Simple Thanksgiving

The wife and I are making a Turkey with homemade stuffing in the turkey, homemade gravy from the drippings, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, and a homemade wild blueberry pie, a homemade cherry pie using cherries from my brothers tree, and a homemade crustless pumpkin pie made from two pie pumpkins. The daughter will bring kale salad and some veggies with homemade dip, the other daughter is bringing a homemade cheese cake. My brother and his wife are bringing the shrimp dip, a homemade fluff, and a green bean cassorole.

Normal Turkey dinner for Thanksgiving around here...kind of a tradition...there will be eighteen people at our house tomorrow to eat.

I do almost all the cooking for what we make here...although the wife made the cranberries from scratch and did make the pumpkin double pie in a pan. I split and baked the pumpkins and then took off the peel and spent twenty minutes running it through the ricer to grind it through all those little holes manually...That is kind of tiring on the forearms cranking that thing for twenty minutes

I will make the other two pies in the morning so they are fresh that day. It is a lot of work making a dinner for a lot of people. But overall, the whole cost to make all that stuff from scratch will be under sixty bucks to feed eighteen people....of course, that does not include wine or drinks...just coffee and some sodas.

Christmas will be at the oldest daughters house, and Easter will be at the youngest daughters house. It is nice that we only have to do it once now and they take their turn. Although, for the last three years, I wound up doing two meals because one of the daughters families had sick people, so a few came but we sent them home with food for the rest.

That Covid scamdemic sure screwed up holiday get togethers, I am glad that BS is all over for a while. We all have limited time in this reality, those lockdowns and the worrying about being sick and going to a social function that evolved from that failed covid response sure messed up our society.

originally posted by: argentus
The leftover pie filling was just sitting on the counter in a bowl....

I never have leftover pumpkin pie filling. Because just a little is enough to make a small pumpkin pie. I saved those little tinfoil pans that pot pies used to come in and when I have a little left-over filling, not enough to make a full-sized pie, I make little ones. Something like this that I did for Thanksgiving 2021:



There's real big pie pans, regular sized and "personal" pan size, too. The three pies in the middle are the regular 9 inch sized pie pans.

a reply to: argentus

That's an expensive turkey. We got a free range, almost organic but not certified sixteen and a half pound frozen turkey at the coop we belong to for ninety nine cents a pound. We also stocked up on Jenny-O turkey breasts for the freezer, three of them for ninety nine cents a pound for stock too. And we bought a twelve pound Jenny-O frozen turkey for eighty eight cents a pound.

We stock up this time of year for the whole year...have three full size upright freezers. We only occasionally like turkey, we usually eat way more chickens.

originally posted by: Station27

originally posted by: argentus
The leftover pie filling was just sitting on the counter in a bowl....

I never have leftover pumpkin pie filling. Because just a little is enough to make a small pumpkin pie. I saved those little tinfoil pans that pot pies used to come in and when I have a little left-over filling, not enough to make a full-sized pie, I make little ones. Something like this that I did for Thanksgiving 2021:

There's real big pie pans, regular sized and "personal" pan size, too. The three pies in the middle are the regular 9 inch sized pie pans.

My son in law bought nine pie pumpkins after Halloween for forty nine cents a piece, and we got a large pie pumpkin from the woman we get eggs from for free this year. It is a bit of work to prepare it, but we froze two containers and made pumpkin bars and now a big crustless pumpkin pie. We had to buy more evap. milk for stock, we burned through our stock. It is on sale this time of year.

originally posted by: rickymouse
My son in law bought nine pie pumpkins after Halloween for forty nine cents a piece, and we got a large pie pumpkin from the woman we get eggs from for free this year. It is a bit of work to prepare it, but we froze two containers and made pumpkin bars and now a big crustless pumpkin pie. We had to buy more evap. milk for stock, we burned through our stock. It is on sale this time of year.

Sounds like you got a great bargain! Yes, I tend to burn through my evaporated milk stock, too, this time of year. What with pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas candy just around the corner.

a reply to: argentus
We have a large family, I am the oldest of six..with our spouses and grandchildren, it is hard to get everyone to dinner. So years ago we started having breakfast. Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. We all bring something, homemade biscuits, big plate of scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, hash brown casserole, fruit, juice, coffee, chocolate milk. What matters is we are together and enjoy each other's company and good food. We have always enjoyed breakfast. This way we can all go to other family get togethers. Here is hoping we all have a blessed day

My family always had ham for Christmas and Easter, Thanksgiving was the only time we had turkey. But since the traditional Thanksgiving meal is my favorite combination of foods, it's my favorite meal of all. I like it so much that I started a new holiday in May so I could cook the same meal twice a year - equally spaced six months apart, so as not to experience turkey overkill. Just to get everybody's taste buds warming up, here's one of the turkeys I cooked for one of those holidays in May, which I call "Turko de Mayo." (Yes, I have a lot of free time on my hands!) I've been celebrating it for 15 years now:



I hope my turkey for Thanksgiving this year turns out this good.

a reply to: argentus

We're not rich but we do eat like Kings or at least like landed gentry,. Our menu will include. Roast turkey and gravy. Pa dutch potato filling( not mashed potatoes although that is part of it), stuffing, squash, peas, cole slaw, cranberry relish( not the canned jello), warm rolls, butter. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie and ice cream with whipped cream.
Christmas is a smaller scaled down version with a roasting chicken replacing the turkey and I prefer chicken anyway.
Its a sad Hoilday with our mother passing this past Spring. And our dog was put to sleep last month. I'd always give the dog the first taste of Thanksgiving dinner with pieces of turkey before anybody else. I imagine they do Thanksgiving in Heaven but every day in Heaven must be Thanksgiving.

originally posted by: Station27
"Turko de Mayo."

My favorite thing aabout the meal is the leftover turkey breast sandwiches, which are "Turko de Miracle Whip"😂

Also, those little scrap pieces make great turkey hash.

a reply to: argentus

Sounds like a nice way to do it. We had some family cancel on us, so the crowd will be a little smaller. I kept the turkey in the freezer and ordered a ham from the little country store down the road. I just found out the other day they do roticery hams. I picked it up last night and trimmed a little off, and it's heavenly. (for a ham) So we have a great "dressing" which is stuffing with chicken in it. (roticery chicken as well-sensing a pattern here) It's been a family favorite for years. We will have a nice breakfast, then graze all day on a pickle/olive tray and some sausage balls, then do the ham, dressing, and a few other things my wife will make. I got off quite easy this year, and I like that. Rather than spend all day cooking, I can watch the grand kids play and fight. Always fun.

I hope everyone has a wonderful meal, and a great time reflecting on our blessings.

a reply to: rickymouse

You should have heard the screeching brakes sound that shot through my brain when I read this part...

The daughter will bring kale salad....

LOL!!! Just kiddin'! But I reckon' I'd spirit mine away when no one was lookin' and feed it to the rabbits which we seem to be overrun with this year.

a reply to: argentus

I had to look chayote up, then I realized I'd seen it many times but never eaten any (to my knowledge anyway). It's basically a type of squash, right? One of those strange in-between vegetables like a tomato which are actually a fruit (not a vegetable).

I'm gonna' have to try some of this. You piqued my interest with your...'pickle it with Scotch Bonnet peppers and red onions'...part. You had me at Scotch Bonnets!

After our daughter passed on Nov. 21st 2022, my wife and i lost all the joy for this holiday.

But I hope and wish that all of you can still enjoy your holiday with friends and family.

It was always turkey for Thanksgiving and Prime Rib for X-mas.

Not trying to be a downer here either.

My husband and I are working from home today and waiting on leftovers from the Family Feast on the Hill at a neighbors...they didn't go for Turkey this year, but rather cornish game hens, and he's a little weirded out by poultry in the first place so rather than be rude, we politely declined the sensory overloard and tiny bird corpses.

He can eat breast meat just fine, but had an "incident" as a child with poultry and he never got over it.

We might have hot dogs later and watch King of the Hill, we might have leftovers....time will tell.

For now, it's work and coffee.

May your tables be full of culinary splendors of your choosing and may your gatherings be cheerful!