This morning it was buttermilk biscuits and gravy. I don't know what I was thinking (or not thinking), but I neglected to make sure I had buttermilk on hand. I had read (here I think) that sour cream would work as a substitute so I tried that and the biscuits were fantastic. I might not ever use buttermilk again!

We smoked pork ribs last night and will have those again for dinner tonight along with a yet to be determined veggie (hubby is out grocery shopping) and warmed until the crust is toasty sour dough bread.

I'll be out of town with a girlfriend tomorrow, but when I get back on Sunday, I'm going to make a southwestern quinoa salad. We're going out of town for a few days next week and hubby requested the quinoa as something to take along for a snack.

Beef and broccoli stir fry with rice tonight. And either beef stew or chicken pot pie over the weekend.

I am also in the midst of making the dough for the soft and chewy molasses cookies posted earlier this week! They just sounded too good to pass up :-)

@DawnInCal, what are the proportions for subbing the sour cream for buttermilk? 1 for 1? I always have sour cream on hand but seldom buttermilk so I opt out of some buttermilk recipes I'd like to try.

I am starting Thanksgiving food. I have to start early or I get totally overwhelmed. I make things ahead that freeze well like pie crust.

I made chicken pot pie for hubby & chicken salad for me, there will be enough for 2 more meals. Tomorrow will be a pan of eggplant parm. Also will make a upside down caramelized apple cake. Hubby has a sweet tooth.

Gardengal, I usually use 3/4 C buttermilk in my biscuit dough. For the substitution, I used 1/4 C milk (almond milk actually because I didn't have milk either!) and 1/2 C sour cream.

DawnInCal, thank you! I've always been told to mix lemon juice or vinegar with regular milk but it always seemed to have a slightly "off" taste. I am going to try the sour cream substitution, too.

Tonight's dinner is whatever is in the container I pulled out of the freezer this morning, tomorrow will be bean soup (also a freezer offering) and Sunday, fried chicken. Just haven't decided if it will be batter-fried or just floured.

Tonight is sauteed chicken thighs with assorted veggies, all cooked in a bit of chicken broth and finished with thyme and chopped fresh dill. We will have it over mashed potatoes. Not sure about the weekend - maybe something more fastfood-ish, like a hamburger.

I had bacon (which I rarely buy) on hand and some nice spinach, so I made the quiche which is right now in the oven. It might turn out super spicy -- I used jalapeño cheddar jack cheese.

I'm thinking tacos on Sunday, but I have to buy everything, which means I have to go to the store... Hm... Maybe there's some cooked meat in the freezer that needs using...

Nothing, will be working 3-12 hour shifts over the long holiday weekend. I stocked up yesterday on frozen meals and also have leftovers I made into individual meals: white bean chicken chili and sauteed chicken & veggies over rice. The chicken chili will be good, it has gotten so cold here today.

Kind of an easy one for me. Going out for dinner tonight, grilling tri-tip tomorrow and salmon on Sunday. If time permits, I might make some ham and split pea soup to have on hand next week.

I don't keep sour cream or buttermilk around, but do stock plain yogurt. I use that thinned with milk for buttermilk recipes. Generally about half yogurt and half milk. It's the regular yogurt - Greek yogurt might require more thinning as it's thicker.

Roast chicken for dinner tonight - I'm thinking of using a recipe I saw for sumac chicken and rice. Roast green beans with ginger and garlic because the thread on roasted vegetables made me hungry for them.

The medical center where I went to get my stitches out has a mini-farmer's market on Friday mornings so I picked up some ears of corn that I'll cook later this weekend.

I made a big pot roast for our dinner and was thinking there will be another meal there. But apparently not with two growing teenage boys in the house .

My pleasure, ediej. I'm another who always has sour cream on hand, but have to plan ahead for buttermilk, which I should have done since I've known for several days that I was planning on making biscuits today!

As Cloud Swift mentions, plain yogurt works well as another buttermilk substitute. I would have used that, but all I had on hand was maple flavored yogurt. Now that I think about it, that might make for some interestingly flavored biscuits! Hmmmm...

Working again so very little. I do have plans for tommorow. SO hasn't had a real meal in a week or so except breakfast so I will cook for him. I bought some chicken wings and I will season them when I get home in the morning. I plan to get up an hour early and air fry those. I will also cook a cabbage and mashed potatoes and some cornbread. That will feed him for 2 days at least. I miss cooking when I work and due to the other night minion calling out sick this week after going on a vacation last week I haven't been able to cook up some love.

I tried to make a cock-a-leekie soup. It's chicken soup alright. The point is for it to be a light meal to kick off the rich meals which will be consumed come December (eaten at the end of November on St Andrew's Day). It's highly Scottish. So there were no leeks at the store. Subbed green onions. Supposed to be water or chicken broth. Didn't have that either, it was bone broth. So heartier than the light repast it was going to be. But it's chicken soup, nonetheless.

;)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/23/how-to-make-the-perfect-cock-a-leekie-soup

I am making a pot of 9 bean soup with sausage today. I will serve that for dinner with shredded beef sandwiches made from last night's pot roast.

Caramel macchiato cheesecake with whipped cream for dessert.

I have a jumbo pot of beef vegetable soup on the stove right now. It is cold here, so this is great soup weather.

Just brought home makings for salmon soup. My favorite on a chilly day. I bought Our Family cans of pink salmon, usually I buy the red, lately been buying the more expensive pink. Can't remember the brand name of the last two mentioned. Anyway, it should taste alright. The red gives it a wonderful golden color on top tho.

ETA: looked it up, it's Sea Alaska fancy red salmon

Found half a bag of shrimp in the freezer so we'll do something with that.

Chi, what else do you make ahead and freeze for Tgiving?

I made a quick wonton soup this evening with rice and frozen wontons from Costco. But tomorrow morning is my big cooking time to prepare for the week... breakfast quiche with hashbrowns and sausage, root vegetables (I couldn't resist the butternut squash on sale), and muffins made with the overripe bananas on my counter. And I'm going to spatchcock a chicken for dinner, with the leftovers to be turned into something (probably soup) later in the week.

We hit up the Williebird turkey store before the crazy TG stuff starts and got bacon, sausage and some scraps, so I'll be making turkey pot pie tonight. I'll freeze one of the bacon packages and make patties and freeze the sausage.

These guys make the BEST turkey sausage and bacon out there!

We have friends for lunch today to celebrate the move to our new house, one of them is vegetarian (who eats fish and cheese!)so it's blinis with smoked salmon and hummous, then a beetroot and cream cheese terrine with some garlic bread, then roasted, stuffed butternut squash with cider cream sauce and some sous vide cod for anyone who wants some fish with it, cheese and salad and dessert brought by a guest.

Sjerin, I do a lot of small things that take time since I cook everything myself and have a large menu. For instance, I will process and freeze all the graham cracker crumbs and cookie crumbs for pie, freeze pie crusts, make and freeze the cornbread, cube and freeze the stuffing bread, caramelize all the onions and freeze for the gravy, make yeast rolls and freeze before baking so I just have to take them out, let them rise and bake on Thanksgiving. I also make my butternut squash puree and freeze it. Basically anything that can be frozen without impacting the flavor, I do ahead of time. It makes it so much easier. I used to do most of my cooking on Thanksgiving and it was always stressful but now I prep ahead and do very little on the actual day, which is so much better.

I've heard some people say you can make the stuffing and freeze the whole thing. Same with gravy. I want to try it but I'm scared of ruining it!

Chi, have you thought about doing test batches of stuffing and gravy using you and your hubby as guinea pigs?

I know gravy can be frozen because we make large batches of sausage gravy and freeze it in smallish containers for the days when we want biscuits and gravy. It saves a whole lot of time, mess and fuss. As far as stuffing goes, I sure can't think of any reason that wouldn't freeze well.

"As far as stuffing goes, I sure can't think of any reason that wouldn't freeze well."

I agree, Dawn. I've frozen it with no problem.

Made pancakes from scratch last night for dinner. Now making a pot of red chili.

Up coming cold weather. A storms coming in this evening with snow tomorrow.

Oh, interesting, thanks Dawn and Chloe. Did you bake the stuffing first or freeze it unbaked? How do you store it? I was thinking of making and cooling it and storing in freezer bags that I can pull out the day before to defrost and then put in pans and bake. It sure would save time and dishes! From what I've read it can improve flavor too

I might try the gravy. I make a caramelized onion and cognac gravy that doesn't have drippings (I'm a vegetarian) so I can make it fully ahead. It takes over an hour to fully caramelize the onions so it's not ideal for the actual day.

Today I made applesauce and the apple muffins that were shared on the apple thread. Tonight I'm making a one pot sauerkraut dish with polska kielbasa, Yukon golds, apples, onions, and cider.

Chi, I've only frozen it after it was cooked. Defrost it in the fridge and reheat at a low temp...325 should be good. Nothing higher since you don't want to cook it again...just heat. Cover it while reheating. Should take about 15-20 minutes. Just check to make sure it's warmed through. You'll be good to go. :-)

ETA - If it's any help regarding freezing uncooked stuffing, I found the following from the USDA Food and Safety Inspection. I'd go with cooking it before freezing since it works really well.

Can you prepare uncooked stuffing ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it?
Do not refrigerate uncooked stuffing. If stuffing is prepared ahead of time, it must be either frozen or cooked immediately. To use cooked stuffing later, cool in shallow containers and refrigerate it within 2 hours. Use it within 3 to 4 days. Reheat the cooked stuffing to 165 °F just as for all leftovers. Do not stuff whole poultry with leftover cooked stuffing.

It is safe to freeze uncooked stuffing. Ingredients can be combined, put into a shallow container, and frozen immediately. To use it safely, do not thaw it before cooking. Cook the frozen stuffing until it reaches 165 °F.

Tonight - leftover from last night's homemade Minestrone with spicy Italian sausage. I'm sure it will be awesome tonight since it was really good yesterday. Wow, lots of soup this weekend!

Pot roast tonight! I was going to make it yesterday, but forgot how long it takes and it got too late to start. I like to add fennel bulb and winter squash, along with the carrots, potatoes & celery, and I have fresh bay leaves from my little tree. I actually need to start ASAP, instead of lollygagging on the forums.

And schoolhouse's salmon soup is intriguing. Care to share the recipe?

And I like the idea of making stuffing ahead, I do make the piecrusts ahead, but how can I make gravy ahead, when I use the pan drippings from the turkey? I also make rolls ahead & freeze them, using Betty Crocker's brown & serve directions

Is the liquid in your gravy all drippings or do you use broth too? Mine is broth based but I've stirred in turkey drippings right before serving when reheating before for my non-vegetarian guests.

Last night, Mexican potatoes. Tonight, Meat loaf and twice-baked potatoes.

"...but how can I make gravy ahead, when I use the pan drippings from the turkey?"

Carol, you might take a look at this for make-ahead gravy. It's worth the time to make ahead...tasty and a stress reliever for turkey day. I've added some sprigs of thyme, sage and/or rosemary. Up to you.

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

3 lbs turkey wings (or combination of wings, thighs, leg)

2 medium onions, peeled and quartered

1 cup water

8 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup chopped carrots

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Salt, to taste

Heat oven to 400.

Arrange wings in a single layer in a large roasting pan. Scatter onions over top. Roast 1 1/4 hours until wings are browned.

Put wings and onions in a 5-6 quart pot.

Add water to roasting pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom. Add the brown bits to the pot. Add 6 cups broth (put remaining 2 cups in fridge) add carrot and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered. 1 1/2 hours.

Remove wings. Save wing meat for another use or discard.

Strain broth into a 3 quart saucepan, pressing vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible.

Discard vegetables. Skim fat off broth and discard. (If time permits, refrigerate broth overnight to make fat skimming easier.)

Whisk flour into remaining 2 cups broth until well blended.

Bring broth in pot to a gentle boil. Whisk in flour/broth mixture and boil 3-4 minutes to thicken gravy and cook flour.

Stir in butter and pepper. Add salt, to taste.

Serve or freeze up to 6 months.

rob333, you didn’t have water? I’m confused.

You're right, poorly worded.

I didn't have the lighter version of the broth and plain water sounds blechy.

Water should be fine for making chicken soup. I usually prefer to go that way rather than starting with purchased broth. Simmering chicken and vegetables in water is how you get broth and the recipe you linked simmers for 2 hours which should be enough time to turn the water into broth. Though 2 chicken legs for 2 liters of water doesn't seem like enough chicken to make a good soup.

Carolb, if you want to make your gravy ahead of time, I would make the gravy using chloebud's recipe or one of your own if you'd rather. On Turkey Day, after the turkey is done and you are ready to heat up the gravy, stir in the turkey drippings and allow them to do their thing while the gravy is coming to temperature.

I like to use drippings too, but I try to remove as much grease/fat as I can before adding them to the gravy.

Then we're in agreement cloud :) i just couldn't envision the broth having much flavor that way.

I heated up some smoked turkey that I had gotten from my DB On Sunday morning I got up and made knoephla for my hot dish I was supposed to bring to the bunco party. I never started it though until I found out if we would be having it or not because of the weather, After It was cancelled I had to cut them up to put in the freezer. On Saturday night I made spaghetti..

FWIW, I always use the fresh neck and giblets to make broth while the turkey roasts, and then make gravy with that and the drippings. I don't add any veggies, just fresh bay leaves, and the dry spice rub I use on the turkey makes the drippings very dark and rich. I'll stick with tradition. I can do a lot of other things ahead.