Here Comes Thanksgiving...
 

Every year, my Dau and I go through the same process:

"Wanna have Thanksgiving together?"

"Yeah, but I've go to work the day before and the day after. Let's keep it simple this year. Let's go out to eat, or do take out."

"You will never get a reservation this late. Take out....Blech!"

"OK, so let's trim down the menu. It's getting hard to do it all myself. I'm gonna need help"

"OK....let's make it easy."

"So, what do we get rid of this year? The green bean casserole?"

"Oh no, can't do that. My DH loves it. What about the cranberries?"

"Noooo...those are easy and they're my favorite thing."

"Do we really need gravy?"

"YES!"

"What about the Turkey. We could have something else instead, like crab."

"MOM! Don't even think of it!"

Blah, blah, blah...In the end we always make everything as usual. I'm always exhausted afterwards and she never stays to clean up, but my DH comes to my rescue and does the dishes. We all end up drinking too much wine, beer and cider. All in all, it's a wonderful day! :D

This is my approach-I really enjoy doing Thanksgiving.

**Roast the bird 1 day before. No dressing inside & it gets done quicker. When done, wrap roaster in heavy blanket & let it sit 30-45 minutes then it’s easy to handle & juices go into meat & it gets moist (I think). Take off bones, save & strain broth & clean up this mess. Next day heat meat in foil covered cake pan or crockpot or warmers. Must be heated with broth.

**I have nice dinnerware but on Thanksgiving we use divided foam plates.

**DIL brings green bean casserole, DD brings stuffing made in crockpot. Both are delicious.

**I make 1 pumpkin pie with frozen crust on Wed since few eat it. I buy a cheesecake with assorted flavors & cookies from freezer.

**Corn is what I freeze from Farmer Market (cut off cob). They love it.

**Buns are frozen dinner buns. Night before I put them in greased pan, cover with towel & refrigerate. In morning they’ll be thawed so I set them in a warm place to rise. Make plenty so they can have Turkey sandwich later. I used to make them from scratch but take the help where you can get it.

**3 packages of dry Turkey gravy mix (each makes 2 cups - fits my small crockpot). Southeastern Mills brand in yellow envelope.

DH & I love jelled cranberries but we’re only ones who eat it & it’s loaded with sugar so I quit buying.

Peeled potatoes are covered with water & refrigerated. We live where it’s cold so I set them on deck along with pitchers of water. I drain them in the morning, cover with fresh water & cook after adding salt. Mom’s old trick.

Salad & relish tray. I don’t serve any. This family hardly touches it so why bother. I might buy coleslaw or make 1/2 recipe of Mom’s cranberry salad (for me !)

I have chips if they want a sandwich later.

There's only the two of us now so we do what we want. One year, when my mom was still here, we had homemade spaghetti and meatballs and Italian sausage. It was great and a lot could me made ahead. I'm not sure my mom was a fan though lol

family is pretty small now....and as most of what remains is oldsters with ;health problems, we will do Thanksgiving take out most likely....yep...my sister will cook the turkey and most of the extras...then my nephew and kids will come by for a very short visit with masks on faces....then they will take the the "take out home". And I will probably do the same. I live nextdoor....so I will bundle up and head out for the "take out". Not like it used to be with 17-18 mostly younger folks around. We used to have it my grandma's and grandpa would haul in the saw horses and plywood from the garage to set up the table in living room. We usually had about 6-7 cooks in the kitchen carefully assigned a spot so we would not collide. Grandpa usually manned the big cast iron frying pan with the already roasted and sliced sweet potatoes carnalizing in the butter...they required careful attention to be just done right. Crispy on the outside and oh so sweet on the inside. They were my favorite dish. We would have a 24-25 pound turkey. I think one year we had a 31 pounder (do they get that big?) A huge pot of regular potatoes would be made. Gravy made from scratch in the turkey roaster while the turkey sat for curving. We would have 6-7 pies of all sorts on hand. oh, yes...don't forget the relish trays, with celery curls, radish roses, crinkle cut carrots, green onions. And the cheese plate, at least 3-4 different veggies, the stuffing, two types of cranberries, and a cranberry salad. Home made dinner rolls. oh...and all sorts of homemade pickles, watermelon, crabapple, dill, bread and butter. Usually pickled herring and pig's feet were served too....I have probably forgotten some things. OH, and no dishwasher....yep but thankfully, most folks pitched in with the clean-up and then there were the board games after...lots and lots of them.

Great menu simplifications, Tranum!
One more ................ do the make-ahead mashed potatoes!!

I made Thanksgiving for everyone my children, sisters, BIL's, nieces nephews, Aunts and my mother every year for a very long time. Now I go to my daughter's house and share Thanksgiving with my kids and grandkids. Things changed after my Aunt Mary died. Everyone seemed to go their own ways. So now I don't cook! for either Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Years. I do make a turkey between Thanksgiving and Christmas because I miss the left overs. DH doesn't eat turkey so I get the smallest bird I can find. I make him ham. It is for the two of us. I make the works and I doubt there is a thing I would make differently or exclude. Mash potatoes, gravy, Turkey, ham, green bean casserole, cranberries, sweet potatoes. greens, sweet corn, baked dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. I have enough left overs to last for a very long time and I even make turkey soup and bone broth so nothing is wasted from the bird.

We still are an all in family for Thanksgiving. We had our Thanksgiving discussion Friday night, and plans are underway. Since my son and DIL remodeled their kitchen and patio, they now host. They live 3 miles from us, so things come out of my oven, and go into the car. Traditional turkey is a definite, along with all the trimmings. We are also going to deep fry a pheasant, and smoke a turkey breast. There will be 10+ people for sure. My son and DIL have a revolving door policy, where everyone is welcome. They have housed, fed and clothed two teen-aged boys that literally have no responsible family for 4+ years. The boys even call me grandma! I love all the prep, and truly enjoy all the hustle and bustle of the day.

So, since I was unable to talk my DD out of paring down the menu, I started today with the prep.

-Veggies for stuffing? Chopped and frozen. Will prep stuffing the day before Thanksgiving.
-Cranberries? Done and in the freezer
-Pumpkin purree? Cooked, pureed and in the freezer. Will use for pies, or Pumpkin bread.
-Mashed potatoes? Potatoes bought, butter bought, buy cream tomorrow. Will make ahead and freeze.
-Sweet potatoes? Buy tomorrow, cook and freeze.
-Appetizers? Made some decisions on what to have...small portions of French Chicken Liver Pate, Corn/Chile Fundito, baguettes, good cheese, olives, veggies.
- Rolls? Will make dough this afternoon and freeze.
-Salad in a bag. Will buy a couple days before Thanksgiving. Buy prepared dressing.
-Turkey and gravy. Make day of Thanksgiving.
- Dau is making the pies. I don't know what to expect. She's been binge-watching the Great British Baking Show.
-Get down Gramma's dishes and silver this week.
-Clean the house extra until Thanksgiving day.

That's my plan!

Deep fried Pheasant and smoked turkey breast...now,that caught my attention. :) That's wonderful that they do all of that and have a whole family philosophy.