That's okay Mel, I was planning on working a half day tomorrow and I just realized that there is no way in hell I can do that!  So, now, tomorrow will be devoted to getting ready for Thursday (at least it's not at my house!).

I don't know the specifics of the menu that my cousin and family will provide. It's always good though because he knows that I have his 1971 Bronco in my garage.  I always buy the beer though.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Charlie

Cathi_Pierce wrote on Nov 24^th, 2009 at 6:51pm:


We opt for sweat pants and in honor of the day, call them Turkey Pants.

Quote:


That's easy Mel.

Quote:


Make the 2 pies today. Right after you put the turkey in to start roasting, make everything else.  All your dishes can be heated back up.  When you take the Turkey out you'll need to let it "set" for 10 or 15 mins. and then carve it..that's when you put all of your other dishes in to heat up. 

         your own unofficial butterball turkey dinner hotline person.   

  My little sister decided to get married tomorrow so I'm having ITaliaN  for turkey day.     they decided to cancel our family turkey dinner last minute to opt for the restaurant thing and say there will be turkey there, but i'm a bit skeptical about a nice Italian restaurant that cooks pasta and pizza wonderfully making a turkey right so I'm opting for the nice Italian dinner.   

Happy Turkey Day all!   

Val

Spiral cut honey ham with brown sugar & maple glaze (No one here is a big fan of Turkey and we had Turkey at the squadron T-giving meal on Monday)
Dressing - err stuffing
Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Cheesy garlic mashed potatoes
Long Grain Wild Rice (damn picky eaters....)
Mashed Sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecan 'crust'
Candied Yams (have to make both for the picky eaters *sigh*)
Peaches & Cream Corn (the white & yellow kernel kind)
Corn Souffle
Sugar Snap Peas
Carrots & Parsnips in a honey glaze
Jeweled Cranberry Salad - cranberry juice jelly with slivered almonds, blueberries and grapes etc.)
Pumpkin pie for the traditionalists
Cherry Pie
Pumpkin chiffon tarts in filo pastry shells
Grasshopper Pie w Oreo cookie crust
Pickles (homemade crunchy garlic dills - this recipe is to die for)
Pickled beets (home made)
Olives, bread and butter pickles
Rolls & Butter
Pumpkin bread
Deviled Eggs
Veggie Tray
Fruit Tray (with cream cheese and chocolate dip)
A Riesling, a Merlot, a White Zinfandel and sparkling grape juice for those that don't drink alckiehol.

Geez, trying to type this damn list up since this morning, and between 10 a.m. and now it's changed 5 times and had multiple items added.  This is what I get for letting Andrea help with prepping and cooking the meal - something tells me that a 15 y/o doesn't quite fully understand the amount of work involved in a meal such as the above;  and trying to explain to her the concept of preparing that amount of food for a whole FIVE people - umm let's just say I lost that argument - ah well, we'll have enough food for the rest of the week and weekend!

Ok, I need recipes for the sweet potato pie, spice chiffon cake and Grandma's cornbread stuffing at least to start with

Cat

catlind wrote on Nov 25^th, 2009 at 3:04pm:

Try looking above at post #32.

We're having 14 here for dinner or dessert, depending on what time they show up. Food's at 4, if they're late, they get leftovers!

Turkey
Sausage dressing (I too cook outside of the turkey)
Mashed potato casserole (with cream cheese)
Twice-baked sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole (My friend is bringing)
Salad (my sister is bringing)
French bread from the best bakery
Still debating on apple-cranberry dessert. (Maybe Joe can vote on that)
Patty will insist on pickles and olives etc

Appetizers - Jeanette is bringing:
Roasted Pepper and Basil Skewers
Cream Cheese bacon crescents
and I have some SOS in the freezer already

Desserts:
Pumpkin Pie (Making today)
French Silk Chocolate Pie (My sister)
Apple Strudel (My Friend)
Pecan Butter tarts (already made) and English Toffee

YUMMY!

Spicy Chiffon Cake

2 cps. sifted flour
1 1/2 cp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup cooking oil
7 eggs separated (bring the eggs to room temp. 
                            before using)
3/4 cup cold water
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 F

     Sift together, flour, sugar baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves into bowl.  Make a well in the center.  Add oil, egg yolks, and water.  Beat with an electric mixer at low speed for 1 minute,   (Or by hand until smooth).

     Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in another bowl until stiff peaks form, using electric mixer at high speed.  (This is why you bring your eggs to room temp, the whites will form up easier).

     Gradually pour the egg yolk mixture over the whites, gently folding just until blended (I recommend using about a 2 " wide rubber spatula).  Pour into ungreased 10 inch tube pan.  Pull metal spatula through the batter once to break large air bubbles.

     Bake in 325 oven for 55 minutes, then increase the heat to 350 F and bake 10-15 minutes more, until top springs back when touched lightly with finger.  Invert tube pan on funnel or bottle to cool. When completely cooled, remove from pan.

      Frost with 7 minute frosting or seafoam frosting.

It's a moist enough cake that you really don't need to frost it.


For anybody who really likes to bake, try to find the 1979 edition of Farm Journals Home Baking Book.  You can't buy them new.  I have two now, the first being in deplorable condition where it's been used so much.  I found the second one on the internet from a used book seller.

Linda_Howell wrote on Nov 25^th, 2009 at 6:22pm:


Erm, well ya see Linda.... LOL
Peaches and Cream corn is whole kernel corn from the Peaches and Cream corn on the cob kind... It has white and yellow kernels and is super sweet.

As for the number of people here for dinner, well let's see, there was me, Clark, Ayden, Andrea and her boyfriend Robert, and umm Alex, who has a super massive black hole in the center of his stomach - at least we theorize he must have, since the amount of food the boy can put away is inhuman!

So, umm, yup, 6 total for dinner.  The menu was as extensive as it was for 2 reasons; 1.  Andrea was having a go at her first time cooking (or helping cook really) a holiday meal.  2.  We have a house full of picky eaters, but mostly because I am simply incapable of cooking a holiday meal in small amounts;

I grew up being told repeatedly that no one would ever go hungry at our table.  Dad was of the mind that if you had 10 people for dinner, then each dish should be able to feed 10 people, as in, if there was no other food available, 10 people would walk away from the table completely full from just one dish - so each dish is done in a way that it can feed an army

I was able to convince Andrea that she needed to pare down her menu, and we eliminated all but 3 desserts, a pumpkin pie, a cherry custard pie, and a caramel apple deep dish pie.  She is going to make the creamy pumpkin pie and the pumpkin chiffon tarts today....oy.  So we ended up with
brown sugar and maple glazed ham (an 8lb ham)
mashed potatoes and gravy
a large dish of cornbread stuffing
sweet potato pie with brown sugar and pecan crust
candied yams
corn souffle
peaches and cream corn
sugar snap peas
veggie tray
fruit tray
jeweled cranberry shimmer (jell-o mold with grapes, blueberries, raspberries, almond slivers and a ring of strawberries on top)
plain rolls and honey butter flaky rolls
sweet petite pickles, dill pickles and olives
vanilla ice cream
peppermint ice cream
whipped cream for the pumpkin pie
mini quiches

Andrea is going to make the pumpkin chiffon tarts, creamy pumpkin pie (it's like a cheesecake almost), deviled eggs and long grain and wild rice today to go with the left overs, and there are LOTS of leftovers!!

Oh, and the corn souffle she made is absolutely to-die-for!!

So yeah, I easily had enough food prepared to feed 25 people or more, and there are enough groceries to make more food to feed an additional 25 people with the left overs and the items she is making today.

I have to say though, it was utterly comical watching her learn to prepare a holiday meal, an trying to coordinate everything so it was all ready at the same time and the hot food stayed hot and the cold items stayed cold!!  *sigh* my little baby girl is growing up....hard to believe she'll be 16 in just over a month.

Anyone up for a second Thanksgiving dinner??

Cat

I'm recovered enough to be able to sit up at least. I hope you all had a great day and have the gumption for the "Black Friday" fracus.

I found this site in the NY Times that's fun. Scroll down to the little map and see how we eat:

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Charlie

Brew I love you dearly - but right now I'd drop you in a heartbeat and step over your still warm body to get that sammich! LOL It sounds FANTASTIC! I'm so going to try it at Chrimbo!

OMG, Charlie. It's one of the best:

1/2 Cup mayo
3 Tbls. cranberry sauce (chop the berries if it's whole berry sauce)
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp brown mustard
3 Tbls. chopped pecans

Mix together. Spread liberally on bread, add leftover turkey.