We end up doing one (or more!) every year, so no time like the present to start it off. And here, for your edification and entertainment, is the funniest cooking blog I've seen so far: The Awl: Stop Being a Wuss and Make a Pie Crust Already

note: NOT SAFE FOR KIDS (language)

Check out some of the comments too - my fave so far is

Quote: dr.funke
[#336]

When do I add the salty tears of regret? And do I wait until the pie is baked to fling it at my ungrateful family members?

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From the same blog, Fundamentalist Mac and Cheese:

Quote:For cheese, you should have three half-pound blocks of cheddar. Do not get raw-milk cheddar from heirloom cattle. Do not use other cheeses. "Why, I have found that my macaroni and cheese achieves the perfect balance if I put in two parts of Gruyere, one part Talegg—" No. Go rub some fig paste on your face and cook up a fondue, cheese striver.

:bturkey

I am hoping I get enough time to do lefse. Crikey.

We're going to family, but we'll make cookies to bring.

I haven't even bought a turkey yet.

We have 5.

Want me to send one to you????

I'm not hosting this year. I am bringing stuffed dates.

• Smoke Rings, Coffee Stains •• Uptown Uncorked •• Mashable •• Film POP! • • Twitter

(11-20-2009 11:35 PM)phoenixx Wrote:  I am bringing stuffed dates.

Aren't they stuffed after the feast? Mine usually is.

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(11-20-2009 11:35 PM)phoenixx Wrote:  I am bringing stuffed dates.

Aren't they stuffed after the feast? Mine usually is.

Ha! No, stuffed with marscapone (sp) and goat cheese, drizzled with balsamic, wrapped in prosciutto and warmed

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So this year I have three diabetics and two heart conditions and two vegetarians to take into account for T-day, which means substituting butter and milk. Anyone have experience making the traditional side dishes with olive-oil (or other no-hydrogenated-fat butter substitutes) and soy milk? Anyone (Wormie) got a good protein/tofu dish I can add to the mix for the vegetarians?

I use olive oil a lot in dressing....what side dishes??? I olive oil for many veggies....

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(11-20-2009 11:01 PM)lynnzop Wrote:  We have 5.

Want me to send one to you????

Ha!! That would be great!!! I am actually going to get it tomorrow. I have a coupon for $$ off at the store.

My house is so upside down with the recent rennovation, that I am not in the mood for anything this year. I think we will have to eat in the kitchen as opposed to the dining room because I cannot find my dining room at the moment.
My hubby is planning to paint today, I think....so maybe a chance but probably not. I will still have to cook T-day dinner....but it will be weird.

I made something I think would work for you, MJ.

I bought canned sweet potatoes, which I had never used before. I drizzled them with olive oil and ground some salt and pepper, and roasted them. When they came out they were mushy. I was sad, but then I just mashed them with a fork, and they were good! Kevin wanted more!

I also enjoy roasted potatoes with olive oil and rosemary. I bet if you served both the roasted potatoes and the mashed sweet potatoes, no one would miss the mashed potatoes.

I roast fresh sweet potatoes....drizzle with olive oil, a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if you like it). Roast at 350 until soft. I let them go a little longer..because I like the crunchy on the outside. cut them into quarters...before roasting.

I also roast carrots the same way. I used to buy real carrots, and do the peeling, but in my "advanced" age, I have graduated to baby carrots in the bag. Sometimes with carrots, I will use a red onion diced and real garlic. Depends on my mood. For color, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

I only use fresh veggies for roasting they don't get as mushy.

I don't know that you need to worry too much about the proteins. They won't die at one meal - and you can put out a bowl of nuts.

My friend makes mashed potatoes with non-dairy creamer. That might work for you.

I like brussel sprouts with pecans. I halve the brussel sprouts. Saute them in olive oil with an onion. Then when it's done, put in a few tablespoons of maple syrup and some toasted pecans. Yum.

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Oh - one time when I was a guest for Thanksgiving, my hostess made me a stuffed acorn squash. It was delicious. She stuffed a roasted acorn squash with wild rice, nuts and cranberries. It should be easy to make and very nice presentation.

The squash sounds really good Wormie.

I plan to try this Sweet Potato and Pear Gratin Recipe:

http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Sweet-P...tin-Recipe

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Oh, and for anyone buying their turkey, here's $2 off from Butterball.
http://www.butterball.com/promotion/butt...-coupon-09

Now you get the coupon Margaret...I just bought my turkey this morning. Oh well. Hope someone else uses it!!!

(11-22-2009 03:58 PM)thinkerlady Wrote:  Now you get the coupon Margaret...I just bought my turkey this morning. Oh well. Hope someone else uses it!!!

I went to get my veggies today--I wanted asparagus but the stalks were about an inch wide. No way I am buying them that thick. I got brussel sprouts, broccoli and carrots. We'll have salad too. Hubby is making his famous cognac pumpkin cheese cake. I guess I'll be hearing from Amy!!

I just tried the sweet potato and pear recipe I linked to above. It was blah at best.

I surprised Kevin by cooking a small Thanksgiving meal for tonight. Just turkey, stuffing, and the sweet potato and pear gratin. The stuffing was probably one of the better stuffings I've had, and it was easy to make. It's actually a Hungry Girl recipe too, so it's not such a guilty pleasure.

http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/weeklyde...7#stuffing -- I added golden raisins, craisins, and an anjou pear to the basic recipe.

re: asparagus - if there's a Whole Foods near you, try them - they always seem to have the teensy-tiny-skinny asparagus.

I will!!! There is one, not close, but not far. Thanks for the tip!

I'm cooking but the dinner will be at my mom & dad's house - ostensibly my mom is worried about my dad getting too tired if they come up here but I really think she's worried that I'll put cranberries in the dressing or something equally heretic. She's given me lists for everything else.

Looks like I'll be cooking my first ever Thanksgiving dinner for just our family this Thursday, so I guess I'd better get cracking!

I have potatoes on the deck cooling for lefse. I'll get it done today between answering emails and dodging bullets.

The dog is not allowed outside unsupervised.

Everything will be standard at my house. Turkey, dressing, rolls, sweet potatoes (canned with brown sugar which is the only way my family likes them) pistaccio salad and green beans (from one sister) and waldorf salad and pies from my other sister. My daughter is venturing to make a pumpkin pie for the gathering. Not sure what my son and significant other will bring...usually the pop because I don't keep any on hand.

Husband....homemade wine

A good day will be had by all. Celebrating my husband's birthday so he doesn't learn of the surprise party that will be held the next day at Palazzo de bocce restaurant & grill for his whole family and a few friends...can you say about 50?

Busy, busy, weekend coming up for me.

A busy one, but it sounds like fun. A surprise party is always fun.

I have parent teacher conferences Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Hubby is baking on Wednesday, and painting. We won't have the dining room, but it wills till be ok.

BIL and family are visiting on Friday. I am just looking forward to the long weekend.

CNN iReports on vegetarian Thanksgiving options:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/24/veg...index.html


I think the bread cornucopia is adorable, and would go well on any table!

Turkey: Brining until around noon.
Stuffing: Done and in a crockpot.
Green Bean Casserole: Ditto.
Cinnamon Apples: In from man cave fridge
Sweet Potatoes: On table so I don't forget them.
Corn: Ditto on sweet potatoes.
Applesauce: Thawed in fridge.
Nasty jelled cranberry sauce that Dan likes: In fridge.
Lefse: Hiding in beer drawer of fridge. Remember to move prior to football game....
Mashed potatoes: Cut up and resting in a pot of water.

So all I have to do is pop the turkey in the roaster at noon, put the potatoes on at 3-ish, sweet potatoes and corn in the oven 3-ish (maybe a little earlier for the SPs, maybe a little later for the corn) and take the other stuff out of the fridge.

And the neighbor's pies are on my kitchen table. If they don't come pick them up by 4, no holds barred.

We had to fire up Teddy's small fridge from college for the beer and wine. It is convenient. I don't know how we ever made it with just one fridge. Now we are using 2.5!!

Hubby made the pies and cheescake yesterday. They are in the downstairs fridge. I have the veggies left to do, cornbread, salad, rolls and gravy.

The pecan pies are made.
Turkey is in the oven.
Potato filling and sweet potatoes are staged.
I am making a raisin-bread stuffing for the acorn squash this year. Also added some cheeseballs to our menu.
Several veggies this year. Only made a tiny amount of potato filling so we can have more veggies instead. Roasted brussels sprouts are another new addition.

Bob, Sarah and Kareem are sleeping. The girls have been helping cook. Kiki made a pumpkin cheesecake last night. We should be set with food for the weekend.

Oh, and Bob got me a new probe thermometer for the turkey. You put the probe in, and then the wire goes outside the oven to the thermometer. It beeps when the meat hits the target temperature. I'm a sucker for gadgets like this.

Cool stuff Amy. We are having roasted brussel sprouts too. I have the veggies all set to go into the oven, carrots, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts- Hubby is making cornbread at the moment. Next basting, it all goes into the oven with the turkey.

Everything went well until I took one of the pies my SIL brought over out of the oven - the tin folded in half as I took it out and before I could get it to the counter - SPLAT. On the floor.

Our garlic butter croissants--charcoled. Burnt. Bricks. Yuk.

I used this crust recipe today for my pumpkin pie:

http://cravingcomfort.blogspot.com/2008/...crust.html

Not the world's bestest, flakiest crust, but good and sooooo easy to do!

Lessons Learned at the MJFromBuffalo household Thanksgiving 2009:

1) mashed potatoes can be made with olive oil, but maybe not as much as the recipe calls for.
2) soy milk tastes awful in coffee.
3) nobody likes my stuffing, no matter how I make it (this learned from Tday 2009, 2008, and 2007).
4) two big bags of spinach make enuf for dinner for 9, but with very few leftovers.
5) green salad is good in concept, but barely gets touched.

Other than #1 the other lessons can be summed up in "it depends on your audience"

Turkey in the roaster worked perfectly!!!! I did let it cook a little longer than Alton suggests but it was moist, flavorful and completely delicious.

Other than that, everything else worked really well too...I was really pleased with dinner. We have four more turkeys in the freezer, so I'll continue to use the brining method. Yum.

Amy, how did the raisin bread stuffing turn out? It sounds yummy.

I did something new with the sweet potatoes this year - my mom wanted the syrupy candied yams that she always makes but my dad is diabetic, so I baked the potatoes and chunked them in a baking dish, then poured a creamy eggy custard mix over them and baked it. There was sugar in it but not nearly as much as in Mom's recipe. Very good. I did half nut streusal topping for my mom and half marshmallows for me.

Oh and I used all butter in my pie crusts and they weren't as good as usual. So, I'm making more pies tonight. Ted has some bear fat lard that he wants me to use but it is soooo rich. I'll try a tablespoon with the rest shortening. The women who take first place at the county fair every year for their pie crusts swear by it.

The raisin bread stuffing was quite good. It had dried fruit, pecans, onions, allspice, chicken broth and butter in it. Went nicely with the squash.

(Remind me to check this thread next year so I can bug everyone to send me the recipes that I am salivating over.)