I have seen Comte cheese at Costco, usually less expensive than Gruyere. This is a good recipe for mac and cheese that uses Comte - can’t go wrong with Thomas Keller! Definitely not a diet dish.
https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/bouchon-bistro-macaroni-au-gratin
Thanks all – lots of good ideas. Especially love the idea of buying it already made, BunsenBurner!
Y’all are making me hungry.
@abasket I really need to know what hot pineapple casserole is. That sounds … interesting?? … amazing ??
For your turkey leftovers, I found this recipe in a local magazine last week and have already tried it; it’s incredible! Sliced bread (sourdough or something hefty like that works best), leftover turkey, mix a little leftover cranberry sauce with a tablespoon or so of Dijon mustard, spread that on the bread, top with the turkey, some sliced Granny Smith apple, then add some sliced Brie, and throw it in the skillet like a grilled cheese sandwich. It is sweet and cheesy and buttery and YUMMY! I even used oven-roasted turkey slices from the deli and it was still awesome.
The hot pineapple casserole - it really is delicious! I cut down on the sugar, cheese, butter, crackers by about 25% and use the same amount of pineapple as the recipe calls for. If you aren’t concerned about calories and overindulgence make the recipe as is!!!
My most vivid preschool/elementary rape memories are Thanksgiving family get togethers. The smell of cranberry can still trigger flashbacks sometimes. So other than preaching the night before I prefer to ignore the holiday.
So I work my moonlighting job which frees someone with a family to have off. And for the double pay. I’ll cook a turkey the day before and bring leftovers to eat with my client.
For the first time in forever it will be just the two of us. H doesn’t eat much and I shouldn’t overdo it. Son is around 3000 miles away- last year he came the week before since he had to work and H’s mom was here so 3 for the holiday. He did dinner with his local cousin and his wife- hopefully that will continue. Hopefully he’ll plan a winter week with us just as we do a PNW summer vacation. After decades of cooking two meals- my traditional favorites (poultry other than turkey 'cause none of us that fond of it) and Indian favorites including vegetarian. But- way too much effort to do it all this year and far too many left overs even with the freezer.
Memories include childhood always having red cabbage but never any other day and lemon meringue pie the night before as my mom’s crust recipe used one egg for 3 crusts (2 pumpkin pies for the 5 of us meant leftovers). The time I was a resident on call and doing the anesthesia for a case my staff let me out for the free hospital cafeteria meal- sure beat eating alone plus good food. Then there were a couple of dinners at a restaurant hosted by an elderly lady my future H knew. But for many decades we served vegetarian Indians and meat eaters- sometimes relatives and sometimes friends or “strays”- those single or couples without family locally. Always a different crowd but the same many dishes.
Here others all seem to have somewhere to be. btw- it is an American holiday, regardless of religion or none, which makes it even more special.
It will be strange to not cook a feast (or two- the Indian dishes need their own accompaniments). But so much more relaxing than coordinating everything. Now is the time to stock up on favorites with the holiday prices to eat over the next months.
I do not take for granted how lucky we are to have all our kids relatively close by to see for the holidays. Even if it is not the actual holiday (as one is now married and they need to spend time with both families), we see them at some point.
I started cooking yesterday and will pack up our cooler and take my contributions upstate to my sister’s next week. Unfortunately, our middle sister just told us she and her husband won’t be with us because they are going to Canada to make Thanksgiving for their son who plays hockey north of Toronto. This makes my mom sad, because it will be just 9 of us, which I know sounds like a lot to many but our typical Thanksgiving is at least 15. My younger S and D will be with us, but their older brother, who was married in September, will be with his wife’s family this year. Holiday compromise was part of their wedding vows! Thanksgiving is the tough one…we’re Jewish so all of the important others tend to be multi-day holidays so we can share.
Dinner menu is pretty traditional for us, always including turkey (we spatchcock it so it doesn’t take up the oven for too long), gravy, mashed potatoes, squash in some form, brussel sprouts, corn bread, homemade and jellied cranberry sauce, and most years, either sweet potatoes or stuffing. All the sides are fair game for experimentation except the mashed potatoes. My sister said she’s making a kale salad this year and dessert is always a cacophony of pie - at least 4 sometimes up to 7! She even made cinnamon ice cream for me this year - I love it with apple pie!
Where we really experiment is with hors d’oeuvres… we gather around 12:30 for lunch/appetizers, then disperse for a few hours to play, nap, whatever and then come to the table whenever everything is ready – like about 6:30-7pm. Our early spread has included soup served in tea cups (either butternut squash or tomato, which is this year’s choice), mini-grilled cheese, pigs in blankets, smoked lemon trout dip, homemade hummus/veggies, sautéed mushrooms on baguette, shrimp, baked brie with fig jam…you get the idea. Served with champagne or sparkling cider, the early game on mute in the background… that’s Thanksgiving in our family.
@abasket ooohhhh, it’s a Paula Deen recipe. That explains it, yum. 
@KKmama “My most vivid preschool/elementary rape memories…” That’s surely got to be a typo! 
@KKmama I’m so sorry. 
@KKmama – hugs. Old Spice does it for me.
<3 GROUP HUG!!! <3
Well, that makes it hard to talk about vegetables.
But on the off chance that anyone has the heart to do so, I saw that Williams Sonoma is selling green beans with dried cranberries and caramelized onions. If we can find some nice green beans, that might be the answer to my non-creamy green vegetable dilemma. (To make, not to buy from WS!)
Am I the only one who is finding it hard to find nice green beans these days? Lately they seem overgrown and mealy.
Our Costco frequently has nice French ones - have you looked there?
This recipe sounds good to me for a green bean casserole but I don’t want to buy yet another variety of vinegar for the shelf - what would be a good substitute for sherry vinegar or is it essential?
https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/bouchon-bistro-haricots-verts-casserole
No Costco in my neck of the woods.
I’d probably just skip the vinegar all together or use a lesser amount of cider vinegar.
I am getting less and less excited about Thanksgiving, so much that it is turning into dread. Because my S just got married a few weeks ago (I wanted to spare them from 3 family celebrations), I invited my ex, his wife, son, and father to my house. Ex turned the tables and wants me and my family to come to his house. My brothers don’t enjoy this because they don’t know his family. My mom is all gungho about going there, even though she and I still do all of the cooking. A few days ago, I learned that my D is opting to go visit her boyfriend out of state so won’t be joining us, and today I learned that some of ex’s extended family will be there, namely a cousin that I don’t like, so I don’t even want to go. I have cried over the fiasco this has become. Not to mention it is incredibly boring for me there.
I could back out and just have my family at my house, but I probably wouldn’t have my S and DIL there since they will probably go to their Dad’s. I’m thinking I will put all of my dishes in disposable pans and leave all the leftovers there and go home early. And my mom has mentioned inviting all of them to MY house for Christmas. I hope she keeps her mouth shut.
Oh no, @musicmom1215, what a messy senerio! I’m so sorry that this has turned into such a fiasco when you were trying to be nice.
Try and pinpoint what exactly is the touch point for you and think of ways to relieve that stress. And try to figure out what are the pros of going to the ex’s. And focus on that.
But know that you can only control how you react to the situation. I think your brothers are being a bore and looking for excuses, honestly. Try and avoid the cousin you don’t like. I’m not sure how to handle your D not being there, I know the first year I didn’t have a kid at thanksgiving it was not fun. But it’s better now, life goes on and I have to go with the flow.
And anticipation is worse than the reality. Seriously
Hugs to you, sometimes I want to run away from the holidays but I go and it’s always better.
I’d never serve it for Thanksgiving but it doesn’t look half bad.
https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/trader-joe-thanksgiving-in-a-box