Thanksgiving Menus

[nittanygirl]

We ALWAYS have baked macaroni & cheese at my Grandma's. Every big meal, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July... It's my FAVORITE. She can't leave it out, I'd be way too sad. Like my plate is half macaroni & cheese, 1/4 turkey, 1/4 mashed potatoes.... then ANOTHER helping of half the plate mac & cheese & half the plate potatoes.


But I really can't wait for leftover sandwiches

[DTD Alum]

Our Thanksgiving is usually about 20-22 people large. We always have two meats. A traditional turkey (although this year we're grilling it), and then a duck option. I'm making the duck this year...it's going to have a red-wine sauce and candied kumquats.

For appetizers before the big meal, we usually have a bunch of wine and cheese for the adults focusing on a particular region of the world or California, and then of course pigs in a blanket for all the kids.

The sides are all fairly predictable and traditional...gravy, broccoli or green beans, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, etc.

The dessert is always pie...usually we have three options, which are almost always pumpkin, apple and key lime.

We also do a brunch the morning of where the only things served are raw oysters and champagne...delicious and easily my favorite part of the day.

[SigmaShelley]

Deep Fried Turkey is amazing.
We have been doing that for about 6 years now.
My husband saw Paula Deen do it on tv and ran out and bought the fryer.
My stuffing goes in the crock pot and then the typical sides,
but for dessert: Pumpkin Gooey Butter cake (much better than the soggy crust my pumpkin pie used to have)

[Gusteau]

We also deep fry our turkey, and we're quite proud to have begun doing it before it was cool. It's become a rite of passage to drop the turkey into the vat of boiling oil the year before you go away to college.

We're Italian, so we do a traditional Italian antipasto with dried meats and cheeses. We used to do pasta, but it just got to be too much especially after people died and moved further away and the group became smaller, so we stick to traditional sides:
Green bean casserole
Mashed potatoes
Mashed turnips with crispy friend shallots
Two types of sweet potato (neither of which I care for)
Stuffing (with Italian sausage)

For dessert it's usually a variety of pies, my favorite being chocolate pecan.

Ugh - I am SO ready to go home! Now I'm thinking of Kenny Loggins (ignore the cheesetastic video)

[AGDee]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to do. Since my mom passed away, I've gone to my old neighbor's house for Thanksgiving. I do this mainly because when I tell people I'm staying home alone, they get this look on their face like "Oh my gosh, poor AGDee" and invite me to wherever they are going. But you know, sometimes, an extra day off work, with no real responsibilities, or an extra day to get homework done so I can shop on Friday and work on getting decorations up Saturday and Sunday is a real gift.

It feels fake to go somewhere just because you're not supposed to be alone on Thanksgiving.

[honeychile]

^I have been wanting to go away alone on Thanksgiving for years, more or less to prepare myself for this time of my life. Now that it's here, I've seen those faces, too. So, I'm just going to do it. If I end up at a restaurant alone, then cry myself to sleep, it's still better than the little pats on the back and the "how are you doing now?" every ten minutes. Plus, there are special events everywhere - I just couldn't decide between Mt. Vernon & Colonial Williamsburg. I decided on Mt. Vernon because it's close and I'm spending a week at Christmas elsewhere.

Of course, I haven't let on to anyone else yet. That's going to be the hard part!

Good luck to you, AGDee!

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by honeychile

^I have been wanting to go away alone on Thanksgiving for years, more or less to prepare myself for this time of my life. Now that it's here, I've seen those faces, too. So, I'm just going to do it. If I end up at a restaurant alone, then cry myself to sleep, it's still better than the little pats on the back and the "how are you doing now?" every ten minutes. Plus, there are special events everywhere - I just couldn't decide between Mt. Vernon & Colonial Williamsburg. I decided on Mt. Vernon because it's close and I'm spending a week at Christmas elsewhere.

Of course, I haven't let on to anyone else yet. That's going to be the hard part!

Good luck to you, AGDee!

I usually work and then spend the rest of Thanksgiving alone-I get the "oh you poor thing" looks all of the time. I don't mind working -usually it is a slow day, it is the day after that is bad (when all of the pets have gotten into the Thanksgiving goodies).

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to do. Since my mom passed away, I've gone to my old neighbor's house for Thanksgiving. I do this mainly because when I tell people I'm staying home alone, they get this look on their face like "Oh my gosh, poor AGDee" and invite me to wherever they are going. But you know, sometimes, an extra day off work, with no real responsibilities, or an extra day to get homework done so I can shop on Friday and work on getting decorations up Saturday and Sunday is a real gift.

It feels fake to go somewhere just because you're not supposed to be alone on Thanksgiving.

I'm alone this thanksgiving and realized that telling people about it sounds like I want sympathy and an invite. I don't, I'm just going to be alone and that's fine with me.

[DubaiSis]

I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner aboard the Star Princess outside of Alexandria Egypt. Just sayin. But my family tradition was what most Midwesterners have said above, with the addition of scalloped corn, and a fairly new addition of a Polish cabbage and noodles dish my sister learned when she married a Polish guy from Chicago.

But for you dry turkey haters, seriously, only badly cooked turkey is dry. Turkey only has to not be raw, not cooked to dust to be safe to eat. Turn down the oven and don't put it in at o'dark 30 and your turkey will be great. If you go to www.butterball.com it will give you an exactly correct gauge for cooking your turkey.

I love me some deep fried turkey but my family would never allow one moment of stray off the nearly 50 years of same same. Not on Thanksgiving anyway.

Oh, and I love the cranberries with the ring lines. It's not FOOD, but I still love it.

[BraveMaroon]

My issue with turkey has never been that it's dry. Dad taught me how to cook a bird, and I've been reasonably successful.

The issue is the taste. There's something about turkey that tastes, to me, mildly earthy/metallic- and I can't explain it any more or any better than that.

Now, I have to agree, fried turkey is amaaaaazing. But like Dubai Sis, my family would never, never allow a veer from tradition.

Well, on the turkey front, anyway.

A few years ago, I introduced chipotle mashed sweet potatoes rather than the default Senator Russell casserole (sweet potatoes with a pecan/brown sugar crust). My mother pouted, but the rest of the family thought they were a nice change. And not sooooo sweet.

And since my sister and I and our husbands love mashed potatoes, we did those as well. We grew up in a family where the starch of record was rice, so of course, I did that as well.

Once we came out of our carb-induced coma, it was all good.

I'm curious as to what time of day most of you eat Thanksgiving dinner?

If I'm hosting, we shoot for about 4, and end up sitting down around 4:45.

My parents are more of the 2:30 or 3PM range.

[AlphaFrog]

Funny you brought up time, because I *just* emailed the other couple to find out what time they prefer. My family was usually a mid-afternoon family. I don't have a strong preference, but I think I would like to try having it mid-evening for a change. I'm better at eating light throughout the day and then having a bigger dinner. If I have a big afternoon meal, I'm still going to crave a big evening meal, and I don't need all those extra calories.

[honeychile]

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one? I may go out of town, but the very thought of CAC sounds yummy!

Apple cranberry crisp with a topping of oats, brown sugar and butter and flour.

Ingredients:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled tart apples (Granny Smith?)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Preparation:
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats, and flour. cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325° for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

I haven't figured out how to multiple quote. . .

Click on this button in every post you want to respond to, then click on "Quote" in one of the posts or click on "Reply" at the bottom of the page.

Originally Posted by honeychile

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one?

That one sound good. I'll see how it compares to our recipe (from Southern Living).

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by carnation

I just roll every time you post that, my family says it like that too!

My mom reads too much FailBlog and LolCats or dogs or whatever. She's the one who got me saying it.

Originally Posted by honeychile

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one? I may go out of town, but the very thought of CAC sounds yummy!

Apple cranberry crisp with a topping of oats, brown sugar and butter and flour.

Ingredients:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled tart apples (Granny Smith?)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Preparation:
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats, and flour. cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325° for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.

This is similar to the one I make every year, but mine has more spices in it. Would you like me to find the recipe?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

But for you dry turkey haters, seriously, only badly cooked turkey is dry.

As a general cooking proposition, I'd agree, but to me, pretty much all turkey -- including turkey that has been cooked well -- tastes dry, smoked and deep fried being the exceptions. It is just by nature a drier meat than I like. And I'm going to agree with BraveMaroon, too:

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

There's something about turkey that tastes, to me, mildly earthy/metallic- and I can't explain it any more or any better than that.

I think it's pretty well-established now that different people sometimes taste foods differently. I guess I just didn't get good turkey buds.

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

I'm curious as to what time of day most of you eat Thanksgiving dinner?

If I'm hosting, we shoot for about 4, and end up sitting down around 4:45.

My parents are more of the 2:30 or 3PM range.

We've usually been in the 1:00 to 1:30 range. Supper would be a light, pick-up kind of meal.