Today I bring an unintentionally hilarious article about turkeys. Apparently gangs of turkeys are marauding through Suburbia across the nation.
When the Cambridge, Mass., city council took up the matter recently, one member told of a turkey that chased a child and her dog outside church, and another recounted coming face-to-beak with a bird outside a community gathering where the large fowl had been discussed.
“It was like the turkey was waiting for me,” Councilor Dennis Carlone said from the dais. “They’re clearly strategizing.”
…
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, which receives many calls about problem turkeys, also suggests removing shiny objects in which birds might spot their reflections, and scaring turkeys with yelling, brooms, hoses and even leashed dogs.
“Don’t let turkeys intimidate you,” a Massachusetts Wildlife handout says. “You can harass turkeys searching for food in your gardens.”
The entire article is worth a chuckle, I mean a read. It’s worth a read. Hehe.
I have a simple Thanksgiving menu planned. We do buffet style Thanksgiving, where friends and kids’ friends drop by, grab a paper plate, and eat on their own schedule while complaining about football. Check this out:
Turkey, smoked by Smoky Mo’s because it saves oven time and tastes great.
Smoked Ham, which we bought and is technically already cooked, but Gordon will through it in the smoker first thing tomorrow morning to kick it up a notch.
Fried oysters, which isn’t a Thanksgiving item, but one of the children is pescetarian and this will be their “holiday meat” option.
Stuffing, which is the most labor intensive and fussy item, because it requires soup. This is because the day before, namely today, I’m going to boil celery, carrots, onion, a smoked turkey wing I bought at HEB, our local grocery store, and a few haphazardly thrown in because it smells good carefully chosen spices. I will boil this until things fall apart. Then I will puree the vegetables and save the whole kaboodle till tomorrow, when I will reheat it and cook the stuffing. I will still be adding things like celery and dried cranberries, but I found that when done in this manner, vegetables add moisture and flavor. Nobody really like mushy onion etc in the stuffing – I gag on it – but pureeing it does the trick. There is a careful balance of how much of it needs to be added compared to the broth, and that will be the hard part.
Mashed potatoes, easy peasy.
Corn.
Green Beans.
Bread rolls.
Apple and pumpkin pies.
And that’s it! Ha. I’m stoked. As long as I don’t screw up the stuffing, I’m set. The dinner won’t be overly expensive, considering how many people we usually end up feeding, and the kids can take leftovers home. But I do still need to stop by Randalls and redonate, because a while ago, in my head, I made a rule that whatever the dinner costs, I want to spent at least 1/3-1/2 of that on the donations. I’d estimated $200 for the dinner, but the oysters and the sparkling cider we are serving as a drink bumped it up, so I need to go and buy 5 more dinners at Randalls. I had a friend once who worked for the food banks and she basically said that donating cans etc is good an all, but the best way to donate is to either hand food bank money or buy the prepared dinners through the grocery stores, because grocery stores give food banks discounts and your dollar does more good.
What are you cooking for dinner?
A sandwich. Will be on a plane tomorrow night on the way to vacation. Yipee 🙂
(Hi all – 1st time posting!)
Sorry to be a dense Britisher, but your stuffing, while sounding intriguing, doesn’t sound like the ‘stuffing’ that comes to mind when I think of it – for me stuffing would be breadcrumb based (stale bread is best) mixed with herbs – so parsley and thyme or sage and finely diced/minced onion – physically stuffed into the bird to absorb the juices as it cooks and keep it moist… (sometimes we add a little suet to the parsley and thyme, the sage and onion seems to keep it moister without)… and while its Christmas I’m thinking of, we put the stuffing at the back of the bird, two or three halves of lemon in the middle and local butchers sausage meat at the neck.
When the bird is roasted you get this lovely scented dense herby confection, almost sausage like in consistency (or maybe haggis-like would be a better description)
Does your stuffing turn out something similar, or is it more of a soupy-sauce?
No, that’s usually what we do here, although not with the lemon and sausage. Although there could be some sausage in the stuffing. The stuffing in the turkey is usually drier, but most importantly, there isn’t enough, so my family will have a crock-pot going of dressing, too, and that is generally more moist.
Many Americans love dressing/stuffing so much, that the amount you can put in the bird just isn’t enough. Also, there is the food safety concern–if the stuffing is packed in too tight, you could end up with a cross-contamination issue. I usually put herbs, onion and garlic into the bird itself–gives a great flavor to the gravy–then do dressing on the side.
If you do additional dressing in a loaf pan, you can use it on sandwiches with your leftovers. 🙂
Dressing. Loaf pan….I think I love you. That is an AWESOME IDEA!!!!
Americans tend to use cubed, stale bread rather than breadcrumbs, ranging in size from 1cm to 1”.
To avoid the contamination issue, which is as much about increasing the length of time the interior of the carcass spends in the temperature zone where bacteria grows as about introducing new bacteria, I heat the stuffing 6-8 minutes in the microwave to bring the temperature up to 165F/65C efore stuffing it loosely in both the neck and body cavities. This has the additional advantage that the stuffed bird cooks more quickly than it would when not stuffed. I make a double recipe, the rest being baked in a casserole pan, basted with chicken broth and dotted with butter.
An easy and tasty way to make stuffing that makes room in the oven is to make it in a big crockpot. Recipe-wise, you use the same amounts of ingredients as when you make a casserole of stuffing. But in the crockpot, the stuffing is moister. It takes no more than 2 hours on LOW or 1 hour on HIGH.
Stuffing in the US has some deeply held regional varations… and then people move around, and intermarry, and it gets complication. I know families who make up two different stuffing recipes, and stuff the main body with one, the neck cavity with another, and have dishes of each baked outside of the bird. Oyster stuffing, sausage stuffing, chestnut stuffing – please, folks, chime in. It’s all happening.
My particular familial recipe came from my maternal grandfather, who grew up in Alabama. Half cornbread, half wheat bread, a really large amount of onions and celery. A lot of mushrooms. A lot of butter. If being cooked outside the bird, a lot of the broth made out of the gizzard and organ meats. I’d call this one of the more standard versions? I mean, everyone has heard of cornbread stuffing, right?
My version was that, but even more mushrooms, and they were whatever wild mushrooms I’d been hunting recently (often in large part birch boletes, since I had a ridiculously productive patch near the house), and some roasted chestnuts, chopped into bits, and some jerusalem artichokes. And I usually had at least one dish of dressing that was cooked with vegetarian broth, because we often had vegetarians at the table.
Interesting your family used wheat bread with the cornbread. My Texas family made cornbread and biscuit stuffing, mixed with celery, onions, turkey broth, etc. Sometimes used eggs to hold the whole thing together more. That part of the family got to Texas from Alabama
I wondered a bit about that – I’m pretty sure my mother gave me grandpa’s recipe as she got it, but I don’t know much about it’s history, or if it might have changed in his hands? I kind of expect he wasn’t cooking while my grandmother was alive – she was pretty renown for her cooking – but there’s a lot I don’t know. If I end up continuing to avoid wheat* I might try just corn bread.
* Ugh, I hope not! But my body seems so much happier. Phooey, my sister might be right. My diet is so screwed up.
There are also those of us who are vegetarian but still very fond of stuffing. My family always makes stuffing with vegetable broth that doesn’t go in the bird so I can have some, too.
Love the turkeys! We just moved from Chicago to Pittsburgh, PA and the kids have been seeing flocks of turkeys milling around their schools which is freaking them out. Giant birds throw them for a loop but not the coyotes walking down the streets of our small IL suburbs. Kids!
Thanks for all the good reads, hope your holiday is calm.
I’m not a big fan of traditional holiday foods so, since we live in Arizona, we’re having:
Grilled tri-tip
Grilled green beans, marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and herbs
Scalloped potatoes
Mixed vegetable salad
Sweet potato/red bell pepper hummus (as an appetizer dip)
Assorted cheeses and cut vegetables as appetizers
No one particularly likes pie so we are going to pass
I am in charge of the “green vegetable” so I am doing a salad with warm brie dressing. Also, candied bacon for a starter.
Your talk of fried oysters reminded me of one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving. Oyster dressing (stuffing, whatever), the oysters really keep the dressing moist and that little bit of fish tang really balances out the other veggies.
Every year my hubby’s family go to a state park and celebrate Thanksgiving. My mother in law wanted to assigned the turkey to me this year, however, because I’m a nurse that works at night in a correctional facility she was gracious enough to hand over the reign next year. So, I’ll do what I normally do and make stuffing, candied yams, apple crisp and a cheesecake that takes three days to bake ( hubbys great grandmothers recipe). In addition to this my daughter, 15 years old grumbled that I have not cooked a Thanksgiving giving meal since we moved from New York back to Florida…..” 9 years mom!!!…” Who knew she was counting. So needless to say my son who got a free turkey from his his job, donated his bird to me instead of his wife ( who wasn’t offended) and they all put their orders in… So the turkey, mashed potatoes, baked mac and cheese, more yams, cranberry sauce with orange, a salad ( laughing it makes me free better), and daughter states she will take care of desserts. Needless to say mom in law and hubby will be over ?. Did I mention I’ll be working thanksgiving night and the day after also. The price of motherhood. Happy Thanksgiving everyone ????????
I am so curious about you multi-day cheesecake. How does that work?
Families are hard! I hosted both families for years, but the tensions kept growing*. My ex was the non-preferred son by his own mother and she was really blatant about it (like arriving two and half hours late to our wedding.) Then she didn’t like my cooking – because I make everything from scratch. (I tried so hard! I requested she bring dishes of hers that I’d liked!) And my brother and law was deeply suspicious of my friends (who were trying so hard to be low key for the event…) There was a lot sniping at my husband. And then there was the bit were everyone tried to include my MiL by discussing James Bond movies, and she later declared that my friends were a bunch of intellectual snobs because they liked some of them better than others… or something. (This was over several years, and I’m omitting *so* much.) Finally, we found out that they were having a “Family Dinner” before they came over, to which all the rest of their side of the family was invited, but not my husband. We looked at each other, and said “I guess we’re not family,” and grinned maniacally. And didn’t invite them back. (Various members of the extended family were invited, and stopped by for pie and games, which is what T-day evening always turned into.)
* My attitude is mostly “Eh, whatever, but if you misbehave in my house I’ll throw your ass out,” which everyone seemed to pick up on.
Sorry you have that with your in-laws, I love your end result though. I have the best mother-in-law. The cheesecake crust is the first layer make it and set it in the fridge overnight. The second layer is the cream cheese filling bake that and let cool for an hour, the another layer goes on top of the cream cheese filling set overnight in fridge. The final layer is the strawberry glazed topping. I make it add to cheese cake then let set overnight. I do no substitions real sugar, butter etc. I only May it on special occasions because it so time consuming. My mother-in-law is a fabulous cook/baker and she leaves this to me……?
That sounds amazing.
Things change – I’m no longer married, and happier for it (though I do feel sad still for my ex and how he was treated by his mother and brother)… but I kind of wish I could have kept my father in law. It took him a while to figure out what to do with the strange creature his son brought home, but he’s a neat guy. Got me started on the more serious parts of auto repair. Whereas my mother and my ex got along better than I did!
We are in NH and live in a small town. There are three LARGE tom turkeys and their six wives who love to walk down the side roads, right down the middle…..they are not afraid and come right to the car and won’t move. Our home was built on old farm land and there are maybe another two dozen or so who like to walk in the fields eating the leftover corn.
Stuffing for us is in the bird and is bread based with all the herbs, and of course enough left over for all the kids to bring home’!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!!
I living in Wilmington NC.. across the street from the Sheriff’s Office is old Mr. Camerons land.. about a dozen wild turkeys congregate on that farm land around 7 every morning. . These are some mean birds.. I offered to shoot them.. and was informed if he wanted them gone he would take care of it
P.s.. stuffing goes in the bird … white bread torn up ..poultry seasoning. .an egg.. a little water.. best stuffing ever
As a Brit, no thanksgiving here. But all the talk of turkey and stuffing and the trimmings is making me very hungry! Lol love a good roast. Guess I have to wait for Christmas for our big meal. Enjoy!
Today is Thanksgiving for me in my timezone. Its just the kids and I since hubby is away on training. My big kids are putting up Christmas decorations while the 4 year old is trailing behind them moving stuff around. No mashed potatoes or turkey for us.
Ham
Mac and Cheese
Sweet potatoes
Green Beans with bacon
Corn on the Cob
Dinner Rolls.
Pumpkin and cherry pies
We were invited to my neighbors house for game night after dinner. Usually it ends when one person has had enough or too much to drink and needs to go home. But because of a base wide ban on alcohol, it will be a dry night and I hope better than past years!
Green beans and bacon. Nom! Hope the game night is fun!
Its the only way I get the toddler to eat green beans.
We are going to brother’s for Thanksgiving so I am making pies, Pumpkin is done Apple is in and then I am trying sweet potato for the first time. Tomorrow I get to be my brother’s sous chef. Your holiday sounds nice.
This will be my first time in over 40 years that I will not be cooking for Thanksgiving. I was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer and just had major surgery last Monday (13th). Got home from the hospital on Friday. I was planning to order a pre-made meal for my immediate family. I usually have a houseful, 17 or more, but won’t this year.
You might be wondering at this point why I’m telling such a sad story but you see, it’s not sad. My family got together, asked for my recipes and my husband of 39 years, our boys and our daughter-in-law are doing all the cooking. Since my Dad is by himself, he will be joining us. So no matter how the cooking turns out, no matter what else tries to interfere, we’re together as a family and hopefully sharing something special. I wish the same for everyone else.
BTW, Kate Daniels audio books got me through my hospital stay so thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
I am so sorry for the diagnosis and the major surgery, but I am so glad you’re here to celebrate Thanksgiving. Best wishes for recovery and remission.
Thank you and thanks for all your family does for those in need but especially thank you for sharing all your real life stories that make me laugh! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Wishing you a speedy recovery, and may you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. No matter how the food turns out it will be great. At least it won’t be hospital food!
No not sad. I can relate as I’ve just received the same diagnosis as yourself. My husband and daughters have been amazing. My operation is scheduled for early December but they have Christmas organised already. I only have a small immediate family but they are really supportive. Of course “Kate” will be accompanying me to the hospital on my Kindle, So glad you will be able to enjoy Christmas with your family. Keep positive – you are not alone,
Sending you healing thoughts and lots of prayers (prayers work for me so I hope you don’t mind). I pray you have an excellent doctor, fantastic hospital care and most important the support of your family, which means everything! So my C-friend, you stay positive and fight!!
Dolly, I’m so very sorry you’re having to face this but it sounds like you’re surely not doing so alone. As someone who’s been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and had uterus removed due to pre-cancerous mass, there’s one thing I’m actually grateful to the cancer for – it reminded me just how much I love my large family and how important they are to me. It’s solely thanks to their support that I was able to come through aggressive treatment in essentially one piece and am now in remission.
Your husband, children and other family members are there for you, without your even having to ask – isn’t that a beautiful thing? They’ll hold you up when you’re tired, let you go when you need ‘alone time’, and cheer you on while you’re fighting. And they’ll do it all because they love you. Stay strong and keep fighting – you can kick cancer’s a$$ to the curb where it belongs. Much love and positive vibes ?
I didn’t mean to take over this post but thanks so very much. People helping people is what it should all be about. Happy Thanksgiving.
C-friend – I like it. Call it what it is. Speaking of “alone time”, my family have been helping to decorate and re-furnish our spare room so that I can have a tranquil place to go if/when it all gets too overwhelming. Friends have been so supportive. I have never had so many telephone calls or been so busy – many offers of support and help. People always surprise you. There is always someone who will offer a kind word or practical help, despite what the cynics say. Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers and, of course mine go to all of you as well. And this really is my last word on the matter – we really do seem to have taken over this post.
This is what the Book Devouring Horde does is supporting each other and our wonderful authors. I wish you all the best in your fight.
My Thanksgiving is at my brother’s place in Indiana (btw it’s cold). Turkey, stuffing (dressing for those down South), mashed potatoes, and various desserts.
Leaving for Fort Worth late tonight/very early tomorrow morning.
Good luck on the road ahead – and it sounds like such a lovely Thanksgiving! Your family sounds wonderful.
Just husband and I here. We have a duck (oh please husband, don’t screw it up), some turnips, stuffing, lefse (it is a thing he cannot escape and I will never try) and a sweet potato/cranberry dish…thing. And pie. I’ll be making pumpkin and blueberry tonight. Or maybe small blueberry tarts and cherry/almond pie. I haven’t decided. I should do that soon. Oh, and prepping the stuffing. And sweet potatoes. *looks at clock* I should have taken the day off 🙁
When my parents were still alive, we used to have these really elaborate holiday dinners with 20-25 people and everyone bringing something. Typical Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner:
roast turkey
a small ham (one brother-in-law doesn’t like turkey)
stuffing
whole cranberry sauce
mashed potatoes and turkey gravy
peas
corn
green bean casserole
corn casserole
Brussel sprouts casserole
broccoli cheese casserole
creamed mushrooms
seven layer salad
garden salad
applesauce
deviled eggs (weird but one of my sisters-in-law specialties)
rolls
pies: pumpkin, cherry, apple, coconut, pecan, chocolate
cakes: chocolate, pumpkin roll
Now, that my parents are gone, no one wants to host that meal. I would be I live too far away from my siblings. I spend the holidays with friends who have a much smaller family. dinner there is:
turkey
stuffing
mash potatoes and gravy
green beans
butternut squash
deviled eggs (still weird to me)
fruit salad
pumpkin & apple pie.
I miss the vegetable casseroles though.
Just my husband and me.
Ham
Spinach casserole
Red Lobster cheddar biscuits
Stuffing – he likes stove top 🙁
Cheese cake w/raspberries
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
My gravy is an effort like your soup, we’ll in advance I roast turkey wings, periodicalky throwing chicken broth in the pan to reduce and brown with the meat juices. Then i deglaze the pan and put it all in a stock pot with some veg and cook all day. Strain and defat, there you go, three quarts of magic, all it needs is a little cornstarch to thicken (boil one minute). We spatchcock the turkey or deep fry it. Plus all the standards, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry relish, homemade challah, and pies. It’s great to have a feast day. Thank you so much for your wonderful books!
In Switzerland we have to wait for Christmas for our feast but I made turkey with a special dried-fruit-stuffing for the last years: dried plums, raisins, dried apricots, nice red apples, cinnamon, honey and brandy. Mix everything well and leave it to soak while preparing everything else! Stuff the bird with it and the christmas-aroma will soak through the meat! It works with every kind of bird, I tried it with duck, goose and chicken, too, yummy!
Oh my goodness, the feasts mentioned here sounds amazing! There is nothing better than fun with family and friends.
My daughter and I are having a simple holiday :
Venison, Salad, Homemade Cranberry Sauce (because you all made it sound so easy & yummy), Potatoes (aka French fries), Brownies,
Homemade Apple Pie (because it IS easy & yummy) and of course popcorn and a movie “Ghost Busters”!
Happy Thanksgiving Authorlords & BDH!
BTW: Would it be asking too much for a snippet to cheer up those of the BDH who are dining alone tomorrow?
Yes snippet would be very nice!
Thanksgiving for me was in October (I’m Canadian). I made turkey (just a drumstick, since it’s me, myself and I – I’m in university), with homemade gravy and mashed potatoes and brusselsprouts.
At this point of November, I’m counting down the days to exams and my trip home for Christmas, where I’ll get to eat like a queen and feast on yummy, yummy food (my mom is a chef).
For all those back east, Randall’s is Safeway 🙂 I live just north of Austin but I’m from the D.C.-area and believe me I was very confused by the grocery store situation when I moved out here. I’m back in DC for the huge family feast and we have: turkeyx2, biscuits, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, mashed rutabagas, two kinds of cranberry sauce (canned and homemade) green beans, french onion soup stuffed mushrooms and both pumpkin and chocolate pecan pie. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something but with 20+ people to feed and over 20 years of traditions getting bigger as people married in, it’s hard to keep up but always a great time. I’m so thankful for this wonderful family and getting to share this fun with my three-year old and Texas-born and raised husband.
We will meet at my oldest daughter’s house for a vegan feast. A few of the grandkids want their flesh so their will be a turkey for them. Everything else will be vegan. Gardien holiday roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, maple sweet potatoes, corn pudding, green salad, Waldorf salad, spaetzle with vegan cheese, dressing, cranberry sauce, baked vegan doughnuts, pumpkin pie, and almond milk Nog, and more. We love this holiday.
Making Thanksgiving dinner with family in Tyler, then back home again for friends and leftovers later this weekend. Turkey, buy I’m really all about the sides, so gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, creamed corn, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and tons of pies. Thanksgiving food is the BEST!!! I should be asleep but I’m so hungry thinking about it!!!?
We just go to a local church that does a ~free~ (free-will donations) community holiday buffet lunch with all the traditional elements, including usually at least two versions of *ahem* cranberry sauce, and several different desserts. It’s just two people in our house, and cooking whole birds from scratch intimidates me, anyway.
I have wild turkeys in my yard. They don’t damage anything, and they eat the snails. My little cat had the flock idiot cornered, and the two toms flew in to rescue it. Turkeys look as awkward flying as a B-52 does taking off. One chased my cat, who tried to get around the tom to his intended prey, while the other tom chased the village idiot away from my cat and towards a fence. The idiot ran into the fence three times before the tom pecked it, causing it to flap wings, thus reminding the idiot it could fly. Man my cat was mad. He really wanted turkey for dinner.
Turkey with herb rub
Stuffing of wild rice, brown & brown basmati rices, farro, wheat berries, dried cherries soaked in cognac, maiitake and chanterelle mushrooms cooked til crisp, pine nuts, pistachios, sausage, herbs (I got tired of the same bread stuffing after 32 years, although I will miss it dearly. At least I won’t be making midnight raids for it.)
Green beans with hazelnuts and brown butter
Mashed potatoes with an appalling amount of butter
Roasted roots
Salad
Roasted winter squash soup
Biscuits, maybe with black pepper and rosemary and sharp cheddar
Oyster loaf (A mid-west adaptation of something east coast)
Cranberry Orange sauce
Gravy if anyone wants it
Chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, possibly pecan pie
Lots of wine in various colors…
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Your feast and everyone else’s sound great!! I LOVE my family, and we all love any excuse to get together. Add in a Thanksgiving feast – ahh … perfection!
We will be having our usual:
Turkey
Stuffing (from both inside bird & stovetop). One with cranberries and nuts, the other just herbs.
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Green bean casserole
Cranberry sauce (from can)
Gravy
Rolls
Macaroni and cheese (my husband makes the best ever!)
Deviled eggs (niece’s specialty)
Corn
Creamed corn
Sparkling cider
Pies-Pecan, Apple, and pumpkin
The final (and best) part are all the wonderful people who will be there that I am extremely thankful for!!
I hope all of you (even those for whom it is just Thursday) have a wonderful day with family and friends!! ?
Wow. Turkey apocalypse – the revenge of the killer turkey. Are you sure it’s not “silly season” ? That’s what we call it in the UK when there is little news to report or when it’s all doom and gloom. All this talk of food is making me feel hungry. It will be goose this year for us (not keen on Turkey) which my husband and daughters will be cooking. Actually my husband is a very good cook, if a little messy. The girls will provide starter and dessert – they always come up with something amazing and yummy.
My contribution is pumpkin cauliflower gratin,.extremely delicious. Otherwise I have no clue. If I never eat another turkey again, it won’t be missed.
And it’s true about turkey gangs up here in MA. Don’t give them guns. Geese are pretty shady too,
We’re having Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, when both our sons are able to come. Our oldest is scheduled to work today. We’re doing a huge turkey, dredged in seasonings and placed in an oven baking bag for the first 3 hours, then unwrapped and baked another hour, to brown. Making two dressings, a mix of cornbread and bread stuffing, and all the good stuff – onions, celery, broth and seasonings. One third reserved and spiked with oysters, for those who love the oyster dressing. Homemade giblet gravy. Homemade bread rolls. A peas and mushroom dish.
My hubby is making wicked walnut frosted brownies for dessert, with a side of vanilla ice cream. My boys are bringing roasted veggies and a green bean casserole. Cranberry sauce on the side. A green salad.
Best of all, my youngest is bringing his girlfriend. Two months since they met, and the glow is still there. He’s having Thanksgiving Dinner with her family today. I’m trying not to get too hopeful, too fast!
For us the turkey is the easy part – stuff it with lemon and orange slices, garlic halves and put in roaster. Glaze with orange blossom honey and olive oil mix while it cooks. My husband’s cornbread and sausage stuffing is the two day process. Starts with cornpone (denser cornbread with less sugar) crumbles for base and continues with pork sausage, herbs, celery, pecans, apple chunks, chicken broth. Tastes great, makes a lot and reheats wonderfully for leftovers. We also have mashed potatoes, peas, veggies with dip, olives, etc but the real star is the stuffing and the chocolate pecan pies for dessert. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
It’s just my husband, my mother and I this year. I found a simple, delicious beef stew recipe on the food network website a few years ago that I make several times during the winter. I substitute burgundy for the water in the recipe and serve it with egg noodles (and soup or salad) and it really is a wonderful dish. So that’s Thanksgiving dinner this year. My son has to work, so if he’s too tired to stop by (he started at 2am this morning), we’ll bring him some dinner.
But whatever you’re doing, have a very happy thanksgiving!
It’s been fun seeing what everyone’s family traditions are for Thanksgiving. My Mother was a stickler about starches and meals. Usually only one and never more than two. We always had cornbread dressing, turkey, some type of green beans, broccoli and fruit salad. If she added in sweet potatoes, fruit salad was exchanged with a green salad, never rolls. Imagine my surprise when I was grown and found out that mashed potatoes was part of the Thanksgiving Dinner for a great many people. My first husbands family had mashed potatoes, potato salad and sweet potatoes and of course green bean casserole. When we had teenagers in the house, there were many sides to make everyone happy and full, but still only one starch and no more than two 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US. Happy Thursday to everyone outside the US. 😀
Off topic, but it’s a “thank you” so seems appropriate. ?
I’ve been wanting to thank you for recommending Kingpin of Camelot. I really enjoyed it.
Holiday meals tend to be easy to cook, as long as I remember what day I need to do it. This year it snuck up on me, and I had to get up at 5 am to get the pies on.
Food allergies keep the menu simple, this year we’re cooking it all here and taking it over to my Father in law’s. He’s 92 and just moved down here to be near us. He’s diabetic, so we’re keeping a close eye on sugar.
Roasted turkey breast
cranberry sauce (stevia sweetened, no sugar, orange zest)
Sweet potato stuffing (no bread, includes pork sausage)
Gluten free pumpkin pie (sugar free, nut free, no crust)
Organic dark chocolate (sugar free, milk free, tree nut free)
The Splurge Item: Seared Foie Gras with red wine sauce. (Hubby got this for me for my birthday, and we’re taking the left over and making it for Dad. A little goes a long way.)
I’m glad we’re not traveling this year. Hope everyone has a blessed holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
If I’m back in the States with my family, it would be a mismash of Korean food and traditional Thanksgiving dishes (Turkey, mashed potatoes, etc). As I’m abroad at the moment, my contribution to the potluck Thanksgiving is toasted quinoa stuffing with sage, sausage, and shiitake mushrooms. It’s a variant on the wild rice stuffing recipe….
Happy Thanksgiving to my favorite Authorlords!
To everyone celebrating Thanksgiving today…
Have a great day and enjoy time with good food, family and friends.
For the rest of us hope you have a great day ?
Were I celebrating I would cook the turkey unstuffed but it would have a layer of bacon over it to keep it moist. There would be a big green salad, rum gravy (yum) baked potatoes with butter, bacon bits, grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff-not the kind with woodfibre in the can) and sour cream, Pumpkin pie and while waiting a few things like crackers with mushroom pate, cheddar pepper toasts etc. Happy Thanksgiving day to you and your family. PS Live turkeys are evil, smell bad in a hot summer rain and deserve to be eaten
This was fun to read as I sit here stuffed with my traditional American thanksgiving feast. I contributed chocolate chip cookies and pecan crispy cookies (kind of like chocolate chip with pecans instead of chocolate). We do not usually have cookies but I made them because I am good at it and we generally have a hodge-podge of desserts which include but are not limited to the traditional pies. At the end of the evening, my mother packed up the cookies to get ready to leave and my aunt and cousin practically jumped me because the cookies were gone. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much!
I don’t know but i am thinking Draziri…
My subconscious is such an ass****. Not even kidding, this morning I woke up because I had a nightmare that turkeys were pecking me. I was breathing like I was doing Lamaze, then woke up and realized what my nightmare was about and started cracking up. No chance of returning to sleep. I keep laughing like an idiot. I’ve watched and read a hundred horror films and novels and none have given me nightmares… and I see an article on suburban turkeys terrorizing neighborhoods and I’m running in my sleep like I’m having dog dreams.
Thanks, Ilona.
I try to buy at least one of those meal boxes at the grocery store during the holidays.
My family was really really poor my freshman year of high school. We didn’t have hot water, nor a working stove/oven, no phone, and our oil heater was broke half the winter or out of oil.
That year we had Thanksgiving dinner at a local church who gave us meal tickets. Christmas dinner came via Meals on Wheels, and all of our presents were generously given to us by a community Secret Santa. I got a Vermont sweatshirt that year (1996), which I still own an still wear to this day. I keep it to remind me that there are kind people in the world, and to remind myself to do my best to pass that kindness on as often as I can.
My husband’s family has a large get together (30-40 people), so the host family makes the turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, orange rolls, and a 50’s era jello mold in honor of their late mother. This year everything else was pot luck. I made roasted vegetables with herbs de provence (carrots, squash, roasted peppers all separate), and roasted brussel sprouts and roasted green beans with red onions and balsamic).
But because there are so many people at the main gathering, I don’t get to have any turkey leftovers, or really leftovers at all. So I bought my own turkey and am doing it sous vide (one temp for the breast, one temp for the legs, roasted skin crisp separately).
On my side of the family we now do our dinner on the weekend with my parents and brother and have a crab feast.