It is Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and I’m feeling a bit under the weather. Outside is rainy and cold. We have a fire going. It’s Sookie. The old dog loves the fire, so she will go and lay in front of the fire place and whine sadly at us when the fire doesn’t magically happen. It’s the saddest whimper. I can’t handle it.
The plan was to work out, but I think I am just going to drink my tea and go straight to the shower once I muster enough willpower. I need to overcome this crud kind of fast, because I have a load of cooking tomorrow.
As is tradition, Thanksgiving menu.
Turkey.
From Popeyes. Hear me out. We’ve been buying smoked turkeys, but nobody eats them and then I have post-Thanksgiving mountain of turkey meat that I have to do something with. This year we’re trying the Cajun-spiced turkey from Popeyes. Here is a review of it. It was sold out online, so we went into Popeys expecting to have it be shipped to us.
Me: Do you still have turkeys?
Sales person: Yep.
Me: Will it get here in time for Thanksgiving?
Sales person: Hey, can someone bring me one of them turkeys from the back?
We walked out with a turkey. It was frozen solid, and I’ve been thawing it in the fridge since Monday. Let’s see what happens.
Meat other than turkey.
As mentioned above, everyone wants to have the turkey on the table, but mostly they don’t want to eat it. You would think something like prime rib would be a good option, but no, because Kid 2’s boyfriend and one of Kid 1’s friends who is coming for Thanksgiving do not eat rare beef, and the rest of us do not eat well done beef. I made beer stew for Christmas last year, and it went over really well, but Thanksgiving isn’t a stew kind of holiday for our family.
Solution: two giant tomahawk steaks. One will be cooked rare and the other well done. I’m going to low-bake them in the oven and then broil them on each side to get a good sear. Or I might do that in reverse order, which would likely be easier. I have a new meat thermometer, which is the stuff dreams made of, so I can cook it to the exact temperature I want. Or rather to 5 degrees under, and then I tent them for 10 minutes.
I’m not planning on doing anything crazy except salt the steaks prior to cooking and maybe do a basic rub. Possibly with garlic. The meat is so thick, marinading it is kind of pointless. Maybe I will do an overnight rub tomorrow.
The other option would be to pan-sear, baste with butter containing garlic and herbs, and stick it in the oven. I have to tell you, I’m not a fan of butter on steaks. You’ve got to draw the cholesterol line somewhere. There is this guy on Tik Tok and whatever the Instagram equivalent is called who buries steaks in butter. I mean you have to excavate it. When the kids were little, we occasionally got these kits where you would dig in the sand and find plastic dino bones. It’s like that, but sand is butter. And then, then, he plasters the steak in rosemary and tries to sear it. You’ve got a crust of burned rosemary on the steak. I can’t even.
I’m not sure yet which route it will be. Depends on how busy the ovens are.
Side dishes
Mostly to be precooked or assembled on Wednesday
- Green bean casserole
- Sweet potato casserole
- Mac and cheese
- Mashed potatoes
- Sweet potato pie
- Zucchini bread
- Stuffing
- Cranberry sauce
- Bread rolls
- Apple pie
- Pumpkin pie
- Pecan pie (Bought)
- Gravy
- Corn
Okay, that last one is just sad to even include, since all I do is heat the corn up, add a bit of salt and pepper and maybe a teaspoon of butter and serve. Gordon loves corn. Pecan pie is in the same boat. I made one before and I couldn’t tell the difference between mine and store bought.
The plan is to come together as a family on Wednesday and conquer. This seems like a lot, but we have people coming and we’ve have learned to make smaller portions. Instead of a giant casserole dish of sweet potato, smaller size dish. The exception being Kid 1’s green bean casserole. Smaller dish ain’t going to cut it.
Some stuff is super simple, like the stuffing. I used to get very elaborate with the stuffing, but I’ve hit on a simple formula everyone loves. Stove top stuffing, bone broth, a little bit of butter, a bit of spice, and done. Fancy stuffing wasn’t always eaten. This stuffing always is, and it takes approximately 10 minutes to make on Thursday. Sometimes, when I am feeling fancy, I throw a handful of almonds in it for a bit of soft crunch.
Some stuff is more complicated. Kid 1 has some sort of arcane recipe for mashed potatoes. She makes it only on celebratory occasions. Her mac and cheese is also a 5-cheese 2-pasta affair, which we can prelayer on Wednesday. My cranberry sauce requires both cider and orange juice. Honestly, it’s probably more of a jam than sauce…
I might do the dough for the rolls on Wednesday too, so I will only have to let it rise on Thursday.
Well I better get to somewhere, because this final fight isn’t going to write itself. Onward, upward… ::sneeze:: Or maybe just more tea.
I hope you feel better soon. Have a great Thanksgiving!
I see you completely well with lots of energy and laughter and love and surrounded by family and friends (human and otherwise). As Picard would say, (I think) “Make it so.”
feel better! I hope your thanksgiving is wonderful
Fisticuffs can wait. We’ll (BDH) still be here, waiting for those precious words. You are more than your words (and that is saying a lot). Hope you feel better soon.
If Kid 1 is willing to share her Mac and cheese recipe, that would be fantastic.
Wishing you all a wonderful day of Thanks!
We make turkey and poblano gumbo with the leftover turkey. Kids usually don’t show up for the turkey, but nobody is willing to miss the gumbo. Also husband makes sweet potato pecan pies. They are the best.
My BFF has a Christmas gumbo tradition and honestly it’s the Festival of Drooling for me when she describes it, I have to get on that!
Happy Thanksgiving Ilona
Here is a tea for a cold that I swear by it
Start with cold water in a midsize pot,
a fist full of fresh Thyme,
peel of a whole lemon, only the yellow part
& fresh cut ginger, about 1 cup.
Boil & then simmer for 10 minutes,
take off the fire & add lemon juice from 1 lemon.
You can add Honey if you like it sweet.
You can also drink it hot or cold.
Feel better.
Pumpkin pie is just an excuse to eat nutmeg.
Happy Thanksgiving House Andrews and friends. That cranberry sauce sounds delicious. Would you share. I make mine with red grapes and cranberries. It’s a little chunky but we love it.
I hope everyone has a Thankful Day. Count your blessings and pass it forward. ❤️
TIL: Popeyes sells turkeys for Thanksgiving. Literally never would have occurred to me that was an option!
I too run into an issue of too much turkey meat, so on years when the gathering is small I buy a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. Its easier to keep the white meat from drying out when it’s not ‘competing’ with the dark meat for temp/time.
Feel better. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Sometimes you do luck out with a glorious autumn view in a rare good year here in Texas. At least a specific area of Texas can have an autumnal display that’s one of the best in the nation. But with the drought of the last year, that won’t be this year, but keep an eye on Lost Maples State Park (about a 2 hour drive from New Braunfels) in future years. Tip: if you do get a good year, try to avoid the weekend, it’s so popular people buy out the weekend reservations many weeks out in hope of a good display. Or where I am in DFW, the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens has the Japanese Gardens and they go glorious, peaking usually Thanksgiving week in reds and golds (past photo attached).
In our house we’ve kept it simple: rotisserie chicken, rolls, baked potatoes, corn, peas, stove top stuffing, and ocean spray jellied cranberry sauce. Outside of the potatoes, the rest takes less than 30 minutes to put together.
My cats when it gets really cold does a similar thing, they sit in front of the fireplace and give the dagger glare at you, hoping you will get with the program and start a fire. Ours is wood burning, and it can take over an hour to get one started, so we only break it out typically here in Texas about 5-14 days a year. But it outputs so much heat it alone can heat the entire 2 story house.
Hope you, and everyone in the BDH has a good time with friends and family.
How many people are you feeding? Just curious because that is so much food and I hope you’re not cooking alone! (Unless you love cooking better than almost anything else).
For your steaks, go to Milk Street and look up steaks. You season and put in fridge. Bake on low (250) then sear. Steak is perfect and cooked the same throughout. Absolutely Amazing.
Giving Thanks Happily . . . for remembering the day is about celebrating the gathering of the (a) group giving thanks for the ability to gather rejoice celebrate our survival.
Got a Flu shot, so the past 2 months I have been NOT having the flu, symptoms galore, but not the flu ????. I’m passing on interaction ???? but welcome to the new age skype zoom FaceTime and celebrate the old.
Neighbors bringing plates AND desserts ???? (come to moma) greetings called out and even cards
Commercials touted Black Friday in October, I thought I missed the holiday!
I don’t have the flu (FLU)
I didn’t miss the holiday
I won’t miss sharing with family and friends
I’m roasting a turkey drumstick, making oxtails, garlic mashed potatoes, a ham butt OR I been craving redpea soup w/ spinners and smoked pork neck bones . . . I don’t think I’m so much cooking a meal as stocking up for winter.
Either way I’m hoarding the Apple Strudel Danish.
Giving thanks to you and for you
Giving Thanks to and for the HORDE and because giving thanks you must feel it
Totally, but quietly shouting hallelujahs, while dancing to the unchained melody. . . December release is … 1 … 2 … 3 weeks close
THANKS ????
wow that is some spread. our peripatic musician son is home,so we are having a free range turkey ( we feel better it was raised in a pasture, no forced feeding, etc).
with Mac and cheese I think it is better made before and reheated. the recipe I use is like cheddar cheese, parmesan and cream cheese I think.
I actually am not fond of turkey, neither is my wife, it is more our son who likes the tradition. Well that and mooch 1 and mooch 2, our huge monster dogs ( then again any meetz is fine with them!). talk about whining ( it is why they are overweight, my wife is a softie,). I bet our resident fascist cat,Blue ( aka Boris the Brutal, he is a Russian blue mix) will demand his cut, or else ( little matter of chipmunk head left by our sliding glass door to the deck…).
Happy Thanksgiving to the IA clan, and the same to the members of the BDH. I also send out the heartfelt hope that anyone who is feeling down this time of year, know my warm energy goes out to all in the hope it helps,even a little. I know only too well holidays are not always great for many people.
I have given up on real stuffing as well. The kids like stove top so much better. But this year by unanimous decision we are going for a real honey baked ham. My kids will eat their weight in it. And they all prefer the Hawaiian sweet rolls so I no longer mess with baking real homemade yeast rolls. And although I fought it for a long time, my family prefers the Kraft Mac and cheese over my homemade. I don’t understand but I have finally given up and caved. Otherwise, I end up with tons of mac cheese to eat and I am just not THAT fond of it. But I still make my homemade apple crisp, cranberry/orange quick bread and a key lime pie from scratch. Have a wonderful thanksgiving
Soo hungry after reading all the menus, ours is small herb roasted turkey, baked ham, onion/bacon/butter consome rice, loaded potato salad, green bean casserole, cream corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, creamy spinach, cornbread/ pear/ cranberry stuffing, orange/ pecan /cranberry sauce, pecan pie (COSTCO BOUGHT), pumpkin cheesecake/ graham craker crust/ whip cream parfait cups, cheese flan. Everyone takes home leftovers.
I recommend the reverse sear method (low oven first, sear last). I use it all the time on thicker cuts of red meat (pork and beef) and cannot stress enough how AMAZINGLY juicy and tasty the meat turns out. Preheat your oven to 250F. Place the steaks on a baking rack to elevate for airflow around the beef. Cook until the internal temperature is 10 degrees below your desired doneness, then finish on the grill over high heat just enough to give a nice color. Also, with this method, you do not need a rest time before serving. Anyway, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I grinned when I saw the menu. I’m also making green bean casserole, corn souffle, sweet potato casserole (laced with Grand Marnier), homemade cranberry sauce (mine is from an internet recipe, made with blueberries and wine) dinner rolls, homemade pumpkin mascarpone pie, and store-bought apple pie because no time left. We opted out of turkey this year, but since this is my daughter’s boyfriend’s first Thanksgiving with a family in years, we are doing a small ham. It’s all about food and family.
We share the things that we have been grateful for in the past year. One of the best, most joyful gifts this year has been the gift of this blog and your books. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
Bless you for hosting. I love the leftovers but prefer to eat at another family member’s house. Less worry, work and planning. Please enjoy and I am thankful for so many things.
Take care
I just fell off the deck
Lord only knows what I will get done with a new GS puppy
Cracked ribs and contusions
I need Orro
So sorry to hear! Hope you get to make some happy memories to make up for it!
Your dinner sounds lovely, Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and know you’ve got the thanks of all of us for sharing your fantastic imaginations and incredible writing skills!
Be sure to let us know how you liked the Popeye’s turkey. I’ve always wanted to try it.
This year I’m trying a spatchcocked turkey with a dry brine for the first time. So far I’m pleased; it took me longer to pick a tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves for the brine than it took me to cut out the backbone. Overall, much less time than I’ve spent in the past getting the turkey in a garbage bag in a cooler with a wet brine. And tomorrow it should only take 1hr 15min to cook! If it tastes good, it will be my new method=)
pictures of your laden table or it didn’t happen!
Trying to finish hand quilting Christmas quilt and feeling a little tired yesterday. **little sneeze** Then I went to bed… **little sneeze, little cough** Then I **SNEEZE** woke up this **COUGH** morning **COUGH SNEEZE** went to the doctor and now **sniffling** am drinking LOTS of hot tea, honey and lemon slices. (Suddenly my beautiful, wonderful family is divvying up the cooking chores and I’m heading back to bed with a bad cold and a hot mug of goodness. Totally thankful for being blessed with the best family EVER!) Hope whatever holidays everyone is celebrating this year, that it brings Joy, Peace or at the very least someone to share this time with.
My Thanksgiving dinner is always the same because as many times as I’ve tried to change it up either calamity ensues or it is just not to the fam’s taste.
Turkey- butter under the skin, with seasoned salt and pepper on top. Cooked in a turkey bag so I don’t have to baste leaves the turkey juicy con: no crunchy skin.
We make lots of appetizers for ppl to munch on while the cooking happens. These are prepped or bought and ready the day before so we can set them and go.
shrimp tray
meat and cheese tray with crackers
veggie tray and dip
fruit tray and dip
Sides with dinner that we are all too full to eat when the cooking is finished. It ends up being a small brunch with a bigger dinner of the leftovers.
Green bean casserole
Mash potatoes and gravy
Corn
Stove top stuffing (I am a basic b*tch in a family of basic b*tches)
Sweet potato casserole
deviled eggs
rolls-yeasted
Dessert
Usually 3 pies and ppl pick and choose
1 cream pie (cookies and cream this year but coconut and banana are most popular)
1 fruit pie cherry crumble this year
1 pumpkin pie
Hope you feel better. Sounds like a wonderful menu. Enjoy! Thankful for you.
Wow, all of these great menus and recipes are definitely making me hungry. For the first time since I was in the Air Force in the late 1980s, I am alone (no family) for Thanksgiving. I’ve been divorced for about 15 years now and my oldest daughter is married and the youngest is in a committed relationship and they are both spending the holiday with the signficant others families. Normally I would travel to my Mom’s and spend the day with her but that did not work out for a couple of different reasons. Anyway, I decided to just pick up a small ham and sides rather than cook. I do love leftover ham sandwiches. But all these great menus makes me want to invite myself over for dinner!
I hope you get to feeling better Ilona. I had the crud last week and all I wanted to do was sip tea and lay on the couch.
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Interesting that you have the sweet potato casserole and the pie. We’re staying in a hotel and they have a buffet. I’m LOVING this no stress holiday. I already have Christmas reservations as we!!
I’m old and there’s just me and the old man now. Neither of us can eat all that food, even if we have just a bit of each dish and so we have one or two “traditional” dishes each day of Thanksgiving week. So far, we’ve had the mashed potatoes and the stuffing and today it’s green bean casserole. Tomorrow will be turkey Manhattans and some kind of pie.
You’re lucky you have help. I just do Maggiano’s stuffing and Turkey. Gives me traditional Italian sausage stuffing like my Dad made with no work . Can pick it up hot and serve it when I walk in the door
My husband and I used to do a whole brined turkey smoked in our Traeger, but we never finished it before we got sick of it. Then we downsized to just a turkey breast (because we both prefer breast mean over dark) finally we decided those turkey roasts were just the perfect size and would get finished off before we got nauseous just looking at it.
Your dinner sounds delicious, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I have moved to the Stove Top + package of someone’s (Farmhouse, MJB, etc.) Herb and Butter long grain and wild rice. Voila, Rice stuffing. Add some bacon, and almost as good as Joy of Cooking version. 🙂
Also excellent to use to bury pork chops for a baked casserole.
Thought I would give you a snicker … the Gravy colour chart.
My mother could not make gravy … horrible salty mess every time. So we learned early to rely on packaged gravy (Knorr/Swiss Knight by preference). Organized by a flavor colour-chart: Chicken, Turkey, Pork, Beef.
If you don’t have the right gravy mix, you can combine a package from each side and it makes the middle one. Chicken + Port = Turkey. Turkey + Beef = Pork.
Don’t laugh to hard, it actually works reasonably well!
FYI – my cats are same as Sookie, without the sound effects. Will sit on sheepskin in front of gas fireplace and look over their shoulder at me, look pointedly at fireplace, back to me. I cave and make the fireplace go “phoomph” for them.
lol, I hear you about the corn preparation on your Thanksgiving list. ???? Here’s a recipe you might try on Gordon. I know this is for corn on the cob but it. is. Awesome! Take a shucked cob, drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil, add a sprig of rosemary, and wrap in tin foil. Grill or broil. Unwrap and enjoy. ????
I’m a great believer in searing first. Particularly if you have a thermometer. Searing last risks over-cooking. Hope it goes well for you 🙂
I’m a la carte tomorrow so Thanksgiving dinner will be turkey meatballs from TJ’s, waffle cut sweet potato fries and some interesting seasoned corn ribs, also from Trader Joes. And a decadent single sized chocolate dessert.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful day. ????
Well, hopefully Thanksgiving day will go better….the fat, black & white ‘squirrel’ blasted my dog Monday night. She had 2 baths that night & another just now with de-skunking shampoo (Wed. evening). Fingers crossed that takes care of it.
Our Canadian thanksgiving was over a month ago. We usually have our kids and their significant others and some how we usually end up with some
extra guests who have no one to celebrate with at the table as well.
I normally buy a frozen turkey (butter ball) and thaw it in the original packaging over night in a sink full water just like my Mom did for 50 years and I have done for 30. Yes I know the warnings but I like living on the edge. ???? I unwrap it rinse it out and then stuff and roast in a LOOK bag.
This year I found a frozen stuffed butter ball that was supposed to be cooked from frozen. It took over an hour longer than it was supposed to and the kids didn’t like the stuffing.
Christmas eve the sink will once again be holding a thawing turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
That’s how I do it too. I never have enough room in the fridge for the whole turkey, the sink works just fine.
Actually a rib roast is the easiest meal to cater to different tastes. Cook it med-rare, and then when you want to serve it, slice it and if someone wants it med or well done, stick it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.
Happy Thanksgiving
Mod R, I have a completely random question that I’ve been wondering about that I was hoping to get added to the list for some point in the future.
– Whatever happened with the stained wooden cutting board?
Thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates today! ????
I will ask ????
Thank you! ????
This is out third year of Popeye’s turkey! We did Bojangles before that but they stopped selling them. They are excellent.
Alton Brown green bean casserole is great (but I still use the canned onion rings on top, his shallots don’t really cut it). Problem with Thanksgiving is everyone has their must-have food, and it’s all different. Son-in-law likes sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, no one else wants the marshmallows (and daughter says he’d prefer canned sweet potatoes, which is just no!). Menu: Turkey (brined), gravy, corn bread stuffing (made from home-made cornbread) with andouille sausage, peppers and fennel, the green bean casserole (made with fresh green beans, and mushroom soup I made yesterday), creamed spinach, carrots, braised brussel sprouts, cornbread (because no one wanted me to make Parker house rolls), pecan pie, pumpkin pie (which is almost ready to go in oven), chocolate mousse pie, black bottom peanut pie (SIL loves peanuts), and of course fresh whipped cream. For 5 adults and 2 small grandchildren. Leftovers: turkey tikka masala (really good) and turkey enchiladas (new recipe), and of course lots of turkey soup!! Off to finish cooking. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! Sounds like an amazing feast for the family!
hello from Europe ????
we dont celebrate Thanksgiving but have other interesting dates. For example on 6 th of December is St Nicolas day. We eat fish then. But because its also my birthday i add a cake to the fish menu ????. We dont like fish too much and the cake is good addition. Usually we have pork stakes in the fridge….just in case????????
Happy thanksgiving to all if you who celebrate it!????
Is Sookie celebrating her breed winning Best in Show?