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11-04-2011, 01:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2011, 01:48 PM by TennisMom. Edited 1 time in total.)
Sooooo, what are we all going to have for Thanksgiving Dinner?
Ours will be interesting this year because the DH won't be able to provide the feast. He'll be able to supervise and suggest but my eldest DD and I will be manning the kitchen. 
Last year I sent away for a cook book from Plimoth Plantation, which is a recreation of the village where the first settlers lived. (We took the kids there many years ago and it was SO COOL). The story of the First Thanksgiving is in it as well as some pretty decent recipes, all for basics like stuffing, gravy, potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. What makes me laugh are the ingredients for some: Melt half a cup of butter.... Pour in a cup of milk of half a cup of heavy cream... Yikes. 
What's going on your table this year? I'd be very interested to know about your favorite ways to cook a turkey. Also, do you put the stuffing inside the bird? My DH won't do that anymore. 
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My Thanksgiving dinner is almost traditional, We have turkey (seasoned with butter and onion, un- stuffed) cornbread dressing (my Grandmothers recipe), cranberry sauce (like my mother made), mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, home made rolls (my great grandmother's recipe) stuffed celery, green olives, black olives, cherry peppers, pickled okra, green onions and baby carrots, and apfeslstrudel ( my Oma gave me the recipe when hubby and I got married). I have been making this dinner for 20 years pluss all the years of helping my mom and Grandmother.
We do not do any deserts with nuts because Hubby is very allergic to them, and I can not stand pumpkin pie.
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I'm still working on the perfect pumpkin bread to send to Afghanistan.
I think the winner is in the oven right now...you should SMELL this house!
It has lots of spices, Granny Smith apple chunks, walnuts and orange peel with a streusel-type topping.
We shall see...I may be making it for some Christmas gifts, too.
By the way, for anyone a bit overwhelmed by the whole cooking thing? I used to work in a full service deli in a somewhat up scale grocery store. I can attest to the fact that those Thanksgiving dinners you buy in a box are generally pretty good.
Everything is cooked, you just have to follow the directions and heat it up. I noticed even Sharis is doing it this year...just check on which store has the sides you want. 
I get the feeling that perhaps someone such as Fred Meyer may have better quality than, say, Safeway, but that may be all in my imagination. Sharis would be good, 'cause you know the pie will be delicious!
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Our kids have been spending Thanksgiving with their in-laws... so Hubby and I volunteer at our local Soup Kitchen. As far as I know... that is the plan again this year. They do send us home with a yummy plate of Turkey with all of the trimmings... including a piece of pie! 
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I am thinking oysters & stuffing.
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(11-04-2011, 02:05 PM)Crone Wrote: I'm still working on the perfect pumpkin bread to send to Afghanistan.
I think the winner is in the oven right now...you should SMELL this house!
It has lots of spices, Granny Smith apple chunks, walnuts and orange peel with a streusel-type topping.
We shall see...I may be making it for some Christmas gifts, too.
By the way, for anyone a bit overwhelmed by the whole cooking thing? I used to work in a full service deli in a somewhat up scale grocery store. I can attest to the fact that those Thanksgiving dinners you buy in a box are generally pretty good.
Everything is cooked, you just have to follow the directions and heat it up. I noticed even Sharis is doing it this year...just check on which store has the sides you want.
I get the feeling that perhaps someone such as Fred Meyer may have better quality than, say, Safeway, but that may be all in my imagination. Sharis would be good, 'cause you know the pie will be delicious!
I see Safeway and Freddies as the same playing feild. The precooked turkey's aren't bad.
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We're hoping to brine and smoke a turkey, dressing on the side, cranberries, brussels sprouts, and pumpkin flan! 
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I'm a big fan of brining. I think we cooked the turkey in red wine last year and it came out quite good.
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I'm gonna do the pies. And yes, we've got somebody to do Grace. A certain connection to The Almighty.
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I like your plan Scrapper
I don't know, the past few years we've done Thanksgiving at a friends- we bring desserts and bread and then Christmas is at our house-- but in light of her current maritial explosion and the fact she can not cook at all, it may be at our house as well. It's possible the mom's may come up for Turkey day which would be great fun-- but it's still sort of up in the air.
If I do have to do the cooking, it will be the turkey, sausage stuffing, taters and sweet taters.... all the usual suspects.
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I'm going to the ground squirrel, soup kitchen at Ponders.
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![[Image: squirell_ground.jpg]](http://www.pajaritoeec.org/resources/mammals/squirell_ground.jpg)
A nice plate of squirrel with sunflower garnish.
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If we do it here this year instead of going to my bros for Thanksgiving, it will be traditional and basic. Turkey with wild mushroom stuffing and real cranberry sauce, potatoes and gravy, baked butternut squash from the garden, super salad, rolls, pies for those who eat them and lots of Horderves like smoked salmon, gourmet stuffed olives, pickled Okra, nice cheeses from Rogue Creamery, hard salami, water crackers, veggie plate and various dips and Samosas with assorted sauces. Oh and a selection of seasonal beers, beautiful full bodied hoppy aromatic wonderful beers, not that cheap low carb crap I have been drinking.
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Value, wow, no one in your house likes turkey? Amazing. To each his own.
My problem with getting a pre-cooked turkey is that we would all miss the kitchen fragrances associated with it, as well as the rest of the dinner. All of us love turkey.
So what was the final verdict on putting the stuffing in the bird?
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The holiday is just so I have turkey left over for sandwiches. I wish we had a meatloaf holiday.
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(11-06-2011, 07:12 PM)illcommandante Wrote: The holiday is just so I have turkey left over for sandwiches. I wish we had a meatloaf holiday.
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I'm not eating beef our pork right now, so I'll stuff a big chicken with wild rice rather than doing a rib roast or ham. Some people love having lots of leftovers, but we don't like the feeling of HAVING to eat stuff before it spoils. Fresh is best! 
