I'm cooking today, are you?

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Onebadhawk
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Pippen said:
Those of you who are brining--are the drippings too salty to make gravy with?
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I don't think so, but I would not add extra salt when you make the gravy. I rarely add much salt to anything when I cook and brined meats should not taste too salty anyway. I never use gravy mixes, so that could make a difference too.
 
kenstarr said:
Personally I'm a huge fan of Stovetop stuffing. The from scratch stuff with the gizzards is OK but I'd just as soon have something from a box. On Friday, I'm going to do trash can turkey! For today, I'm stuck with my mothers excellent cooking.
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The StoveTop stuff is pretty good if you add sauteed celery and onions, a bit of sage, and a couple of eggs to increase density...
 
I "helped" cook a meal for 23 people today (I did most of the actual cooking while following my mother-in-laws recipes ... well kind of, I snuck in some changes where I could) while refereeing between members of my wife's family as tempers got frayed over house cleanining duties.

I'm tired, but the meal was delicious.
 
My wife cooked, she wouldn't let me help. We probably had a meal as good as anybody had this day of thanksgiving.

This is probably the first time we have cooked a thanksgiving meal for just the 2 of us and been alone on this day. Usually we go to one of our families or the other, but this year my family is choosing to have the family get together on Saturday.
 
Ended up spending a nice day with family, plenty of good food, good conversation and good company. We also had "extended family" in members of our church who weren't able to be with their families. Everyone went home with plenty of leftover turkey, ham, taters (mashed and sweet), cauliflower gratin, gravy, rolls and pie (pumpkin, apple and lemon meringue). All made from scratch with love, all absolutely scrumptious!
 
Last night, we had:
Turkey,
Sweet Potato Casserole, (That was gone by the end of the night)
Mashed potatoes,
Spiced Nuts
Rolls
Salad
Plenty of pies


We did absolutely no cooking, but I WISH WE DID!
 
We have had Thanksgiving Dinner at my house every year for the last 18 years. We have had as many as 30 guests and as few as 16. This year we had 25 acceptances but at the last minute 6 cancelled so only ended up with 19.

We cooked a 27.5 pound turkey. We always use an oven bag for cooking and it only took 4 hours 15 minutes to cook.

Turkey
Bread stuffing with cranberries
Bread stuffing wthout cranberries
Meat stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Butternut squash
Green bean casserole
Sweet potato casserole
Turnip
Cranberry sauce
Rolls
Cornbread
Pumpkin pie
Blueberry pie
Chocolate cake
Whoopie pies
Cheese cake
Chocolate chip cookies

Yummy !!!!
 
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BobH48 said:
We have had Thanksgiving Dinner at my house every year for the last 18 years. We have had as many as 30 guests and as few as 16. This year we had 25 acceptances but at the last minute 6 cancelled so only ended up with 19.

We cooked a 27.5 pound turkey. We always use an oven bag for cooking and it only took 4 hours 15 minutes to cook.

Turkey
Bread stuffing with cranberries
Bread stuffing wthout cranberries
Meat stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Butternut squash
Green bean casserole
Sweet potato casserole
Turnip
Cranberry sauce
Rolls
Cornbread
Pumpkin pie
Blueberry pie
Chocolate cake
Whoopie pies
Cheese cake
Chocolate chip cookies

Yummy !!!!
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Gee Bob, was anyone from CMASS invited? :smile:
 
dlazarus6660 said:
Gee Bob, was anyone from CMASS invited? :smile:
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That's just family.. Up until just a few years ago, we also had a Holiday Party a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving for friends and family that sometimes approached 50 guests.. But that was so much easier since it was buffet style and I didn't have to cook a turkey. For that I always made a giant lasagna with our homemade meat sauce with sausage and meatballs. The pan I use is deep so I can make it 4 layers of noodles and 3 layers of filling and it always takes over 4 pounds of cheeses. Yum !!

We had thrown that party for about 25 years but it's tough to do Thanksgiving for a big crowd and then do it all over again 2 weeks later so for the last couple of years we have skipped the party.
 
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OK, one thing we realized now that the family is growing older, further apart due to marriages and grand children and we have fewer and fewer guest on Thanksgiving...

We don't need a 22 lb turkey!:surprised:

We have lots and lots of leftovers!

Tip for leftover dressing! Place a blob of leftover dressing in a waffle iron.

Hot and crispy!

YUMM!!!
 
Aldi's, ever here of it?
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Aldi is a great place. They have very few "leading brands" but they have their store brand of almost everything you can think of. The price is MUCH lower, and the quality is good to superior than the usual brands. So far, I've only found one item that I don't like as well as name brands, the frozen burritos. Stores are small, but have a good range of products. I guess when you don't have to put out 4 brands of everything, it doesn't take up much space.
 
The gluten free / dairy free Thanksgiving feast was not bad at all!

The stuffing was a mix of rice (including wild rice?), sausage, and figs. It was very good. I'd ask for the recipe.

The hostess made a sweet potato pie with a crust of crushed nuts and oatmeal. Kind of dense, but again, very good. The non-gluten pumpkin pie was quite passable, and someone bought a standard-issue apple pie that was just wonderful.

The one bummer: No leftovers to bring home. The hostess was having relatives over so she needed supplies.
 
My mother is a fan of Aldi's. They don't go for the low fat / low sodium stuff my father needs, though, so she can't rely on it for all her shopping.

They have some exclusive-brand chocolate and stollen (dense holiday bread/cake) that are amazing.

Aldi's doesn't exist in the Pacific NW, as far as I know.

Fun fact: It's a German-owned company. They also own Trader Joe's, which I think of as the funky hippie grocery. I don't go there often, but they carry gourmet things that are hard to find elsewhere, and the quality of their stuff is top notch.
 
GuyNoir said:
Absolutely not! I always brine the bird, and it really helps. And gravy my wife makes with the drippings is fantastic!
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Thanks everyone, both the turkey and gravy turned out fine. I was concerned because I'd roasted a chicken a few weeks ago--the recipe had me rubbing dry salt outside and in the cavity and while the meat was good, the gravy was much too salty. I followed the instructions with the brine recipe, including rinsing it and then soaking in cold water for 20 minutes.

That being said, I regretted not holding off on the meal. We had a stomach virus going through the house and I was next in line. I'm feeling better now but I can't even stomach looking at those leftovers in the fridge.
 

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