THANKSGIVING 2019 plans / what to cook.

I get the cramps in my feet. It is funny to watch my toes bend down and my feet turn in. What is really painful is if I stretch, then my calves and feet lock into spasms and are really painful. I have to walk around to get rid of the cramps. The leg cramps always hit me when I am dead asleep.

Bugster2 wrote:I get the cramps in my feet. It is funny to watch my toes bend down and my feet turn in. What is really painful is if I stretch, then my calves and feet lock into spasms and are really painful. I have to walk around to get rid of the cramps. The leg cramps always hit me when I am dead asleep.

What a bummer. Yep, Wen Tina does a lot of walking ( like when shopping ),
I get her medicine ready because I know she will wake up screaming with cramps.

Jimmy, isn't that what she takes the spoonful of pickle juice for?

bethk wrote:Jimmy, isn't that what she takes the spoonful of pickle juice for?

Yep! or apple cider vinegar.

Very pretty Jimmy!

Bugster2 wrote:Imelda, don't make the same mistake that I did. Read the label and see if the bird has been injected with a salt solution. Most frozen birds have. I brined one of those birds and the bird was almost too salty to eat and the drippings were unusable. Way too salty.

Excellent reminder, Debbie!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:We used Rao's sauce ( marinara ) and found it bitter.

So sorry y'all didn't like it, as we love it. Made chicken parmesan with it so far and a big pan of lasagna and both were really good, though the lasagna tasted better the next day. But then lasagna always tastes better the next day, as does everything cooked with tomato sauce (to us anyway).

I think you're smart to make a second small lasagna just the way you like it. Solves everything for everyone!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:We didn't like Rao's either.

We like Ragu Original or 5 cheese.

I'm laughing as we didn't like the Ragu brand either. I think we tried them all and never liked a single on until the Rao's. You would know we'd like the one that is pricier than the rest!!! But I'm not complaining as with my back and Brian so sick, I'm tickled pink with anything that makes my life a bit easier and keeps me from standing up longer than I already am.

Not that marinara "from scratch" takes that long...

bethk wrote:Truth be told, I could make the entire meal of side dishes and skip the protein altogether.  Hey, now that's a great idea!  (I wonder if Dane would notice no meat???)

One of my best friends, Linda, who used to spend holidays with us, told me today she ordered all the stuff from a local place and she didn't get a turkey either. I didn't ask why but she doesn't cook and I figured it was probably just too much for her and her daughter no matter how small. She got about 6 or 7 side dishes, though.

I ADORE turkey and though we still have it several times a year, we don't have it as often as we used to when Brian regularly smoked turkeys. I've got to buy a couple of things for one of our smokers and a wheel and a grill for our Weber, too. Then I'm going to try to smoke a few things on my own. I know how to do it all but it's just carrying the things up and down the kitchen steps to the smokers and then carrying hot things back in by myself. I'd D-I-E if I worked my butt off and then dropped cooked food on the way back inside!!

Brian keeps telling me he can do it but he can't move without the walker and he knows it's not easy when we're going in and out to the hospital. He just wants to still do what he used to be able to do and is an angel for still wanting to what he can't do. I know I wish I could still do what I can no longer do so I know just how he feels...

We get up early tomorrow to go to the hospital as they're putting a shunt in since his chemo will now be once a week instead of once every 3 weeks. He feels bad he has to go more often but I couldn't care less -- I just want him to get well and stay here with me!!!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:Very pretty Jimmy!

Thanks Debbie! That's Tina's little village.

It looked really pretty to me, too, Jimmy!

Crybaby wrote:

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:Very pretty Jimmy!

Thanks Debbie! That's Tina's little village.

It looked really pretty to me, too, Jimmy!

Thanks Michelle. I'm not into the villages and figurines.
Just as long as the manger and the baby Jesus is under the tree.
That has been a must growing up.

Doing prep for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal.....

Jello Cabbage Salad is made and in the refrigerator.

Dressing / Stuffing bread is mixed with sauteed vegetables & butter and in the refrigerator to allow the bread to absorb the flavors. I couldn't find the traditional cubed Pepperidge Farms stuffing this year so I got the crunched up kind. It'll be the same flavor, just not little bread cubes. Since I like it vegetable forward I sauteed a whole chopped onion, four chopped stalks of celery & one carrot.....and 3/4 stick of butter ~ because what ISN'T better without butter????

Tomorrow I'll add a beaten egg & a cup of chicken stock to the bread/veg mix before pressing it into a casserole dish to bake in the oven.

When we were at Whole Foods yesterday I picked up some little golden beets. I've got them cooked and in the refrigerator. Tonight we'll have two beets for supper and the other two will get sliced tomorrow for a salad with lettuce, beets, watermelon radish slices, onion slices and a homemade Meyer lemon dressing. The watermelon radishes were a real treat to find ~ albeit a hefty investment at that moment......over $4 for four radishes. But, hey, you only live once so why not go for it!

My squash that was leftover and run through the food mill had been in the freezer ~ it's now in the refrigerator to thaw for tomorrow. I'm thinking I'll add a little topping of brown sugar pecans to make it just a bit more 'holiday - ish'.

Boy, for someone who decided early on she wasn't going to make a holiday meal, I certainly made a fool of myself!

I looked in the refrigerator in the garage and realized I still had about a peck of apples one of Dane's golfing buddies gave him ~ well, not a peck exactly, but 6 big apples.  They need to be used.....

Hmmmmmm.......

APPLE CROSTATA !!!!

A simple one-crust apple pie.  And I had read a recipe in one of my magazines, maybe Southern Living, about a roasted apple pie.  I thought it was interesting ~ roast the cut apples in the oven to let them cook down and release some of the juices.  Made perfect sense to me to not end up with an empty domed apple pie (Oh, come on, haven't we ALL made an apple pie that was a mile high only to find the apples cooked down to about an inch thick on the bottom crust and the top crust suspended in mid-air??)

But I'm only going to use a bottom crust (and, shhhhhhh.......it's Pillsbury, pulled out of the box in my freezer).

Anyway, I chopped instead of sliced the apples, better to cook down I thought.  And why do an oven roast when I can achieve the same thing in a skillet on the stove top?  So, I seasoned my chopped apples with a scoop of white sugar, a couple tablespoons of flour, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a pinch of ground ginger and a pinch of salt.  I sauteed them in butter and just kept stirring so they didn't stick.  To my delight the apple chunks cooked down nicely and looked just like apple pie filling ~ homemade apple pie filling!  I wanted to dress them up so I added a handful of the Costco Kirkland brand Tart Mortmorency Cherries and then spread the apples on a sheet pan to cool.





Even though most people make a crostata with a single crust on a sheet pan, I prefer using a parchment lined pie plate so it keeps a round shape and doesn't crack and ooze juice all over the sheet pan.  I saw a TV chef one time take the parchment paper and crumple it tightly and then smooth it out so it fit in a crust to blind bake and fit nicely without folding.  So, that's what I do before I lightly roll my crust on it (I like to be sure the refrigerated crust is smooth and even thickness).  Then it's really easy to lay it in a pie plate and have it fit to the shape.








After the apples were cooled I tasted and decided I didn't like the cherries with the apples so.....I PICKED THEM OUT.  We're the only ones who will know.....

I put the cooked, cooled apples on the crust and folded around the excess ~ brushed a bit of heavy cream on the crust edge and then sprinkled liberally (I mean A LOT) with the crunchy decorating sugar.  I love the crunch that gives.  




So, my crostata is in the oven baking at 375° for about 34 - 40 minutes.  I'll let it cool tonight and tomorrow I'll ease it out of the pie plate and slip the parchment from under it as I put it on a plate to serve for dessert.


And here it is out of the oven. Now you can see why I use parchment between the pie plate & crostata ~ ~ after it cools I'll be able to get the parchment off and it'll slip on a plate nice and neat. No struggle to get it out of a pie plate when it's cooked on tight!

I did prep today. Sliced up the green beans and mushrooms. Diced onions and celery. Made cranberry sauce. Made an apple and a pecan pie. Made a yam casserole. The apple pie is more than half gone. Joe found it and a new carton of vanilla ice cream and ate more than half the pie.

Joe doesn't want to eat later than 3pm. Probably means we will eat without Katie. Once she gets up it takes her 2 hours just to come out of her sleep drug fog.

I just put my 5# chicken in the oven on the 'upright' rack. It should take about an hour, 45 minutes. Then it'll get tented and sit until I get the vegetables cooked.

Parsnips & Carrots will get roasted in the oven using the convection, Brussels sprouts will get browned in the bacon fat (the bacon got crisped and will be added when the sprouts are cooked). I'll toss in some halved grapes when the sprouts are browned and then add a lid to get the liquid to render off the grapes ~ finally the bacon & toasted walnuts will get tossed in.

I've got the Meyer lemon salad dressing made ~ gonna dress everything separately and then compose iceburg lettuce, golden beets, watermelon radishes & shallots. I hope it's as pretty on a plate as it is in my head.....

I hope everyone's meal is just as you planned!

Thanksgiving Dinner 2019 is done.  For whatever reason I cannot get this stupid computer to agree with me as to what my email password is ~ why it suddenly needs it is beyond me.......

But my dinner was lovely on the table.  It tasted great.







Now for 'True Confessions':

Thank goodness this was NOT the year I invited company for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I THOUGHT I was purchasing an organic chicken ~ it was lovely, nice and plump.  

When I tried to carve it I realized there was a problem.  I couldn't cut through the wing joints or the leg/thigh joints.  It temped out just fine before I let it rest.  What could the problem be????


IT WAS A FRIGGIN' STEWING HEN...............

The price label was pasted over the 'Hen' part ~ all I noticed was 'Organic' when I bought the thing.  But after I couldn't easily carve I rummaged through the trash and found the wrapper and peeled the label off ~ and then I knew what the problem was.

So, if I don't get PO'd completely, tomorrow I'll drop the darn thing in a pot and let it simmer for hours and make stock.  

So, my meal of eating just sides was just fine this year.......