I bought a pre-brined, fresh turkey from Trader Joe’s. I’ve never tried one before, but defrosting a Butterball never seems to be complete by the time I want to start cooking.
I’m making Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing-- yes, stuffing – because that’s what I grew up on. I could make stuffing from scratch, but there’s only two of us so I’m not going to bother. I haven’t decided whether I’ll put cranberries in it. I’ll ask the SO what she wants. The stuffing will contain the gizzard and neck meat.
Mashed potatoes.
Gravy will be made from the drippings. Liver and heart will be in the gravy.
Green bean casserole.
I’ll roast one sweet potato, and the SO and I will split it. Just roasted sweet potato with butter on it. I’m sure the SO wouldn’t mind brown sugar and marshmallows, but I don’t like it that way.
I might make Brussels sprouts, because I love Brussels sprouts; but there’s already so much food that they would be superfluous.
I might get a couple of bottles of red wine. I consider turkey a ‘game bird’, so I like red wine with it. Besides, the only reason to drink white wine is when you’re out of red.
I’ll bake a pecan pie for dessert. There’s also a Marie Callender’s mixed berry pie in the freezer. (Plus there’s still the SO’s birthday cake I made Monday.)
It’s supposed to be 54º tomorrow, but I suspect I’ll make a fire anyway.
I totally forgot about the sweet potatoes. Yes, they should be baked just like a normal baked potato. My wife and daughter prefer these to the mashed potatoes. My wife used to get so mad (but she covered it well) when my Mom would go on and on about how she made the sweet potatoes for her because she loves them so much and she would cover them with brown sugar and marshmallows which ruins them for her.
My daughter will be taking a shot at baking an apple pie, so there will be that too.
I’ve been on a diet and have lost 30+ lbs., but tomorrow all rules and restrictions are null and void. I also have a goal of walking 10 to 12 miles per day. I plan to make my couch feel loved again tomorrow.
I may be posting a “I fell off the wagon” type of thread on Friday.
My mom and grandma still do the majority of the work on Thanksgiving (we host at Christmas). All I’m doing is bringing a couple of store-bought turtle pies, and a side dish:
Cauliflower Salad
One bag of shredded lettuce
One head raw cauliflower, chopped
One package of parmesan shreds
One bottle of bacon bits
Small jar of mayo
Sugar
Chopped walnuts
Mix all that stuff together.
I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it’s good! I can’t tell you how much sugar to use, but I layer the ingredients as I add them and use enough sugar to pat down the mayo without it sticking to my hands.
Roasted turkey
Pan gravy
Homemade cornbread stuffing (I baked the cornbread last night from scratch)
Mashed potatoes
Candied sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Cranberry sauce
Pumpkin pie with whipped cream (I’m baking the pies tonight.)
My husband’s mother pretty much ramrods Thanksgiving dinner. She is doing the turkey, gravy, dressing, potatoes, and a sheet cake for dessert.
Sister-in-law is doing mashed potatoes, green beans, and a peanut butter pie.
I am charged with the relish tray, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, and I am doing a fruit pie out of the goodness of my heart, because nobody else is and it isn’t Thanksgiving without fruit pie.
No idea what my husband’s aunt is doing, except bringing wine. But that’s fine. I appreciate that.
Mom is making turkey and stuffing (usually wild rice and onions and other ingredients TBD) and gravy and probably whole cranberry sauce, and I don’t know what else.
My sister will do mashed potatoes and bread stuffing, and possibly some kind of appetizer
I hope someone is doing sweet potatoes, because I really like sweet potatoes
Tom Scud and I are making:
Sourdough bread with onions and fresh rosemary
Cherry pie spiked with bourbon and Grand Marnier, and chocolate crust
Possibly some kind of ice cream and/or also a Derby pie - or is that too much bourbon? Is there such a thing as too much bourbon? What kind of ice cream?
Some yummy dishes from Plenty More: contenders include zucchini pseudo-baba ghanoush, roasted butternut squash with pumpkin seeds, and Brussels sprouts fried in butter with caramelized garlic and candied lemon peel.
We may have bitten off more than we can chew, but isn’t that kind of the point?
Friday morning over here, post-Thanksgiving. Bangkok really does have a plethora of Thanksgiving buffet venues, many of them very good, due to the large number of Americans living here. But the wife and I were too busy this year to hit one, so we’re doing our Thanksgiving tomorrow with a big steak dinner.
I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital because I had back surgery the day before. My dinner included vegetables that had been boiled to mush, a couple of some sort of gravy covered pieces of meat that were four different colors. Seriously, parts of it were metallic orange, turquoise, green, and gray.
It might have been eye of round steak, which does have a little bit of a hue. But I wasn’t brave enough to find out, because no edible meat should be turquoise.
I believe I had turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes for lunch (hospital issue). It was a little salty (except for the potatoes, which had no seasoning whatsoever) but otherwise edible.
My family had a traditional holiday dinner with turkey, potatoes, and all that good stuff.
This post frightens me, because it implies that you’ve had potato salad made from instant mashed potatoes. I can’t even wrap my head around how that would work.
