stuffing. I start the gravy with the remaining stock. The neck meat and organs except for the liver go into the stuffing. I mix some flour into the stock to start the gravy and then add some milk, salt, pepper, and the chopped-up liver. When the turkey is done I add drippings. I try not to get too much fat in it. Very simple. But it does take a bit of adjusting. Too much flour and it’ll taste pasty. And it has to be the right consistency. If it’s too thin I’ll make a roux with butter and flour and add a bit to thicken it. If it’s too thick I’ll add more drippings.
Someone will come by very shortly to say ‘You’re doing it wrong!’ But everyone who has had it has liked it.
For pork tenderloin, can I interest you in this recipe? I’m making this today- it sounds delicious! I’m using a jarred mango chutney, so less work which is always a good thing.
I’m still debating what I’ll be doing for Thanksgiving. Since I will be by myself, I’ve not yet made any decisions about food. Except for Cauliflower Cream instead of mashed potatoes - I like to experiment a little on Thanksgiving, since I’m usually alone and this recipe has stuck in my head since I read it.
But I’m considering making an attempt with a small turkey, even if I have huge amounts of leftovers - it freezes well and I was intrigued by the Alton Brown Thanksgiving brining episode that I saw yesterday.
At first it was requested that I bring two pies and beer to dinner.
Then it went to three pies since the apple-pie maker has left the family (her pie sucked anyways) and beer.
Now I’m bringing four pies, beer, and (vodka-ized) cranberry punch. Four pies. Someone should buy *me *a beer!
I offered to host Thanksgiving this year. I hosted Christmas last year, which went well, I thought, despite the fact that I didn’t get around to getting a Christmas tree until about Christmas Eve and have you seen the Christmas Eve trees? Yeah, Charlie Brown special and all, I just couldn’t bring myself to bring one home, so no tree. And I forgot to start the potatoes for mashed potatoes until after the salad course was already on the table, but my BIL of the gourmet cooking noticed and reminded me “as long as you shove other food in front of them while you make the potatoes, they’ll never even notice.” So true.
But I digress. So I offered to host Thanksgiving this year, to which my mother responded, “But your kitchen is so much smaller than mine I’d find it difficult to cook there; we’ll just have it at our house.” In other words – mom’s cooking, no matter what. She has the same menu every year (including the most glorious Yorkshire puddings that no one else can replicate), but she does it all herself.
Once again, I’ll be relegated to bringing flowers or wine, the types of things that can’t be ruined by me. Ready for Thanksgiving? Yep.
Well, since you asked… It’s really not that much different from Johnny L.A.'s version.
I’m also a biiiiiiiiiig fan of cornbread dressing (that’s what we call stuffing down south y’all!) so here’s a tried and true recipe for Chicken and Dressing with Giblet Gravy. It’s from a church lady, so you know it has to be good.
Jean’s Chicken and Dressing
Cornbread:
2 cups self-rising corn meal 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
2 eggs Buttermilk
Combine all ingredients, using enough buttermilk (usually 1/2 to 3/4 cup) to make it soft. Pour into a hot greased cast iron skillet and bake at 475 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown. Allow to cool.
Chicken:
One large fryer
1 1/2 quarts of water
salt
Add chicken to water and salt. Boil for about one hour until tender. Remove chicken and let cool.
Dressing:
cooled cornbread sage to taste
chicken broth 4 eggs, beaten
1 large chopped onion salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped celery
Crumble cornbread into a large mixing bowl; add enough chicken broth to make it real soupy. Let stand to soak up the broth. Add the other ingredients, using more broth if it’s too dry. Bake in a long casserole dish or pan at 400 degrees for one hour or until brown on top.
Giblet Gravy:
2 eggs salt and pepper to taste
1/2 stick butter (margarine if you must) 2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup flour Chopped giblets and neck
Set aside chopped giblets and neck (boiled first of course). Boil eggs and chop. Melt margarine in a medium sauce pan and add flour, salt and pepper. Stir well and add broth. Add chopped giblets and boil until thickened over medium heat. Turn on low heat after thickening and add chopped eggs. More broth can be added if the gravy is too thick.
As y’all can see, some of the measurements are not exact. Also, the gravy recipe can be doubled easily.
No need to thank me. The rave reviews you will receive from friends and relatives will be thanks enough.
Oh and cranberry sauce is meant to be from a can. How else ya gonna get that cool thwooshp sound?
Well for the first time in over 30 years, I won’t be cooking this Thanksgiving. I will be in Canada working. 
Here is my take AB’s turkey. Up a notch as they say.
Big Thanksgiving at our place this year and I’m almost ready - I’ve been buying dishes, cutlery and wine glasses at Goodwill for a couple of weeks now and have enough for all 14 of us! I hate plastic, styrofoam and paper plates.
As for patterns: matching smatching, who cares? Some of the plates are earth tones, they’ll go on the table with the vivid napkins and tablecloth; the rest are rainbow hues, so they get neutral linens.
The knives, forks and spoons are really cool, I’ve always loved a variety of patterns and now I don’t have to pick – they’re just about all represented.
Oh, and the twins and I stamped “leaves” on the $.20 orange vinyl placemats (also from Goodwill) for an extra festive touch!
Next I need to burn a couple of CDs for ambiance, people usually love my taste in music. If I have time I’ll make multiples to give my relatives as take-home gifts.
Oh, there’s supposed to be food? 
Hubby’s in charge of that!
I’ll just make Gourmet magazine’s pecan-crusted sweet potatoes (with extra ginger and orange zest) and the spinach/yogurt/mint Waldorf salad from Jane Brody.
I’m confused…boil the eggs and chop them into the gravy? :eek: Eggs are a dealkiller for me…I barely tolerate them in cakes, and I wouldn’t eat a quiche or an omelet if I were starving. Can I leave out the eggs?
And what is this margarine of which you speak?
Eggs in gravy (particularly hardboiled eggs) just sounds wrong. Chopped hardboiled eggs? Doesn’t that make the gravy…chunky?
This year, Acid Lamp and I are hosting Thanksgiving at our house. Well, sort of. My mother, who loves to cook, is volunteering to do the work (and apparently has bought a lot of food supplies for this task) of making most of the items. However, we are to prepare the turkey. I picked one out from Super Target today, and hopefully we picked a good one. We’re going to have turkey, ham, green bean casserole, “umami potatoes au gratin,” cranberry sauce, stuffing, and I’m thinking about making the blueberry-orange tart that we made the other day. The recipe is as follows:
The flour, confectioners’ sugar, orange zest, baking powder, and salt are mixed together with oil and 2 tablespoons of orange juice to make the crust. This gets pressed into a tart pan and blind baked in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
While this is all happening, you cook the blueberries, orange juice, granulated sugar, pepper, and nutmeg; bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. As soon as you finish cooking the blueberry mixture, mix in cornstarch thinned with water. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then spoon into the tart and chill for 1 hour before serving.
The pepper and zest make all the difference; yum! 
Monday here now. Only 10 more days. Almost single digits. Mmmmm.
I’ve never cooked a turkey in my life, but am contemplating having some friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. My friend has deemed me insane to volunteer for this.
It can’t be that hard to cook a turkey, can it?
It’s not - just thaw at the proper time and in a safe fashion. And get a meat thermometer!
Food Network has some turkey tips; I highly recommend the Alton Brown/Good Eats method.
Giblet gravy without the eggs? Well, I suppose one could. However, I am not responsible for the rip in the time-space continuum that is sure to occur. 
Seriously, I don’t think leaving out the eggs would make a difference in the gravy. And yes, giblet gravy should be a little chunky or whatever one would describe chopped up aigs and giblets as being.