Thanksgiving Menus

[aephi alum]

We're going to my parents' for Thanksgiving this year. It'll just be the four of us.

On the menu:

- Some sort of appetizer nibbles
- A round or two of martinis

- Turkey breast
- Gravy
- Stuffing
- Mashed potatoes
- Cranberry sauce
- Some sort of veggie, probably carrots
- Wine

- Apple pie (I hope)
- Cordials (I'm sure my father has already laid in some chartreuse verte for me )

- Brandy, scotch, etc. until we all slip into a food and alcohol coma

Can you tell my family drinks heavily? You would too if you had to deal with them. I'm planning on going easy on the rocket fuel this year, though.

[Leslie Anne]

My mom always used to make:

Turkey
Gravy
Cornbread stuffing (in the bird and some baked alone in the oven)
Cranberry sauce
String beans
Mashed potatoes
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie

AND

Lasagna!

My mom is Italian and didn't grow up with traditional Thanksgiving dinners.

I won't be going home this year but a friend has invited me over to her house. Her family is from Mexico and they don't do the whole turkey thing. They're having steak and some traditional Mexican cuisine.

I'm not sure what to bring. Anyone have suggestions?

[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)

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

The gunk out of the can is to cranberries as Tace Bell is to Mexican food. But I love cranberries. We often have a wonderful cranberry/apple crisp (oatmeal and nuts on the top). It's what I always hope there are leftovers of -- it's great warmed up for breakfast.

And yes, I'll admit that I love to make Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish.

We did the go-somewhere-completely-different thing last year. I highly recommend it after significant life changes like we've both had in recent years.

Thanks for the affirmation! I was searching hotels earlier today - maybe it's a sign?

And the cranberry relish sounds awesome!

[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!

[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.

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

stuffed acorn squash

Om nom nom! We don't usually make this for Thanksgiving because we already have so much other food, but I haven't had this in forever!

Turkey Bash (Wednesday)
My summer camp friends have a tradition of getting dressed up and having a full Thanksgiving dinner the day BEFORE the real one. We also drink a little. We will definitely have:
Turkey
Something amazing that I bring (TBD)
Other stuff
Amazing punch made my Candice

Dad's house (Thursday)
Turkey with gravy
Stuffing (my dad always calls it dressing)
Cranberries made from scratch
Mashed potatoes with garlic and herbs
Cranberry-Apple Crisp (my specialty!)
Pie made by my sister?
Lots of wine

Mom's house (Friday)
Turkey with gravy
Stuffing
Cranberry from the can so it has the ridges on it
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Pumpkin pie and probably lemon meringue pie
Champagne? I hope so!

[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).

[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.

[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.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

Om nom nom!

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