Happy Thanksgiving everybody.


For those of us that partake in the tradition and those who do not but want to play along anyway, what will you be doing this Thanksgiving?



Take this as a model but take this thread in your own direction if you'd rather.



I am staying at home (here in Tennessee) this year and having a Thanksgiving Day with my wife and my three children aged 6, 4, and 6 months. My brother in law and perhaps one of my wife's friends will be by.

We are going fairly traditional this year.

Jody is cooking a turkey, a now traditional (three years running!) green bean casserole, a squash casserole, a large bowl of stovetop stuffing (we aren't good Southern dressing makers), a helping a cranberries poured out of a can (the berry type not the paste type), mashed potatoes, a spiced wine (table red with things like cloves, cinnamon and oranges slices set in it for a day), a Mrs. Smith's pumpkin pie and our choice of spray whipped cream or cool whip.

We will watch the football games although I don't care that much about the game these days. At some point I will wish that more people were posting on tomorrow. I will eat too much, and if I am lucky I will get a nap in while watching football.

I'm staying home playing online video games while my boyfriend cooks the turkey, mashed 'taters, peas, pearl onions, and pun'kin pie. I'll wash down Thanksgiving dinner with ginger ale. After I recover from the food-induced coma I will shuffle to the phone and call family members.

I have to work so my usual Thanksgiving habit of quadding out in the desert and doing some target shooting is off this year

Dinner is turkey with all the trimmings and ham, maybe some sweet potatoes--really I prefer a dish of meat with a side order of meat topped off with meat--mebbe some gravy smothering the whole thing--meat based of course. Also for some variety a few biscuits.

Mmmmmm meat-----we really need a Homer Simpson Icon for AD

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Well....Mr P invited some friends over for dinner, and then I invited two friends. Now somehow I'm going to be serving 15 people tomorrow.

So far I've made the pasta (mascarpone and walnut) salad, baked the potatoes and made apple spice bread and dilled green beans. Brownies are in the oven and the turkey is still frozen. It has been thawing for three days but I doubt it will be ready tomorrow morning.

The meal plan:

Home-baked bread
Corn on the cob
Turkey
Gravy (home made)
Stuffing (in the turkey and baked separately)
Salad
Dilled green beans
pasta salad
mashed potatoes (both sweet and regular baked potatoes)
Apple spiced bread
Pumpkin pie
Brownies

I think that's it.

Neat topic!

I have two words for Thanksgiving: Boston Market (can you tell I'm a batchelor?). My sister is coming into town with her clan and we're having the following:

Turkey breast
Ham
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes with gravy
Corn
Mac n' cheese
Sweet Peas
Cornbread rolls

Great topic!

Well, my brother and his family are here this year, so it'll be nice to have someone to argue football with, during and after dinner! My brother and I do all the cooking on Thanksgiving, or we'd starve, by our wive's own admission. Here's the plan:

Appetizers:
Deviled Eggs, a variety of dips to go with baguette slices, hawaiian bread, and crackers, and a celery, carrot, and pickle tray with dips.

The Main Course:
Turkey with country dressing in the bird
A side of Oyster dressing, baked in the oven
Creamed Corn Casserole (a long-time family recipe)
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Potatoes & gravy
Sweet Potatoes in brown sugar glaze
Cranberry Sauce
Fresh baked rolls and cornbread

Deserts:
Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream,
Apple Pie, with home-made vanilla ice cream

I hope everyone has a great holiday with their friends and family.

Thanksgiving dinner will be at my home in Annapolis MD.

I have insisted on cooking as my dad always always does it. But he did ask if he could help ...so I suppose I will allow it

We are having Turkey and Ham
Gravy
Mushroom stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Roast sweet potatoes
Spaghetti squash
Green Beans
Carrots
Rolls
Cheese and crackers
Pumpkin pie
Apple Pie
Fresh whipped cream
Wine
Beer
Sparkling Apple cider
Coffee

Whew...... I get stuffed just writing it all down.

Hey everybody I hope you all had a nice thanksgiving!

Gosh... all that lovely food .... mmmmh makes me hungry

I'm working (4pm to 12:30am), but the company is providing a turkey for meal breaks and everyone else is bringing side dishes (I'll be bringing some cornbread stuffing). My housemate's mother is here at the moment and will be doing a huge traditional meal that I can avail of - on Friday.

We are going to attempt to fry a turkey. So, if Dallas burns down, you'll know why. Going over to do it at a friend's house, who also wanted duck, so we're going to try to fry one of those too. We have planned ahead with backup turkey and duck if all fails the first time (otherwise...more leftovers!!!). In addition, I'll be making:

Green bean casserole
Candied yams
Cranberry sauce (OK, that one just comes out of a can :-) )
Pumpkin Pie (haven't decided yet on whether a Pecan pie will, as in the past, be included).
My friend is from India, his wife is therefore now on the hook for a surprise Indian dish..maybe desert, I think. We'll see.

Some chips and salsa to munch on while watching the turkey cook, or the football games. Some champagne, too.

So, hopefully, we have all we need to eat, drink, and be merry!

I'm sure my daughter will be fascinated by the frying process, and probably a big help with the other stuff. Probably eat early, since her mom is picking her up later (two Turkey dinners for her, I'm jealous :-)).

NO TURKEY

We can't stand the bird, way too many creative attempts at recycling. We're doing cornish game hens with wild rice stuffing, so you get the choice of a whole birdy or half a birdy. They remind me of ruffed grouse, my favorite upland game bird. And they taste a little like chicken!

Lettuce salad with odd dressing of olive oil and soy sauce (don't blame me)
French bread rolls fresh baked at Safeway
Candied yams, no marshmallows, cardamon and flaked coconut
From scratch cranberries, touch of cinnamon & allspice
Mashed spuds from real pome de terre's, skin on, milk & butter thinned (whoowee!)
Gravy from a pouch in case the game birds don't work this way (experimenting)
Bread dressing from a box, baked in a casserole just because something has to be traditional, you know, with sage.

NO PUMPKIN (squash) PIE

Mince meat pie instead, formerly frozen

NO GREEN BEANS/MUSHROOM SOUP/TATER TOTS/CANNED ONIONS by decree of local law
NO GREEN JELLO SALAD WITH GREEN OLIVES, PECANS AND CELERY (long story)

Probably no drop-ins. Everyone's watching their pennies these days and the families have shrunk down or are just too far away. Sometimes that's a big thank you as we remember the incomprehensible sniping that use to go on.

So it's low-key, a simple thanks for the food and the company, plus the privilege to live up here. Might catch a little football. Nappy time is a for sure. Maybe a sappy old movie.

For Christmas it'll be a duck. Thought about a goose, but you know what they want for one of those things? It's so much easier to head on down to the pond and grab a mallard (just kidding, although tempting).

I forgot to mention this earlier, and it's likely too late for this year, but perhaps a few will remember in time for next year.

When we lived in Orlando, and the Naval Training Station was still up and running, they had a program each year whereby you could call the base, about two weeks prior, and let them know you wanted to sponsor one of their people, who couldn't get home for the holidays for Thanksgiving. They would give you names of up to four service people to bring home with you on Thanksgiving day.

On the appointed date and time, you would go to a specific spot on base, and pick up the people you had reqested to sponsor, and bring them back to your home for the afternoon to enjoy a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. We usually had 2 or 3 over each year.

As a former serviceman myself, I can tell you it beats out having to stay in the barracks and eat mess-hall food any day of the week.

So, if you live in a town with a military base next year, check and see if they have such a program. If they do, and you can afford the extra food, please consider treating a few of our fellow military personnel to a home cooked holiday meal.

Niteguy,

What a great idea. We don't live too far from Fort Campbell. Maybe next year I can get my act together and try this.

Thanks,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Thanksgiving has gone from being one of my most hated holidays to one of my favorites. Mike and I both come from divorced families. When Thanksgiving would roll around, all four parental units expected us to stop by and eat with them. We would drive ourselves all over northern Illinois/Indiana (usually in an unreliable car) and practically kill ourselves trying to please everyone else. It left little room for actual thanks giving.

One year, Mike and I had finally had enough. We told our families that it was they who chose to get divorced and make visiting difficult, that we were done accommodating their choices, and that they were all welcome to our home for Thanksgiving. Of course, no one showed, but it launched a new tradition that I absolutely love.

Mike is quite an accomplished cook. He does most of the main work and kitchen direction. I make a pretty good assistant...I think. We really enjoy making as much food as we can from scratch, using all real ingredients. We both truly enjoy eating a good meal, and there's no better day than today.

The menu for this year:

bacon/onion/cheese spread - our appetizer. Fried bacon & onion mixed up into cream cheese and served on crackers.
turkey - fresh, never frozen
stuffing
mashed potatoes - actually smashed which is half mashed with some lumps, using warmed milk and butter, of course
sweet potatoes - baked like a regular baked potato and served with generous helpings of butter, sugar and cinnamon
green bean casserole
cranberries - that have been in my cabinet since this summer when we got them for twenty-five cents on some super-ultra-wacky discount.
brown and serve rolls - we break from homemade here. These rolls are one of those things we both ate as kids and like the tradition of it.
pumpkin pie - another not-so-homemade food and another supremo summer deal. Cans of pumpkin pie mix 4/$1. I think we still have 6 cans. We did make the crusts from scratch. Yes, we made two. We're going to have to find a neighbor to pass one of them off.
pecan pie - this is the only newcomer to the lineup. I've always wanted to make one of these, and being semi-southern, now's a good time to try it out. We're going all out on this and even cracking fresh pecans.

Mmmm....comas to come. See you guys after the tryptophan wears off.

As I am part Mohawk, I thought I'd share this Mohawk Thanksgiving Prayer:

To be a human is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.

Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.

Thank you deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.

We give thanks to green, green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth's floor.

Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry.

Fruits and berries, we thanks you for your color and sweetness.

We are thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.

Thank you, all the animals of the world, for keeping our precious forests clean.

All the trees of the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us. Thank you all the birds in the world, for signing your beautiful songs for all to enjoy.

We give thanks to you gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from the four directions.

Thank you, Grandfather Thunder Beings, for bringing rains to help all living things grow.

Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.

Thank you Grandmother Moon, for growing full every month to light the darkness for children and sparkling waters.

We give you thanks, twinkling stars, for making the night sky so beautiful and sprinkling morning dew drops on the plants.

Spirit Protectors of our past and present we thank you for showing us ways to live in peace and harmony with one another.

And most of all, thank you Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts, so we will be happy and healthy every day and every night.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Niteguy, interesting suggestion. We live right by Ft. Lewis, WA and could have accommodated at lease one service person. Of course it would have required a little tolerance all around - we support the troops but not the war.

My wife is the center of her family; consequently we're hosting our usual family gathering. Normally, we have from 22 to 26 but a number are travelling this year. At last count we were down to 17. My side of the family is in Colorado so I will probably be touching base with them by phone.

My stepson is a trained chef so he is helping my wife prepare the meal with minimal support from me. It will be a traditional meal with turkey but a lot of fancy secondary dishes. Gotta run! Company just arrived!