Thanksgiving, 2016

Bugster2 wrote:Tina has my sympathy. My pecan pie was a total loss.

Dinner at my sister's wasn't any better. I barely ate dinner because I wasn't feeling great. Then I went outside for air, went to the car for a nausea med and on the way back in to my sister's house, I got the dry heaves and was hanging over the bushes. I tell Katie and Joe we have to go 'cause I was sick. On the way out the door, Mike my BIL gets a call from a neighbor telling him that some drunk was getting sick in the bushes. I don't drink. I was just sick.

I'm so sorry you were sick, Bug, but it was a funny story.  The phone call from the neighbor made me think of my family and the stories about "remember when...(such and such happened)", usually at the expense of someone else, so please forgive me. I hope you feel better soon.

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:I feel so bad for Tina, the pie maker. She was here making the 6 pumpkin pies, and in between....playing attention, and hootchie cootchie to the baby Liam. She put the pies in the oven to bake, and while reading the recipe to make the sweet potato pie, she sees the ingredient canned cream, and #@$%#^%$ She said, "Oh NOooooo!" "I forgot to add the canned cream in the pumpkin pie filling!" ...    

Been there, done something similar. Luckily for me, I've never MADE six pies at a time. Poor Tina but another story that joins family lore down the line...

Beth wrote:Michelle - just came across this and thought it might solve the problem.....

http://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/new-orleans-restaurants-offer-take-out-dishes-thanksgiving

We went out to eat one year for Thanksgiving with my late sister, and at her urging, with her husband Ed, Brian and my mom.  She was late about an hour, and for some reason, decided to play a high and mighty pain in the butt to the waiter all day long, pretty much being rude the whole time.  Food was good, day was miserable, and no leftovers either!  

I know one day we'll have to resort to either going out or ordering the whole dinner in from one of our super restaurants (even the groceries down here make really good holiday dinners to-go) but thankfully, we can still handle cooking a big meal at home.  

The dishwasher was repaired yesterday.  I called the men 5 minutes after they left to please come back, as the "lead guy" of the two put the dishwasher back in very crooked (tilting to the right) and left batting sticking out on the side instead of taking care with it sliding it back under the counter.  But the part came in and the darn thing is fixed!  

Brian had a couple of bone scans yesterday and it was Lynn's day to clean the house so it was an annoying day, and quite exhausting for Brian.  He'd left the house at 6:30 a.m. having fasted and then had to drink stuff prior to the first test.  He said you sign up for everything right by the cafeteria so all the people waiting for tests could smell coffee and breakfast!!  He didn't get home until 5 p.m., was starving and exhausted and Lynn was still here.  I fixed him a chicken salad sandwich, poured him some raspberry tea and he wolfed it down and headed to bed!  

So much for cooking anything yesterday.  But today I made the reduction for my Christmas Sauce for the roast beef, roasted the garlic for the mashed potatoes, made the spicy garlicky breadcrumb stuffing for the stuffed tomatoes and then went ahead and stuffed them, and I will bake them tomorrow.  

Got out the copper charger plates to make sure they didn't need polishing, and made the table centerpiece for tomorrow (I just need to add some pearl beads, some purple velvet wired ribbon and three sets of teeny tiny battery-operated LED lights to it -- wish I could take a picture as I really enjoy and take pride in making really cute and different centerpieces when we entertain).  I got out three place settings of my family's sterling flatware to use, and planned all my service dishes in my head.  

Tomorrow, I just have to throw together the appetizer (easy), make the roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and the creamed spinach soufflé-like casserole, and prepare the standing rib roast for the oven.  And I'll have Brian helping me, too, so it won't be too bad.  It will indeed be strange not having turkey (for the first time in my life!).

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  I hope you enjoy your day tomorrow with your family and friends and tons of good food!  For those of you traveling, please be careful on the road.

You really go all out. I couldn't do that even if I tried. Sounds very nice. On the other hand, my sister is bringing some Thanksgiving paper plates she bought for something and wants to get rid of. I won't pull out the sterling this year. Kitchen stainless will do. I have been hunting for my napkins but can't find them so we might have to use paper towels. A real class act at my house.

PHEW!  Never having cooked in my sister-in-law's kitchen proved to be more than a challenge than I anticipated.  She obviously hasn't hosted a large family meal in a long time because nothing was 'at the ready' ~ but we managed to get everything made for the meal and no one went hungry.

I was REALLY afraid this was going to be remembered as the 'Shoe Leather Thanksgiving' when the turkey came out of the fryer.  But after it sat for 45 minutes wrapped in a foil cape I was able to carve it easily.  I think it could have been pulled about 10 minutes sooner (or even more) but it's difficult to judge when you can't easily test with your Thermapen because of the boiling oil.  When I carved, it was really easy to cut off the meat which had been injected with some sort of Tony Chat.... Garlic, Herb, Butter Marinate.  The leg & thigh meat was still super moist and the breast had juices when easily removed and sliced into perfect serving sizes.  I don't know I want it every year, but it was tasty this year.  I did miss, however, the pan juices to add to the gravy.  I ended up making a very blonde, yet flavorful, gravy out of a roux and boxed turkey stock.



I didn't try to take pics until everyone had been served from the buffet bar ~ just too crazy with so many people.  But here are a couple pics of when they were done ~ lots of leftovers for the weekend.





And I did forget to take a pic of the finished apple strudel ~ it came out as planned and, really, quite lovely.  Puff pastry and sparkle sugar make desserts look much more impressive than making them would lead you to believe!

Gave my Oster roaster oven a try. I bought one of those disposable aluminum turkey pans and Joe bent and shaped it to fit inside the roaster. I thought it would make life easier if all I had to do was throw away the pan instead of trying to wash the liner of the roaster. It worked. I had virtually no mess to clean out of the roaster. Everyone said turkeys cook faster in a roaster oven but I did not find that was the case. It was done on time. I painted the bird with Kitchen Bouquet and sprinkled some herbs on top. Preheated the roaster at 450 for 30 mins and then dropped the bird in and continued to roast at 450 for 1 hour, then I turned the heat down to 350. When it was done, the bird was so beautifully brown. I had heard that they can be rather pale when cooked in a roaster but I read the tips about the temp and KB. It worked.
I am still cleaning this morning. Waiting for the second load of dishes to get done.
One thing I did this year that I have never done was to make the gravy ahead of time using frozen turkey frame stock from last year. I froze the stock with the fat still on the top to keep the flavor from deteriorating. It worked and it was a great tasting gravy. I threw the turkey frame into a large pot last night and will do the same for next year.

That's great Bugster. My nephew smoked the turkey we had at his house this year. It was done sooner than he expected and the white meat was dry but he poured some thin gravy over it and moistened it back up again. Smoked turkey isn't my favorite way to cook it. I like it roasted the old fashioned way. Last year when I roasted the turkey in my slow roaster, it got done sooner than I expected but I just took it out when it was done.

Norm, when you used your roaster, was your turkey stuffed?

No I don't stuff turkey any more. I make it separate.

My turkey was stuffed. That is prolly why mine took longer.

It probably also helped it brown better since it was in longer.

Robin wanted to go for a run this morning so I took her in the golf cart to an area for off-street running. As she rounded a curve she had to alter the side of the path she was running on or she would have run over this group of sand hill cranes.