Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ordered two brined turkey breasts from Glen's Market in Dupont along with the sausage sage stuffing and pumpkin soup. Delicious.

Made apple pie (Martha Stewart)
Made chocolate cake from the Pioneer woman would highly recommend - very easy to make.

WHICHI one?????

Best sheet cake ever
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

Had marshmallow covered sweet potatoes for the first time, which tasted like they had already been laden with sugar & cinnamon before being topped with more. I am not a fan at all. Sweet potatoes are already so sweet, why would you ruin them like that?

Anonymous wrote:Butterball Turkey
Stovetop Stuffing
Heinz Gravy
Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes ( I made these)
Steamed Brussels Sprouts
Pumpkin Pie from Giant

Everything was easy, delicious and cheap.

No FoodNetwork, Wegmans, Whole Foods, TJ's William Sonoma B.S.

Butterball Turkey
Stovetop Stuffing
Heinz Gravy
Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes ( I made these)
Steamed Brussels Sprouts
Pumpkin Pie from Giant

Everything was easy, delicious and cheap.

We were very busy with other things this year so did a take and cook boneless 15 lb. turkey and sides from Dream Dinners meal prep store. Worked out just fine and a short cooking day for me. I liked it better than past years (the pg/newborn days) when we have done WF.

Also had Mom's pumpkin and lemon meringue and it was well received.

Note to self: don't use foil roasting pan. My husband dumped our turkey on the floor along with the juices for making gravy. It was my first turkey (I was op for first turkey cooking advice), so I was not amused. It was okay in the end once the HUGE mess was cleaned up. But not before I had some choice words and some tears. Perhaps an over-reaction? Marriage is fine again and the rest of the food was great (especially caramelized sweet potatoes in crock pot) so I guess we have a story to laugh about for the next 20 years...

I brined the turkey for the first time using a very easy recipe I found on allrecipes. I also used the Reynolds cooking bag for the first time, thanks to a recommendation here on DCUM. Turkey was the best we've had in a long time -- so thank you!

It was just our little nuclear family this year but I went ahead and made all the fan favorites. We vowed to do no other household chores / errands, except cooking and cleaning up the kitchen. We opened the wine at 11. It was a great, relaxing day. Even the littles had a fun time!

I also did the Alton Brown brine-the-turkey and it came out much better than last year. I am not sure if it was because I only left turkey in brine for 12 hours or because I did not turn it half-way through so 2 in of breast were never submerged.

All in all, everything came out great, maybe because I was relaxed as we had no guests this year??

P.S. To PP, I ditched the rolls years ago, who needs more carbs??

Anonymous wrote:Ordered two brined turkey breasts from Glen's Market in Dupont along with the sausage sage stuffing and pumpkin soup. Delicious.

Made apple pie (Martha Stewart)
Made chocolate cake from the Pioneer woman would highly recommend - very easy to make.

WHICHI one?????

Ordered two brined turkey breasts from Glen's Market in Dupont along with the sausage sage stuffing and pumpkin soup. Delicious.

Made apple pie (Martha Stewart)
Made chocolate cake from the Pioneer woman would highly recommend - very easy to make.

Goose instead of turkey: super good but next time, need less resting so the skin is crisper...
GF pie crust homemade with half a cup of walnuts ground with the gf flour and then barefoot contessa pumpkin pie with orange and rum....yes! Also rum whipped cream...

Hits:

DH sauteed roasted corn with vidalia onion and a little tomato -- only complaint: he should have made more to use for leftovers in turkey tacos. (Thanks to the DCUM poster who suggested this on a thread I started asking for corn suggestions.)

DS roasted brussel sprouts, which I love, and then, per his girlfriend's suggestion, added just a touch of smoky paprika at the end. Delicious --and he made the two most important women in his life happy!

DD made America's Test Kitchen mashed potatoes -- her first batch was a greasy mess and had to be thrown out, but the second round -- with garlic and chives was iconic -- not even a spoonful left! (Plus, a bonus teachable moment on not freaking out when little things go wrong.)

Pan-roasted corn suggester here. Thanks for your return suggestions! These sound awesome. (DS thinks tacos are the greatest food ever. Don't know why we never thought of this.)

New this year, roasted tiny thumbnail sized Brussel sprouts, cut in half and roasted, tossed with toasted slivered almonds, caramelized shallots, dried cranberries and crumbled Gorgonzola. Drizzled with balsamic reduction before serving. A new addition!

We kept things simple: no ambitious recipes, and we did not make everything from scratch. Overall, I'm very happy with how the Thanksgiving dinner turned out. The highlights:

mashed potatoes - realized I did not have a masher mid-afternoon, so used the potato ricer, butter and skim milk - best mashed potatoes!
brussel sprouts roasted with a little olive oil
turkey - did nothing special, other than butter/season with salt and pepper and baste periodically
sweet potatoes roasted with olive oil - did not mash or add brown sugar
Pies from Giant - pecan, pumpkin, and apple - served with real whipped cream (so glad I did not attempt to make the pies this year!)

The misses:

Rolls from bread bakery - nothing special, especially for the cost

Oh, 21:43, you have my sympathy. Here's to a healthy baby and the end of HG, and then a whole lotta eating for you.