DefinitelyDressage.com

Inspire me.

I have an 11# organic, free range turkey, and I'm planning to try pulled turkey with jus smoked with apricot wood.

DH will make Stovetop dressing because he is a monster.

Pecan pie is his favorite, so I will look for a corn syrup-free version of that. I think last year I did a version with honey that was a big hit (it's not that I mind using corn syrup occasionally, just that I buy a bottle for this, and then it sits in the back of the cupboard until I throw it out three years later).

We start Thanksgiving about 2 week before Thanksgiving. I've made a Pumpkin Marble Cake, a Pumpkin Roll cake and I'm going to make a Pumpkin Pie with a Gingerbread crust among other things besides a feast of other things and Old fashion southern dressing is my very favorite.

Oooh, pumpkin pie with gingerbread crust sounds interesting. I'm in charge of deserts this year...

You aren't going to get any inspiration from me. The hospital gave each employee a bird. My sister is going to cook that and yep horror of horror...Stovetop.
I am making jello salad (horrors again). Both my Mom and sister are great for getting stuff off of QVC so I have no idea what the rest will be. Oh, there is pumpkin cheesecake for desert (yep--delivered to the door from QVC). Seriously, I think my Mom and sister have QVC addiction .

Susan

Stovetop. An abomination! I’m going to my brother in law’s sister’s. At best she is a mediocre cook so the food is secondary. I’m most excited to see my niece and my nephew, his wife, and daughter. I haven’t seen them in 2 years. I will spend Friday with them as well.

OK, I am making a maple-praline cheesecake. Haven't made a cheesecake in years.

Smoked pulled turkey with jus
Honey-mustard Brussels sprouts
Yukon gold mashed potatoes
Roasted kabocha squash
Stovetop (gag)
Maybe an apple dessert?

And of course we'll lay in some potato bred, cream cheese and jellied cranberry sauce for sammiches on Friday. Because everyone knows that's the best part.

OK, I am seriously spoiled because my DH cooks extraordinarily well (has a past life featured in F & W, etc.). I am a very good cook---but nothing compared to him. So I procure items for T-giving and he cooks every year. I usually spend the morning at the barn! Here are a few favorites from over the years. Honestly, Thanksgiving is a bit of a spontaneous event around a nice bird. Usually we have guests and people barely notice that dinner was prepared during the day very easily. This year, it is just us so we are free to experiment with more flavors.

Favorites over the years:

Oyster Cornbread Dressing (this is from our NC years). Very rich, but amazing.
Chestnut Cornbread/Sourdough Dressing (this is our latest fixation)
Fennel-Citrus Salad (because a sober start to the meal is a good thing)
Parsnip-Apple Soup (a warm variation on a sober start!)
Chopped liver with sourdough toasts (as h'ors d'oeuvres when relatives visit)
Muhammara, Baba Ganouj, various Hummus, Olive Tapenade (as h'ors d'oeuvres when friends visit)
Massaged Kale Salad (because, well, you need to break up the richness of other foods!)
Roasted Cubes of Butternut Squash in a Sweet/Sour Dressing
Celeriac Mashed Potatoes

Edited to add: Depending on tree productivity, persimmon chutney is a nice option (in addition to homemade cranberry relish)

Dessert is often a Pear Tarte Tatin, but we also have done chestnut mousse and various simple caramelized or poached fruit dishes. Neither of us like pumpkin pie.

We will have a pretty traditional southern Thanksgiving lunch here with a turkey (brined using Alton Brown's brine recipe, YUM) cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, salad, chess pie maybe a pecan pie or lemon pie which is my mom's favorite. We bought a big enough bird for leftovers which is the whole point in our family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Oooh, chess pie! That is a true southern treat. This is the time of year that I have a desire to make serious cakes. But no one in our house needs that....so I made pomegranate rugelach instead this morning! (not too many)

Really our T-giving is a weird mix from the history of our lives: Jewish, southern, international (from relatives, study and travels), local (from our land). No marshmallows or green bean casserole in sight (but if I'm honest, that bean dish really is kind of good in a brilliantly subversive way...).

p.s. I ordered a heritage breed turkey from d'Artagnan this year because the locally raised birds have become harder and harder to secure, even well in advance. Fingers crossed! It arrived today on schedule.

p.p.s. The best turkey we ever had was from a small producer in Alabama that raised bourbon reds and finished them on persimmons and pecans. 'Nuf said. Absolutely brilliant bird.

khall wrote:We will have a pretty traditional southern Thanksgiving lunch here with a turkey (brined using Alton Brown's brine recipe, YUM) cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, salad, chess pie maybe a pecan pie or lemon pie which is my mom's favorite. We bought a big enough bird for leftovers which is the whole point in our family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Also a convert to brine using Alron Browns recipe. I'm considering spatchcocked cooking this year

With all of the illness in our household, we're going super low-key this year and skipping the in-laws annual gathering. Instead -- once my husband's up to eating again -- I'll make mezcal cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and his family's stuffing balls.

So its a Spatchcocked Turkey, green bean casserole, but without anything canned or premade, roasted cauliflower in a light olive oil, and mashed cauliflower, yes i guess we are doing cauliflower two ways. I also experimented with a pumpkin custard with no sugar. I do not know how it will work out

Still in the throes of divorce, so we skipped Thanksgiving, We went to my favorite little mom and pop Korean place and had wonderful bibimbap with tofu. It was fabulous.

Well, I will say that dinner was quite good. The turkey was fairly melt in your mouth tender. You never know when you get the bird given to you.
My sister even dressed up the Stovetop adding mushrooms and more celery. So we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes w/carrots, and
green beens (w/bacon bits). Desert was pumpkin cheesecake.

I AM FULL and trying to work up the gumption to go to the gym at work and do something for 30 minutes (I meet with the trainer in the morning ).

Hope everyone had a nice day with family (or a Korean Mom and Pop) and good food.

Susan

Heddy, hope you and your husband are both feeling better!

Instead of an apple dessert, I started off the day with apple pie cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. I can't remember the last time I had a good cinnamon roll, but these were SO GOOD.

The cheesecake came out fabulous. I just had a slice with my coffee this morning. The turkey on the other hand didn't provide enough drippings to make the jus, and was rather dry.

Hope everyone had a lovely day!

I'm thankful for this thread. I sat down for a few minutes after my allotted task of making desserts, prior to heading out to my friend and neighbor for dinner, and it reminded me that I had completely forgotten to also make the promised cranberry sauce... you averted disaster, folks!

My husband was far improved, so we actually added to Thursday's menu -- pancakes for lunch
Everything turned out well, and I kept his germy self out of the prep area.

Bibimbap is a fantastic alternative!