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Thanksgiving Feast Thread

Ok everyone, I thought it might be nice to get in the COTH holiday spirit and do a collective Thanksgiving thread.

For my part, I’m hosting Friendsgiving for fellow Buffalonians who can’t make it home to family or who are having their family holiday on a different day. At least one person I have never met is coming as one of my friends knew he’d be flying solo for the holiday otherwise and asked to bring him.

Anyway, I’m normally a cook capable of creating nuanced dishes with layered flavors, but for T-day it’s going to be trash comfort food all the way.

First and most important: We all know that some store bought staples are better than homemade so cranberry sauce complete with the can ridges will have a place of honor at the table.
See also: “jar gravy”

Also on the menu is this “Holiday meal crockpot” travesty/ambrosia which involves putting chicken breasts in first, then a bag of box stuffing over it, then a blend of canned mushroom soup and sour cream schmeared over that, and then frozen green beans to finish, cook on high for 4 hours. The Best.

Add some additional sauteed green beans with caramelized onions, plus a roast beet and feta salad side, leftover routabaga/leek/garlic/miso puree that I made for a dinner party yesterday for which I actually cooked things not from boxes or cans,and Wegmans pumpkin pie, and ta da.

The plan is to elevate all this trash comfort food with red wines that significantly outclass the rest of the offerings and are probably embarrassed to be seen next to the ocean spray logs. Too bad so sad for them.

Also getting out the good silver and doing a formal place setting for the final touch.

I hope others join the thread and also post pics of their set tables tomorrow!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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I have COTH to thank for my Just Me menu :grin:

This morning I made stuffing as I remember my Mom’s.
I dried bread & cubed last week.
Sauteed diced onion, celery (with leaves) & carrot in butter & oil. Seasoned with sage & thyme, S&P, moistened with chicken broth.
That’s sitting in the fridge now, to be made into waffles tomorrow.
Turkey breast cutlets will be cut into large dice (:thinking: or maybe left whole)dredged with seasoned flour & sauteed.
Served over the waffles with canned turkey gravy.
My one chef-fy concession will be a homegrown butternut squash, Hasselbacked with bay leaves, basted with a chili-maple glaze.
Frozen veggies will get oven roasted: broccoli or maybe asparagus. Finished with grated asiago.
If I get motivated, I might hit the grocery for fresh cranberries to grind with mandarin oranges.

Dessert will be with friends.
Whose pedestrian dinner menu I’m passing on this year. Along with their nonstop TV on the Hallmark channel :face_vomiting:
I’m making a Crock-Pot pumpkin dump cake to bring there.
Hoping hostess ordered the awesome cheesecakes from a local guy, for “a sliver”.

Wishing All a feast free from Drama :sunglasses:

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I don’t know about you but this sounds amazing to me. I don’t think the wine would mind being paired with anything as long as it was enjoyed!

This year things are a bit different than usual, I have three Thanksgivings to attend… The first will be at my MIL’s upstate. She is known for her Five Star Meals. Historically she refuses to let anyone cook or help (but we do the dishes after)-- she is a world class cook and prefers the kitchen to herself. After ten years of this routine I finally convinced her to let us bring some appetizers. SO is bringing his Buffalo Chicken Dip made with rotisserie chicken, and I’m bringing Spinach & Artichoke Dip with some homemade jalapeno cheddar bread, some pumperknickel, and some shredded baguette for dipping. For dessert I made a Pecan Shortbread glazed with Maple Bourbon glaze.

On Sunday I have a proper Thanksgiving with my biological family, it will be quite small this year. We each got tasked with bringing a side and dessert: SO is making one of my favorite meals of his, his smoked gouda Mac n Cheese. I will be bringing a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie.

Then, the first week of December we travel to our friend’s house for our traditional Radical Departure Friendsgiving – where the theme is bring whatever you want that is a total departure from traditional Thanksgiving menus. I haven’t decided what to bring yet. I may bring radishes seasoned with Furikake and some Creme de Fraiche dip, but I’ll take suggestions on a main side dish.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with good company and amazing food!! Look forward to seeing pictures and more food on this thread.

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Hasselback butternut squash? Aren’t they reallllllly hard to cut? That sounds really ambitious. Delicious, but ambitious.

This sounds Ike so much fun OP. Do you mind if I bring some bread?

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Beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and gravy, the infamous green bean casseroleq. Homemade pumpkin pie for dessert.

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Stuffed fish, green bean casserole, potatoes grown in the yard, cranberries from a link at Ocean Spray, baked stuffing, fresh rolls, spinach and cheese bake, sweet potato pudding. Will have a pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and blueberry pie as well. :yum:

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I’m going to my brother’s for a big family dinner. My contribution is a raspberry cream cake— Japanese meringue sponge, fresh berries, and whipped cream with freeze dried raspberry dust whipped in. Totally decadent but not overly sweet. I’m bring corn casserole, too. SIL makes incredible brined turkey and a roasted veggie side dish that could eat by the bucketful.

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Not if you nuke them a bit first, then cut in half, peel & do the Hasselback slicing.
Finish in the oven w/glaze.
Since it’s All About Me, if the slicing is less than perfect, Meh. :sunglasses:

I’ll try to remember to take pics :grin::selfie:

I see. Partially cook, peel, then slice. I’ve gotta say, Hasselback sounds like a good way to get tasty stuff all through a potato/vegetable. And still ambitious.

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Big shindig tomorrow with my bio fam and my BIL’s fam. Basically we are having all the food lol

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Keeping it small at home with my husband, kids, and in-laws. Trying to convince a friend and her daughter to come over, because they’ve faced a lot of death this year and are sad.

I’m making a huge turkey because…yum, leftovers.
Homemade cranberry sauce (yes, mine IS better than the canned!)
Green beans
Potatoes
Baked rolls
Stuffing
Mac & cheese

We gonna EAT!

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The fresh turkey raised at a local farm is the centerpiece, all 19 lbs of him!

Really not doing anything special for sides. I learned a trick a long time ago for pot luck lunches at the office… if you put the boxed stuffing mix in a crock pot all day instead of doing it on the stove, it actually has time to rehydrate all of the bits and tastes pretty good considering it takes zero work.

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Okay, it took me 18hrs… But “bring bread” :rofl:
That thread s/b archived :laughing:

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It’s just me and the husband, so it’s a slab of fresh salmon with herb butter and homemade green bean/mushroom casserole. NOT the canned soup kind— although that remains a guilty pleasure of mine-- but I’m using the recipe someone posted or linked to on one of these menu threads.

Hope everyone enjoys a yummy feast, whatever the size of meal or gathering! :turkey:

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Happy Thanksgiving to all my COTH friends!
Today is the inlaws. Saturday is my family. Today I get to make the mashed potatoes and a couple pies. Saturday I cook the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and contribute to the dessert table.

I am making @accidental_buckaroo pie from the other thread…I will report back how it all turns out!

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First photos :grin:
These are the Befores :wink:
The squash awaiting roasting:


My chickens’ Thanksgiving:

The dump cake to be:

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We were supposed to horsecamp in Florida for the holidays but cancelled a few weeks ago. Since my family thought we’d be gone, we elected to avoid updating them about the change of plans. After Saturday’s nuclear explosion of a “conversation” with my father, I’m blissfully happy to be home.

Turkey is soaking in pioneer woman turkey brine.

Flat apple pie needs to be made and whipping cream whipped.

Yeast rolls are busy rising.

Brussel sprouts, carrots, and sweet potatoes shall be coarsely chopped and roasted.

And I need to put the mushroom stuffing together in the crockpot. That takes about 3 hours to come together.

A peaceful Thanksgiving to all of you.

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???
Galette? Slab pie?
What makes it flat?
I galette because I suck at pastry (TG for refrigerated crusts) & it looks impressive.
Haven’t tried the slab version but it sounds interesting…

Nearing Feast Time :yum:
Squash Hasselbacked & glazed:


Turkey & waffles:

Gravy being nuked :yum:
I may be eating early…

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