Just taking a minute between cooking and online Christmas shopping...

I am the caregiver for my mother, and per her, I am not allowed to veer from our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

That means: turkey, our traditional family dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed onions, jellied cranberry sauce and salad. The salad is actually a fairly new addition which substituted for the old tradition of peas. It is a good one with romaine, almonds, avocados, and mandarin oranges with a slightly oriental dressing. Our only nod to healthy eating.

I did experiment with another stuffing recipe earlier this month. It was Sunset's most requested Thanksgiving recipe - Artichoke parmesan sourdough stuffing. Surprisingly unappealing. Have to say ours is much better.

Absolutely forbidden to not go with the Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce; but I do have a great recipe using fresh cranberries, cherries, lemon, oranges, etc. if anyone wants it. Maybe I'll sneak that in at Christmas.

Did get one concession on dessert. Mom thinks she may be too full for pie after dinner (no kidding!), so she is going to have peppermint ice cream. Therefore instead of making a pumpkin pie, I got a apple streusel one from my good friend Sara Lee.

It's going to be a small Thanksgiving with just us and a couple of friends. OK with me, I'm hoping that will leave time for that other fine Thanksgiving tradition - a nice after dinner nap.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Enjoy the feast!

I'm really excited about tomorrow's meal at our house! We're having four desserts, because we couldn't stand to winnow the list down.

But first, the turkey: We have been using this recipe for three years now, which was in Sunset Magazine a few years ago. People we've fed it to RAVE about it. The juniper berries are such an unusual ingredient -- I love it! Started curing a few days ago, so it's too late to try it now, if you were thinking of it.

A visiting friend is making this pumpkin cheescake tonight. It's from Cooking Light.

My wife is making her favorite chocolate marbled oreo-crust cheesecake. If you click the link, ignore the photo -- it doesn't look like that.

I'm making a classic apple pie (I LOVE pies!!!), maybe with a lattice top crust this time. Got some great Dreyers vanilla ice cream to go with it.

I'm also making a blackberry cobbler that I've never tried before. Recipe came from the local paper, and I can't find a copy online.

I haven't paid any attention to the veggies, so hopefully my wife has something good planned. I know she's making some great sour cream mashed potatoes, too.

This is all good enough to induce a couple days of food coma!

Hey, I forgot to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, too! You folks are a great inspiration for my gardens. I'm thankful for your insight, friendliness, experience, intelligence, kindness, and generosity (with time, seeds, and everything). It's great to be part of the RMG "family"!

I'm not cooking anything this year. I'm going over to my Moms for Thanksgiving dinner, probably fairly traditional. I move the following weekend, so I'll be packing this long weekend. Was rather sad to come across my seed box recently...

Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving!

We are doing semi traditional too. The turkey, stuffing, mashed taters (King Harry with skins on and garlic), greenbean casserole, cranberry sauce, corn, and apple and pumpkin pies.
I say semi traditional because it looks like we get to avoid the family nightmare this year. We have not heard from the DH's folks and mine are staying home, 1000 miles away. So other than the kids, cats and dogs, just another day at the farm. Thank Goodness!

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

Billie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I, too, enjoy and appreciate the camaraderie (I had to look up the spelling; I thought it was "comraderie!!") of all of you; those I've met, those who lurk and those to whom I feel familiar with even though we've never met. I wish you all a safe, happy, relaxing holiday. Oh, and I wish you all a dish-washing fairie.

We are making food! For eating!!

Seriously, we are staying up late and eating fresh baked bread with butter and drinking tea. Darren makes the best bread ever. Tomorrow, we are sleeping in as late as we want. Then, we are baking a big, fat turkey! At work, everyone got a natural and free-range turkey for the holiday. Mine is so big I don't know what I'll do with it...over 16 pounds! There are only two of us!

Darren is making pumpkin pie from scratch. I found a nice pie pumpkin at the local farm. We might bake more but my co-worker's wife sent me home with pumpkin cake bars--iced!

Yeah, that is a lot of dessert.

I always have Mrs. Cubbison's cornbread stuffing, so that is traditional. I have to make it exactly the way my gram made it or else it is soggy and then I pout and run off all upset. Not really, but I used to when I was very little. Frankly, I could probably live entirely on stuffing. Well, not "on" the stuffing, but eating stuffing as my only food.

We will put carrots, potatoes, celery and onions around the turkey before it is done. Darren MIGHT be planning on making mashed taters but I'm not sure yet.

Absolutely thrilled that we both love and prefer canned, jellied cranberry sauce! It just isn't traditional if it doesn't slide out can-shaped and slice with a knife! I wanna see it wiggle :)

Not sure what else we'll do but we've decided to relax mostly and to walk the dogs a whole bunch more than usual.

Enjoy!!!

Jennifer

I spent the day going to DC and back. Long day, and IÂm glad to be back home. I got released for tomorrowÂwhich means IÂm not working, but no plans, and dinner will most likely be VERY ordinary fare. IÂve been planning to cook up a BIG batch of German (hot) potato salad for some time now, so maybe IÂll do that tomorrow. Or I might make a Cornish game henÂmy size turkeyÂand stuff it, like I do chickens now too, with raisins and apples. My mother always stuffed chickens (and turkeys) with a fruit stuffing of bread, raisins and apples, which is very good, but I stuffed a Cornish hen with it once and since theyÂre so small I found myself wanting more of the raisins and applesÂso the next time I did it I just left out the bread! So IÂll decide tomorrow what IÂm gonna do! If itÂs the game hen itÂll be with mashed potatoes and maybe roasted parsnipsÂand probably some cranberry sauce too. I like it both ways! With the ridges from the canÂand jiggling! And homemadeÂbut I donÂt think IÂll take the time to do that tomorrow!

And I, too, am thankful for our great little RMG family here. IÂve probably said this before, but, being olde, I never DREAMED IÂd become involved in, and feel so close to, an online community like this! Heck! Eight years ago I didnÂt even own a computer! Well, I had a business one, but not an internet one! (My first business computer was a dual drive eight-inch floppy disk one that cost $20,000Âused!) And, like Jennifer, IÂm grateful for the regulars, the "irregulars," and even the lurkersÂtho I do wish youÂd consider sticking your keyboards in here every now and then and just saying, hi!

Hang in there Meteor! When I was sitting at the airport for three hours before I got my trip today I was looking thru the Pinetree catalog (got it yesterday!) and they have a special section for container veggies. IÂm sure the other catalogs do too. YouÂll get thru thisÂand weÂll help!

Steve, IÂm going to send you some more Callirhoe seed to try with again, but IÂve been watching for you to post if thereÂs anything else I have this year that you want so I can send it all in the same envelope. YouÂre gonna get the Callirhoe seedÂwhether you want it or not (along with a few new ideas for trying to germinate it!), so let me knowÂon the exchange thread or email meÂif thereÂs anything else I can add!

IÂm thankful that I can sleep in LATE tomorrowÂafter getting up EARLY for the last two days (night person here!)

IÂm thankful for all the plants and seeds and good advice IÂve gotten around hereÂand sympathy, like when the dove died in my hands (well, in my box) last year. And, just in general, in all the good humor and interesting conversations.

Happy Thanksgiving, RMG Homies,
Skybird

I'm still here, I've just been working like crazy. All of the doctors seem to be playing catchup with their dictation and I've been buried with QA.

It's just me, the kids and my roomies; we're skipping my parents this year so I get to cook anything I want. The only must have is stovetop stuffing with jarred mushrooms for my friend M.

Tonight is my prep night. Other stuffing (sage, sausage & mushroom) is ready to pop in the oven, green beans are trimmed and those will get cooked with bacon and almonds, cauliflower is cut up and I'm trying a recipe for "popcorn cauliflower" from the cooking forum. The turkey is finishing thawing in the sink and going in at 6 am (right before I go to bed). M made a pecan pie and I have the crust for the sweet potato pie chilling in the fridge for about half an hour more. The only thing I have to make Thursday is Parker House rolls and mashed potatoes with gravy. I decided not to do yams or sweet potatoes for thanksgiving, but am planning on turkey sandwiches friday so will try Parmesan crusted sweet potato wedges to have with them.

Happy Holiday to everyone!
Jen

Happy Thanksgiving!

IÂm very thankful for the RMG community and hope that everyone is safe and in good health.

We are off to Grandpa's with fresh bread. This will be the first T-day that we haven't had the meal here for a long time. This year - Dad's "girlfriend" and her daughter-in-law are cooking!

I can hardly believe the old fellow has this relationship. Ninety-one this Winter and . . . . . . ? . . . Oh, . . . and counting!

I hope everything goes okay today - feel like I'm walking on eggshells. I have never met Dad's friend's son and his family. DD will be with us but her BF was not invited . . . ouch! DB and SIL may be there . . . he always plays things "close to the vest" and we haven't gotten together for a holiday in years, despite living only about 80 miles apart.

I'm trying to think on how to be on my best behavior . . . Better find LOTS of ways to smile in a friendly fashion and nod my head.

digitS'

I forgot about the carrots and yams, bad mommy!!

Billie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

Holidays with my in laws can be summed up with four words... lovely company, horrible cooking. I keep hoping they will let me make the stuffing, gravy or turkey one of these years. Some years we do our own Thanksgiving later in the week just so we can have yummy food including stuffing thats not a quivering, black gelatinous mass of heartburn. Can you believe that their idea of turkey gravy is warming up a can of beef broth and floating mushrooms in it? No thickening... did I mention beef broth?
Our tradition is making Christmas cookies and bringing them to Thanksgiving. We generally mix in a few non-traditional cookies, this year we have a Christmas whale, donkey and goat. Its a goofy tradition, but its ours.

I have to take a minute to drool over all of the awesome food you all are torturing me with:

Bonnie- Id love to know how your slow cooker dressing turns out. The more stuffing, the better. Yum! Also, I'm one of seven kids and Thanksgiving was sometimes an all out brawl. I kinda miss that :)

Windwhipped- Creamed onions... Ive never had them but they sound heavenly.

Stevation- Blackberry cobbler? Expect a knock on the door.

Meteor- I've been looking into some container eggplants this year. I'm also bulking up my basil selection. The voles ate my entire eggplant crop this year so Im moving eggplants to containers. Let me know if you have any interest and Id be happy to share seed.

Billie- Are there potatoes varieties that are better than others? I love skin-on mashed potatoes but they arent appreciated at our Thanksgiving so we make the plain ones.

Jennifer- Stuffing is my favorite too! Mrs Cubbisons is the best. Fresh baked bread... I can almost smell it.

Skybird- Cornish game hen stuffed with fruit, that sounds delicious. Ive never had German hot potato salad either, Ive been busy on epicurious.com thanks to this post.

Jen- I wish I could trade the greenbean casserole at our Thanksgiving for your green beans with almonds and bacon. *slobber*

Digit- You always make me laugh. I hope you find a way to be on your best behavior and please let us know just how many ways you find to smile in a friendly fashion and nod your head.

Azura

I had family from Seattle, Denver, and Ft. Collins, none of which particularly care for turkey, and some vehemently opposed. So I brined and smoked one of those 3 foot long pork loins, and cooked up some mushroom gravy with a ridiculous amount of cooked down fresh mushrooms. Baked then mashed potatoes, fried winter squash with lime juice, garden green beans with almond sauce, and squash pie and apple/apple butter pie.

Burp

Sure are some good cooks on RMG. Dang!

Azura & Everyone, I think it went okay but I gotta tell ya, after 4 decades of hearing impairment - smiling in a friendly fashion and nodding my head is nearly second-nature.

Dad's GF claimed that Dad made the apple pie. I don't know if she meant it as a compliment since it came out reasonably well or if she was trying to distance herself from the effort because the bottom crust looked like an inverted asphalt shingled roof with all of the hot tar patching.

The best part of the visit (for me, his evil son ;o) was when Dad got upset that President Bush had been reported to have pardoned someone. Dad believes in full retribution . . .

Turned out that the WH Rose Garden pardoning was for the Thanksgiving turkey.

d'S'

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. My wife and daughter cooked the dinner. We cut a few things out since we usually cook enough for 20 and end up wasting some. We "only" had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, Jello, rolls, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and tollhouse pie. We have a can of cranberry sauce in the refrigerator, but we forgot about it more than once.

I think I'm going to buy (or bake) some whole wheat bread (the heavy kind like "real" bakeries make) and try to see if I can replicate the #6 from The Original Turkey in the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. When Delta stopped serving meals on long flights, I always stopped there before going to the airport. The #6 had turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce on thick slabs of bread. I thought it sounded like a bad idea when I first heard it, but it's really great. I haven't been there in almost three years, and when I realized that we had all that cranberry sauce, that was all I could think of.

I think your sandwich might be from the Olde World, BP. Several years ago when I was in London, another girl and I visited the Tower of London. We were both hungry and there was a cafeteria-kinda restaurant there, and in one corner there was a guy making fresh carved beef or turkey sandwiches. We were both poor, so we decided to split one. When the guy started making it, he looked at us and asked if we wanted cranberry sauce on it. We looked at each otherÂhad never heard of such a thingÂand both said, yes! When we got the sandwich it was hugeÂthick slabs of bread, like youÂre describing (but a fresh baked white bread) with hot, tender turkey. We both LOVED the cranberry sauce and were wishing he had put on more. Ever since then I love to put cranberry sauce (or rhubarb sauce) on chicken or turkey sandwiches. But ours didnÂt have any dressing/filling on it. That sounds good too!

Skybird

One of my favorite foodie things in life is the big wide world of chutney. If you aren't familiar with this, think cranberry sauce with a lot more spices, including hot peppers.

We served the famous '52 peach-chipotle chutney yesterday, and the whole pint was snorked.

Post Thanksgiving report:

The turkey turned out great, so I'll be using Alton Brown's recipe again.

The dressing was also a success! DH said it was the best I've ever made. Maybe it was the herbs out of my garden that made the difference, but I will do it in the crockpot again.

I was worried about serving the potato dish, since you could see orange bits of carrots in it. DH is not a fan of carrots or sweet potatoes, both of which were in this recipe, but he ended up eating better than the little ones, which surprised me.

We too had a can of the Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce. I tried making a fresh cranberry sauce last year, but that did not go over well with the kids.

I also served green beans cooked with bacon and onion, but didn't get the timing right, and that weren't as tender as they should have been. Oh well, I don't know that I will ever master getting numerous dishes timed perfectly, but I'm great with a one pot meal!

Oh, and the pumpkin cheesecake was fine, though I was really more in the mood for a piece of traditional pumpkin pie.

Yesterday morning, DH says "Don't overdo it, or you'll be exhausted by dinner time", which got me to thinking. Not about not cooking, but whether I prefer to do it all myself, even though it is a bit tiring, or share the kitchen? Do those of you with spouses, get along well in the kitchen? Maybe if I wasn't a stay-at-home mom I wouldn't feel so much like its my domain, or maybe it's that when he prepares one dish, he dirties up five pots and pans!

Bonnie (who's going to relax today, and maybe make some turkey soup later)

Bonnie, you probably weren't addressing your question to the guys but I may have some insight here. I was a single dad for a good number of years. I'm not much of a cook but neither were the 2 wives early on . . . (she's not looking over my shoulder is she? ;o\

Also, it was MY family showing up at traditional meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, I felt I had to take an important part in the food preparation. As my current DW became more interested in cooking, and talented, I've definitely taken more of a supporting role. She wants that and there's only so far I can bend-over-backwards to make something just like SHE wants it, especially if I've been doing it another way for decades.

What I do is show up in the kitchen for certain tasks. Our recipe collection is a confused mess - usually it is necessary for me to find the roadmap. And, since I'm the internet guy - if we don't have it in one of the dozen cookbooks or the recipe file - I need to find it on the 'net with multiple variations so DW can make a choice.

I do nearly all of the fruit and veggie prep work - peeling, slicing, chopping. I have rather specific notions about how to do these things . . . I'm an idiot . . . okay? But, these things are kind of fun for me.

If there is any heavy work like working with a turkey carcass or beef roast - that's my job. Thankfully, I haven't been involved in actual butchering activities for a few years but have some competence in that area, too.

Once something goes in the oven, I'm usually the person assuming the task of keeping track of it . . . This doesn't always work too well (see my recent post on this very subject, with regards to gardening). Once again, I have peculiar notions on when things are "done" and "not done" and apply these with effort that sometimes brings tears to the eyes of onlookers. I claim that these are expressions of admiration but exasperation may be just as likely.

These tasks put me in the kitchen in a supporting role these days - recipe research, food prep, heavy work, time management. However, I'm not under foot all the time. There's no doubt in my little pea brain that I am of great and significant help.

digitS'

azura - I have decided that the skins on mashed potatoes go over much better if they are a potato that has a thin and white skin, so it is not so noticable. The King Harry's that we grew this year fit that bill so we tried them and they turned out pretty well, in my opinion anyway.
And by the way, I can relate to your in-laws story. Many years ago we lived with mine for a month maybe, while we were moving up here and finding an area to settle. Well, only once in my life before this experiance did I ever break out in hives. Now these are not the little, looks like a big bee sting hives, these are the big size of someone else's fist ( I have small hands) welts. Anyway, living with the inlaws I broke out with them several times. So much in fact that I went to see an allergest. He said I was allergic to the Nightshade family (think I can get my money back). Going home, I notitcd a pattern to my mother-in-laws cooking. Every time I broke out she made a chicken, Butterball to be exact. So the next time, I ate everything but the dry Butterball (how does one make a Butterball dry anyway?). That night, no rash. Ate it the next time, rash. Moral of the story, I am allergic to Butterball birds. Something they feed them or inject them with makes me break out and it's the only food I am allergic to, too. So when my mother-in-law insists on making thanksgiving (or any meal) I have to check the trash can to see if there is a Butterball rapper in there, if so, I don't eat (funny DH even checks). It may offend her, but I think I have good reason. Guess what every year I can remember, she has made a Butterball turkey, this year half of one cuz no one was coming. Oh yeah, and the gravy comes from a can.

Billie

Wow Billie, does your MIL have it in for you?? And to think my mom was stressing a couple months ago b/c she was cooking for a family gathering. I think one young cousin can't have high fructose corn syrup, an older cousin who is allergic to wheat or dairy or something common like that, and I think there was a third special food requirement, but I don't remember now (obviously I wasn't cooking, I didn't even get to go to that one).

Hey, just was chatting with Greenbean about the swaps and I realized that I have not seen Charlene around for a while. Has anyone heard from her?

Billie

Hi Billie,

Last time she posted she mentioned that sheÂd be back when she got a new computer and, hopefully, GW wouldnÂt be so slow for her anymore. I donÂt know if sheÂs gotten her new computer yet, but she had also resumed performing (singing), so I know she was busy with that, and she had almost concluded her "foster child potential adoption" process, and I assume that went thruÂso sheÂs probably way too busy to be spending time here, even if she did get the new computer. I donÂt think weÂll be seeing much of her around hereÂfor now at least. Hopefully sheÂll be back in the future sometime. IÂll email her when weÂre getting near the Spring Swap, but IÂm thinking she may not have it at her house this year. If anybody else would consider hosting it and would like to contact her to see what her plans are, I can send you her email address if you donÂt already have it. ItÂs not definite yet, but I think Karen/Catladysgarden (daylily person!) is going to host the Fall Swap in 2009.

Skybird

It's good to hear that she is probably ok and just busy. I doubt anyone would want to drive to Oklahoma/Kansas, but I could do it here if no one else offers. I'm sure someone more central will pop in if it comes to that. If not, I have plenty of parking.

Billie

Hey folks, nice to read your experiences (even though some of them make me cringe!). Beef broth for Thanksgiving gravy!!! :-(

Ours turned out fantastic! DW and DD said it was the BEST Thanksgiving dinner they've ever had! The only bummers were our friend's pumpkin-ginger cheesecake and the green bean casserole. The cheesecake turned out a little underdone and too bitter. Maybe it needs a cup of sugar or something! It was from "Cooking Lite" so perhaps adjusting it to be sweeter would have helped. And the greenbean casserole was undercooked. DW put it back in the oven for a while, but when it was allegedly done, no one wanted to try again (we were getting very full).

I baked the bird according to that recipe I linked above, and it was simply delectable. Everyone commented on how moist it was, which I think is largely the result of not overcooking. We took it out when the temp deep in the breast hit 160, which was before the little "built-in" thermometer thing popped. That's the temp recommended in the recipe, and it's worked well for us, always producing a moist turkey. The recipe includes a wonderful gravy made from the turkey drippings with some chicken broth and whipping cream. It has great flavor from all the turkey seasonings (which include juniper berries, thyme, rosemary, garlic, marjoram, and anise seed). DD said the gravy was her favorite part. DW made some of those great skin-on mashed potatoes, which were perfect with the gravy.

My apple pie and blackberry cobbler were very good (if I do say so myself!). DW's chocolate/vanilla swirl cheesecake was awesome, too.

Oh yeah, I also made my locally famous crescent rolls which once got me in trouble with a SIL whom I do like, but her son exclaimed after eating one, "WOW! I've NEVER had a roll this good before!" This while his mom's rolls were in a basket right next to mine (and she had bragged about how good they were when she brought them).

As for Bonnie's question about roles in the kitchen -- it works out really well for my wife and me. She is a stay at home mom, too, but she really likes it when I take on a challenging dish. She says she doesn't have the patience for complicated recipes, so she's happy to eat them after I make them. I like the challenge of something difficult to cook. I'm mostly into baking (usually desserts, but also the dinner rolls and turkey roasting). Well, barbecuing is my thing in the family, too.

We get along fine in the kitchen, although sometimes she rolls her eyes at me because I'm too particular about something (like not putting two sheets of rolls in to bake at the same time, because the heat needs to be able to circulate around and two sheets fills up the space and blocks the circulation). Sometimes she's all about efficiency when I want to be all about quality. But cooking is actually one of the few areas where she has learned to trust my judgment on some of these quirky theories! :-)

Steve, I hope you didn't get the impression that DH wasn't welcome in the kitchen at all, LOL. He has his repertoire, which includes an awesome potato soup, Saturday morning breakfasts of eggs, bacon and/or sausage, and hash browns, "real" popcorn, shrimp tempura, homemade onion rings, and anything on the grill. If he cooks, it usually involves something fried, lots of butter, or high fat meats. I'm not saying I won't eat those things, but if I ate like that all of the time, I'd be big as a barn!

Bonnie

I wish my DH would cook once in a while. He used to be the chef in a Chinese Restaurant, but now he can't boil water without burning it, LOL. The only problemn with his cooking, honestly, is that you need to get out the powerwasher to clean up! He flips everything "wok style", splattering grease and food up the wall everytime. But I would put up with it for a good plate of moo goo gi pan!!

Billie