Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends!!!

We had ours yesterday. Most families have it on Sunday, then Monday is a day of relaxation.

We have a blended family. My brother, his 2 kids (teenagers) and his girlfriend come. Me and my hubby. My step-fathers 2 kids come with their kids (teenagers).

Everyone gets along great, sometimes it's hard getting the kids to talk about themselves, but they're getting better. They're all shy and don't really talk amongst themselves a lot.

2 kids are in University this year and I'm loving hearing about that. The girl Loves university! Finds the courses hard, to be expected.

Over the summer, my Gosh, the growth spurts!!! All us adults are getting shorter! My niece (the one in university) is 5-11 and gorgeous. Her younger brother is now almost as tall. That just happened this summer.

My step-father has 4 kids and at any one time, there is someone who doesn't get along with the other. Childish as heck. The ones who were here yesterday are my favourites (and dh and mom's) so no loss that the others weren't here.
:-)

Food......turkey, turkey breast, cabbage rolls, potato casserole, turnip puff, stuffing, marinated carrot salad, coleslaw, broccoli slaw, buns. Lemon, pumpkin and apple pies; butter tarts, date squares, oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.

Lots of food, and a good day and the best weather.

I cooked supper for 14 yesterday. I cooked a huge turkey, stuffing (I don't stuff the turkey, I just do stove-top), carrots, turnip, potatoes and gravy. My SIL brought salt meat and cabbage. Another SIL brought 2 desserts, a blueberry upsidedown cake & a blueberry citrus bundt cake, both homemade. Joe's mother brought some squares (tweeties she calls them but I've seen them in cookbooks as Tweed Sqaures). My BIL brought rolls and wine. It was a pretty traditional turkey dinner. I would have liked a pumpkin flavoured dessert or even something with cinnamon & spices (pie or a cake but Joe's family doesn't like pumpkin and when you are depending on someone else to bring dessert you can't be picky). Supper was at 5:00 and everone left after chatting & helping me clean up, they were all gone by 9:00.

I notice jasdip and cherryfizz both made butter tarts for their dinners. I didn't know what they were so I googled it and there must be as many recipes as there are people who bake them. They sound like what a friend made at holiday time that she called Pecan Tassies. Anyone want to share their tried and true recipe? Might just make those for our T-giving.

All your dinners sound delicious. I would like to have more root vegetables but my picky kids wouldn't eat them. They have no sense of adventure when it comes to food. :-(

Oh my goodness I love butter tarts!!! Haven't had them in years though. I will see if I still have a recipe for them. I like mine without nuts and with raisins.

Hi Patti!
Butter tarts are a Canadian dessert. You can put raisins and walnuts in, if you like.

Here is Mom's recipe. *everyone* and I mean everyone, loves her butter tarts. My step-father has requests for them from people at his work, and he sells them!

Jasdip's Mom's Butter Tarts :D

2 eggs, beaten
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cream or half and half
1/2 cup butter, melted
raisins

Put some raisins in each unbaked tart shell. Spoon mixture into shells.

Bake at 425 degrees 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 until
done, another 8-10 minutes.

This will be our 24th year celebrating Thanksgiving at Knott's Berry Farm with the kids (ages 23 and 25). They've never known anything else. We have no family in the area and none within a day's drive we'd want to spend it with except one brother and his family in Northern CA who also love Knott's or Disneyland for TG dinner.

After the meal we head out to the Knott's Holiday Boutique and then on into the amusement park for rides and shows.

Jodi-

Jasdip, what about the tart shell? I've been reading about them and found raisins are debatable, but I love them, so I'd add them and maybe some walnuts in there, too. I did see that you can buy the tart shells, but I've never seen anything like that around here.

Patti I always buy frozen tart shells, surprised you can't get them there. These are the ones I buy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tenderflake tart shells

Of course we have not had our Thanksgiving but it will be here with 11 to 14 people. We always have baked turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, candied sweet potatoes, yeast rolls, cranberries and pumpkin and black raspberry pies. Then other things are added to it to make a really big meal. All the gals pitch in and bring things to go with it.

Sue

We had nine for dinner. Seven adults and 2 kids. Oh and 3 dogs! We did Pork Tenderloin and ate dinner out on the deck. It was a beautiful day! Took the boys & dogs to the park for a spell to work off some energy. My nieces brought mashed potatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower casserole, pies, Ice cream etc. It was sooooo good. DH looked after grilling the pork so I had a nice relaxing day for a change! I just enjoyed my Great nephews and the dogs and relaxed with a glass of wine out on the deck in the sun. Lovely day!

Patti, mom makes her tart shells from scratch. Use a pie pastry, and a cutter like you'd use for biscuits and push it into the tart tin.
Her cutter is big, so she always has a big dimple in her tarts!
The pastry is my favourite, it's so flaky.

When she sells her tarts, she puts 3 raisins in each shell. LOL
Some people order them without raisins as well.
For family, she just sprinkles them in.

I looked at the Tenderflake link and then did a google search on where to buy them. It's a Canadian thing--not sold in the states evidently. I have some pie crust in the freezer. I can use that.

Jasdip, you mean you don't put maple syrup on them???

:)

NOPE!

I cooked dinner for 11 people, and we had a sit down meal. DH has to bring another table in to do that, and it crowds the living room, but prefer a sit down meal. Two people were missing from our table this year... DD and her b/f broke up and my SIL passed away in May. From now on, I guess I'll be the one cooking the meal, but I love doing it. DH usually helps out quite a bit, but this year he was away in the day time. He did all the dishes, though. Here is my pastry recipe that I use for butter tarts (I cut them out with a glass) and the butter tart filling recipe as well. With pastry, the technique is just as important as the recipe:

Double Crust Pastry:

Put approx 1/3 cup of softened butter in a 1 cup measuring cup. Add shortening to fill, mix well, and refrigerate until chilled.
Chill approx ü cut of water, add a splash of vinegar and chill. When chilled, add 1 egg and beat into chilled water.
In deep bowl, mix 2 cups of unbleached flour, a dash of salt and some icing sugar. Cut in shortening/flour mixture with pastry blender. Cut in until shortening is in pieces about the size of peas. Add enough of the water/egg mixture to just hold together.
Roll out pastry and cut with a cutter or a glass to get the right size shells for your tart pan (you can use a muffin pan).

Butter Tarts

1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour boiling water over raisins. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain, add remaining ingredients. Stir together well. Add mixture into unbaked pastry shells and bake at 375ð for approximately 15 to 18 minutes. I make my own pastry, and I usually freeze the tarts before baking⦠they donâÂÂt seem to boil over that way. In fact, I chill the filling before I put it in the shells, as you don't want to melt the fat in your pastry. Makes about 24 tarts.

Thanksgiving was a bit of a disappointment (for me) this year, family drama.

I know, I know, TG is all about being grateful not hateful but sometimes wham bam to the moon, Alice!

So no turkey. :( We had roast beef on Saturday with one brother (I cooked, he doesn't like turkey) and ham with other brother today (with most of the dinner being pre-made from the grocery store) and I got the distinct feeling that we were putting them out. Brothers don't talk to each other. My parents are deceased and so are dh's parents. :( DH's existing family doesn't talk to anyone. I'd like to beat them all with a turkey carcass. The living relatives, not the deceased ones.

I'm cooking a turkey for our family unit next weekend. It's just not TG without turkey.

Homemade butter tarts are the BEST! My Mom would make them and put walnuts in them. Yum YUM. I've never made them, but I'm copying Jasdip's recipe and might try my hand at them for Christmas. The problem with butter tarts is that one leads to another ... then another... may as well just apply them directly to my butt. :-)

It was a picture perfect day, weather wise and for the fall foliage.

BJ

Yesterday we had dinner at my mom's and the meal was EXCELLENT. I brought roasted brussel sprouts, mashed turnip, and cabbage rolls. There was turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, mac and cheese, salad and veggies and pickles, meatballs in mushroom gravy, green beans and carrots, corn, squash, and I am sure there is something I forgot. For dessert there was apple crisp, apple pie, and chocolate cupcakes.

Tonight I made dinner. Pretty much a smaller repeat of the dinner we had yesterday. I made a small turkey, potatoes and mash, reheated brussel sprouts and turnip since I am the only one who likes those. Crescent rolls from a can (sort of a tradition for DH lol). Heated the cabbage rolls made the other day, made stuffing in the small slow cooker. For dessert I made apple strudels with puff pastry, and somebody brought chocolate pie.

I tried a new way to cook the turkey. I SPATCHCOCKED it (I love that word. Spatchcock. Spatchcock. Spatch....ahem). Basically you cut the backbone out of it and flatten it, cracking the breast bone. Perfectly browned and the white and dark meat were done at the same time (and it only took a little over 1 hour for a 12 pound turkey!). Lots of drippings for gravy. It was very moist. I found it a bit chewy, but I am from the "cook it until it is falling apart, if it is dry I will bathe it in gravy" camp. DH said it was the best turkey he had ever tasted. If I change anything, it would be to cook it just a tad longer, or take the breast off and let the dark meat cook more. It was cooked, but I like it COOKED.

Hope everybody had a great week-end!

Hi Blue jeans for ... well, quite a while,

When you make those Canadian butter tarts and send them to the final destination direct ...

... would you refer to them as "Butt-er tarts"??

o j

LOL and a big grrroan, oj! :-) I can't believe you made me the BUTT of this joke!

Double groan! *lol*

BJ

bluejeans4ever, I've been wondering if you butter your butt (whether you call it a biscuit or not), will the butter tarts just slide away and not stick?

I move the committee eliminate the raisins and substitute bacon in the tarts. And no sugar on the bacon... after all... they're supposed to be... dare I say it?

DARE! DARE!

they're supposed to be TART!

Poor BJ ((BJ)) don't pay any attention to those guys. Even though they are pretty funny today. I'm making those butter tarts for our Thanksgiving next month and using raisins and walnuts.

Sounds like most of you had a great Thanksgiving. Now you have a whole two months to rest up before Christmas. Sigh! Seems like we just get over fixing one big meal when we have to start another one. Plus clean and decorate the house, buy and wrap gifts, make/bake goodies for family and friends and go to holiday events. We women end up exhausted and glad when it's over. Sad, huh? Sure wish we could move our Thanksgiving date.

Only if it's Canadian back bacon, Cynic! :-)

Patti43, YUM! Let us know how they turn out! I'm with you on the Christmas madness, I'm way into online shopping these days, which makes it somewhat less exhausting.

Dances, I found a video on youtube on how to spatchcock a turkey and I think I am going to try it when I cook our little turkey this weekend.

BJ