Thanksgiving

My brother grills his turkey in the webber. Personally I like turkey best cooked in the oven because then you can make gravy from the drippings. To me real mash potatoes are not the same w/out the gravy.

Denice said:

 
Deep fat frying is going to have risks however it is done.  The fryers I have seen do have covers so that the oil isn't splattering out of the fryer.  You would have to be careful about making sure the turkey is completely defrosted or buying a fresh turkey and making sure it is completely dry.  There is still the danger of hot oil being accidentally spilled.

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There was a video demonstration done by firefighters going around on Facebook recently.  It looked to me like they also put too much oil in so it overflowed when the turkey was dropped in.  I had the sound off so i don't know if it was frozen or anything like that.  But flames galore!!  I think if I was going to get fancy; I'd want to do something rotisserie style. 

Rick came home tonight and asked me if he could invite a guy from his work to our Thanksgiving dinner. The man has been kind of down on his luck now for a while. I know him and he's really a nice person who has had more than his share of bad luck (and bad women who take advantage of nice guys).

I said, "Sure, ask him if he wants to come over."

Rick looked at me and said, "I already did and he's coming. He's bringing his son."

I asked him, "What would you have done if I'd have said no?"

And he said, "You would never say no to another person to feed."

I think we're up to 22 people now.

My menu is just about done and the stores and traffic have been so bad that I'm thinking of trying to do my last shopping tomorrow. I'll update with a final menu after that. :nod:

We went down to the mall last night so Rick could get a hair cut and the traffic was horrid. We have bad traffic anyway along the "Strip" south of us and on Friday nights it's that much worse. Last night, we were tempted just to turn around and come back home, that's how bad it was. Mall was packed with people and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. 

I wish we could be with family, this is my favorite holiday.  In part because of many memories of being at my grandparent's farm on Thanksgiving, and all my aunts/uncles, some great-aunts, and cousins being there.  I loved most of it (was always some family drama that I did not love, from my grandpa, sadly).

So, just my dh and myself.  We are both in the process of losing weight, so our menu is tailored to that.

a brined, smoked turkey breast that hubby will make

salad with dressing
cranberry relish
a wonderful gravy recipe (uses very little flour, and has chardonnay in it..yummo)
mashed cauliflower
mashed butternut squash (from a friend's garden)
a high protein dressing that I am subbing riced cauliflower for the rice, rest is proteins - pork etc.
a slice of cranberry walnut pie
coffee
 

Special breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and lemon cream (and it's under 260 calories for the serving!)

I have a question!

We are expecting a CROWD; so I'm making larger than normal size side dishes.  Can I bake them in the disposable metal pans?  I'm doing a sweet potato casserole type side dish and a broccoli puff (a bisquick/milk/egg/cheese based dish).  I normally butter the casserole dish I do the broccoli puff in.  I do have an extra large casserole dish I can do that in.  I'm also trying to just make everything easier since I'm also doing the pies.  (4 apple and 2-3 pumpkin I think)

Yes, you can use the disposable metal pans. Make sure the pans are sprayed well to avoid sticking and watch your baking times carefully. Mom used to use those pans for her holiday dinners and we never had any issues,

Good luck!

Ooh good!  I may do it just for the sweet potato dish; since it's less "temperamental."  I always double the broccoli puff recipe (because I love the leftovers of that too) and it takes way longer to cook.  I'm afraid to over-cook it too.  But I wonder if it not being as deep will make it cook quicker or if the edges might get over-done.  I could of course just split it between 2 pans. 

MoochNNoodles said:

Ooh good!  I may do it just for the sweet potato dish; since it's less "temperamental."  I always double the broccoli puff recipe (because I love the leftovers of that too) and it takes way longer to cook.  I'm afraid to over-cook it too.  But I wonder if it not being as deep will make it cook quicker or if the edges might get over-done.  I could of course just split it between 2 pans. :lol3:

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I cook things in multiple pans instead of doing a huge pan. It leaves more room on the table and I do t have to worry about it cooking unevenly. :nod: A smaller pan fits better in the oven to reheat and I can pop another pan in when we sit down if I think we'll need it.

Ok, my menu -

Turkey with gravy
Spiral ham
Rolls with butter
Mashed potatoes ( I think I'm going to mix Parmesan into half of them as an experiment. I had Parmesan mashed yesterday and they were amazing)
Homemade cranberry sauce
Canned cranberry sauce
Macaroni and cheese
Portuguese chourico stuffing
French meat stuffing
Broccoli
Green beans
Crockpot baked beans

I'll put out some chips and dips. I'm trying a new "loaded baked potato" dip with sour cream, scallions, bacon and cheddar. I've got cheese and crackers also. My SIL is bringing so e type of hors d'oeuvre.

For dessert we have a chocolate candy bark, chocolate chip cookies, a brownie cheesecake, someone is bringing apple pie and another is bringing chocolate peanut butter brownies.

The drink situation is a little crazy. Plenty of wine and bottled beer. Two of my husband's home brews on draft. I'm going to make a caramel apple cider sangria. Last year I had a list of different cocktails and people really got into that and started rating them with stars. It's been requested again this year. There will be a pumpkin martini and drinks made with our own pear vodka and brandy. I have a few friends coming over later to help finalize the concoctions.

Yes, I'm going overboard, but it's a once a year thing. Most of Friday will be spent in pajamas with a cup of coffee in my hand.

:lol3::lol3::lol3::lol3::lol3::lol3: Autocorrect on the IPad gets me every time! I was just looking over my post and pumpkin martini was pimple martini. :lol3:

I'm not making dinner....I'm just coming to your place. Pimple martini and all!   I'm just going to go around to everybody houses for dinner and then come back home!

We're in fairly good shape around here. I made some cookies yesterday and tucked them into the freezer for Thursday. It's just a matter of housecleaning at this point. Thought I'd get some done yesterday, but that didn't work out. Need to get it all done today, because I won't have any time for housecleaning this week at all, other than a quick swipe through with the vacuum cleaner on Wednesday night that Rick will do.

No appetizers this year. Everybody is coming here and we're eating. A lot of the family will be going out shopping afterward. I don't think Rick and I will be as there are football games to be watched.

What is your French meat stuffing?

Here you go!

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/238195/side-dishes-and-vegetables#post_3654292


I was supposed to finish the cleaning yesterday and it didn't happen.

Nice! Thanks, Karen!

Tourtiere filling, except made as stuffing. Interesting idea. Might try it for Christmas as will be making a tourtiere for Christmas eve. Would just have to double the filling recipe. Thank you.

A pimple martini is a non-alcoholic for your pubescent relatives and guests.   

I'm still on clutter control duty here.  Some of the traditional cleaning will have to wait because it'll just get un-done anyway.  I don't have time to do it twice.  My company comes Sunday instead of Thursday anyway.  And I'm just doing a lasagna or something like that instead.  The big Thanksgiving dinner isn't at my house this year and i'm rather relieved!  Everyone is bringing something so that burden is divided at least. 

We are going to my moms then to my in laws. It will be a busy day.
For the first time since my dad died all of the siblings will be at my moms. I'm psyched.its been more than 10 years.

Snow Wednesday night. So far, we are in the 1-3 inch range, but if the low tracks closer to the east coast, then we'll get 3-5. Rick's dad is already using that as an excuse for why he's not coming to dinner on Thursday (he's such a snot; Rick always goes up to bring them to the house and then he takes them back home) and my brother has already called and gave us a "wait and see" notice.

If it does get bad, I think we'll have dinner on Black Friday. I know 5 inches isn't bad (esp when you consider poor Buffalo), but when you're dealing with old folks, it can turn into a hassle quickly. 

We will be getting 6-10 inches Wednesday afternoon into the night. It's crazy the high today will be 67 degrees!
Thankfully my mom lives close but someone's going to have to plow her driveway. Don't think many will want to on thanksgiving morning. If all else fails maybe my hubby and my bil can shovel it. It's steep uphill to the house.