<p>musicamusica- definitely a passive aggressive statement on my SIL’s part. I am trying to give up caring.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving Yoga technique: Take a deep breath and say “It’s only pieeeeeeeeeeeee.” (exhaling on the word pie) ;)</p>
<p>Mom60 I agree about the pies, we really end up with too many desserts. Especially the carmel covered apple pie from Costco that no one eats. Not even the person who insists on bringing it each year. I am hoping DD’s Mock Trial team has practice, surely the teenagers will eat it if I put enough whipped cream on it!</p>
<p>Onward Glad the cranberry bars worked out–I’m making ours tomorrow. And baking the potatoes for the casserole, I’m behind this year…</p>
<p>Loony2nz-That is my mother’s recipe; well not her’s personally, she found it in our local paper. It really does just fine made ahead and refrigerated or frozen. My mother made ours last week and it is in the freezer now; I thought I was making it, but my mother always thinks she is the only one that knows how to cook so she makes the majority of the meal! She allows me to make the appetizers and heat up the food that I pick up from her house the morning of. Dinner is at my house so I get the mess and clean up, before and after the meal. With 25 people there is plenty to clean up!</p>
<p>Mom2M- that caramel covered apple pie is the exact reason I volunteered to make a pie. I happen to like apple pie and I could not deal with the only apple pie this year being that dreaded caramel apple pie.</p>
<p>I can’t decide if I’m jealous or relieved when I read these posts… the only relatives coming for Thanksgiving are my children, and I’m not cooking anything, since our kitchen is being remodeled and I refuse to make Thanksgiving dinner in the garage (which currently has a refrigerator, electrical frying pan, and a microwave–I wash dishes outside in the dog bath). But I’d REALLY hoped the remodel would be done, and now it’s going to be mid-December because the contractors are all taking this week off to celebrate their own Thanksgiving, which is sweet, but…</p>
<p>So here’s my imaginary perfect meal:
*a taster of toasted pumpkin seeds–the hull-less ones that I grew last year
*a glass of champagne–a toast to all my CC friends who listen to me rant
*a little toasted baguette (freshly made, of course) and cheese (from my friend’s cheese shop)
*turkey, giblet gravy, dressing, and lumpy skin-on mashed potatoes (yukon gold) (and maybe a few roasted green beans, just for health)
*apple and blueberry pie–with leftovers for breakfast Friday morning</p>
<p>(We’re going to a local restaurant, an excellent one. It should be a great meal. But I’m sure the gravy won’t be as good as my father’s recipe, and I’d bet the mashed potatoes won’t be lumpy.)</p>
<p>My friends and I had a warmup potluck Thanksgiving on Sunday. The hostess bought an electric turkey roaster for $25 at Target and put in a 20-pound, ordinary Butterball turkey from the supermarket.</p>
<p>Well, it was fantastic. One of the better turkeys I’ve ever tasted. The skin was crispy, there was a ton of broth for making gravy, and the white meat was moist. The machine even kept the turkey warm for an hour while we got the sides ready. Unbelievable! I’m sold.</p>
<p>dmd77 - I’ll let you know on Friday.</p>
<p>worknprogress-I just made the cranberry relish and it’s great! I think we may have a new standard to add to our meal. Thanks for passing the recipe along.</p>
<p>ok…I got a problem and maybe someone can help here.
We were supposed to have eight on Thursday…now it’s ten. In the past (this was a few years ago), I would set up a kids table for overflow - now the kids are adults or almost adults so no go. My table fits comfortably fits eight…I would also sometimes put a kid on each corner but now everyone is real big! I tried putting the card table adjacent to the table and it’s a full two inches lower. I don’t want to separate into two groups nor do I want to have a buffet. Panic is setting in. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Can you raise the card table? Get four wooden blocks to put under its legs. Then throw a table cloth on the whole thing and hide the fact that it’s two different tables?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL! We don’t do 43 side dishes, but I do make four kinds of pie. Started out with two kinds because not everyone liked pumpkin. Then there was a request for apple, then one for pecan (morphed it into chocolate-chip pecan). And voila, here we are at four pies. Every year, everyone says four pies is too many, but when I ask which one should be eliminated, no one wants any of them to disappear. </p>
<p>For everyone who loves jellied cranberry sauce, here’s a recipe that is like the canned stuff, but taken up a few notches. The straining part is a bit of work, but the result is worth it.</p>
<p>[Recipe:</a> My Father’s Cranberry sauce – latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/theguide/holiday-guide/food/la-fo-th2-eachdish-cranberry,0,4036097.story]Recipe:”>Recipe: My Father's Cranberry sauce)</p>
<p>I’d do table width 2X4’s for the card table…and duck tape them in place so it doesn’t go bump at the wrong moment. Check and see if Target or Staples has one of the folding rectangular tables in stock and on sale–ours is table height. Maybe a local rental place has a small table height table you can rent cheap?</p>
<p>I have never tasted a pumpkin pie I liked so it is so strange to me that people actually like it. My mom always made sweet potato pie. I like that much more than pumpkin and have successfully introduced several friends to it who don’t like the texture (IMO slimy) of the pumpkin.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever made Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish? [Susan</a> Stamberg Makes Cranberry Relish With Ruth Reichl : NPR](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120545671]Susan”>Susan Stamberg Makes Cranberry Relish With Ruth Reichl : NPR) After hearing about it for so many years, I took the plunge today and bought horseradish. Surely with so many wasabi lovers in the house someone will like it (though the thought of “pepto bismol pink” is a little off-putting . . .). It is meant to be made ahead, frozen, then served with “some little icy slivers” still in it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. My H laughed about putting the blocks under the card table…wouldn’t that look ugly? LOL. OK, the number coming is now down to 9 (from 10). I robbed a sofa table from the living room and put it at the end…same height (t-shape). Two people can sit across for a total of 9. It looks a little weird (sort of a like a wedding banquet…lol) but the huge white table cloth makes a difference. I think I’m OK!</p>
<p>I had plans to start lots of stuff today…only got to the pumpkin pie. Gravy is in the freezer. Tomorrow, I’ll be cooking lots of stuff! The pasture turkey from a local farm is getting delivered tonight at around 10 - never had a turkey delivered before!</p>
<p>I would love your appetizer recipe</p>
<p>OK…I’m making this for Thanksgiving. You can’t make it ahead, but it’s SO SO easy that there is no need to do so.</p>
<p>Corn Pudding</p>
<p>5 eggs
1/3 cup butter melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)
4 TBS cornstarch
1 can whole kernel corn
2 cans cream corn</p>
<p>Mix together the eggs, butter, sugar, milk and corn starch…thoroughly. Add the corns. Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole. Bake for 1 hour. </p>
<p>Really easy and really tasty.</p>
<p>Okay, here’s a new problem. We’re just having a small family T-giving so I didn’t pre-order but just went to a nice grocery store today and told them I wanted a fresh turkey, about 14 lbs. The butcher guy recommended a kind that was sitting out in the cooler area and said it was “Free Range.” Fine. I found one the right size, brought it home, and the trouble began. It’s legs were braced together with a metal thing that made it almost impossible to open the body to get the icky stuff out. Finally, using a screwdriver, I was able to spring the legs. I forgot to mention that I was a little mad to see lots of ice crystals on my supposedly fresh turkey. Clearly it had been frozen at some point. So I reached inside (always a bit of a horror as I’m a quasi-vegetarian), grabbed the neck, and pulled, and pulled and pulled. Nothing. I took a giant spoon and tried to scoop under it but no luck. Tried and tried again, as my hands got increasingly frozen. Nothing. So I slapped on the dry brine mixture, put it in the brine bag and threw the whole thing in the freezer. I emailed my H to tell him that our turkey had its head up its you know what. I’m going to let him try to extract it when he gets home. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Take the stupid turkey back to the store.</p>