Thanksgiving Thread

[guster]

I know there’s a post on GD but not everybody reads or comments there so I thought we would start our own.
Tell me what you’re doing this year, what are you making, what are you looking forward to, hoping to avoid?

[wineallthetime]

So we are having my in-laws over early and then going to my aunts. MH and I were hoping to do more of a brunch with his parents, but they want the traditional meal (which I can understand). We are having turkey, carrot casserole, mashed potatoes, salad and stuffing I think? Guessing they will bring stuffed cabbage and such.

At my aunts we'll have a huge feast, I'm bringing apple crisp for dessert.

What am I NOT looking forward to? Chasing A in my aunt's huuuuge house. It has like 3 spiral staircases and he's just going to want to go up them over and over. And over.

Looking forward to good food, seeing family and all the leftovers and black friday shopping the day after!

[guster]

I’m starting my lists now. It’s just the four of us again. Normally I would try to reinvent the wheel but I find myself going back to some of the standards.

For breakfast:
- apple pie mimosas
-cream cheese cinnamon crescent roll casserole
-gluten-free cranberry walnut bread

Apps:
-a charcuterie board with figs and kumquats
-This weird pecan pretzel cheese ball recipe
-a salami pistachio chickpea club mixball recipe.

The sides:

-Gouda mashed potatoes that you apparently make the night before and then bake in the oven so the edges get kind of crispy,
-my aunts bread and rice stuffing — it’s pretty traditional lots of herbs, celery, and onion, but it has ground beef in it which I know sounds strange but is my absolute favorite.
-Cranberry sauce
-Orange glazed Brussel sprouts with bacon
-A sweet potato casserole with a pecan topping (and I have to make my dad sweet potato marshmallow casserole because it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without it
-a bkale salad. I think I just might make it on Friday to round out the leftovers
The bird:
The biggest place I struggle is the turkey. No one here likes meat on the bone, neither of us want to roast or carve a turkey so I have been creative over the last couple of years but I am wondering if it feels strange to not have the presentation of a turkey. Regardless, I probably won’t make one but I’m leaning toward a crockpot shredded turkey recipe — it’s a lot of lemon and butter and herbs.
Dessert:
-Pumpkin cheesecake
-Chocolate pecan pie

[tgrimes]

We're going to my in laws' house. We'll eat fried turkey, roasted root vegetables, salad, and my MIL is going to try a shrimp & grits recipe in lieu of stuffing this year. I'm not a huge fan of the traditional meal so it doesn't matter to me what we eat.

What I'm not looking forward to is dealing with my BIL & his dad/stepmom.

What I am looking forward to is the magnum bottle of Belle Glos we'll be drinking.

[tgrimes]

guster TTMA these gouda mashed potatoes.

[wineallthetime]

Nov 21, 2019 9:02:10 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

guster TTMA these gouda mashed potatoes.

ME TOO!!!!

[wineallthetime]

Man, I'm cancelling all plans and going to guster's.

[flamingo]

Your menu sounds amazing guster, have room for 4 more?

We are also on our own this year and like you don’t want to mess with a whole turkey, so we are just roasting 2 small boneless breasts—one for day-of and one for leftovers.

[klong11]

Mh is going golfing with his sister and Dad, Cadence and I will be meeting my mom at my brother's house. He doesn't have his daughter until the evening, so we are doing dinner this year instead of lunch.

I'm in charge of all the sides.

Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
I'm thinking of doing either roasted brussel sprouts and carrots or glazed carrots
Stuffing
Mac and Cheese (I need to make sure there is at least 1 thing Cadence will eat)

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 9:02:10 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

guster TTMA these gouda mashed potatoes.

Someone mentioned it in a recipe group I’m in but never posted a recipe so I just googled and read a lot I’m doing an amalgamation of the things I read.
It’s basically a very solid mashed potato recipe – lots of butter, salt and pepper, most of them either add cream cheese or sour cream, and then just a bunch of Gouda folded into the potatoes and then a little bit sprinkled on the top to get crispy.

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 9:06:59 GMT -6 wineallthetime said:

Man, I'm cancelling all plans and going to guster's.

This is my holiday! I love it.

[flamingo]

I love Thanksgiving, it might be my favorite holiday. We are staying up here and I have serious FOMO b/c my whole family is getting together in FL. But it's just too much to travel for both T'giving and Christmas, as we learned last year. So I'm going to get in the spirit, cook and set the table with my good china and crystal, and we will have T'giving just the four of us.

Mimosas, cheese grits & sausage biscuits for breakfast

App: cranberry baked brie with crostini

Roast turkey breast & gravy
Dressing
Sweet potato casserole with pecan topping
Green beans with bacon & onion
Corn pudding
Dinner rolls
Pie...tbd...we all have different favorites

[tgrimes]

Nov 21, 2019 9:11:25 GMT -6 klong11 said:

Mh is going golfing with his sister and Dad, Cadence and I will be meeting my mom at my brother's house. He doesn't have his daughter until the evening, so we are doing dinner this year instead of lunch.

I'm in charge of all the sides.

Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
I'm thinking of doing either roasted brussel sprouts and carrots or glazed carrots
Stuffing
Mac and Cheese (I need to make sure there is at least 1 thing Cadence will eat)

Ahem.  Your brother in Houston?

[guster]

flamingo, I would love to host your family. Actually, I would love to host all of your families. I love party planning and building menus.
We would all have so much fun together.

[klong11]

Nov 21, 2019 9:14:28 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Nov 21, 2019 9:11:25 GMT -6 klong11 said:

Mh is going golfing with his sister and Dad, Cadence and I will be meeting my mom at my brother's house. He doesn't have his daughter until the evening, so we are doing dinner this year instead of lunch.

I'm in charge of all the sides.

Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
I'm thinking of doing either roasted brussel sprouts and carrots or glazed carrots
Stuffing
Mac and Cheese (I need to make sure there is at least 1 thing Cadence will eat)

Ahem.  Your brother in Houston?

No, San Antonio. My bro in Houston will be with his boys.

[tgrimes]

Nov 21, 2019 9:25:54 GMT -6 klong11 said:

Nov 21, 2019 9:14:28 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Ahem.  Your brother in Houston?

No, San Antonio. My bro in Houston will be with his boys.

Dammit.  I got all excited for a minute.

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 9:07:34 GMT -6 flamingo said:

Your menu sounds amazing guster, have room for 4 more?

We are also on our own this year and like you don’t want to mess with a whole turkey, so we are just roasting 2 small boneless breasts—one for day-of and one for leftovers.

Lots of questions here —skin on? Do you treat it and dress it the way you would a full turkey?

[guster]

Every holiday in the fall and winter I tell myself I’m going to make a corn pudding ala flamingo,and I always have wine’s family’s carrots and saltines and vevetta in the back of my mind.
Maybe I’ll do that for New Year’s Day.

[lahdeedah]

Nov 21, 2019 9:07:34 GMT -6 flamingo said:

Your menu sounds amazing guster, have room for 4 more?

We are also on our own this year and like you don’t want to mess with a whole turkey, so we are just roasting 2 small boneless breasts—one for day-of and one for leftovers.

This is what I was going to suggest. guster When I need a different meat to cook every now and then, I grab the boneless turkey breasts at the grocery store. I haven’t found a favorite way to cook them though. Still figuring that out, but pretty easy in the instant pot/crock pot.

[trtlcrzy]

We are going to my IL’s on thanksgiving day. She’s going to make a prime rib instead of a turkey this year. Not sure what all the sides will be but I offered to bring something.

On Saturday we are getting together with my side of the family at my sister’s house. It’ll be a traditional turkey meal. I’m bringing a homemade pumpkin pie, cranberry relish, and I think I said I’d do one more thing but I can’t remember what it was off the top of my head. We do a potluck style so everyone brings something to share.

[lahdeedah]

We will be traveling to Memphis on Thanksgiving morning to spend the holiday with Mh’s family. I need to inquire about the menu to find out if I need to bring anything.

If I don’t like the menu, I will be making my own small version this weekend when my mom visits.

I’m kinda looking forward to not having to cook day of this year since I’ve mostly cooked the past 3-4 years. Also glad that we no longer have a football game the day of thanksgiving and can spend it with extended family.

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 10:20:21 GMT -6 lahdeedah said:

Nov 21, 2019 9:07:34 GMT -6 flamingo said:

Your menu sounds amazing guster, have room for 4 more?

We are also on our own this year and like you don’t want to mess with a whole turkey, so we are just roasting 2 small boneless breasts—one for day-of and one for leftovers.

This is what I was going to suggest. guster When I need a different meat to cook every now and then, I grab the boneless turkey breasts at the grocery store. I haven’t found a favorite way to cook them though. Still figuring that out, but pretty easy in the instant pot/crock pot.

I did the tenderloins last year with a citrus rosemary gravy and they were good but not great.
Maybe the whole breast is the way to go

[lahdeedah]

Nov 21, 2019 10:30:45 GMT -6 guster said:

Nov 21, 2019 10:20:21 GMT -6 lahdeedah said:

This is what I was going to suggest. guster When I need a different meat to cook every now and then, I grab the boneless turkey breasts at the grocery store. I haven’t found a favorite way to cook them though. Still figuring that out, but pretty easy in the instant pot/crock pot.

I did the tenderloins last year with a citrus rosemary gravy and they were good but not great.
Maybe the whole breast is the way to go

I think I have done one with citrus rosemary gravy and I agree, it was just ok.

There isn’t many recipes for the tenderloins out there. I need one that packs some flavor into the breasts.

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 10:32:22 GMT -6 lahdeedah said:

Nov 21, 2019 10:30:45 GMT -6 guster said:

I did the tenderloins last year with a citrus rosemary gravy and they were good but not great.
Maybe the whole breast is the way to go

I think I have done one with citrus rosemary gravy and I agree, it was just ok.

There isn’t many recipes for the tenderloins out there. I need one that packs some flavor into the breasts.

So I’m terrible with cuts of meat and I probably could Google this but is the tenderloin the breast or only a portion of the breast?

[klong11]

Nov 21, 2019 10:36:49 GMT -6 guster said:

Nov 21, 2019 10:32:22 GMT -6 lahdeedah said:

I think I have done one with citrus rosemary gravy and I agree, it was just ok.

There isn’t many recipes for the tenderloins out there. I need one that packs some flavor into the breasts.

So I’m terrible with cuts of meat and I probably could Google this but is the tenderloin the breast or only a portion of the breast?

It's the strip underneath the breast. Least used muscle, so it's the most tender.

[guster]

Nov 21, 2019 11:25:18 GMT -6 klong11 said:

Nov 21, 2019 10:36:49 GMT -6 guster said:

So I’m terrible with cuts of meat and I probably could Google this but is the tenderloin the breast or only a portion of the breast?

It's the strip underneath the breast. Least used muscle, so it's the most tender.

Thank you! So if I’m going to do basically a pulled turkey I should use the whole breast and not just the tenderloin ?

[guster]

lahdeedah, I made my own version of a turducken one year. Just using the breasts (I guess I have use the breast before!) of all of the birds. Two different layers of stuffing between each layer and then kind of rolled up. It definitely was the most flavorful turkey adjacent protein I’ve ever made.

[lahdeedah]

Nov 21, 2019 11:34:39 GMT -6 guster said:

lahdeedah, I made my own version of a turducken one year. Just using the breasts (I guess I have use the breast before!) of all of the birds. Two different layers of stuffing between each layer and then kind of rolled up. It definitely was the most flavorful turkey adjacent protein I’ve ever made.

Good to know! I saw those advertised at Fresh Market this year. I’m intrigued.

[klong11]

guster, probably.

[flamingo]

Nov 21, 2019 10:20:21 GMT -6 lahdeedah said:

Nov 21, 2019 9:07:34 GMT -6 flamingo said:

Your menu sounds amazing guster , have room for 4 more?

We are also on our own this year and like you don’t want to mess with a whole turkey, so we are just roasting 2 small boneless breasts—one for day-of and one for leftovers.

This is what I was going to suggest. guster When I need a different meat to cook every now and then, I grab the boneless turkey breasts at the grocery store. I haven’t found a favorite way to cook them though. Still figuring that out, but pretty easy in the instant pot/crock pot.

Yep, I do one for dinner once every couple months. We like turkey, and any leftovers I just slice thin for sandwiches.

If you need another method to try, I rub mine in melted butter and sprinkle with salt, pepper and sometimes poultry seasoning, if I think of it, then do it in the oven. I baste with butter again towards the end. Basic and simple, but always tasty.