Lottie, please post pics of your thanks on the unfinished sub-floor when Thanksgiving is over. That sounds fun/neat! That will be a great family memory. Especially, for the children!

Ours is the opposite. Simple and light. We go to our lakehouse for Thanksgiving and it is usually just our immediate family. My kids are still pretty young and not huge eaters, so all the folderol would be a waste.

We have a turkey breast, home made gravy from stock, carrot stuffing made in muffin tins, roasted whole yams in their skin, green beans, homemade cranberry orange relish, and crustless pumpkin custard in ramekins. There more excited that it is usually, weather permitting, the first day of ski season!

I keep it simple too. Just five of us this year. One diabetic and one vegetarian! Cheese platter and dip, turkey with stuffing, tofurkey with stuffing, green beans, yams with marshmellows (have to have this for DH) green beans. Pumpkin pie and cheesecake for dessert. (My sister will have small slivers)

My favorite holiday and I cook for about 45 regardless of how many come. And we/I make just about everything sans soup.

I haz a cold. Forecasting peanut butter on white bread but a new front could move in leading to green beans with garlic sauce, small turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and rutabagas, possibly another try at biscuits or apple pie.

Not much cooking in my kitchen this year since we aren't hosting. Going to my parents this year but we typically have the same thing every year - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, an Italian vegetable dish that my father makes, gravy and a variety of desserts - always at least pumpkin pie. I usually make the stuffing each year trying out different variations, like one year it had sausage and apples, another year chestnuts, etc. this is the only time we eat turkey, stuffing and sweet potato casserole, so I don't care that the menu is basically the same every year! My contribution this year is the sweet potato dish (no marshmallows!) and two desserts. Not sure what desserts we'll make yet.

I'm hosting for the first time ever. And somehow I ended up with 14 people! I'm making the turkey (the big bird fried) and a breast, mashed fresh sweet potatoes with brown sugar on top, mashed potatoes, haricot verts with shallots, stuffing, cranberry sauce with orange, homemade gravy, rolls, and pecan and pumpkin pie. YUM! I am so excited...off to set the table (s).

All the usual suspects, and these, as the alternate dessert for those who don't want the pumpkin pie:

(their photo, not mine--I doubt I'll bother with the candied lemon peel)

Here is a link that might be useful: cranberry curd bars with walnut shortbread crust

We ordered a Bourbon Red Turkey for the first time this year. There is a local turkey farm and this is the first time they have raised them. Their turkeys are great, pastured and organic.

The rest of the dinner will be the stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes with apples and our once a year tradition...7-up Salad (Jello). Pumpkin pie for dessert.
We don't deviate much from year to year, it's all about tradition for us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Nancy

Going to my husband's cousins house. I will be bringing kielbasa, dinner rolls and mac n cheese. We were going to scrap the mac n cheese this year since it's not traditional Thanksgiving fare (I usually do the sweet potatoes), but everyone really loves my mac n cheese (especially the kids, and by kids I mean the 20 & 30 somethings) so I will be making it by special request.

We are hosting some international students, some close friends, and my MIL, so I'm doing the traditional dinner -- locally raised heritage turkey with cranberry sausage stuffing, gravy from homemade turkey stock, cranberry sauce, and lots of veggies from my garden - roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted butternut squash, mashed potatoes, lemon green beans, and homemeade dinner rolls. For dessert, I'll make tarte tatin and my DH's favorite, pumpkin-pecan pie.

It is my favorite holiday, the festival of the brown food, and I am looking forward to putting my big sink Silgranit through its paces for its first Thanksgiving holiday!

The more important question for me is "Who is cooking in your kitchen for Thanksgiving?" -- My daughter and new son-in-law have decided they want to take charge and be the main chefs this year. :-D I'm sure I'll be called upon to help and advise here and there, and younger daughters will pitch in with desserts.

So far I hear we're having brined turkey (we've never done that before), cranberry-pecan stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes with other veggies mixed in, mashed potatoes and gravy, green salad, and green bean casserole. We'll have a couple of cheesecakes for dessert, and probably the requisite pumpkin pie for my dad. There will be only 18 or 19 this year. Usually, it's 24 or more for holiday dinners.

We're not traveling to be with family, and our family isn't coming down. So it's just DH and I. But we'll cook all day nonetheless.

White wine-and-butter-basted turkey breast (found this Martha Stewart winner a few years back), stuffing with lots of bacon, my MIL's broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic, cranberry sauce (whole berry OCean Spray fro the can), and a yummy Barefoot Contessa gravy made from pan drippings (all that butter and wine!! Yum!!) Skipping the buttermilk mashed potatoes this year.

No dessert, but leftovers all week.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone :)

Writersblock, those cranberry curd bars look amazing, will you share the recipe?

Mercymy, are you polish? When I was growing up, some friends of our family would bring back huge amounts of kielbasa when they visited their hometown in the coal mining area of PA. They would take orders from my parents' circle of friends. I always looked forward to when we got our share. I haven't had kielbasa in years! Where do you buy yours? For some reason, I think you live in my general area - are you in MD?

Mabeldingledine, the link at the bottom of the post with the pic has the recipe, but just in case, here it is again.

Oh, and the rest of the menu is old-fashioned roast turkey with sage and onion stuffing, crudites, mashed potatoes, hubbard squash, creamed peas and pearl onions, pumpkin pie. We're serious traditionalists here, this one day of the year. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: recipe (scroll down a little)

Most of my family is traveling this year, so we'll probably do a plain turkey breast instead of the whole bird. Or skip the labor entirely and just go to a nice buffet. I do usually make Kadu Buranee for Thanksgiving, which is an Afghan pumpkin dish with sweet tomato sauce and minted yogurt. We're of the sweet potato pie sect rather than the more orthodox pumpkin pie religion. :)

Tonight is rainy and yucky, so it's my version of comfort food. I'm making Lamb Rogan Josh from scratch with the leftovers from a boneless leg of lamb that we had the other night. Basmati rice and spinach with chickpeas will be the sides along with green chile papadums and a mint and onion raita and iced cardamom tea.

There will be about 22 here, I have hosted for 10 yrs now, ever since my mom passed. We'll have turkey and ham, mashed potatoes/gravy, homemade egg noodles, spinach casserole, glazed carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes (either roasted or a casserole) cranberry salad, bing cherry salad, homemade rolls, pecan pie, apple pie, banana split cake, and I'm trying Paula Dean's ooey gooey pumpkin bars. cranberry-orange punch

My dad who is 80 and my brand new grandson who is 2 weeks old - all together! We are very blessed, everyone is healthy and gainfully employed. :)

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Writers block -- yum.
Thanks for posting the cranberry curd and walnut shortbread bars.

We are doing the feast for just a small group of six.
That looks like a recipe we may want to add to the menu.

Reservations ;) Usually, one son and I want the whole Thanksgiving dinner while the other son wants a burger platter or such. Dh is usually on the fence about a turkey dinner or normal fare, but he went vegan 2 months ago so that is out for him. We are headed to Houlihans because they served an awesome turkey dinner last year. Dh can get some sort of veggies or salad. The little guy and I get our T day fix and the other one can get his usual limited menu. I really had considered going the whole route this year, but then dh went vegan, so that plan got scrapped. I was hoping to put the new kitchen through its paces, but this will be easier. I'll be making Xmas dinner in our kitchen, so that will be a challenge. I do cook daily, so Tday is something different. I will miss my homemade cranberry sauce, because without the dinner to go with it, it seems odd. Maybe I'll make some for Xmas ;)

Thanksgiving is always at Cousin S.'s. Always. I bring the guacamole. Always. It's tradition.

I will be having about 70 this year...great way to break in the new kitchen! We will be having turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, chestnut dressing, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, roasted root vegetables, broccoli casserole, potato rolls, 7 grain rolls, cranberry, gravy, and pies, pies, and pies. It is my favorite holiday to cook for!

It would be great if everyone would take a picture of their Thanksgiving table...It would be great to share pics :)

We're hosting 15 this year, down from 23 last year. I've been doing boned rolled turkey the last few years. Found a new recipe in the November MSL magazine that I'm giving a try. Will have the usual sides. Guest are bringing desserts. Just sealed my granite, so bring it on!

My husband has just stopped having to take warfarin so we are going splash out and have many broccoli, brussels sprouts and cranberry side dishes, with a huge spinach salad dressed in scrumptious olive oil. That's what I'm going to be soooo thankful for this year: that my DH can stop taking that wretched rat poison.

L.

We have the same traditional dinner ever since I can remember: Turkey, oyster dressing, stuffed mirlitons with shrimp, rice and gravy, green peas, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cranberry sauce, brown and serve rolls.

This is the second year to use my Electrolux oven with the "perfect turkey" probe. I love, love, love it!

Live_wire

can you post hte Afghan recipe for pumpkin w tomato and minted yogurt?

TIA

Trying a Popeye's Cajun Deep Fried Turkey this year. Along, with the normal accouterments:candied yams, mac & cheese, green been casserole, cornbread dressing, collard greens, cranberry relish, ham, sweet potato and apple pie.

What's cooking in my kitchen? Nothing! However, on the barbecue will be a nice big ham, low and slow. In the basement, there will be potatoes au gratin, sweet potato casserole, green beans and salt pork, walnut tart, cranberry sauce, cornbread, and brussels sprouts. Yum!

Turkey with 2 versions of everything else. Of the 9 who will be here, one has a dairy and soy intolerance and 3 have Celiac. It makes holidays a challenge.

So we will have a bread stuffing and a rice stuffing (neither in the bird), GF and regular cornbread, mashed potatoes made with milk and butter and a version made with rice milk and soy-free margarine, pumpkin pie and a GF cake for desert. Luckily veggies, cranberry sauce and various condiments can be had by all.

Last year my kitchen was about 95% done by Thanksgiving, useable but missing the final trim-work. It was still wonderful to cook in. Now that we have had a year to get used to it, it should be even better.

I'm cooking the turkey, the green beans, sausage and apple dressing, gravy,and a diabetic dessert for my FIL. (Anybody got a suggestion for something yummy?) My daughter, 13, is making the pumpkin pie, and my son (16) is making the chex mix for the appetizer. And the rest of the family is bringing home made rolls, home made cranberry sauce, pickles/olives, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, apple pie and anything else they'd like to eat. We are a traditional bunch, very little variation is allowed. :-) I'm grateful that they're all coming, for my new kitchen and that I'm done with chemo and just had my final surgery. Whoot! I'm done!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Cj

I have just learned that the two families are terrified of all my silverware and dining chair upholstery. So to avoid sitting on the silk while learning to use the fish knife, they abruptly forced themselves on us during shorts and picnic weather just so they wouldn't have to sit in the dining room. Then they made a run for the border before the holidays. "Oh we'd all love to come, but we were just there!" they chirp. "Plus we all lost our passports. Sorry but we're stuck in Mexico!" I note the Arizona area code on caller ID. I am not amused.

As a result, I am making:

Spiced nuts with ginger cocktails
Modern relish tray
Oysters with mignonette
Smoky-spiced pumpkin soup
Mache salad with walnut-sherry dressing, goat cheese and dried cranberries
Turkey
Giblet gravy with homemade roasted stock
Curried cranberry walnut chutney
Oyster sausage stuffing
Honey glazed carrots
White miso green beans
Some unbelievably elaborate recipe for yams I can't even remember
Pumpkin bourbon pie
And I forgot stuff

For. Two. People.

Please, shoot me. I'll give you money.

Just to add insult to injury, I tried to buy the damn pumpkin pie just so I didn't have to make it. We went to a place called Petsi's Pies in Somerville, MA. This place is something out of a Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode. It is supposed to be the most orgasmic, OMG bucket-list pie on the planet. I have never been able to buy one. No matter when you go there, it's closed. If it's not closed, you are met by a smiling but head-shaking person behind the counter saying, "No. No pies for you. Try another day." Smiles again. You can go in there two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, and the smiling person will say, "No. We are not open now." You say, "But your sign says you're open 'til 5!" Smiling guy says, "No. No pie for you. Try another day." So we were joking with each other that when we went in a week before Thanksgiving they would tell us it's too late to order pumpkin pies. We laughed our heads off doing imitations of "No. No pie for you" guy, pretending he would tell us we couldn't order a pie. So we stopped in yesterday, and there he was. Smiling, and shaking his head "No. Yesterday last day to order. No pie for you. Try Tuesday."

Marcolo,

I wish you two a very happy fish forks and silk chairs intime holiday.

Now will you please share your smoky-spiced pumpkin soup recipe? Pretty please?

fourkids4us... Yep, I'm a Polish gal! I sent you an email about where I get my kielbasa, and yes I do live in MD.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yes, Marcolo, I'd love that soup recipe, please and thanks. And enjoy your cooking frenzy for two!

Unfortunately the recipe was something I made up on the fly last night.

I roasted cut-up sugar pumpkins and butternut squash to within an inch of their life, just a little brush of veg oil, salt and pepper. Peel and sorta mash 'em a bit.

In a stock pot saute the aromatics of your choice in butter, especially leeks or onions and a few carrots for sweetness, plus celery and parsley or whatnot. Add the spices now. Use regular pumpkin pie selections like allspice, cloves, cinnamon, etc. But add two other key things. One is sage, which I used both fresh and dry. The other, which is the key, is pimenton, Spanish smoked paprika. When the onions and carrots are carmelized plop in the roasted pumpkin, some chicken stock and water. I don't like all chicken stock, it's too chickeny, so I use mostly water. S&P to taste, and keep adjusting all the spices until you feel the punch. Once everything is good and soft, turn off the heat, let it cool a bit and puree. I may add a touch of half and half. We roasted pepitas to put on top and I may also garnish with fried sage before serving.

Sorry I can't get more specific. I was winging it.

I'm going to Marcolo's house.

There are only two of us, and no relatives in town...so we are going to Palm Springs for actual thanksgiving, staying at the Parker. Dinner will be at Mr. Parker's, if they actually do one (its a little unclear still).

BUT, in honor of thanksgiving coming I decided to cook a turkey dish, something I rarely do. What I did was make pozole built around the idea of a traditional yucatan dish called "Pavo en Relleno Negro." The original is made with turkey stuffed with a kind of sausage meatloaf, with hard boiled eggs in the middle, which is simmered in a rich broth flavored with "Recado Negro." Recado Negro, also known as Chilmole, is a paste made primarily of charred chiles - pitch black in color. It is a very unique flavor, specific to the Yucatan - though it looks something like Oaxacan mole negro, it is completely different in flavor.

Anyway, I cooked pozole in homemade turkey stock along with chopped tomato and a turkey breast. After the breast was poached, I removed it, shredded it, and then returned the meat to the pot. I also made meatballs with ground turkey, flavored with mexican oregano, thyme, bay, allspice, black pepper, and a bit of the chilmole, which I formed around hard boiled egg yolks (my wife doesn't like to eat pork; it would have been more traditional to use a pork sausage instead of the ground turkey here). These were browned and then finished by cooking in the pozole. The whole thing was enriched with a strained puree of Chile Mulatto, red sweet pepper and recado negro/chilmole.

My favorite holiday and I usually have the same 26 people plus 5-9 strays. This year, however, my 92 y/o mother is dying, the out of towners are saving airfare for my daughter's wedding in a couple weeks, so there are just 6 of us. Scaling down to one turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry orange sauce, gravy, sweet potato with pomegranat sauce, roasted brussel spouts with maple glaze, and three pies: sweet potato, apple and pecan (everyone has their fav and I don't want to disappoint).

We are having a No-Turkey Turkey Day that has a couple of things being cooked on the grill (it's going to be 66 degrees here on Thanksgiving, woohoo!). There is a marbled pumpkin cheesecake in the oven as I type.

The menu consists of:

~7 pounds of grilled Beef Tenderloin with horseradish sauce
~Grilled mixed veggies (marinated portabellas, red bell peppers, onions and some garlic cloves)
~Sister's kickass corn bread
~Rosemary mashed potatoes
~Wild rice with cranberries
~Sauteed green beans
~Mother's (great grandmother's recipe) molasses pie with vanilla bean ice cream
~Said pumpkin cheesecake with homemade whipped cream
~Wine. Lots and lots of wine

We'll have 22-25 over here, so I'm making 2 turkeys: one in the oven and one on the grill. The one in the oven will be brined in an herb brine, and the one on the grill will be brined in a maple syrup brine. Here's a trick I learned 2 years ago when my grilled turkey got done WAY too early: I stuck it in a big cooler and closed the lid. It sat in there for about an hour, like its own little sauna. That bird was so tender and juicy! I'm going to try the same thing again this year.

I'm making cornbread dressing with sausage and dried cranberries, and brioche dressing with herbs. Also making some cranberry orange sauce with walnuts. Aunts, mom, sister, and cousins will be bringing appetizers, bread, side dishes, salad, and dessert. Oh and we'll have lots of wine!

My office is closed on Wed. so I'll get a head start on brining the birds, making the cranberry sauce, and getting the tables set up.

Thanks, Marcolo! That's close enough for me. (That's the way I cook too...) When you said "smoky spicy" I was thinking Spanish smoked paprika, but couldn't decide what would work with that. With your guidelines, I know where to go. I have the pumpkin and it wants to be soup!

You're welcome! I find it hard to get reliably good sugar pumpkins. The ones I just bought from WF are not as sweet as the ones I got a couple of weeks ago, so if yours seem bland when roasted you have to really double down on the onions, carrots and butternut. There's a similar recipe at Epicurious (I just looked) but with a nifty roasted red pepper mousse that I just don't have the energy for this time round.

Writersblock thanks so much for sharing the cranberry curd bars recipe-we are making them tomorrow! Has anyone used cheese pumpkins for baking? My family is vegetarian-which is why close friends of ours bring the turkey and my eldest was excited about trying a stuffed pumpkin recipe. We could not find any sugar pumpkins in our area. All the meals above sounded wonderful. The shopping is done. One daughter is home and excited to start cooking-lucky me! This will be the first Thanksgiving that we can actually have two people cooking at the same time! Just hope I don't regret knocking down the wall when we sit down to eat and some dishes/pots etc. are still visible. Maybe the trick is to have everything ready early and cleaned up before-just reheat the food before serving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!