Open Thread: Prepping for Thanksgiving Ahead
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. It seems both far too soon and yet forever since our last turkey day. We have all been through hell and back since the last time we gathered around the table with friends and family to give thanks while trying to restrain the urge to throttle that relative who is a pain in the ass every holiday.
This year my family will have a slightly smaller gathering. A couple family members work in healthcare and will be on duty. My kids didn’t experience this growing up as neither my spouse nor I have had careers obligating us to forfeit holidays with family. I do remember expecting my mom would not be home on one of the holidays, either Thanksgiving or Christmas, alternating each year because she was a nurse working second or third shift at the local hospital. Babies don’t stop coming and emergencies happen no matter what day it is, after all.
My youngest has been working in pharmaceutical manufacturing as I’ve mentioned in a previous holiday post; large chemical plants including pharma producers don’t shut down though they may reduce production. This year the youngest is working in a different field of pharma so they’ll be able to join us. But they now have a significant other who works for a hospital dispensing pharma products, and they won’t be able to join us.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Thanks to all the first responders who will be working this holiday, and those who support us invisibly by keeping things running in healthcare and manufacturing.
This year the kids are doing even more of the prep work for the holiday, though we will be fewer in number. It’s funny how this coincided with the loss this past year of the last of the eldest member our family. We’re undergoing a generational shift both consciously and unconsciously.
It’s past time for me to pull together the family’s recipes and hand them off to all of the members of my kids’ generation. I’ve looked for decades now for a recipe database application that wouldn’t become enshittified over time. I wish I’d had that word when I first started looking for what I wanted, because it’s been a PITA to explain I didn’t want a free-now-but-recipes-held-hostage-later application, or one that would try to badger users to buy something as soon as they opened the app, or one that would steal the family recipes only to serve corrupted versions to others via AI-enhanced search tools.
I’ve gathered most of the family recipes, scanned those that were still on 3×5 cards, re-typed them all into plain text. I’m going to hand them off on flash drives this holiday, along with a copy of a free, open source note application so that the family’s heirs don’t have to expose themselves to Microsoft Notepad’s enshittification.
Perhaps next year the kids will take on even more of the holiday feast preparations once they’ve received the family’s cookbook.
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There are two concerns I have for others this coming holiday: the cost of groceries and the problematic food supply chain.
If you have any pointers about cutting grocery costs for the holidays, please share them.
lf you’ve experienced shortages of food items and are using workarounds, please share them.
And if you’ve got the extra cash to help others this holiday, please give to a food bank or soup kitchen near you.
Feeding America has a tool for finding food banks near you: https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank
Share it with those who may need the assistance as well as those who may have resources to help others.
Food banks have been hard pressed to keep up with demand because of the government shutdown and the lack of SNAP funding, as well as the cascade of funding problems created by Trump and Musk’s DOGE-driven cuts to programs. Give what you can — even $5 can buy as much as 20 meals.
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Lastly, if you have a favorite recipe you prepare each Thanksgiving, feel free to share below along with whatever you’re planning to do to prepare for the holiday. Are you traveling, and if so, are you taking anything with you to share over the holiday?
This is an open thread but let’s try to focus on Thanksgiving preparations and on topics related to food and the food supply chain.
I borrowed my mother’s recipe box with the ones she’d kept (and I miss the others), and scanned them. Saved them as images and made CDs for my siblings (it was 2005).
I have an ancient edition of “Master Chef” which still works with Win10, though it required typing them in. (It does give you nutritional data.)
This has always been my favorite holiday and even more so as an adult. I’ve always loved that it’s everything Christmas ought to be without everything that Christmas has become. Just show up, hug, eat, and talk to your people, and it’s done.
The holiday always belonged to my dad’s side of the family growing up. My Nan was a true matriarch, and under her loving watch, attendance generally settled in the ~25ish range but neared 40 at peak with plus-ones, itinerant friends, etc. before tapering off as new families formed and Nan and Pop eventually passed. They also used to then host all us cousins for Friday and Saturday nights to make homemade Christmas gifts for the parents, while said adults had a kid-free weekend to shop/read/breathe.
I’m lucky enough this year that my folks are coming to us, so we’ll have the table set for seven and FaceTime to my siblings as they rotate to their other sides of the family.
Super simple, side dish served with the hot food. Cranberry ice. Can of jellied cranberry and 7 oz. 7up. Put the jelly into a blender, add the 7up gradually. Pour into a container and freeze. Take it out of the freezer, re-mix with a mixer or similar until fluffed, refreeze, then serve in cupcake papers, small scoops in a dish, or directly on dinner plates. Everyone loves this, fresh, cool, nice color. Not too sweet.
My brother makes the pies for turkey day (usually apple, pumpkin, and a third pie). He’s a good cook.
The only advice I know is that if you make a pie always pre-bake the crust.
Necessary for one-crust pies, but not for two-crust pies.
My wife’s huckleberry pies are revered by many, both before the knife touches them, and for a couple days after consumption. I wish I could tell you how she does it, but she doesn’t keep a recipe and won’t divulge sacred mysteries to mortals like me. The designs on her woven crusts are often subjects of group meditations.
I’m gluten intolerant, therefore this is my season of dietary disobedience, which is also part of the sacred ritual. Her chocolate olive oil cake is gluten free, so that is used in the weekend cleansing ceremonies.
Years ago, when The Kid was a junior in high school, he came to me and Mrs Dr Peterr one evening and said “I need all the recipes for the food I like that you guys cook, so that I can have them when I go off to college.” (He likes to cook, and has an excellent knack for using just the right spices to tweak things the way he likes.)
So, for the next two years, we started writing down these favorites into “Ye Olde Book of Recipes, in which is collected the Finest and Most Delicious of Good Eats” as a simple Word doc. Some are taken from various cookbooks or online sources like the Food Network, while others were writing down those that Mrs Dr Peterr and I developed but never wrote down. (“Dad, how do you smoke your turkey?” or “What goes into your split pea soup?” or “Mom, what do you put into the burgers we grill?” We have also added recipes that he came up with, like his guacamole or his epic nachos. And of course there are all those favorite cookie recipes.
It’s been a fun family project, that shows no signs of stopping.
Peterr, how DO you smoke your turkey ? Mr Pitcher, and Pitcher Jr have gotten it into their heads to smoke our turkey this year. I would appreciate any advice .
For folks who want a smoked turkey but aren’t up to smoking it themselves, I recommend Greenberg: https://www.gobblegobble.com/
Very intensely smoked, though, smokier than any ham or sausage I’ve eaten.
Kinda hard to put the turkey into a pipe…
Smoking the Thanksgiving turkey was not a thing when I was growing up in Minnesota, but my dad used to say he tried smoking fish once but couldn’t get it to light.
Anyway, local reddit post last night (T-day) was from a guy whose turkey should have been ready to come out of the smoker. It was gone. They took the pan as well, so not a dog.
I picture people in a car trolling neighborhoods looking for unattended smokers.
This. 1000x this.
One thing about the language here. A food PANTRY is the group that hands out meals or groceries to those in need, while a food BANK is a regional organization that works with farmers, ag/food industry folks, and the government to collect corporate donations which are then funneled to food PANTRIES for free or at highly reduced prices. A food BANK does not hand out food directly to those in need. Both are critical, but they function very differently.
Food banks often need folks to sort and organize the food donations that come in, or collect orders that come in from the pantries they serve and prepare those orders for pickup.
Food pantries often need folks to cook and serve meals, or to organize the food donations they receive, or to work with those who come looking for a little help.
And both food banks and food pantries need financial support.
Our regional food bank is Harvesters, and for the last couple of months they have been doing television appearances on every local television station in twenty-odd counties of Missouri and Kansas. When SNAP was shut down and WIC was threatened, the message from Harvesters was simple. “We do good work, and are ready to accept any donations you want to make. But there’s no way charities like us and the pantries we work with can make up for what shutting down SNAP will cause. For every person we feed, SNAP feeds nine. We can’t make up for all that. We can’t. Period.”
In Chicago the food bank is the Greater Chicago Food Depoitory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4yAXM53mI
A friend told me his Temple reaches out to families in need, members or not, to get lists of items they[d like for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. Members take those lists, buy the food, and the Temple gives it to the family. My friend says they like the feeling of helping specific people.
I doubled my usual contribution to the local food bank, and donated early — usually I do it around Christmas but I figured before Thanksgiving would be welcome.
One tip for stretching the budget around Thanksgiving: if you have a whole turkey on Thanksgiving, make stock with the carcass on Friday, and then freexe it in one, two, or four cup containers for use later this winter. Much better than store-bought stock, and much much cheaper.
That’s what we do with all the birds we eat, year round. We save carcasses in the freezer when we have room, such that we toss two or three small birds in at once in a large pot, with celery, carrots (seconds if they’re available), onions and garlic. Very flavorful. We also toss in any giblets we don’t otherwise cook. necks are great. We toss the leavings in the community compost bins, the veggies’ nutrients being pretty much boiled out. The resulting stock usually gets fresh veg added when recooked.
If you have a dedicated pair of pliers, you can crush the bones before you throw them in for more marrow exposure, which also makes it gel nicely in the fridge. The added nutrients help those of us with osteoporosis, and the gelling extends the time it takes to spoil. Just a good crush at the softest part of the bone is enough — and if you’re competent with a cleaver, that’s less messy…if you’re competent.
the rising cost of housing in B.C. is causing more people to use the food banks. Don’t think its going to get that much better. Rents are high and most houses in Greater Vancouver are over a million.
In Canada we already had Thanksgiving. Enjoyed my self at the neighbours.
I don’t know if they do it any more, but for a long time grocery stores sold turkeys which were labelled “utility grade”. It was a good savings. they were missing a leg, or a wing or the skin on top was broken but the quality was just fine. I can recall they were still sold in the 1980s.
Potatoes, the bigger the bag, the less expensive. If you can store them, you’ll have potatoes from Thanksgiving to Christmas for less money.
Veggies, well forget the salad. they are expensive and who wants gravy on lettuce. The other veggies, if fresh is expensive, check out frozen. Cooks faster and frequently much less expensive.
Dessert, if you’re going to purchase one, check the flyers for stores close to your home and buy the less expensive ones. Ice cream is frequently an inexpensive dessert, buy a pail of it and then bake or purchase cookies and fill dishes with the ice cream and top with a cookie or two.
Donating to the food bank is always a good idea. Even if you drop in a dollar, and others do also, it mounts up. One of the local grocery stores has pre-packaged bags which you can purchase for $10 and it goes to the food bank. Another store has donation containers where you can drop money into for a breakfast program at a local elementary school. My rule for me is, if there are treats in the cart then I place what ever bill is in my wallet into the jar. In Canada the smallest paper bill is $5, so it ranges from that to $50.
If you can afford to buy weed or booze you can afford a donation to the food bank. Children didn’t ask to be born into families which did not have enough money to afford food. There was never a shortage of food in our home. The parental unit had unionized jobs which paid well and the other also began a career. There were families in our community who were very poor. I recall one up the street were so poor neighbours would place boxes of food on their porch at night.
We are lucky in B.C., we have a decent health care system. Yes we could use a few more health care professionals, but some of us could see this happening 30 years ago but the provincial governments didn’t do anything about it. People didn’t want to pay higher taxes either. That is the one thing I’m always greatfull for, our health care system, its free.
From heart transplants to hang nails, no bill. Ambulances are part of the health care system and that includes having to be flown to another cities for care, but if you call paramedics and the ambulance comes, you pay anywhere from $50 to $80. Some one told me that was so people didn’t use them as transportation if they didn’t have bus service. Yes, and it was frequently seniors who were the offenders.
Some of my friends do a what am I thankful for after dinner. I’m thankful I’m this side of the dirt and don’t live in a war zone. I live in Canada with clean water in our homes, police I can count on a fire fighters in our community and all my friends. I’m happy to pay my property taxes each year. I’m thankful I can afford to do so.
Wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and if you don’t want to do family dinner, you can always go for fish and chips over looking the ocean, if you live on a coast.
My husband & I participate in an “alley cat” urban bike race called Cranksgiving. The format is when people sign up to race, they get a list of local grocery stores and a list of items that food pantries can take. The idea is that people race their bikes from store to store to buy as many of the items as they can carry with them on their bike. They have to buy a couple items from each store.
The food items are then donated to the local food pantries. There are prizes for the racers — some for being the fastest, some for bringing in the most groceries, etc. As proof that the racers went to all the stores on the list, they have to produce the receipts from each one.
Cool idea. Supports people in need of food, and innovative bicycling at the same time.
In what city? Sounds almost Yurpeen (except there’s less, not no, need in most western Yurp cities).
Actually, it’s in San Jose, CA, but there are others around the country. I know of one that was held in NYC and I heard there was one in Knoxville, TN. The beauty of these evens is that the racers support local grocery stores (where there are some, of course).
My wife and I have used the Paprika app for years. Never nags. The ability to import recipes from web pages is awesome.
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Thanks for the feedback about Paprika (Wikipedia page). There’s very little info available about its developer, unfortunately.
I’m going to stick with my plain text files for now until I find a F/OSS database meeting my family’s needs.
Neither my spouse or I have large extended families, so our gatherings have always been small. And spouse’s family didn’t have any special dishes that he wanted to include in our holiday meals. Over the years, I’ve experimented with some different cranberry relishes and vegetable dishes. But my family prefers the simple, unadorned versions. So my “cooking” ends up really being warming things up. I don’t even do anything fancy with the turkey.
We donate to Kids Food Basket. It’s an organization in our area that gets meals/food to children during school breaks. When we got the checks during the pandemic, we sent most of it to them. Spouse’s company does a 100% match with them so we always go through the company’s charitable donation site.
Wishing y’all a wonderful Turkey Day and a Lion’s win.
Along with remembering and saluting first responders, national defenders, and others who are doing necessary work on Thanksgiving, I want to call attention to . . . the bartenders.
I’m not being facetious. I spent seven years of my young adulthood making my living as a bartender, and I rarely got Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or New Year’s Day) off from work. My boss in the first bar I worked at told me the reason why we were open on those holidays — “For some people, they don’t have anywhere else to go.”
That’s all. I’m sorry, I don’t have any recipes to share, or any tips on how to save money — in fact, I might encourage you to spend a few dollars more on Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or New Year’s Day), if you have a favorite bar and you find out they’re going to be open that day, you might drop by and say hello and raise a cheering glass.
Thank you for calling attention to this. I’ve never worked in healthcare (professionally) but I worked in serving jobs for years. And yeah, that included holidays, for the exact reasons you mentioned.
The truth? There were times I had nowhere else to go myself. I was glad to be around my regulars, the hardcore. “People who need people…”
I’d rather advocate going to your local and popping the money you’d spend on a drink into the tip jar.
Having spent a few years working in a bar (during and after grad school) I can attest to the truth of this. And it’s not just the folks who have nowhere else or nobody else to spend the holiday. Later in the day, we would always see an influx of people who absolutely needed to get away from their families. Our staff – and many of our regulars – were generally a collection of overeducated slackers and I still keep in touch with a few of them more than 30 years later. It was actually a nice place to spend holidays.
We’re delaying our own Thanksgiving here. We’re going to the Dems Abroad Thanksgiving at this castle.
https://www.fitzpatrickcastle.com/
I’ve never been to James Joyce’s Martello (there are Martello Towers everywhere, of course; most are falling apart but I talked my way into one of the few that’s actually on the Shannon earlier this year), so I think I may spend Friday morning doing that.
So a week from Saturday, but then we couldn’t do Thanksgiving itself anyway.
are you staying at the Castle overnight? looks like a very fun event.
Yes! It’s a 2.5 hour drive, and the rooms are surprisingly affordable.
Thus my Joyce celebration on Friday.
A short preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7knWjKnjlM
“IRELAND | Dublin’s James Joyce Tower & Museum”
Wishing you good craic, and don’t ever kiss the blarney stone, as I’m told by a good source (local lad) that the local lads are apt to piss on it.
Isn’t t it weird that the second in command at the How High DOJ is named for a cooking technique to boil rapidly then plunge into an ICE bath?
And bearing a rather white complexion – as is expected.
I’m going for the glory: two cheesecakes with marionberry swirl. One gf graham cracker crust, one gf ginger snap crust.
i shall be hanging out with my new roomie, a 14-year old kitty who needs a quieter home. spent yesterday at the pet supply shop buying up all their scratch pads in hopes to keep her away from my antique rug. she’s a complete sweetheart, and want to stay close to her this week as she adjusts to her new digs.
Sounds delightful!
it is! after an understandably confused first day, she is settling in beautifully. loves her chair by the window where she can watch the world go by, and all the birdies in the tree. she’s doing her business where she should, scratching in all the right places, and is a purring machine. she’s a keeper.
Ten years ago mid-November, I went from stay-at-home dad to single dad. My boys were 12 and 14, I had no place to live and wasn’t working. I was very fortunate (and thankful) to have the support of friends, family and community.
One of the traditions I started with my kids was a new approach to Thanksgiving dinner. Up until then it was a boring ordeal at my MIL’s place featuring the blandest beige offerings imaginable. Our first Thanksgiving as a trio introduced “Whatever You Want” as the Holiday dinner. My youngest (now a firefighter in a tiny town near Lake Tahoe) asked me to grill him a steak, and my oldest (wrapping up a degree in mechanical engineering) enjoyed an entire box of Cap’n Crunch with a quart of milk in a huge salad bowl. Since then TG dinner has included waffles, French toast, more grilling and a pizza.
Since then, I’ve maintained the traditions of Friendsgiving with those who offered moral support. We’re still at it. My job has an active volunteering program that makes it easy to help out at a food bank (Alameda County) and pantry (Sacramento) a few times a year. Looking forward to all of it.
Rayne, thanks for posting this. I forget my Posting name, so I am asking to use this one going forward.
Thanksgiving is, by far, my favorite holiday. Much more relaxing than Christmas. I have been crafting my own Stuffing recipe for years and years. It’s a combination of roasted veggies, stuffing mix, roasted and chopped Nuts. This year, Pistachio’s and Pine Nuts. Apple sauce, for sweetness and binding. Some Wild Rice. Finally, some chopped, spiced, Chicken Sausage.
Our oldest Grand Daughter loves Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. I spend about 3 days ahead of Thanksgiving Day, preparing the Gravy base. I purchase 3 Turkey Legs, and 3 Turkey Thighs. I roast them for a couple of hours, then put them in a Stock pot, with chopped Fennel bulbs, chopped Leeks, and chopped Carrots. This simmers for a couple of days. I drain off about a Quart of Turkey broth, and this is added to the Dripping from the Roasted Turkey to make the Gravy, which our Grand Daughter, just LOVES.
We are past the hosting age, so our Middle Son, is hosting this year. He’ll do one Fried Turkey, and one roasted Turkey. He lives about 20 minutes from our house.
Last point. We purchased a blank Journal when we built our house, back in 1991. We use the Journal to write down what we are thankful for, in our Thanksgiving Journal. Lots of rotating Family members and Guests have posted thoughts in there, over the last 34 years. A couple of generations of Family, that are no longer with us. It’s comforting to flip back through the pages of years past.
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We’ll have a relatively small gathering. Quiche, bread, more bread, sides, and pie for dessert. The unusual bread is Swedish rye–a medium molasses rye with chopped orange peel. I’m pretty sure I’ve posted the recipe here, but can again if people are interested.
I need to get the checkbook out for our regular donation to the food bank.
An early Thanksgiving treat! Cam Currie just dismissed the Comey indictment because Halligan was illegally appointed.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.213.0_1.pdf?no-og=1
But it’s dismissed without prejudice.
If you need something light for your guests and/or family to nibble on while Thanksgiving dinner cooks, but don’t want them to fill up, especially not on ultra-processed crackers or heavy appetizers, try this. Mix 3-4 tablespoons of fresh lime juice, a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne (omit if you don’t like a little heat) until the salt dissolves, then toast a cup and a half of raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) in a dry frying pan until they start to turn gold and swell. Pour in the lime juice mixture, stir to coat the pepitas and remove from the heat, then let cool in the pan. You can make them days in advance and store in an airtight container.
Once again I’ll prepare the stuffing. I make a pan of buttermilk cornbread using Red Mill medium grind cornmeal, and following to a tee the recipe on the bag. I cool it, then cut 1/3 off and crumble it into one mixing bowl and crumble the other 2/3 into another bowl. In the smaller bowl i put two tins of chopped tinned smoked oysters and a teaspoon of ground sage. In the other I add about 12 oz. of cooked sage breakfast sausage (usually Jimmy Dean), 2 teaspoons of ground sage, and a bunch of fresh sage leaves chopped. Then I return the mixtures to the baking pan separated by a strip of aluminum foil, and soak the whole thing with lots of chicken stock. Back into the oven at 350 until browned on top and cooked through and moist but not wet or dry, and onto the table. It makes good left-overs, too, but I may not get them this year, as Thanksgiving is at my daughter’s house with a hungry crew of youngsters.
I’m considering going to the local Afghan kabob-and-bakery on Wednesday and getting their koobideh plate.
Ever since the older generation started passing on, my sibs and I have gotten together for the holidays less and less. Now that has tricked down to never. So the focus has always been on the Imwe family (the Mrs and the 2 kids). Now the inevitable has started, and our oldest will not be home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. We are grateful that our youngest finds us sufficiently cool enough to hang out with, we will will see plenty of her – for now anyway.
One thing our kids do, which was never a thing when I was their age, is Friendsgiving. The pictures they share look absolutely amazing – fancy table settings, a cornucopia of food offerings, and a bunch of 20-somethings all dressed up! This year, the youngest warmed my heart when she was frantically reaching out while trying to prep my ‘famous cranberry recipe.’ My ‘trick’ is to use a can of frozen OJ (thawed) along with a couple diced up oranges, and to not let the berries go too long after they start bursting.
For the last few weeks I have been making the rounds to various grocery stores which give a free frozen turkey with a minimum purchase. I have gathered up a few turkeys that I have distributed to different food pantries.
We donate, financially, to the food pantry at UC Berkeley, to help with the large number of food insecure college students.
As I mentioned above, we are smoking the turkey this year. That will be an adventure. I guess the stuffing will be dressing this year. The other change is we are foregoing pumpkin in lieu of a blackberry pie to go along with the Bourbon Pecan. And the table is graced with two cranberry dishes, uncooked cranberry orange, my favorite, and straight out of the can, with the can imprint intact, Jr’s favorite.
I have had a devil of a time finding a bakery that still makes dinner rolls . Bread baking is not in my repertoire. Finally found parker house rolls at Copenhagen Bakery in Burlingame.
You can buy dinner rolls from The Golden Corral if you have one in your area.
Eldest Purple Son is hosting our shrinking group of about a dozen, partially because he’s the best cook in the family and partially because when we moved and downsized a decade ago, he got our big trestle table that expands to seat…12! We’ll also do a video-call toast with Younger Purple Son & Spouse in San Diego. (We’ll see them in January when they take a week’s leave here in the PNW, en route to his new (and likely last) Navy assignment, in Rhode Island.)
Mainly for eldest Purple Granddaughter (age 17, and how did that happen?), I’m again bringing the slow-baked Portobello* mushroom main dish I first made when she went vegetarian at 12. Prep takes only 10 minutes (finding, mixing & whisking other ingredients), then bakes unaccompanied for 90 minutes (turning once with 15 minutes left). I use a medium enameled Dutch oven/lid that fits in a countertop oven.
Four large (or six medium) whole Portobello mushroom caps (stems removed)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 generous tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp whole coriander seeds (or 1/2 tsp ground coriander)
1 tsp chili powder
6 cloves garlic
1 large shallot (or 1/2 small yellow onion)
Salt & pepper to taste (I use a generous pinch of flaked sea salt and several grinds black pepper)
3 sprigs fresh rosemary (Optional.**)
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.***
In medium Dutch oven, whisk wet ingredients and dry spices together. Add garlic (crushed with side of knife, peels removed; it bakes so not a heavy garlic taste) and shallot or onion (peeled and sliced vertically into quarters). Add rosemary sprigs, and salt & pepper to taste.
Arrange Portobello caps on top in single layer, gill-side down (can be snug, they shrink while cooking). Cover with a piece of parchment paper (otherwise too much liquid boils off—ask me how I know). Place Dutch oven w/lid in 300 degree oven, let bake for 75 minutes, then lift lid and parchment, and flip mushrooms to gill-side up. Replace parchment and lid, return to oven for another 15 minutes. By the way, if at 75 minutes your slightly too hot oven has boiled off too much liquid, you can rescue it by whisking in some vegetable stock (ask me how I know). You can keep it warm for quite a while—at this low setting, the mushrooms are forgiving and don’t seem to overcook even if left for another half-hour (ask me how I know.)
Remove mushrooms, shallots and garlic to serving platter, pouring some cooking liquid over the top (or all…I won’t judge!). Serves 2-4 as main dish.
The Portobello ends up moist but with a firm texture. It’s a rich, meaty flavor (son calls it ‘umami’). Once, it rescued a teenage boy who was going vegetarian, despite his parents urging at least try a little turkey, and how do you eat mashed potatoes without gravy! If only a couple caps are taken, I slice the rest and add them to the vegetable table and, well, they’re always gone before the green-bean casserole.
And now, out for some disc golf, which, depending on the weather (doesn’t look promising), I might also get do with the three grandchildren on Thanksgiving morning. My best to all of you and yours.
*Both Portobello and Portabella are correct. Depends on if you think your Italian vegetables are masculine or feminine.
**From my rosemary bush—not supposed to grow here but when rosemary from the herb garden survived the winter 10 years ago, I transplanted it against a sunny south wall, and it’s now a waist-high bush. I tossed it in one year and it works! Fresh thyme sprigs work well too.
***My countertop oven runs hot, so I’ve settled at a 285 setting. At this low setting, the mushrooms are forgiving and don’t seem to overcook even if left for another 30 minutes. Ask me how I know!
Sounds yummy (except for the coriander as I have a sensitivity to it). I think I’ll try it some time but use thyme instead. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Rayne. Happy Thanksgiving.
Spending the morning with my 96 year old father. Then heading to the family festivities with a cheesecake and blueberry sauce, also cranberry sauce with oranges and dates. Daddy is bringing the wine.
Not a big turkey fan, myself, so I’ll smoke a nice brisket and make a batch of beans ( recipe from a local 80-year old bbq joint ) to go with a relative’s ‘famous’ cole slaw. I’ve an aunt that insists on bringing a green bean caserole every year without fail; both daughters, home from college, will politely take more on their plates than they’ll actually eat. A cousin will turn on the TV and find the game. But he always also brings a sealed bottle of Rebel Yell, so there’s that. Happy Thaksgiving.
Sticking a recipe in here I’m going to try as we have family members who are gluten and dairy sensitive. My usual dressing is a riff on Chuck William’s Chestnut and Sausage Dressing but it’s loaded with wheat bread and milk.
https://thewoksoflife.com/sticky-rice-stuffing-gluten-free/
This recipe calls for sweet sticky rice but I’m going to try using a healthier mixed rice-grain combination — zakkoku mai – to up the nutrients, fiber, and flavor in this GF/DF dressing. (Avoid using barley in this mix as it contains gluten; I prefer lentils, millet, and azuki beans with part brown and white rice.)
https://sudachirecipes.com/zakkoku-mai/
I can’t get my hands on lop cheung sausage for this dressing so I’m going to use bacon. To make this dressing vegan, swap out the chicken broth with vegetable broth; fry up some well-seasoned, well-drained grated firm tofu adding a bit more oil to replace the fat in the sausage.
Anybody else have gluten-free and/or dairy-free recipes they’ve used for Thanksgiving?
ADDER: forgot to note rice is one food which has dropped in price considerably over the last year though the retail price may not have caught up with the commodity price (prices are sticky as are corporate profit-seeking fingers).
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/rice
Rayne,
I’ll have to send you some of my recipes. I’ve worked hard to take traditional Thanksgiving recipes and make them gf and dairy free, many are gf and vegan.
33 years of dairy and gluten allergies have been my motivation!
Happy Thanksgiving to the Emptywheel team and the wonderful community here!
One of my brother’s grandsons, a teen, is vegan…
I made this the other night and it was quite popular!
Spread squash on sheet pan, douse with olive oil, sprinkle salt, garlic powder, cinnamon & pepper, roll to coat pieces & bake at 425 or 450* for 20 mins, remove from oven toss parm and coat pieces, and bake another 15 mins.
Then melt butter, minced garlic, honey herbs and pecans and whatever else is left in the ingredients and cook til thick. Pour over squash and gently spoon into serving dish.
The salty herb-honey coating is totally fab!!
I used more honey and cinnamon than called for.
1 large butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1-1/2 lbs)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup pecans, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 Tbsp honey
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Flaky sea salt
I might check back in here tomorrow – pie night :)
Yummm, sounds delicious. I’ve been enjoying butternut squash soup lately.
My rabidly Republican mother made a (mildly) spicy cabbage salad in her day that even her non-binary grandchild can’t imagine doing without, even though Grandma hasn’t been in this realm to vote for a few years. The salad, really, is a perfect foil to the heavy stuff on the plate. It perks things up. Mom had some loose screws, but she was right on with the cabbage salad.
And, hi — I have been listening to all of you for a couple of years. I give thanks to all of you.
Pat’s Spicy Shredded Cabbage Salad
1 head cabbage, shredded
2 tablespoons salt
Dressing:
1/4 cup good sesame seed oil (must be fresh oil and not toasted)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon or more white pepper
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced finely
one bunch scallion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon or more crushed red pepper flakes
Method:
1. Sprinkle salt over cabbage. Mix well. Let stand for 1/2 hour.
2. Squeeze as much water from cabbage as possible, discard water.
3. In small saucepan, heat sesame seed oil. When hot, add sauce mixture to pan. Heat to a simmer and simmer for two minutes.
4. Pour sauce over cabbage. Mix well. Best if refrigerated at least one hour or overnight.
I wish you all a good holiday.
This one sounds very tasty – similar to a Chinese potato salad. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for sharing this.
Simple side dish. Guests leave every year wanting this recipe
2 medium butternut squash, seeded, cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus 4 tbls. olive oil )
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 medium red onion, sliced paper thin
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, sliced paper thin
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
Preheat oven to 450*F.
Season the squash with salt and pepper.
Drizzle with 4 tbls. of the olive oil, and place in a single layer on 1 02 cookie sheets.
Bake in oven about 18-20 minutes, until just tender.
Meanwhile, stir the remaining oil, vinegar, onion, chile flakes, oregano, and garlic together and season with salt and pepper.
Remove the squash from the oven and pour the marinade over. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes in the marinade, then sprinkle with the fresh mint leaves, and serve.
This dish or at least the marinate can be made earlier in the day but should not be refrigerated.
Prepping ahead:
– Costco 16” pumpkin pie.
– Costco 16” apple pie
– Kirkland whipped cream 3-pack
Really? A 3-pack of the whipped cream is enough? Not in my household!
If only I could swing getting to Costco today…instead, my son is making the pie at which he has become an expert. :-)
Just me and the hub at my house. Neither of us likes turkey, so we can have whatever we want (it’s all prelude to pie anyway). This year it’s steak, roasted potatoes, sugar snap peas, biscuits, and apple pie. I add a handful of chopped craisins and chopped walnuts to the pie – adds a nice tartness and crunch which I have found improves the pie trmendously.
To all, bon appetit, and thank you for all your insights and wisdom throughout the year.
as we rapidly descend into russian style circumstances, i am happy that I have water in the well, and when i turn on the tap, there is running water. am thankful i am not carrying water, at my age.
the schumacher institute recently circulated a quote from J K Galbraith (so it must have been a decade or more old) about the enormous private wealth of the US, contrasted with public squalor. this seems to describe putin’s russia too.
“J. K. Galbraith has spoken of private affluence and public squalor. It is significant that he referred to the United States, reputedly, and in accordance with conventional measurements, [as] the richest country in the world. How could there be public squalor in the richest country, and, in fact, much more of it than in many other countries whose Gross National Product, adjusted for size of population, is markedly smaller?”
Oh, hey. Happy Thanksgiving folks.
We went pretty traditional, en petit comité. . Dry-brined Spatchcocked turkey with herby mayo slather, gravy, mashed potatoes with celery rabe and cauliflower, two types of stuffing (smoked oyster, apple, sausage, toasted pecan; dried apricot, Grand Marnier, sausage, slivered almonds), shaved Brussels sprouts salad with frisée and pomegranate.
Indulgence: Williams Selyem wines to accompany.
Highlight: grandson’s first Thanksgiving.