Although I think it’s nice when a host takes dietary restrictions into account, the truth is, there are very few people I trust to get it right, so then I feel guilty about someone going to a lot of trouble for something I’m not going to eat anyway.
I always offer to bring a few things wherever we are going and will make a meal out of those items.
My feeling is that people with serious/life-threatening food issues know what they can/not eat. It’s up to them to either decline the invitation or bring “safe” food and not gamble on what the host serves.
Your Thanksgiving dinners all sound delicious.
D, SiL and the GDs will join H and me tomorrow. We’re keeping it easy with some prepared/frozen items and only a few home made dishes:
Publix spiral sliced honey ham with honey mustard
roast turkey breast
gravy
wild rice dressing
orange/cranberry relish plus Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce
crispy (air fryer) green beans
corn pudding
rolls
Marie Callender apple crumb pie and pumpkin pie (baked tonight)
holiday cookies and brownies
When I started pulling out dishes and glassware to wash this evening, I found more breakage from the move. It’s going to be an eclectic dining table with a mix of white Lenox wedding china and some Lenox “chirp” and “chirp holiday” small plates. I didn’t have the time or energy to polish the sterling, so we’re using the everyday stainless flatware. Glassware is incongruously modern Mikasa “cheers.” Serving dishes, on the kitchen counter, are mostly green Fiestaware. The tablecloth is new (Charleston green with a border of pumpkins, gourds and flowers) while the napkins are very old ivory ones that my grandmother tatted. I’m just happy to not be using our everyday basic white Corelle and paper napkins, which is what H would have chosen.
We will have 6 for dinner here, and we are doing the whole meal. My husband’s parents are joining us - they’ve had a tough few weeks so we told them that while they were welcome to bring anything that they wanted to be sure to have on hand, they were fine to just come and eat with us and that is what they are doing. DH is doing the turkey. I’ve prepped a dressing and some orange cranberry relish already, and tomorrow I’ll make rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (a new savory recipe for us this year), peas, and I’ll make a gravy once the turkey’s out of the oven. I’ve made a pumpkin pie and I’m currently waiting on my apple crumble pie to come out of the oven so I can go to bed. My teens will make a chocolate pie tomorrow. I’ve also made a whipped garlic feta dip to serve with crackers and naan as well as a cheese plate and some mixed nuts to much on before the meal. We do the full meal at out house every other year and I enjoy it.
It’s just our family of four tomorrow, and I usually make the whole dinner, except for years when Thanksgiving falls on my birthday and we go out to eat. Today, I made the cranberry sauce and two desserts, chocolate brownie pie and pumpkin cupcakes. Tomorrow I’ll roast the turkey and make cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, maple-glazed yams, rolls, peas and Waldorf salad. We usually have brunch around 11 (typically scrambled eggs, bacon and homemade cinnamon rolls) and then dinner is around 5:30 or so. I’m very grateful to have my son home to help with some of the prep work.
Cranberry jalapeño sauce sounds really good, especially to have with roast turkey, which is rather on the bland side in my opinion.
We are not hosting but are bringing apple and pecan pies and a cranberry cake. I’ll be preparing Brussels sprouts and bacon with balsamic vinegar and hot honey (idea for hot honey came from a CCer—thumper1 I believe) Excited to try it! Happy Thanksgiving, all!
That’s me! I now use only hot honey when I make those roasted brussel sprouts. Really…not a huge amount of zip…but a little.
I have been assigned the task of organizing a Bourbon tasting. I have embraced the task😀
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE !!
Hosting about 20 for a traditional Thanksgiving meal:
Turkey
Honey baked Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Soufflé
Squash Medley
Cornbread Stuffing
Mushroom and Shallot Gravy
Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
Thanksgiving Sangria
Guests are bringing desserts and appetizers. My mother in law is also making a turkey and stuffing.
@abasket - this is the butter board recipe S found:
I’ll report on how we like it
YUM!!! I love garlic.
@abasket - I’d love your recipe for roasted cauliflower when you have time!
Thanksgiving is always traditional Southern (Easter is traditional Slovak, Christmas is low country boil); it’s the only holiday we carb load and don’t think about calories. Brined and fried turkey, mac & cheese, sweet potato souffle, scalloped pineapple, mashed potatoes and green beans with ham hock. I used to add healthier stuff, but no one ever ate it.
We’re heading to my niece/her partner’s home for dinner. We all split the major food responsibilities amongst us, so no one person gets stuck footing the large bill.
H smoked a full + a half turkey breast on Tuesday, that’s going into the sous vide bath shortly.
I fixed Cook’s Illustrated make-ahead gravy with homemade turkey stock. It’s bubbling away on the stove. I also made Martha Stewart’s recipe for stuffing, adding sausage and mushrooms as per our tradition.
Sibs and niblings are fixing mashed potatoes, some other veggies, desserts, etc. The hosts are roasting a turkey and baking rolls.
Wine is Hyland Estates Pinot and Gewurtztraminer and various whites and rose’.
It’s a weird year as both of our daughters won’t be making it (travel and a medical profession) and niece and her partner are on a trip.
I found a bag of baby spinach that I bought a little while ago. Looked fresh, so Ina Garten’s spinach gratin was added to the menu. I also forgot about roasted root vegetables! That got added, too.
It’s sooo easy. Make your cranberry sauce according to the directions on the bag, add one jalapeno while it cooks. You can also add a shot of tequila after you take it off the heat. Everyone that has tried it now does it regularly. So much more complex than just sweet cranberry sauce.
I love this dish a lot! I’ve made it twice when I’m the only person in my house who eats it so that means I get it all! Can be eaten, warm or cold (or room temp!)
I used pistachios instead of macadamia nuts.
The butter board was delicious and a big hit!
I was a guest at a dinner, and was helping the hostess get the dishes ready. In the dining room was a big chest of drawers, and she just kept pulling silver out of it. Massive amounts of silver. She said "Oh, I didn’t buy all this. My families are the Gorhams, of Gorham silver. She can trace her roots to Paul Revere.
The plates were also very impressive, from the 1800s. One was broken when we started and one got broken during dinner. She just waved it off. After dinner, EVERYTHING went into the dishwasher. She said if it is in her house, it goes in the dishwasher. I think her two sisters, who I assume have similar chests of silver, were gasping.