Turns out H’s sister won’t have her kids on Thanksgiving Day this year, so she just asked if we could host on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Wouldn’t be a problem (there’s no other family coming) except that we get home that Monday night from a previously booked trip to see H’s elderly aunts and uncle. Going to have to get in high gear to get some things done before we leave this Friday! Unforeseen benefit: H, D, & I can do the Turkey Trot.
Streamlned menu: Cajun fried turkey (ordered), dressing (D will make), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes (SIL will make), rolls (bought), both cranberry jelly and whole berry sauce, pecan pie (SIL will bring), pumpkin pie, and black bottom pie.
I will be the hum bug about Thanksgiving food here. I think it started because the day was long and
boring growing up at the relatives house with cousins who were utterly boring (oops, I said that).
Then I was vegetarian for 35 years–actually, the food was great. Mushroom strudel and Broccoli strudel were the mains. Loads! of work.
We are going on 12 years of spending the day with wonderful friends. We alternate years and this year we will be at their house
The problem is that she is a not at all great cook. No salt, pepper or herbs or butter.
All just plain. Her family tradition is to stuff the turkey with a mix of dried fruits. (it even smells bad)
No one eats it.
Her dressing is just a bag of mix with some broth on it. No butter and not crispy.
Dessert is canned blueberries with whipped cream on a crust.
That is the H’s family recipe.
They do not like pumpkin pie.
Also, I am poultry intolerant so the turkey does not work for me.
H and I are crazy foodies and this is just not the best. THEY are the best but not the meal.
Also, they do not eat broccoli, cooked carrots, brussel spouts…
I make great mashed potatoes so will do those. I think I will attempt the corn dish again–I had a failure
years ago but since all of you love it so much–and they do eat corn.
I do make the appetizers so always snarfed.
They are my most difficult guests to develop a menu for and they
think I am the best cook in the world. They have no idea how I season my food.
I have now given them two sets of salt and pepper shakers ( am a pepper nut)
which they get out when we visit.
I think I would like a sausage corn bread stuffing that I will just bring along.
Have never made it but they love sausage. Anyone have a recipe???
We are hosting Thanksgiving this year. My MIL will be coming and some friends from out of town. Menu currently is:
honey-brined turkey & gravy
stuffing (I just can’t call it dressing even though I don’t put it in the bird!)
mashed potatoes
some sort of vegetables - probably glazed carrots
cranberry sauce - I buy it already made. I don’t make it myself
Pillsbury crescent rolls - because my ODD loves them
lingonberry sauce - because that’s what we always had on the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table when I was a kid!
Appetizers usually are:
chips & salsa
potato chips & french onion dip
a veggie tray with ranch dip
I do not go all out on fancy appetizers.
Desserts:
apple pie
our out-of-town friends are bringing a gluten-free dessert since 1 of them has celiac disease
ice cream for the pie
hot fudge - to have with the ice cream because YDD hates pie
Bless her heart, but my MIL will want to bring apple pie and her apple pie is, no offense to her, just not very good. The crust is soggy. The apples aren’t that great. It’s just pretty bad overall. MIL wants to bring something so I think my DH is going to ask her to bring a salad.
I’m going to thicken the gravy with cornstarch instead of flour and I got a turkey that doesn’t have gluten additives in it. DH has a relative with celiac disease, so I’ve had practice before doing a gluten-free holiday meal.
Usually we go to the movies after Thanksgiving dinner.
My sister says that the brined turkey I make is, by far, the best turkey she’s ever had anywhere.
Our Thanksgiving is pretty predictable - some members are TOO creature of habit!!
Oven roasted turkey
Bread dressing - some in the turkey, some baked outside of the turkey (my mom makes this- was on of the first “American” recipes she learned to make from my aunt when my dad brought my mom from Morocco - along with the bread, main ingredient is ground beef
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes, sometimes with apples/cinnamon baked in
Hot green bean or broccoli/egg/cheese casserole
Hot pineapple casserole
Gravy, of course
Pumpkin muffins/bread
GREEN salad - I usually bring - I MUST have something not hot, not creamy, and FRESH! Often topped with room temperature roasted beets, carrots, turnips.
Cranberry sauce two ways
Dessert:
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
LOADS of freshly whipped cream!
On a hilarious note, my MIL for years would make and bring to every person’s Thanksgiving a dish that she called “cranberry relish.” The only people who ever liked it were DH’s uncle, DH’s grandmother, and MIL. MIL would make enough of this stuff to feed 30 people. There were never 30 people at Thanksgiving.
Here’s what the 'cranberry relish" had in it:
cranberry jello
bits of cranberries chopped up or ground up in a food processor. But not cooked, so they were very very crunchy
walnuts
celery
grapes cut in half
It was like eating nuts & twigs suspended in jello. 2 years ago, MIL announced after we ate Thanksgiving dinner that she would not be making “cranberry relish” anymore since only she and UIL ate it. The rest of us silently cheered inside our heads.
On another holiday special occasion, a relative brought a green bean casserole. “Great!” you might think, “Lots of people like green bean casserole!” Um, no. Not THIS green bean casserole. It included:
french cut green beans from a can
lots and lots of apple cider vinegar
bacon
all of the bacon grease of 2-3 lb of bacon
a can of those french onions on top
Bake it in the oven.
So imagine eating canned green beans swimming in hot vinegar and bacon grease. ROFL! It was…an interesting culinary event.
We are hosting our close group of friends and one of the men is insisting on deep frying a turkey in our backyard. All I can think about is the giant turkey explosion I always hear about.
The rest of us will be huddling as far away as possible with this menu
Garlic mashed potatoes
Lemon stuffing, oyster bread stuffing (H) and corn bread sausage, zucchini and apple stuffing
Butternut squash stuffed with tofu and quinoa for vegetarians
Brussel sprout, bacon, pear salad
Fresh steamed artichoke hearts with vinaigrette
Probably crescent rolls
Jellied cranberry sauce (D) and whole cranberry sauce
And lots of pies with whipped cream
And probably someone will insist on a kale salad
I’m so happy we don’t have to go to my in laws anymore where holiday meals were a glory of various canned foods mixed together, including the 1950s jello salad with canned fruit. That jello salad is still a running joke with my H. As a native Californian I had never seen this family staple from Pennsylvania when I attended my first holiday with Hs family and pushed the lime green stuff around my plate.
What time do you have Thanksgiving? I have everyone come between 5:30-6:00. Several family members have lunch with the other side of their family, so this has always worked for us. We have wine and appetizers while I get everything reheated and/or out on the table, so dinner is usually around 7:00-7:30; this depends on when all the food is hot! My sister in law always brings a dish that needs heating, as if comes straight from her fridge; try heating something ice cold in two ovens set to low keeping everything thing else warm.
After dinner, during dessert and coffee, we play the dice game, Left, Center, Right for money. Everyone plays from the little kids to my 93 MIL. We play one game with all 20+ guest, and the winner gets the entire pot. Last year my 7 year old cousin’s child won $70 as we played with $3 per person. My MIL asked years ago that we split into several smaller games so more people had a chance to win; she was out voted! With each guest bringing $3, that isn’t a huge amount to lose, but to the winner, it is a big win. It is so much fun to watch everyone get so excited when they think they are getting close to winning, and to watch a 3 year old playing with a 93 year old is priceless.
That game sounds like fun @snowball ! We eat really early, at around 2:00pm. That way my oldest can eat with us then make the rounds of her boyfriend’s large extended family. Then we play board games and watch football. Everyone gets hungry again by 6 or 7 so they fix and reheat their own plates. By this time I’m exhausted and am curled up, reading a book somewhere, with a nice merlot.
I may make that jello, MIL’s recipe. Our host is an eat anything guy if you give him a little story. Then he takes an hour on whatever story he wants to tell. Nice guy, but this quirk. Seems I remember lots of jello mold stories on CC. For many, it’s tradition. I like raw, chopped cranberries and nuts. Maybe some orange or bits of candied peels.
Ours is 130pm. To accommodate one’s getting home from work and another needing to be at work at 3pm. A short dinner. We’re guests.
Oh, and the mushroom strudel sounds great. Ever have vegetarian pate? Mushrooms or edamame.
We are trying to figure out when to have Thanksgiving this year. S3 and DD are home but S3 starts his new restaurant manager job that week and works Wed-Sun. DD has auditions out of town on Sun-Tues. So we may be at Monday after Thanksgiving now. S2 and DIL just had their first baby early and with a c-section so they have declined. We share wtih friends each year but this year scheduling is hard.
I’m “ok” with cranberry sauce (not the jellied). To be honest, it tastes best AFTER Thanksgiving, warmed up slightly and spooned over the top of some quality vanilla ice cream/gelato.
The only way my parents will eat turkey is with the jellied cranberry sauce. This coming from my mother who is an excellent cook and has attended many fancy cooking schools locally. I guess it is what they are use to, and why mess with something they love?
When I was younger, my father use to eat Franco American canned spaghetti in tomato sauce. I never understood that one either as my mother alway had home cooked meals with plenty of left overs. It was his comfort food.
Has anyone else looked at this Thanksgiving dinner in the NYT? There are some really interesting dishes, and it is all designed to be cooked in one oven set to 400F and 4 burners in one day. Perfect for an apartment with limited cooking resources.
I am like @abasket - I have to have a green salad on our Thanksgiving table. Our menu is usually simple:
Turkey on the grill
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes (boiled, cubed, tossed with butter and a dash of brown sugar in a pan)
Corn casserole (thank you all!) - this is new
Roasted veggies with fennel and apple (2009 Seattle Times)
Gravy with chanterelles
Chanterelles without anything else - pan-fried with butter (this is what Mr. looks forward to)
Cornbread muffins (my cat asks for them)
Homemade cranberry sauce (simple)
Green salad (usually with pomegranate seeds and red onions)
Brussel sprouts with pears and bacon (new this year)
Will bake a quince and apple pie with vodka crust. And ice cream.
