What's your Thanksgiving timetable?

I never did roast last year's turkey ;_;

I hope it is not too freezer-burnt for this year.

I am planning to have a US one as well. We'll see how the pumpkin dinner rolls turn out, they are rising very slowly.

What sorts of things have you tried as main dishes? I'm generally stymied by what makes a good holiday vegetarian main, and hate falling into the gigantic cheese-bomb casserole trap.

i am going to a vegetarian/vegan thanksgiving this year at my boyfriend's parents' house. my first ever thanksgiving!

Does anyone know what that non-Tofurkey veg turkey recipe was? J0hn D had it on his site way back when, I forgot to bookmark and have completely forgotten the name.

Was it quorn? They make a turkey roast.

I've tried tofurkey, pasta/lasagna, nut loafs, and so on. I was thinking some sort of squash-and-tofu-on-rice dish might work.

The pumpkin rolls were ok, but something was a little off on them. Stupid internet recipes. But one of the comments said she added rosemary, which might have balanced it a bit more. Also they might taste better in the morning.

It was some little company that made them, then went out of business and released the recipe on their website.

i just realized the incredible difficulty presented by going to visit my little sister in dc for thanksgiving: i would not be able to go til wed night (i think) and she doesn't drive. wonder if i can convince her to plan ahead and buy a turkey (she's not good at this stuff) so we're not like 'WTF' on thursday.

Can you order one and have it delivered? Might be simpler than hauling one home on the bus or something.

well, we will be taking over my other sister's house, which means that if she plans, she can get them to take her to the store and drive it home. this means she has to actually plan, though...

other sister and her husband will be in korea during festive times.

Man, while standing in line @ the grocery store, I thought about Thanksgiving & got ANXIOUS at all of the work I'll have cut out for me. It's just me making all of the food, so I have to make a schedule. Doing a lot of stuff on the night before. Shudder.

Write it all down and see where (if anywhere) you can simplify stuff. Everything you can do ahead of time (like weeks even), do it (freeze it or whatever). Like if you want to make a cake, make the layers now, wrap them tightly and freeze them, then they'll be ready to thaw and frost. Yeast rolls and bread - you can make ahead and either freeze the dough, or freeze the baked goods (again tightly wrapped).

The one place I consistently trip up - needing a particular pan or appliance for something when it is already in use by something else. Sometimes, you can make do, but other times creativity falls short at the last minute and that's really stressful.

I TOTALLY write out the game plan. Too, no one, NO ONE is allowed in the kitchen. I'm starting to re-gain my confidence.

I am making a pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie this year! Mmmmmmm. Too, Jaq, I am going to use your yeast roll recipe. I'm going to "practice" them this weekend. Should they turn out, I'll make a batch to freeze. Good tips, thanks!

i would love to write out my game plan, if my sister would just settle on a location/general idea of what the hell we're doing!!! now she's talking about coming here!? i have no idea what's going on and this frustrates me because my life gets very busy and i just like to have things like this settled so i can organize what needs to get done!

my big t-giving plan is making a real, boozey, old-timey fruitcake that will get buried in sugar until xmas.

my aunt has suggested "hot flash sparklers" for thanksgiving. though the name leaves much to be desired, the recipe looks tasty!

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut to yield one 1/4-inch thick slice
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 bottle brut Champagne, well chilled

Combine pomegranate juice, sugar and ginger in a saucepan; bring to boil, and cook, stirring, until mixture is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Pour 4 teaspoons pomegranate syrup, 1 tablespoon orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon of Cointreau into each of four 6-ounce Champagne flutes. Add 2/3 cup Champagne to each flute. Garnish with 3 to 5 pomegranate seeds each.

that sounds delicious!

nom it!

awesome!!

nommed!

did you change the name to something a little less menopausal?

Starting to dig through recipes right now and lolling about drooling over cooking magazines. Will probably lollygag for another two weeks and then pretend that I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO TIME to get anything done! :)

Jaq, I'm back in Seattle until Thanksgiving. Would love to get together for coffee. My schedule is pretty open. Contact me at wee little sprout at hot mail dot com (no spaces) with your phone number, please! I've been looking forward to meeting you since last Christmas!

today i enlisted the intern to help me plan my menu since i don't seem to have time to do it!

she found a recipe for raspberry tiramisu today that looks intersting. i can't handle pumpkin pie.

Craven and I sat down and talked about fabulous Thanksgiving desserts this afternoon - raspberry tiramisu sounds delicious! I'm pretty set on roasting a leg of lamb this year instead of a turkey (the turkey that has been in the freezer since last year looks very very sad and frostbitten I'm afraid).

Jaq (and others), I posted a question on Is that pie..?, but I figured it'd be answered here more quickly.
We are getting a smoked turkey this year for Thxgiving. We aren't doing the smoking, so I"m not going to have turkey drippins' for gravy. I was wondering if you could share you cream gravy recipe from the blog? I am losing sleep over this!

Thx.

Sure thing - though cream gravy might be a bit heavy (it's what you pour over chicken fried steak). Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Sprinkle in 2 heaping tbsp of flour and stir into the melted fat. Stir in 1/2 tsp of salt and several generous grinds of black pepper. Let this cook on medium low for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Heat up 1.5 cups of half and half (or 3/4 c milk and 3/4 c heavy cream) until very hot but don't boil. I usually put the liquid in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup and nuke it for about 2 min. Pour the hot liquid into the butter/flour mixture, stirring constantly and gently. Increase the heat a notch or two and keep stirring until thickened (7-15 min). It will thicken up more as it cools.

You might want to make gravy with chicken stock instead. Use the same process (though possibly won't need to add salt and pepper depending on how your stock is seasoned) and the same proportions of fat/flour/liquid.

On the timetable: I made up the rolls on Sunday (including a test batch that we snarfed for dinner that night), have the turkey thawing in the fridge and will brine it tonight, am making pumpkin pudding today. Will possibly start the cranberry relish today - this year I'm making one with cranberries, quince, pecans, and port as well as having a can of the jellied stuff (which I adore). I'm making stuffing with pecans, fennel, and shallots. Brussel sprouts: parboiled, halved, brushed w/ oil, roasted at 450F, sprinkled with shaved parm. Sweet potatoes: simply mashed with butter, maybe a dash of cinnamon and cumin. Roasted fingerling Yukons and redskinned potatoes. Possibly deviled eggs. Possibly some other dessert. A guest is bringing the salad.

btw Ai Lien, I was trying to add you as a poster to Is That....Pie? but you need to make a wordpress log in.

The gravy is mostly for the mashed potatoes. I probably won't even touch the stuff as I feel I make the potatoes really rich, but there are family members who like gravy! On everything!

Jaq, do I need to sign up for wordpress?

Yep, then send me the email address you used for your account. Use the email address on the Is That....Pie? page (isthatpie✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧); my webmail for ILX doesn't work.

What liquor best goes with hot apple cider? To be served at Post-Thxgiving Bring Your Leftovers Potluck.

I would vote dark rum. But then, I pretty much always vote dark rum.

this^

1 pm - go to chinese restaraunt and order $50 of food
2 pm - get home and get down

― jergïns, Saturday, 10 November 2007 23:58

i would like to point out how awesome this was last year and how i'll be doing this again, only with indian or thai

i am going that also but i'll keep it to $15 because i'm not quite that rich

damn we are smart

3pm -go to Whole Foods
3.30 pm -buy pumpkin pie
6pm -eat pie

Turkey is brining away in the cooler (brine still full of ice this morning yay!). Yeast roll dough made on Sunday is thawing. Stale bread is cubed for stuffing assembly. Stock is made. Sweet potatoes were roasted last night and whipped with butter. The final stretch of the cooking marathon starts in 1 hour.

2pm: leave house
2:05pm: buy butter and milk bc i forgot lol
2:10pm: get on train
3pm: arrive at friend's house
3:01pm: open champagne/wine
3:45pm: begin making potatoes (rosemary mash!)
4:30pm: eat?

after all the stress i had planning earlier in the month, i am now only responsible for potatoes! host is making turkey, stuffing, dessert. one of the other guests emailed that she is making "Kale with Cranberries and Creamed Green Peas and Carrots" which worries me. is that all one dish? why would you cream peas and carrots? not sure what the other guests will bring!

haha i think "creamed" means with cream sauce in this context, otherwise that would be like baby food or something, yuck

either sounds gross to me!

my grandmother makes creamed green beans at thxgiving/xmas and it's very good. not something i'd eat more than once or twice a year though. also might be kinda weird on carrots, but ok.

as a kid i loved the mushroom soup green been casserole but i've strayed from it for fresher green bean dishes in recent years, so the thought of cream sauce and PEAS is kind of 'uhhhhh'.

also this will be my 2nd thanksgiving with my filipino friend hosting which is a little funny bc he does not exactly "get" thanksgiving traditions since he didn't grow up with them. will still be a lovely day, though!

I woke up and baked an apple pie. My wife was amused to find that I had gotten so into my baking that I forgot to make any coffee.

the horror!

Turkey's been in the fridge for two days now but is soaking in water now to finish thawing.

Pecan and pumpkin pies are on the counter.

Cornbread is cubed, ready to be toasted and mixed with chorizo (which still has to be cooked) for stuffing.

Turkey stock is in the fridge, I'm going to brown the giblets and neck and add it to this for a couple of hours.

Green bean casserole needs major work.

I've got six hours or so. How long does it take to heat 3 gallons of peanut oil to 350 degrees?

i imagine not too long.