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I forgot about the green bean casserole and cranberry. I like to use French frozen green beans and add some allspice, five spice or Cinnamon to the m shroom soup but just a hint. I also add some fresh mushrooms.
I'm going to cheat on cranberry and use canned, add some orange zest, mandarin oranges and a dash of rum
The fresh ones take about 10 minutes to cook and you can do it a day or two in advance (unless your family will eat it all too soon like mine would)
I'm outta here about ten days before Thanksgiving. I've done nearly every one for almost fifty years and have been asking for about ten years for someone else to do the entertaining with no results.
Problem is the four of us is all there is. And daughter works as a chef so is usually tied up right up until the meal. I don't think bachelor son even has a kitchen table or a big enough oven! Cousins are scattered all over the globe, last generation is all gone and the kids' aunts and uncles still have their own celebrations.
Actually I love to cook but it's a woman-killer of a meal, massive prep and cleanup and I've always detested getting up and first thing wrestling with a cold, slimy bird.
DH and DD talk of deep frying. Maybe without me around they'll do it this year.
OP, sounds like you may be a bit indifferent to veggies. My family insists we have pretty much the same thing every year with each different thing someone's favorite. My son has to have his carrot casserole. It's sliced, creamed carrots layered with cheese and crispy onion rings. No calories there!
And DH's cousin's homemade oatmeal buns are a must have. (Just thinking about it all makes me tired.)
Have you considered roasted root veggies in place of the sweet potatoes? Or maybe you'd prefer a salad. Mixed greens, thinly sliced red pears or craisins and pecans make a pretty fall salad.
Last year I did entire traditional, seemed like I had too many carbs left over, going to keep it down to two this year. more low fat this year but lots of flavor adding more twists. but then again, I may change my mind again.
I personally enjoy the long process. I like the homey smell of turkey wafting from the oven, preparation and all the scents. Its comforting to me. I love taking on all the chore for holiday feasts while everyone else relaxes. Lol
A few years back - around the time my daughter started on solids, we started making a large casserole of homemade baked mac n cheese. My thought at the time was it was easy to pre-prepare thing that the kids would love. I generally double or triple this recipe....
I've been doing the meal for 20+ years for a pretty good sized crowd, started back when I was first married and my husband was a platoon sgt in the Marines and would bring any of his men who were unmarried or not travelling home.
I feel like new recipes would add another level of stress for me. We seem to end up with recent immigrants - I like to invite people who haven't had a chance to have an American Thanksgiving since I feel like it's one of the few things that we have of our own.
One year , my Australian friend asked that I prepare the green bean casserole in the "authentic" way with soup, and canned friend onions and not fancy it up.....
I use that mac and cheese recipe too, but when I double it, it ends up super-greasy. Does that happen to you?
I'm not digging the idea of oyster stuffing with coconut cream mashed potatoes. I admire your creativity, but this just doesn't sound good on the same plate. (But note that I love raw oysters, less so when they are cooked.)
Lol. Yeah its not for everybody's palate but I think it works OK. The coconut milk is not sweet, it just imparts a richer slightly nutty flavor to the potatoes and along with the savory gravy, I like the contrast.
I'm going the islandy, fresh, kind of exotic twist with a traditional elements. I'll be using lots of sage. I love sage. I was thinking of using fresh basil too, probably would go well with stuffing with oysters. I think the stuffing and potatoes would pair okay.
I use that mac and cheese recipe too, but when I double it, it ends up super-greasy. Does that happen to you?
Hmm, no - I do use 2% milk since that's what we drink around here. And I don't use Kraft cheese, tnd to but Tilamonk Sharp for cooking/baking. Once I bought Walmart's store brand- ugh, that was the worst plastic-y cheese ever....
This will be my first non-veg'n Thanksgiving in 26 years, so I'm going all out. Huge turkey, sausage stuffing, bacon-wrapped everything.
Something like this?
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