I think we talked about make-ahead mashed potatoes recently?

The restaurant way is to boil, dry, and mash the potatoes with no fat, then fold the mash into boiling milk-butter-stock when needed to serve. Yummm.

All that sounds perfect!

I imagine I will be doing the usual for Thanksgiving. I made my sister a big batch of my chicken dressing a couple months ago to put in her freezer and her son has mastered my mac and cheese recipe so I do not expect any more "outside" requests for cooking this year.

I am actually off work for Thanksgiving this year, which I am not used to. I do work the night before though. I asked my beloved today did he just want to stay home for Thanksgiving or did he want to go to his mothers house? He wants to stay home. Ok. So then I asked what did he want me to cook. He declared that we have PLENTY of time to decide that. A WHOLE WEEK. To plan a holiday meal. And while we are not "meal planners" by any means, as we tend to wait until we are hungry to decide what we want, I think that considering the amount of shopping and cooking that would need to be done to accomplish a holiday meal, I think we should make an exception.

So I am planning to do a turkey tenderloin, chicken dressing (his favorite) with cranberry sauce from the can, mac and cheese, collard greens for him (already cooked from my spring garden and stashed in the freezer) and some sort of dessert. The dessert is the only thing undecided. If he wants to deviate from that, that is fine, but he better let me know before I go shopping this weekend for the goods.

Yes, we did. I did a trial run with two potatoes. Given the advice I rrecieved for that, along with my own preferences for texture and flavor, I dived in and on the first try, it was a smashing success! I just hope I can do as well with a whole big, deep casserol full. I lasted like a week, or nearly that in a Pyrex covered bowl, so I'm hoping more, in the casserole will do well. I'm not a big mashed potato fan, especially without gravy (there's plenty of gravy, but I did the test as straight from the bowl--nice that the Pyrex is so good fridge to oven to table). I found my tester really delicious. I hope that was just doing my own thing, not a fluke or the particular potatoes. Frankly, imagining the restaurant style makes me think I wouldn't like it.

Chloebud, thanks so much for the check list and further advice!

Amylou, I'm impressed by your freezer contents! Too bad there isn't a pie in there!

We are just starting to think about Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, it’s been that kind of year.

Since our routine is all a-kimbo, I’m thinking of finally throwing off the yoke of turkey. A turkey-free Thanksgiving! Perhaps a standing rack of lamb and a roast duck.

Those both sound like good celebratory feast features, though the duck is rather more autumnal. I know people whose families do taco bars or pizza. I mean that's a you do you kind of thing, but to me kind of misses the point. Most of my holidays are harvest holidays, and I think that way about Thanksgiving, too. The original Thanksgiving cousin, mother of the two subsequent ones, always made a canned ham as well as the turkey, I think because she liked it, though, of course, I can't be sure. When the hordes came to me for sit down dinner at Passover, I made big turkeys of necessity. And a whole brisket. The fact is, you can get up to a 30 lb. turkey in a normal home oven, and it'll feed a mob (though I'd rather have the second protein--I think my largest was 25 lb., which fit in my goose pot, barely, and took 2-3 of us to get out of the oven, onto a little wood table right next to it, then up to the island a foot away. Not possible at not-my-house with not so many minions, but no hordes, there. Just a dozen. If your mob is small enough for the lamb and duck, go for it! You have all those ovens now. You can do anything.

Our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners will be smaller this year, as some of the regulars have died. May be as small as six, probably no more than ten.

I do have ovens aplenty. Now one more.

Yesterday I bought a used Volrath commercial countertop half-sheet oven for the cafe. One of these:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/vollrath-40701-cayenne-half-size-countertop-convection-oven-230v/92240701.html

I picked it up at a warehouse full of antique-ish furniture of a particular style: lots of dark wood and velvet. Turns out this was the warehouse for the “Old Spaghetti Factory” chain of restaurants, and the oven had been bought by “Sally” for her personal kitchen.

Sally is Sally Dussin, co-founder of the O.S.F. She was quite a person with an interesting and full life, obituary here https://obits.oregonlive.com/us/obituaries/oregon/name/sally-dussin-obituary?id=7111946

Sally passed away a few years ago, and her little oven was placed into the company’s inventory, now to be sold.

SWMBO was excited by this, as the Old Spaghetti Factory is her favorite restaurant. I told the seller this. He, as it turns out, is on charge of building the all restaurants for the O.S.F. - they have 40+ now - and maintaining all the furnishings, including recovering the velvet couches. We talked about the cafe and I can, he said, call him if I have any questions. Cool!

So Sally will join Giselle, Wall-E, Eva, and American [Range] in the crew, although she’ll be based at location “C”, a remote worker if you will? Rather than an insignificant pip amid the hulking ovens, blast furnaces, and bubbling cauldrons of Mizithra cheese in the giant O.S.F. kitchens, she’ll be the primary oven in her new kitchen, as least for awhile. She will proudly wear the label “SALLY” and, if we can find one, an Old Spaghetti Factory sticker. On her *shiny* new case. You see, Sally never had a chance to use Sally in her kitchen, so Sally is brand-new in box :-)

Wow! What a find!

Only $500!

floral, this made me think of your ”couple of glasses.”

Funny! And completely not untrue!

🍷😵‍💫🍷😵‍💫🍷!!!

Indeed, Floral, I do the same thing. The big difference with Thanksgiving is the quantity of starches, but note that there are no sweet potatoes on my list. If they arrive, they'll be served, but traditionally, three different cousins bring three different sweet potato casseroles, which all have in common being too sweet. One loads one's plate first, then squeezes in little dollops of each one so as not to offend. :)

I don't drink while cooking, but I get the motivations behind Chloebud's schedule!

All this food sounds so good -- can't wait for the feast next week! And the LEFTOVERS! I enjoy the leftovers much more than the dinner itself, probably because I can sit by my lonesome and enjoy every bite of a pig-out rather than running around as the hostess. Am I the only one who doesn't eat much when hosting?

I'm very organized. I've got the menu planned already, will go through the recipes before I head out to the grocery this weekend and write down what I need, with a separate list of last-minutes to get just a day or two before (fresh mushrooms, fresh flowers for the table, etc).

I make as much as I can the day before so the actual day-of is pretty simple, and guests bring some of the sides. I've been making the NYT make-ahead gravy for years now, it is so much easier to make it on Wednesday and then just heat up and add pan drippings right before serving on Thursday. I switched back to roasted redskins with shallots rather than mashed potatoes last year and will have that again this year; I stink at making mashed potatoes, and its too much work day-of (never tried day before, but regardless I'm not a good mash maker and it's less work anyway because I don't have to peel redskins).

I'm trialing a new recipe today -- pumpkin pie blondies. They're setting up in the fridge right now so nothing to report yet. I was going to make pumpkin bread pudding but got this other idea. But dang I do love bread pudding and only make it for get-togethers. Problem is I never made pumpkin bread pudding. Maybe I'll do the pumpkin blondies and rum-raisin bread pudding, the rum raisin always comes out good. I'm also making a raspberry-white chocolate cheesecake and have a Free Range Fruitcake stewing in booze as I type....can't have too many sweets, right?

porkchop, YES, the leftovers! Do let us know about the blondies! Mashed potatoes are also too much for me to make the day of. So much easier to make 1-2 days ahead, especially since they hold so nicely. For Thanksgiving mashed, DH helps me with the peeling and potato ricer due to the amount. Goes pretty quick!

Porkchop, it sounds like you have everything well in hand! I'm ambivalent about leftovers from a big feast. By the time they go home, I'm exhausted. The minions can usually be counted on for some clean-up, but at not-my-kitchen, I'm willing to go paper. Usually, I use the ones that can go in the green bin, but trying to be pretty, I got some printed oval paper plates. Oval is the new in thing, apparently. But I'm going to hdave to package the leftovers and deal with them. I'll freeze the turkey in useable lots. Thanks giving cousin will take guacamole. What I love is stuffing, but that's a lot of starch. I can freeze quarter pies. But many thanks for mentioning leftovers! I have a big pile of stuff to take over there before the rain tomorrow. I'll add containers! Especially for the guacamole.

Re sweets, I've made a lot of bread pudding, and a lot of pumpkin stuff. Especially with all you're make, I don't think experimenting with pumpkin bread pudding is a good idea. Make the one you know. Do the pumkin later, just to try it, when you have time, and see how it goes. Do it for company when you've perfected the recipe. Pumpkin almost always handles way wetter than it looks. Just off the top of my head, it would probably work best to make a densely pumpkiny pumpkin bread first, and combine it with regular bread and/or dry cake. OR, blender the pumpkin to liqud first, and use it in your custard as most of the milk, and maybe replace the milk/cream with whipped butter, to reduce the liquid. Or, actually, gently heat the liquid pumpkin to literally reduce that. Even so, mix it with heavy cream, rather than milk. Or even crème fraîche. Oh, carp! Now I want to make pumpkin bread pudding with candied walnuts and bourbon sauce! Good news, is I have four 9" pie plates free, so I'm taking two to not-my-kitchen and leaving two here. I can decide which to make where and when on the fly!

^^ That's what a dishwasher is for :0)

I cut the pumpkin pie blondies. Oh, now these are GOOOOD! Similar to pumpkin pie but in bar form and better than pie. Pretty easy, too. I ate more than I should have....ugh...

This is the recipe: Pumpkin Pie Blondie Bars | Life, Love and Sugar

Thanks for the recipe! I’m making pecan bars in a couple days. Basically pecan pie in bar form.

plllog: I am in awe of you!! A toast to you, and I'm sure everything will end up as fantastic as it sounds. Im doing just an itty-bitty dinner tomorrow with just an in-bone turkey breast with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, canned whole cranberry, and yeast rolls. Certainly no big deal, done mainly for the turkey sandwiches. Thanksgiving day will be with family, elsewhere. I will bring my usual, much loved sour cream cheesecake and key lime pie. Both are nutso easy to make. Wishing you an awesome Thanksgiving holiday!

There's a dishwasher. I just don't want to be loading it after all the cooking (that's why minions are important). At my place, no problem doing several loads and stemware by hand, but at not-my-kitchen, I want to be able to drive safely after all the work (I have to drive myself to get there at cooking time, though in extremis, I could leave my car there and ride with someone else), and I need everything cleaned up so I don't have to go back the next day. Anything that can go in the freezer or fridge there and hold for a few days does. Things that don't fit in the DW have to at least be rinsed clean of food residue. It's accessible, whereas there's a flight of stairs to climb up to my own front door, so it's a good place to have the family.

I will be going to a whoever shows up Thanksgiving with whatever they bring. One person is making the bird for sure. I'm bringing my favorite cranberry sauce---bag of cranberries, one whole orange, one whole lemon skins and all, run through food processor, sugar to taste--and I can live with whatever else shows up. All the gatherings among my friends are pretty much like this and no one goes home hungry.

plllog...That was an INCREDIBLE list! Very thought out and well organized. Impressive!

Yesterday I made a Pumpkin cheese cake", we're eating it as a pre-Thanksgiving, get in the mood dessert. I do THIS every year. 🥧

Did the Thanksgiving turkey shopping...to be sure to get a BIG turkey. 22.21 lbs. .84cents a lb, love the price too! 40 yrs ago....at least....My mother asked me if she could shop for anything for me @ the flea market. She was going every Saturday with her ex-husband, had NO money and nothing to shop for. She said I could pay her back for any purchases. I asked for a turkey roaster just like hers. She said she'd NEVER find one....yet...she did. $12 Has a vent on the back side. It's big enough to hold a 25lb stuffed turkey! Easily!

So now I just need to shop last minute:

1 med yellow onion

1 bunch celery

5 lbs Russet potatoes

I've got a loaf of white bread I'll dice and lay it out to dry in the pantry with the door closed for a week. I'll take the turkey out of the freezer today, sit it on a stack of newspapers in the frig. to start thawing out. I've already purchased the bacon & sage for the dressing to stuff the turkey with Thanksgiving day, just before I put it in the oven. I get out of bed @ 6am to start cooking.

My husband peels and dices potatoes while the turkeys baking, around 10am. That's his part.

I've got the Land 'O Lakes Butter for the mashed potatoes.

Bake the turkey for 5.5hrs, then use the pan dripping to make gravy...and later freeze it as leftovers. Purchased the Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce in a can. I'd like to make my crabapple sauce, but the trees are still young & haven't started producing enough apples....I have 5 Crabapple trees, just babies! Three Sugar Tyme & two Prairie Fire.

Menu:

Turkey & gravy from pan drippings

Stuffing

Mashed potatoes

Cranberry sauce

Pumpkin Cheesecake

---------------------------------------------------------

This is ALL I have planned so far. Just the two of us. We love leftovers.

Thanks, Nicole! You're nicely organized yourself!

I like my turkey in a roaster also. Most recipes talk about crispy turkey skin, but I do not need it and my husband will NOT eat chicken or turkey skin. (As a child someone told him fowl ”peed” through their skin.) True or not he refuses to eat. The turkey is much moister if cooked covered.

ETA: I just looked the myth up about fowl and it is a myth. They do not pee through their skin.

All birds poop and pee at the same time through the same hole. The white part is the pee.

🤣🦃

With a turkey roaster, I can drain the juices off for my gravy, put it back in the oven for 15 minutes to brown it off.....but neither of us eats the skin either. Some years I've tried opening the vent on the back of the pan.....that allows the turkey to brown too, but then I lose juices.

We don't do Thanksgiving here, but we also love leftovers, so even though we have a big, extended family Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, I always cook a whole 'nother Christmas dinner (turkey and all the fixings) on Christmas Day for DH and I, just for the leftovers :-D

Today worked out great! We got out the door promptly before the rain with the couple of pie plates, turkey lifters and baster, spices I'll need., butter and eggs,. I don't have enough stock for the stuffing, but have two cartons of broth left from making the gravy, so too them for the stuffing. Bonus, i don't have to figure out the salt. :) Also we took the frozen gravy, limas and corn, and got them in the kitchen freezer without having to clean it out first. And we got back dry. :)

Yesterday, I made sure to finalize my farm order early--and totally forgot the potatoes! The rain held off so we stopped at Trader Joe's. I had also forgotten to order greens for home. Got those all, lemons and limes, avocadoes, and some food for eating for the next week. And ice. Things had gotten pretty bare. Farm delivery tonight with most of the veg. Any last minute needs as well as a tomato, will come from the snooty store on Monday (hope it doesn't rain) when we pick up the turkey.

The list I've made here, plus the shopping/making list I have in my notepad on the iPad have been invaluable. Thank-you, everyone for your help and for sharing your own plans and notions.

You ROCK!!!👍🏻 Geez, enough of this rain!

The sun came out! And my knee was much better for it. :) The heater morning meeting stuff went well. I left a minion behind for the FedEx pickup, and took two grocery bags of produce from TJ's and the Farm, and the frozen bread oddments for the stuffing, as well as a bag of ice, all by myself. It's not that much stuff, but the packaging! Maybe it's for the holiday? Mushrooms used to come in little brown cardboard boxes with air openings. Now, they're inn huge, sealed plastic boxes! WTH! I forgot onions for the stuffing, but took the bell peppers, mushrooms and the celery is for both stuffing and crudité--it's big but nice. I think I'll just buy some white onions on Monday rather than using the Spanish onions I have. Also red grapes and red and gold kiwi for dessert. Oh, and scallions and mini peppers for the succotash. The avocadoes and limes for the guacamole (TJ's has nice organic ones buy only in bags, so I took them all to get them out of my way, plus a bag of lemons which I got on general principles, and not to be picking them in the rain). I also took my finger limes and blueberries for kind of backup. Or to much while cooking.

Any problems with this schedule?

• Sunday afternoon, make the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
• Monday morning, take them and anything else that needs moving to not-my-kitchen, got to the store with minion to get the turkey, tomato, white onions, milk, half and half, coffee and anything else needed.

. . . . . . . . . Set table and put out chairs.

. . . . . . . . .Tear up the bread and set it out to dry/stale

. . . . . . . . . Make sure the coffee maker is ready to go

. . . . . . . . . (I did check the roaster and it fits the oven, barely. The handles brush against the rack supports.)

. . . . . . . . . Make pie filling

• Tuesday assemble and bake pies, make the dressing for the succotash
• Wednesday cut the vegetables for crudité, succotash and stuffing. Assemble stuffing. Thaw the gravy.
• Thursday Get the turkey parts ready and cook them

. . . . . . . . . Make guacamole

. . . . . . . . . Assemble succotash and add stock to stuffing

. . . . . . . . . Wash grapes and cut kiwi

. . . . . . . . . Set up coffee maker

. . . . . . . . . Warm everything that needs it. Fill serving pieces. Collapse.

OMG you mean Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK?!?

I’m not great at holidays, they always sneak up on me, and this year is especially discombobulated.

Zero preparation here, only the vaguest ideas for a menu.

Maybe I should go buy the WalMart Thanksgiving dinner?

We will have our usual Island of Misfit Toys guest list, thinned by death, but with one of DD’s misfit friends in attendance. We’ll have ten. Including a couple in the process of divorce, oh joy.

One guest gave SWMBO a earthenware chicken roaster and wants to see it used. So maybe a roast chicken, but is that too pedestrian? In France we’ve had a capon cooked in a cocotte with champagne. Maybe something like that?

I am still hung up on pork tenderloin, and am thinking of how I used to make beef tenderloin for parties, little medallions with a Grand Marnier sauce. Not going to putz around with sous vide, just a great big saucepan with butter and git ’er done.

plllog, I have a schedule like that, using every day until the TG dinner, although ours will be on Saturday, and we'll have 14.

John, I have one of those earthenware roasters and you can make lots of things in it that aren't chicken, including your aforementioned duck. The lamb too, and what a great buy on Sally, what good luck.

I like turkey and I like leftovers more than the meal, I think. By the time I cook the meal I don't want to eat it, but by the next day the leftovers are calling to me! This year, in deference to my cardiologist who tells me to "take it easy, don't push it" (yeah, he doesn't know me well yet, LOL), others will be bringing some dishes and more will be made in advance, including the potatoes and the gravy. We will be having the ubiquitous cheese ball, made by my oldest daughter for the first time ever, and Elery is going to make some appetizers in the smoker that involve beef and bacon. Elery's daughter is coming with her husband and they will bring jalapeno/cranberry dip and tortellini salad, something we've never had before during a holiday meal but what the heck, throw it in the mix! Makayla is making mac and cheese and Ashley's newest "flavor of the day/boyfriend" is bringing a carrot cake. I'll be making turkey and ham, both bread and cornbread stuffing, corn casserole, green beans with bacon, sweet potatoes, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce. For dessert there will be pumpkin pie, cushaw pie and a gluten free "death by chocolate" which is just gluten free brownies layered with chocolate pudding and cool whip.

The rolls and desserts will be made the day before, the stuffing and potatoes and gravy the day before that, and the cornbread for the stuffing will be made the day before THAT, which is Wednesday. That's also the day I'll get the turkey out to thaw and the ham, make the cranberry sauce and I haven't figured out how to make corn casserole ahead. My grand plan is to have everything ready to go in the oven in disposable pans so I don't have pans to scrub. For the first time ever we will not be using Grandma's Thanksgiving china, we're having disposables. Except flatware, I refuse to use those plastic things! Dinner will be served buffet style directly from the baking pans, so no serving dishes either.

We will spend my favorite holiday doing what we do every year, eating and being thankful and I have much to be thankful for this year.

Annie

Thankful, indeed, Annie! You are a blessing. I had to look up cushaw. They're cute! Yours sounds like a great plan.

LOL, JL! What did you think this thread was about? Nothing pedestrian about chicken! It was a luxury before the 1970's and there are 100's of amazingly good recipes to make with it. Still those clay roasters are supposed to be good, and, really, a plain good chicken roast is amazingly good. It's like vanilla. It's so pervasive because it's so good to the point that people take it for granted, and denigrate it, when it's really as much of an etoille as ever. My parents often made chateaubriand for big parties. Since they bought beef by the side, they "paid" for it by forgoing fillets from that delivery. :) Just the whole thing, broiled, with my father cutting at the buffet, "carving station" style. Everybody adored it. You probably can't help gussying it up, but it'll still be appreaciated if you go ll fancy on it. ;)

plllog.... That schedule is pure culinary discipline. You’ve broken it down exactly the way a chef would — advance prep, staggered tasks, proper holding times, everything flowing into the next step without chaos. The mise en place alone deserves applause. It’s thoughtful, efficient, and clearly written by someone who understands how a real kitchen runs. Honestly, this is pro-level hosting.

😊🤗😊🤗😊

Wow! Thank-you, Nicole! I really know nothing of actual professional kitchens, but I did grow up in a large clan where "intimate" meals for the immediate family started around 20 people, and the whole local group was around 50, a rite of passage was three times that, and that's not including out of towners, fringe relations, friends or +1's (only for permanent relationships). Up until the pandemic I was used to hosting dozens at a time. I suppose that does fall under "catering" even though it's just family. 🙂

We'll only be a dozen for Thanksgiving (at least half the usual crowd will be elsewhere, including the minions), but I'm factoring in limited standing and hauling ability and straddling two kitchens half an hour apart, so a lot of it is what's logically necessary to actually get dinner on the table without curling into a sobbing ball and punting. 😝 I keep reading about these women who get up early to start the turkey, but do all the cooking for a traditional midday T'Day dinner for a dozen, from scratch, including a break in the middle for church, with nothing made ahead. Beyond my ken, truly.

Thanks again for what I'm counting as a vote of confidence.

I finished before 5:00 pm, barely. I was much more able-bodied last time I dealt with so many potatoes, but my knee didn't buckle, and I did get it done and clean, though the bigger, hand wash bits are just rinsed. I'm whipped, where as the potatoes are merely riced. :) I knew the potatoes would be the most athletic part. I had a few more, which would have filled the dish, but they were hard and I was tired, and it doesn't look less than full. I had to take lots of breaks but they didn't last too long. Still have the cranberries...

Wow, plllog…just WOW!!! I hope you’re giving yourself some major credit…because all of us here sure are!👍🏻

You're so kind! 😊🤗😊 I'm just doing what I want. All of us are doing our best. Look at what Annie has going! Look at yourself with your beautiful crockery to fill. I'm finding it a lot easier dealing with these things I never make, discussing them here. It helps so much! And hearing what y'all have planned. Amylou is so inspiring, cooking for her family even if she won't be there. Etc. I think you're all wonderful, and you inspire me.

I can't move. Not pain, just tired. The cranberry was no problem last night, but I didn't have enough stand and stir energy to make Jezebel. Today went great. The snooty store can be awful, but it was only a little busy. We got everything, and brought the mash and cran in a cooler. Other than going a few blocks too far toward my house rather than not-my-kitchen. We found the big casseroles for the stuffing, hidden in a cabinet in the sewing room (som past helper did that!). We went through the menu and pulled baskets and trivets and serving pieces. Also set the table and arranged chairs, put spring water in the fridge (found some space next to the turkey box), Etc. We did everything we could think of. Tonight I have to peel and cut the pie apples (with fancy crank peeler that actually works) and get the pumpkin ready. Oh. I guess I should decide which pumpkin pie to make....

plllog....Impressive!

I'm not hosting people...just my husband and I. It's so much easier and less stressful. I am going to the gym using weight machines to strengthen my knees. I hope you'll find time for yourself...?

I do have a story: Yesterday, after the gym, stopped @ Safeway to pick up Glucosamine Condroitin for DH's knees(He says it really helps him, he's in GREAT shape!). I found 4 bottles of a name brand on the markdown rack. It was BOGO + 50% off!! So NOW I was going to spend enough($100) to get a FREE turkey. I figured I can freeze it, I already purchased one for T-giving. Got to the check out and FREE turkeys weren't coming up the checker said, he had to get a manager to take the mark-down. My total was $111, manager took the mark down...now my total was $142! 😂😂😂 I said WHAT! I can do math and that's no "mark-down"!😂😂😂 The poor checker! Guy behind me said, "No cognitive decline"? teasing me....my husband hates when I make a scene and start making everyone laugh in line....I apologized to the checker for my snarky humor....it was funny tho....

I felt bad...I held everyone up in line...but got a FREE turkey!

LOL! I'm with you, Nicole! Free is, by definition, not supposed to add to your total! Who wouldn't make a bit of a fuss?

I'm so glad I made the detailed to-do list. I had a nap and was disinclined to do the apples, but they need to macerate, so I soldiered on and sat down to watch Masterpiece and plowed through them. Then I grabbed the wrong cinnamon without looking at the label (Ceylon). I'll taste them before I put them in the pie. I can add some Vietnamese as I assemble, if needed. There's some sleepy time scheduled tomorrow, too. :)

Pumpkin Bread. In the oven baking right now. I left out the baking soda. I'm @ 7600'. I'm hoping that's high enough not to need the boost. 🎅 🎅 🎅

They look nice.... I hope they come out. Is there baking powder! Eggs? When I learnd improvisational cakery, the most important stricture was don't forget the baking powder (or soda+acid). If the baking soda was just for browning or something, it should be fine if it was just ”a boost”

The apple pie is fine. As I filled, I did a few whiffs of Vietnamese cinnamon. As usual, it's ugly. The freezing made the raw crust a little crumbly so the edges were a bit wonky with repair, and I was too tired to get out my little apple shaped cutter, or even a paring knife, so I just forked vents with the one I was going to crim with (crimping made the edges fall off). It'll be delightful to eat.

... But I wasn't going to do cinnamon in the pumpkin pie with double cinnamon innthe apple. And I was still too tired from yeterday to make my own recipes, or Linda C's with the merringue, so I kind of crossed Ricky's maple with my chunky, and made a mess. There was way too much custard, whick spilled. I captured some and zapped it. Strongly maple! Probably my syrup is too strong. It may tone down when cold. So instead of cinnamon and ginger, I used ginger, fenugreek and ultra fine, freshly milled black pepper. And a little sea salt. I screwed up the blind bake and melted the crust. I kind up moled it back together. There should be enough apple for everybody, and who knows? The pumpkin might even be good!

So then I was ready to make the pumpkin vinaigrette and the knob that turns on the stove (it’s a magnet) was missing. Minion mischief. Finally recovered, I found both my Spanish and California EVOO were just a bit rancid. Oils keep well for me, but they all expire. My usual high viscosity, can take a bit of heat, is at the other house, so I opened a bottle of Italian and kept the temperature way down. It survived. A few drops of saba for sweetness and some white wine vinegar for tang. It needed something more, but I didn't wantto go S&P, so I tried a small shake of dried oregano, and that did the trick. I may yet want to thin it with wine or milk, but I'll see how well it coats thesuccotash, first..

Aha! No wonder I was so tired! It just rained a little rain. I always get sleepy before it rains!

Colleenoz, years ago when we were younger, we would prepare and serve a complete Thanksgiving meal on the night before Thanksgiving at eldest SILs. Then the next day do it all over again for our smaller individual groups - the Wednesday night Thanksgiving could easily be as many as 50. DH comes from a BIG family.

We'd do the same for Christmas, and have our Easter on Holy Saturday. We got older. We got tired. We no longer do back to back huge meals and I certainly don't miss them. We have plenty of opportunities for whole family gatherings on his side throughout the year.

Those Pumpkin Bread loafs were incredibly "heavy". I'll use baking powder next time. They taste good....but...I won't bring extra to the gym for the potlucks that are going on. 🤔Not good enough for "company" as the old saying goes. I expect to have a few failures figuring out the high altitude baking.....

Bread pudding?

Done with prep. Succotash is made. I hope it's okay. I had to refrigerate it warm. On schedule. I had to take off my shoes, move the gel mat and stand in 7th position (like 2nd without turnout. I'd forgotten how much lowere the counters are there. The pies are in the white safes on the bottom.

This year my big "thankful" is for all of you! I couldn't have done it without you. Not just for listening to my qualms and quibbles and thinkitthroughnesses, or the supportive words, or the invaluable help, for all of which I'm immensely grateful, but most of all just for being there!

Menu rundown: First up was the make ahead and freeze turkey gravy. It's rich and full of umami, and worked really well. I don't think the flour scaled well, though. Next time, I'll use less, and maybe use arrowroot starch instead. I kept forgetting to take it out of the freezer to thaw, though. I put the container in hot water and it helped, but not enough, and I had to zap it. I really didn't want to, because I was worried it would break. It did. But I kind of thought there might be an immersion blender--I'd seen someone on TV use it to reconstitute a broken sauce. I found it in the third place I looked! And it worked! I wish you could see it. On one side of the pot it was all gravelly looking and on the other side it was velvety. And it held, even as it congealed a bit on cooling, it didn't break again.

The turkey parts were great. I decided to use the top of the roaster so it would actually fit, and get it all in. I used a funky recipe as a starting point, which reminded me of Linda, I think. Wasn't it she who started a bird really high? The recipe said start at 450"F for half an hour then reduce to 325"F for a short while. I was trying to get the timing right, and I was also worried about it drying. I did pour some wine in ans I'd originally intended, and basting was too hard, so I just poured more. Then I turned it down to 275"F. Luckily, I'd remembered to bring my ThermapenONE. The next time I checked, it was perfect.

Everybody loved the potatoes that I worried over so much! I managed not to tell them how much better the tester was. They liked the stuffing too. It did taste like my mother's, whose recipe I was using, but they didn't connect the dots.

They loved the succotash. Some didn't know the word, and another was having a thought exercise on whether limes are really beans. But they loved it! And here I was worried I'd overcooked the limas.

Cranberry sauce is much better with less sugar than the recipe says. The guacamole went, as usual.

The guests brought garlic green beans, indian peas and cauliflower, and mixed roasted vegetables.

I forgot to put the fruit out. I think I forgot to eat pie other than a tiny sample of the weird pumpkin pie. One of the minions was begging me to save a piece. I kept trying to explain it wasn't normal pumpkin pie.

That's about it. Thank-you al! I hope you had lovely meals too.