Traditional fare this year, the way THEY like it. Brined turkey, sourdough/artichoke/parmesan stuffing, cheesy broccoli bake-thingy, yukon golds mashed with horseradish and whole mustard, someone will bring the detested (by me) green bean casserole, carmelized sweet potatoes, the other sides will be determined by me closer to game day…errr, Thanksgiving.
I do hope that my middle daughter forgets to bring her college friend this year, she keeps kosher, is vegan AND soy/gluten intolerant. That made my cooking chores a little bit interesting last year. If I recall, I fed the poor girl lots of steamed potatoes and broccoli. If I had more notice, I could have whipped up something more festive for her.
Last year Laura decided to do something different and asked me to roast a chicken. Twas the lamest Thanksgiving dinner of our lives.
For Christmas, still in the mood for something different, she wanted some fish thing while I got ribs. It was a bad Christmas - my ribs were fine, but her fish was awful.
This year we’re making amends, and in a big way: we’re doing both the honey-baked ham and a roast turkey this year.
Thenkyew-- I live to please y’all! I looked pretty much as VOW guessed, but with no human audience, thank goodness.
The cats sniffed and licked and rolled on the floor till the day we moved. Little optimists that they are, they both sit on top of the fridge, watching intently, every time I cook.
Well, I do remember a time when the exact quote from me was “The fucking chicken is on fire. You deal with it.”
In my defense, I had 10 house guests, and my only kitchen appliances was a single electric hot plate, a toaster oven and the refrigerator. In addition to the 5 of us who lived in the house. It was the 4th day of a prolonged weekend “vacation” and nobody seemed to want to bother helping me get supper ready and I was frazzled. I went up stairs and went to bed. They all called for pizza delivery.
Cut up several loaves of sourdough bread into cubes. Relax, you’re nearly done sweetie. Have you had a glass of Chardonnay yet, it’s a holiday and you need at least one glass under your belt. Check. Chop up some stuff so that your family is impressed with your chef-y skillz. I usually fake it with some celery and onion; it really makes the crowds go “OOOOHHH” and “AWWWWW” Then, just to wow them, I sweat the chopped-up bits until they carmelize a wee bit.
Why the Hell hasn’t someone refilled your glass? It’s a Holiday, not a remake of a sad Dickens play-without-pudding fer-chris-sakes! This is a good time to check your lipstick, you don’t want uneven lip-lines to distract your guests as you serve them your super-awesome stuffing. Take some chicken stock and WHIP IT together with two Extra-large eggs. Take the wet mixture and spooge it all at once onto the dry ingredients (remember prom night?) There might be some lumps, but that’s OK, you can beat the lumps outta yer brother in law with your spoonchatla. OOh, and add artichoke hearts. And bake at 350 for half an hour. Hope this helps.
Follow this blog, but you do NOT have to glaze it with anything. I use a huge farberware roaster with the rack to hold the critter out of any liquid in the bottom. I also shove an onion, a lemon, some celery frondy tops, some thyme and occasionally freshly ground black pepper in the cavity, and no salt or other seasoning on the outside.
Qwap, I forgot to add the Parmesan! After you’ve reassured your mother-in-law that there’s no Shitska blood in her granchildren, sprinkle the casserole dish liberally with Parmesan, along with your salty tears. May God go with you!!
roast turkey
dressing
turkey gravy
broccoli casserole
deviled eggs
pumpkin pie
Dutch apple crumb pie
Everything else varies from year to year. Roasted potatoes & carrots, mashed…this year I’m fixing parsley potatoes. The guys don’t care for sweet potatoes (but there are so many delicious/pretty recipes!)
They don’t like cranberries, either, tho I’ve made chutneys, added orange slices…sigh I buy a can of jellied cranberry sauce for me.
Sometimes we have green bean casserole. Sometimes I get myself a mince meat pie.
This year I’m trying a corn dish that’s a combo of recipes I found on the net:
1 can creamed corn
1 can Mexican corn, drained
1/4 cup diced onions
bacon
Saute onions in bacon grease. Add cans of corn & heat. Take off eye, sprinkle with bacon pieces and stir. If it’s any good, I’ll add more stuff next time.
The one thing we can’t make is real butterscotch pie. My husband’s grandmother used to make one with a (I think) caramel sauce that went over. We’ve tried some different recipes but they’re really not any good. (For the pie.) Anybody got a recipe for that? Happy Turkey Day in advance.
