What a bummer Ken.

I had a weird experience today too - but first - it all started last Thanksgiving, I invited some of my children's friends for full course turkey dinner. Did it many times in the past - so felt I knew the "ropes."

Anyway, this bird was so big, that I had a hard time fitting it into the roaster I had - and without my knowledge, one wing extended over the side of the pan.

Well, as you may have guessed, when the guests arrived, I had a whole house full of smoke and the smoke alarm was going off like crazy. My daughter came in and punched the self-cleaning button - and that just made it a lot worse. I turned off the oven, and fortunately, put out the fire in the undercarriage, and after a good airing, we all sat down to dinner.

As luck would have it, this year, I'm invited out (oh happy day) and so only had 2 pumpkin pies to contribute. However, just about time to take them out - a repeat of last year's episode occurred - lots of smoke - and the alarm again! Fortunately, it was short lived, and my pies didn't suffer any the worse. I don't know what triggered it this time - perhaps when my son cooked an over-loaded pot roast - and some grease got down below.

Anyway, I'm not sure I like this new oven - from now on, I won't go off and leave it for any length of time, that's for sure.

Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving otherwise (at least no work today eh?) - and again, many thanks for all the good advice - I've appreciated all of you fine folks here on this forum. Really makes my day a bit brighter.

Bejay

The reason my new stove oven element had burned out after a single year was because something had dripped directly on the bottom coil. These heater elemets are not as sturdy as they used to be, so it corroded quickly. The insides of the elements are filled with tiny powdered pellets that are packed together to form the conductive heating. Once the thin metal wall of the element is corroded (was from a dripping pizza), it just opened that part of the element and the rest was history. Even though the oven as a self cleaning option, I haven't used it yet. Instead, now I place a wide sheet of aluminium foil on the lower rack above the element. The edges of the foil are turned up slightly so any dripping will be caught there instead. Today, before putting the turkey breast in, I replaced the old burned foil, as it had lots of previous drips including the ones from the recent baking of an apple pie... Just checked the stove and now the digital timer is freaking out! It was at about 45 minutes remaining and, now its whizzing by many hundreds of numbers not even related to 45 minutes. I had to shut off the digital timer and reset it back to the time it was at before it went crazy. Luckily, I have a a digital temperature probe type that is in the breast, so even if the oven timer goes nuts again, I still have the external sensing. Looks like I may need a new controller panel on the stove.. Luckily, still under factory warranty..

I'm convinced that these new stoves just aren't the greatest either. You have my sympathies. Perhaps they weren't meant for big "stove users" like us. Anyway, it seems I recall that the company had a recall on some of its stoves in the past, and I think I'll find out if I happen to have one of them.

Good luck.

P.S. It really was nice to let someone else do the "turkey" this year - enjoyed it. "L"

Bejay

After a whopping bill for the furnace repairs, I was finally able to do a bit of cooking. My meal took almost 4 hours to make, but 10 minutes to eat. The rest of the turkey will be cut up with some diced, partially cooked potatoes, fresh cooked carrots, some frozen peas, corn, and beans. The sauce will be the gravy and all this will become turkey pies which I will freeze for later use.

Where is this 'recall' site? I wonder if my Fridgidaire has a recall problem. I do know that the digital timer freaked out, but seemed to work again after I switched it off and then back on again. Not sure what it would do if I were to use it for another baked good that was to remain in the oven for about 2 hours. I have to be watchful, as I doubt that if it freaks out again, it will never keep track of the time its set for. Worst yet, its linked to the self clean oven feature, so if it does go nuts again, my whole stove would be toast if I'm not there to watch over it.

No oven problems here, or furnace problems, etc. I did get stung by a wasp several times nearly three weeks ago and developed a secondary infection that included my lymph nodes. A handful of antibiotic shots and I'm on my second round of Augmentin. It didn't stop me from making Thanksgiving dinner though. Both my girls were there, and both of the GrandMonkeys (better known as the MonkeyPrincess and her Bruvver, LOL). Dad was there with his new (third) prosthesis and says this one fits pretty well, it's only rubbing in one place. He even drove his truck, the first time he's driven in months, so he was happy.

Although the antibiotics are like "dropping a nuclear bomb into my digestive tract" as one friend put it, I still made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, the infamous green bean casserole, a layered salad, homemade dinner rolls, pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie and a "buckeye cake" which consists of a layer of dark fudgy chocolate cake, a layer of peanut butter fudge and a topping of dark chocolate ganache.

Here is my table, ready to eat:

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The desserts:

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After dinner I had help with the dishes from the MonkeyPrincess, my granddaughter Makayla:

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While we cleaned up, the guys watched football and napped. My grandson "Bud" seems to be a natural:

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Annie

Annie- what is are the little "sugarplums" around your cheesecake? sugared grapes? It looks so festive! I wish I had taken a picture of my spread now. We made a big meal at lunch time for my family and then later to my husbands. I thought I'd contribute some appetizers so I made a huge antpasto tray, with all kinds of stuff- artichokes, various olives, and then some of my dill pickles, some hot mixed pickles, dilled green toms, summer squash B&B chips, etc. Hubby's family looked at it like it was from Mars. A couple people poked around at it, but they were unsure what to make of the strange looking stuff! AAARRRGH. My hubby said it was their loss. Oh well. It was a wonderful day and our spiced applesauce and casserole was a big success. I hope all of you had a wonderful day!

Ken - my stove is from Sears, so can't help you with your Fridgidaire - perhaps a note to the company. The more I think about that problem of mine, the less I like it - would hate to have a fire here - an old house with lots of nice cedar - recently renovated.

Annie - what a spread! Looks like that young un will grow up to be a big help in the kitchen - your dishwasher. Beautiful kids - bet they enjoyed all of your nice desserts especially.

Well - back to the mines today - think I will gather up a lot of limes today (falling off the trees) and make some home-made gelatin for freezing - no sense letting them go to waste.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

flatlander, those are sugared cranberries, I was very pleased at how those turned out, and they're yummy too.

Of course, I broke a food rule, I beat an egg white with a little water, moistened the fresh cranberries, then rolled them on a cookie sheet with plain old granulated sugar. I let them air dry for about an hour and got a lovely, crunchy, "iced" coating. The tart berries and the sweet crunch of the sugar coating is addictive, I've been munching on them since Thanksgiving and they're nearly gone.

As for your antipasta tray, your husband is right, it's their loss. Some people just aren't adventurous, I'm the one that will eat whatever is new or I can't identify on the tray but most people just aren't.

Just think of a nice big turkey sandwich on some homemade italian or french bread, with a bunch of those mixed pickles. Yum.

Annie

Your oven mishaps reminded me of Thanksgiving two years ago, when the bird was in the oven and my parents pulled into the driveway just as the power went out in the whole neighborhood! We were afraid to open the fridge until it turned back on an hour later. The turkey turned out okay, but it was my first time cooking one, so I was a little overdone.

This year, the biggest accident was the stray dog that followed me into my car on the rainy night before Thanksgiving. Between resident dogs and visiting dogs, we had just as many canines here as humans. (And turkey was enjoyed by all.)