Mr. Pug and I are not big turkey fans, so we’re having rack of lamb (with mustard/garlic/rosemary/crumbs coating), polenta with some lamb au jus drizzled on, and fresh string beans with tomato and onion sauce. Wine: Sangiovese. Dessert: lemon curd sponge roll. What’s on your menu?
Every year for the last 7 or so, thomasm and I have held what we call “Orphans’ Thanksgiving.” We started it for our friends in college who were too far from home to travel for Thanksgiving (or too estranged from their families), but it has since morphed into a general “invite everyone” kind of situation. Since it is a potluck affair, we never know what the menu will be until everything is laid out on the dining room table. The only constant is our contribution: a BBQ’d turkey.
So far this year, I’ve not heard of anyone planning to bring anything out of the ordinary, but I’m certainly not going to count on the event being boring!
JOhn
I’ll be cooking for 4 this year. On the menu:
Peppercorn Crusted Pork Roast with Creamy Peppercorn Sauce
Southern Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potato & Leek “Souffle”
Salad (with dried cranberries, mandarin oranges & jicama)
Crustless Pumpkin Pie
This is my first holiday meal. Hopefully all things will work out, as they are all untried recipes.
–scout (who got all her recipes from Weight Watchers magazines & cookbooks)
Marinated steak, mashed potatoes, caesar salad, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, ice cream. Beverages according to age and preference.
I thought we’d read, and then discuss, selections from To Kill A Mockingbird, after which we’d pop in a video of The Women by William Wyler, and discuss that for a couple of hours. Then we’ll probably put up and decorate our Christmas tree, all the while debating the relative merits of the various series of Hallmark ornaments in our collection.
This will probably take us most of the –
– food? You mean what are we going to eat?
Oh.
IMHO, down the hall, first door on your right.
scout1222, what’s the recipe for that potato & leek souffle?
Ask and ye shall receive:
(Serves 4)
4 medium (5 ounce) potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
1 leek, cleaned & sliced
1 1/4 c. hot water
1/4 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
2 Tbsp. fat free milk
Combine potatoes & enough cold water to cover in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer until tender, about 10 min. Drain, reserving 1/4 c. cooking liquid aside.
Spray medium nonstick skillet with cooking spray & set over medium heat. Add leak, hot water, salt & pepper. Saute over med-high heat, stirring occasionally & adding more hot water, if necessary, until the leek is tender & liquid has evaporated.
Mash the potatoes. Add the milk and the reserved cooking liquid, one Tbsp at a time, until the potatoes are fluffy. Stir in the cooked leek.
Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray and transfer in mix. Cover & set aside until ready to bake (can prepare 2 hours ahead of time, but should not be refrigerated, as the potatoes lose their flavor).
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
This can also be made in a souffle dish, but the cooking time is different (longer I believe). I’m making them in a muffin tin, so I don’t have that info right here. I thought it would be neat to have single serving portions.
Chicken broth.
(Just had surgery, so no solid foods for awhile.)
(former)Roommate, on the other hand, is having shrimp Caesar salad, baked ham with pineapple rings, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and Coca-cola.
And I’m stopping by Blockbuster this evening to pick up some DVDs before everything is cleaned out for the holiday - probably Terminator or The Abyss again, maybe something with Jackie Chan. Or maybe something new. We’ll see.
The only weird thing about my Thanksgiving this year is that we will be attending The Feast at my daughter’s preschool for the first time.
They are serving potluck turkey with abbreviated trimmings (e.g., you’re allowed to bring Stovetop and gravy-in-a-jar.)
This seems very strange to me. Don’t you think tomorrow would be the perfect time for a pizza party or something.
So, the next day we’re going to grandma and grandpa’s and doing it all over again. Urrgh. At least grandma knows how to make gravy.
My younger sister is cooking Thanksgiving alone for the first time, ever. I’m a little afeared.
We’ll be having “The New Bride Cooks Turkey” from some magazine or other,
Mashed Potatoes with sour cream, butter and cream cheese mashed in
Three-bean salad (my mother’s recipe)
Stuffing from the “bride” article
Yams with marshmallows
Pumpkin Pie
Mincemeat Pie
And whatever wine I decide to bring. Right now I’m thinking a riesling, but I dunno. (Sis only likes sweet wines, which is a problem…mebbe I’ll go buy some mead tonight. Mmmm, mead.)
Well after the breakup I’m left with my family. Mom & dad aren’t coming back from Carolina, Sis and her hubby are going to his parents and my bro and his wifey are visitng her parents in AZ…so I’m going with a friend to a sports bar on the other side of town for a free turkey, potatoes, pie spread along with the Packers game on tv at 11:00am (cst). How sad, but I’m kinda looking forward to it, nice to not worry about the relatives.
Well, if I go home for Thanksgiving I don’t get any time off for Christmas. And apparently we don’t know any other orphans, so it’s just me and my SO, but I’m still cooking 'cause I like to cook and because I have to practice for Christmas (if I don’t do Christmas dinner we have to eat my Grandmother’s cooking and nobody wants that.)
I want to do something different for Christmas (rack of lamb sounds good. Last year I made goose) but for Thursday, SO has requested turkey with chestnut stuffing.
White and Sweet Potato Saute with Bacon
Some sort of roast vegetable
Pear and Apple Pie with Hazelnuts
Tres traditional, even though it’s just the hubby and me:
Roast turkey breast
Cranberry sauce
Baked potatoes: sweet potato for me, plain for the hubby.
Corn
Brown ‘n’ Serve rolls
For dessert: Apple crisp
And upon reading SisteryCoyote’s post, mead! Mmmm, yes, must aquire mead tonight!
I’ll be working. But hubby is planning on doing dinner so we’ll eat around 6 in the evening, I’ll get off around 5:30. I have no idea who is gonna show up. Usually at Thanksgiving I fix the turkey, dressing, a couple of veggies and the rest of the family brings a dish or two. We have 38 people in my immediate family (4 brothers and their families) so it’s a pretty big spread. It won’t happen that way this year, but next year it should be holidays as usual.
I’m only cooking for Carnie and myself this year:
Cornish Game Hens with wild rice and dried cherry stuffing,
Green Beans with toasted pine nuts and balsamic vinegar,
Sourdough Bread and sharp Cheddar Cheese,
Green Salad,
Ginger Beer,
Key Lime pie for dessert.
I’m contributing the turkey and a soup. The turkey will be with apricot curry pistachio stuffing, and the soup will be carrot crab bisque with fennel crisps.
Chicken breast, lovingly prepared with butter and generic poultry seasoning, microwaved.
Baked potato with butter and salt, microwaved.
Corn with butter, microwaved.
Wheat bread with either butter or strawberry jam, warmed in the microwave.
Jellied cranberry sauce, from a can.
And for dessert, little baby puddin’ pies, made by me with instant jell-o and premade graham cracker tart shells.
Not really a Thanksgiving meal, but it’ll be the closest to a home-cooked meal that I’ve had since July, so I’m happy.
Turkey, ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rice and gondules, corn, mac and cheese casserole, roles, sweet potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, deviled eggs, and pasta salad.
Pretty standard stuff, turkey, yams, rolls, apple pie, etc.
Here’s a recipe for cranberry sauce I make every year thats a hit here (I can’t remember where I got it):
1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges
2/3 cup sugar (a bit more if you’d like it less tart)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 twelve-ounce bag cranberries
1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup dried currants
In a medium saucepan, combine onion, sugar and wine. Place over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered 4 minutes
Add all remaining ingredients except currants; cook until cranberries have popped, about 8 minutes
Remove from heat, and stir in currants. Serve at room temperature
Bizarro-world Thanksgiving dinner:
Samosas for breakfast (it’s quarter to ten and I still have to make them!)
Pan-fried chicken breast, courtesy of Mr. S
*Risotto with roasted garlic, thyme, mascarpone, and almonds
*Baby carrots with butter, tarragon, and wine baked in foil
Pumpkin pie from the local yummy Mennonite bakery
Whatever else we decide to make
It’s just me and Mr. S today, so we’ll be cooking and grazing all day.
*Courtesy of “The Naked Chef” – we’ve recently become fans