Turkey Day Menus!
 

What are you having for Thanksgiving this year? For those of us who are responsible for feeding the family, now is the time to hammer out your menu and hit the store, before all the good frozen birds are gone. ;) I am cursed with a rather picky and unadventurous family however (as well as most of us being diabetic), so I must juggle being traditional with being creative with care. Too traditional and not everyone can enjoy everything and too creative and people flee screaming. My goal is to one day marry into an adventurous family with no nutritional problems. :P

Here is the Read Family menu for this year:

Devilled Eggs: A patented Read Family recipe! They are required fare on all major holidays.

Celery Sticks-With-Cream-Cheese and Olive Platter: I hate olives but my dad inhales them, so we have to have them.

Stuffed Turkey-In-A-Bag: Oven bags are where it's at when it comes to flawless roasting without losing moistness - though the birds to tend to fall apart a bit. For the dressing I'll have to just make something out of a box so I don't scare anybody. (But they had chestnuts at Trader Joe's so I bought them anyways!! I'll just have to eat them myself later or something, but I *have* them. They make me feel adventurous, anyways.)

Mashed Potatoes: I could personally do without these because of the dressing but we just *have* to have them, God forbid we don't!

Turkey Gravy: From a can, baby!

Biscuits: Also from a can!

Cranberry Sauce: HOORAY FOR CANS.

Sweet Potatoes: I may actually make these from scratch, but don't tell the can people.

Green Beans: NOT a casserole, ew. Just fresh steamed green beans. I insist on a green vegetable NOT swimming in cream of mushroom soup. Sorry, Dad.

Apple Pie: I'm going to make this from scratch so I can make it low-sugar.

Pumpkin Brown Betty: I expect a mutiny, but I am making this instead of pumpkin pie this year. It is so freaking GOOD, I just threw the recipe together last month and the test run was a smashing success (with the test subject, me). I cook and can my own pumpkin, too.

There will be vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream for the desserts.

And there will only be FOUR people at this thing, lol. Well, the bird can help us with the leftovers.

What are you guys having, those who celebrate?

I no longer celebrate that holiday so, not being bound by any traditions, I shall eat whatever pleases me at the time. There is a very good chance that an orange roughy fillet will be on the menu; I first tasted this glorious fish earlier this year, and I've been singing it's praises ever since. There will be a vegetable on my plate as well, though I have no idea which one. I'm thinking about Brussels sprouts right now. Rice or noodles will round out the menu, along with some cranberry jelly and quite possibly some mashed turnips as well (I love turnips). Iced tea will be the beverage of choice, as it is during the rest of the year, and as usual I won't bother with dessert. I plan on being quite stuffed by the day's end. :D

Well, my family has two Thanksgivings. My mom's cooking the lunch one, and my grandma takes care of the dinner one. Let's see here. What are we having?
Well, my mom's making:

Mashed Potatos: Of course, it's never Thanksgiving without them.

Turkey: Duh.

Stuffin': Most likely homemade. I don't care, though, because I never eat it...

Macaroni and Cheese: She's BAKING it this time. *slurpy noises*

Pumpkin Pie: From a can!

Chocalate Chip Cookies: Break & Bake!

I don't know what grandma plans on making, but there's one thing I know for sure. If my uncle shows up, there's sure to be some type of fried chicken, since he can't cook worth crap.

I am bringing pumpkin pie to mother's house for T-day. I am celebrating with just my mom, aunt, grandma, and girlfriend. Then my girlfriend and I are going to another T-day function.:frankiesmile:

When it comes to Thanksgiving, I turn into complete trailer trash. Cranberry sauce has gotta come from a can (complete with ridges), green bean casserole (gotta disagree with you on that one, Sparky) with canned mushroom soup and canned green beans...just a turkey breast though. I'd love to do a whole turkey, since I love both dark meat and plenty of leftovers, but good luck finding a turkey here for under $25 or so. :'(

Well..

Biscuits- A must. The sweet Pilsbury kind that comes in a can... We buy ten cans, and last year we STILL didn't have enough...

Turkey- Of course.

Cranberry sauce- When I was little, my mom would make in in shapes... A star, or a lamb, or something... Now it's out of a can.

Velveeta Mac & Cheese- It's all my six-year-old brother will eat...

Corn- Yum.

Mashed Potatoes- From a box, because it's the only kind my grandpa will eat.

Pumpkin pie- Made by my mama...

Mozzerella balls- My grandma's favorite...

Stuff from Cosco, 'cause that's where my Aunt Suzie shops and we're eating at her house...

And all the other goodies...

Oops. I was just recalling last year, and I realized I borrowed their copy of Moulin Rouge.

I think I never gave it back...

Oops.

-Marty :goo:

Well, I'm just guessing that my grandma is making what she makes every year: turkey (of course), mashed potatoes (SO good!), corn, stuffing, biscuits, probably salad. And then dessert is at my grandparents' house from my mom's side, and there I think we have chocolate pudding pie (my FAVORITE, made JUST for me...but other people can eat it too;) ), apple pie, and cake and ice cream (since we're celebrating my cousin's and my grandpa's birthday).

Hm, your six-year-old brother has good taste...:) :cheese:

I've been looking forward to this holiday for months.

My Thanksgiving Day menu..

The star of the show: the bird.

Mashed potatoes (and gravy).

Corn

Biscuits or rolls (We haven't discussed those, but chances are, they'll be out of a bag or out of a can. I don't mind either way. There's enough stuff to cook from scratch anyway).

Homemade bread and meat stuffing

And for dessert, pumpkin, pecan, apple, and blueberry pie. There's a lot of us, so we always stock up on the desserts.

I'm looking around the food network site for a vegetable side dish to try out this year. Those guys always have intereresting ideas.

Your family has good taste, Sparky. I'm lovin' me some deviled eggs.

If nobody here has ever tried pumpkin cheesecake, you should. It is exquisite.

I actually don't generally care for pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin and cheesecake are both sacred to me, but I don't like them mixed together.

To me, any cheesecake is good cheesecake!

My parents are cooking because I suck when it comes to culinary arts. I can't even make hard boiled eggs.

I think we're going to have turkey with cranberry sauce, stuffing-from-a-box, mashed potatoes-from-a-bag-just-add-milk-or-water-and-butter, candied yams, store-bought pumpkin pie, and corn (the frozen stuff from the bag.)

Well we just finished eating dinner, and I'm warming the apple pie and pumpkin brown betty in the oven. My dad and uncle between them brought THREE more pies, a cherry pie, a plain chocolate cream pie, and a fancy chocolate turtle cream pie. There's only FOUR of us! :wiltshock: They're making me serve all five pies, too, lol.

Oh and my dad brought a green bean casserole, so I just put my fresh green beans away for another day.

We ended up having the classic turkey of course ( so moist and tender)....but did anyone ever have...

1) Sweet potato casserole? OMG THIS IS MANNA FROM HEAVEN.
2) Corn casserole? (THE FORBIDDEN FOOD OF THE GODS.)
3) Flan pie? (We have Spanish people in the family who LOVE to cook....)
4) Pumpkin cheesecake (OH yes Kageri, I know this little sinful delicacy...)
5) Homemade pumpkin pie (OKAY your grandma doesn't make it as good as MY grandma....)
6) Homemade apple pie (repeat)
7) Coconut cream pie (okay that was from the store but it was GOOD)


Well there was more but it just rocked. Oh and beforehand we had a "salad" of sliced avacado and tomotoes....it sounds simple (and it is) but there was some kind of homemade dressing on it and WOW.
I personally worship the avacodo. Seriously, I have a little shrine in my room and I say a prayer thanking the Avacado God every night for his wonderful vegetable. (Or is that a fruit?)

YUM.

I love Thanksgiving. :D

My mouth watered just by thinking about that salad. Avocados are quite tasty, yes.

Since I had my Thankgiving last month... (Canadian Thanksgiving is in October)
I ended up having Nachos.

Nachos!??! :p Don't get me wrong, I love nachos -- a LOT. But...heheheh. 8D Oh, well.