<p>Any other foodies out there?
I need a break from stressing over colleges (tests, applications, rec letters, etc) for the past month :eek: </p>
<p>So, who’s hosting thanksgiving? </p>
<p>I think this will be the first time in about 15 years that I’m NOT hosting. I still plan on brining a turkey and making some of the usual stuff, but since we aren’t having the usual huge crowd I may tone it down some.</p>
<p>Traditional stuff. Honey-baked ham. Turkey on the grill (I’ve never cooked one in the oven. H does the honors). Sweet potatoes with orange juice, cinnamon, pecans, dark Karo syrup with marshmallows toasted on top. Green bean casserole (a kid favorite), mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, homemade Parker house rolls, Stove Top (my kids don’t like MY dressing), and pistachio-jello-cool whip stuff. Sometimes I make fried okra. Cherry and chocolate pie. My H likes that cranberry stuff you slop out of a can, so we have that too.</p>
<p>over30, do you have room for one more? ;)</p>
<p>I’m hosting alot of family from out of town- as every year- it’s alot of fun!
All of the list as in over30’s post except substitute fresh cranberry relish (really easy made with fresh oranges and sugar- recipe on the back of the bag of cranberries) for the jello dish. Oh, and we gotta have mashed turnips, and pecan pie!</p>
<p>Sure, the more the merrier. And I forgot the best part. Homemade applesauce. Equal parts granny smiths, jonathans and delicious (about 4 pounds) cooked with about 1/3 cup redhots.</p>
<p>My H will be in town the weekend before, so he’ll do mashed potatoes and gravy. I don’t do mashed potatoes 
For the actual 24th, I’ll do aforementioned brined turkey (chez panisse recipe), garlic and goat cheese potato gratin, mulled cranberries (simmered in merlot w/ crystalized ginger and brown sugar), and a dessert. Not sure what; I may attempt a lemon meringue pie as nobody is too wild about pumpkin.</p>
<p>Hosting, as always, except this year without the student who’ll be on the opposite coast, snif… Pretty traditional menu.</p>
<p>Veggie crudites tray (plus olives, some stuffed w/ garlic or jalapenos, and pickled okra).
Brined turkey (SF Chronicle recipe), always fresh and organic, and ohsogood.
Wild rice and cornbread stuffing, with pecans and turkey sausage bits.
Whipped potatoes with gravy. (Waaah, the student who whips the taters will be gone.)
Steamed green beans with almond shavings.
Brussel sprouts.
Parker house rolls!
Jellied cranberry canned stuff for kids who love it, but the best of all…
[Mama</a> Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=844268]Mama”>www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=844268) – shocking pink and SPICY! You either love it or hate it.
Iced tea, or wine for those who’d like it.</p>
<p>After this point, we all get out of our chairs and walk around the neighborhood for an hour, rain or shine. Then we return home, put on “Alice’s Restaurant”, and enjoy fresh apple pie and fresh pecan pie for dessert, with good strong coffee.</p>
<p>(I make a killer homemade pecan pie if anyone wants the recipe…) I love company, y’all come! (I am mostly serious, actually: we have room for a couple more, anyone in the area need a dinner invitation? 
)</p>
<p>mootmom, I think the SF chronicle turkey recipe is the same as the chez panisse! (my friend emailed it to me a few years ago…it was printed in the paper and she said I absolutely HAD to try it). Total heaven, even if you are indifferent to turkey, as I previously was ;)</p>
<p>As vegetarians, we don’t host Thanksgiving very often, if at all. We’ll be at my parents house next town over and will bring a yummy and rich cous cous recipe (baked with Muenster cheese, pine nuts, garlic and spinich) and will fill up on the side dishes, but skip the turkey. The sad thing is this will be my first Thanksgiving without my grandmother, who passed away this year, and her wonderful yams and worlds-best-ever homemade apple pie. :(</p>
<p>We’ve hosted Thanksgiving for our family for over 20 years now, ever since my mother died. We have a very traditional menu: Turkey with stuffing, potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, green beans with bacon (usually homegrown beans, but this year’s crop did not do well), cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie made from my own pumpkins. My one married brother and his wife will probably bring fruit salad. My aunt usually brings a cranberry salad. And another brother brings wine, since all I provide is coffee, tea, or sparkling cider.</p>
<p>This will probably be our last Thanksgiving with both boys at home, as my elder son, a college grad, hopes to be heading out of the country for a year and will likely be on his own after that, and my younger son, a college freshman, will not be coming home for Thanksgiving after this year (too expensive). My father and his wife will probably not be here, however, as my father has dialysis treatments on Thursdays, even on holidays. Still, it will be nice having family over, and I LOVE leftover turkey and gravy… :-)</p>
<p>What are Parker house rolls? Are they like Mrs. Schroder’s? I’m fixing about the same thing as over30. S specifically ordered “yankee dressing,” not cornbread; I usually fix both. I will make the cream cheese layered pie with chocolate and vanilla, topped with whipped cream.</p>
<p>Parker house rolls originated at the Parker House Hotel in Boston. I think they are those fluffy egg based rolls that are split three ways on top, so it makes three little humps.</p>
<p>Mootmom, please share your pecan pie recipe and the turkey recipe if it’s not too much trouble. I brined a turkey a few years ago and it was good but it was a little salty, even though everything I read said it shouldn’t be.</p>
<p>I found the SFChronicle recipe <a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/17/FDGIQ9RTLC1.DTL[/url]”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/17/FDGIQ9RTLC1.DTL</a>
I’m assuming it’s the same.</p>
<p>mootmom:
Post the pecan pie recipe please!</p>
<p>Yes, lizschup, that would be the “Best Way Brined Turkey” recipe we’ve been using – DrDrewsmom, how much does this differ from the Chez Panisse recipe? We had a convection oven for the first time last year and found the result doubly-delicious.</p>
<p>As for the pecan pie recipe, I would be happy to share it! I wrote it up as part of “Mom’s Greatest Hits”, the cookbook I made for my son this year. The easiest thing would be to send it in email to anyone who wants it, since it’s a Word .doc file – it’s written so a sleep-deprived and clueless college student would have a hard time failing at it, so excuse any instructions like, “12. Using the oven mitts, take the pie pan out of the oven and put it on a cooling rack.” PM me with your email address if you’d like me to send it to you.</p>
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<p>yep. same thing as I mentioned. </p>
<p>most of the salty taste will be in the skin…did the meat taste salty as well?</p>
<p>I was astounded at how totally UN-salty the brined turkey turned out to taste! Perhaps the rinsing step is far more important in this regard than it may seem. (We don’t eat the skin, so I can’t comment on that part.)</p>
<p>The meat was a little salty by the skin and it made my gravy incredibly salty, if I remember correctly. Maybe I used too much salt in the brine. I think the recipe was from Cooks Illustrated - It was strictly salt and water with none of the spices and it also required letting it sit overnight in the fridge to dry out - way too much work for not a big difference. So thanks for the recipe - I think I’ll try it.</p>
<p>I wish I could host. My mother is a terrible cook. She insists on hosting year after year because “I might not be here next year” She is 74 and has been saying this since she turned 30. My husband’s favorite is the turkey that was just like the Chevy Chase Christmas turkey. He cut into it and it really did let off steam and just fall apart. Some years we get the “just heat and eat” turkey roast-but she cooks it for 3+ hrs. One year we had a smoked turkey that tasted raw-I don’t know how. The green beans w/cream of celery soup-that was really bad. The mashed potatoes that were whipped so much the glue stuck to your mouth-it was fun watching the kids. We have tried to get her to purchase the dinner from the super market, go out, pot luck, just about everything. Don’t mention cook books or classes-I still remember the time we mail ordered a good housekeeping book as a gift. She threw it at my dad. She hates cooking programs-dad is not allowed to listen to Melinda Lee (she has a brine receipe on her website). I just bring wine, my drug of choice-and drink. I bring dessert,and a ham. Sometimes my brother brings wonderful CPK desserts. I always turn down left overs. I usually make a dinner for us before. I know that she won’t be here someday and it will be real lonely. But she gets so stressed out and depressed when the meals don’t come out.</p>
<p>We will be in London on Thanksgiving. We are going to try to make a dinner there…but with chicken instead of turkey. We will be bringing stuffing, cranberry sauce, canned sweet potatoes (and marshmallows), and the ingredients for a pumpkin pie. I thought of trying to smuggle a turkey breast in my luggage but I don’t think it will make it through customs. So…chicken it will be. We’ll get the regular potatoes there. Of I were going to be home, I would also be making corn pudding, apple pie, and a fancier stuffing (with apples, raisins, pears, celery).</p>