Last year was a minimalist Thanksgiving and this year will be too, since family/friends are all far away. I stuck to the basic faves: turkey, gravy, cranberry/orange sauce, sweet potatoes or winter squash and baked dressing. I don't care about anything green for the meal - what's the point? I feel the same about appetizers 😄 And the dressing will have celery, onions, parsley and apples anyway. There are just 3 of us, so I'll likely just roast a turkey breast - unless I can find a small turkey. I use my own spice blend for the bird, which makes for a nice dark gravy.

I'm torn about making a pie - I might wait and make one on Friday, since I'm working M-W. I like pumpkin, but Hubby does not - he prefers apple raisin. Thinking I can make the pie dough ahead this weekend tho.

Make both pies and freeze extra pieces in single portions for another time.

That would be great, but our freezer's small and already pretty filled up.

Appetizer? We have out of town company right now, and they need to be gluten-free, and also, they are diabetic. We found a tasty one!

Roasted red pepper hummus with Parm crisps.

https://www.sabra.com/products/sabra-roasted-red-pepper-hummus-1

https://parmcrisps.com/

Easy and delicious 😋 Certainly hits all the marks.

Making my favorite thing for Thanksgiving Day - reservations!

Along with DD and her family, we are going away this year. T’day will be eaten in a restaurant. I love that someone else will fix it and clean the dishes and I don’t have to eat turkey if I don’t want to!

I will be able to get together with my sister, albeit briefly - our flights leave at the same time! 😁

Jsk, what time shall I show up? You clearly have set the bar for Thanksgiving.

For the leftover turkey:

Dad's leftover turkey pot pie

I bought an extra large bird just so I have enough left over to make a double batch.

LoneJack, I made your pie in October and it is so good, I ordered 6 Small pie plates, so I can make sets of three (3/ 6” = 1/ 9” and freeze two for later.

I'm glad you liked it Sherry! I also freeze enough to make 3 full sized pies

Mm - I always make sure to have enough turkey and gravy for a pie

Turkey divan and tetrazzini are very good too 🙂

So many great suggestions here! I've already saved several for other occasions.

We keep appetizers to a minimum since there are 3 little kids who would happily fill up on cheese and crackers and then not eat dinner. Well, there's also several adults who are guilty of the same.

This year will be a little different for us. There will only be 4 and since my grand daughter is only 4 years we're having a turkey breast and eliminating some of the side dishes. DS will be happy as long as he gets his turkey and stuffing.

As for the bird itself - I'm in upstate PA and looked out the window this morning and saw that we have 3 volunteers. We've had wild turkey before and the meat can be tough, especially the dark meat. The breast from younger birds is much better.

These birds are safe - at least from us.

Ridiculous I know. I'm making the pumpkin pie and the depression cake for tgiving. Cousin said I only need to bring the vegan reddi wip...I said no way, I want the *real* for me. How ridiculous to want 2 different kinds of artificial processed foods and refer to one of them as the *real*. SMH!

My husband has alpha gal (unable to eat any mammalian derived food) so rather than bake with fake butter I’m going to bring an apple cake to family TG. The happy news is that the local apples this season have been extra delicious. I stopped at the natural food store this morning and the one I ate in the car was perfect.

This made me really happy because I had very few great peaches this summer and supermarket fruit is often disappointing.

I’m taking Smitten Kitchen’s raspberry almond tart to friendsgiving at work by request.

@lisaam - I am so sorry to hear about your husband's condition. My DH was quite ill from a tick bite last November but fortunately the treatments were successful and he is now extra-vigilant with protective clothing, close inspection and a standing prescription for doxycycline (which makes him sick, too). We live in a high risk area for ticks, and have 2 big dogs that ticks latch onto and they bring them inside.

Our Thanksgivings have been downsized over the years and we started making reservations instead of cooking at home. I haven't made a traditional Thanksgiving since 2021 when our pescatarian friend agreed to join us. It was so much work for just the 3 of us. She was a good sport about the turkey. Then we decided that cioppino would be our new tradition until it was safe to go out again.

I miss the fragrance of Thanksgiving, the steamy windows, setting a beautiful table and eating our traditional foods but I just can't do it anymore.

Gathering and enjoying a meal together is the essence. Cioppino sounds pretty nice.

@jojoco 2pm :-) Lots of time for appys before dinner.

My father-in-law was pescatarian. And my brother-in-law is vegan. So back when they (and my mother in law) came, we had to make a vegan dish that BIL and FIL could eat. Turns out most of the sides were already vegan except for the sweet potatoes which have an unhealthy amount of butter. We'd make a small portion for BIL with vegan butter.

They have not come for several years now. Once my FIL was too sick to travel from NYC to central NJ, they stopped coming. The meal prep is a bit easier now as everyone eats turkey.

I had to look up alpha gal syndrome, never having heard it. Seems it's exceptionally rare here as we don't have the worst kind of tick for it. But what the UK govt advice said was that it is a reaction to mammalian meat. It didn't mention other mammalian products. Are you sure he can't have butter? And what is in the apple cake you buy if not butter or fake butter? Fwiw there are some excellent cakes you can make with olive oil.

Re plant-based butter, I did a taste test between butter and Miyokos plant butter and could barely tell the difference. It was really good.

We’ve changed up our Thanksgiving dinner in the last few years. My hisband has 2 femake cousins very close in age to us. I have know them as long as I’ve known my husband.

B the 4 of us we only have one remaining parent. So now the cousins get together, two younger couples (childten), 3 grandchildren and a few other various family nembers. Its such a fun time together. We don’t do appetizers as we have so much food! Each couple brings food and we will have turkey and ham and some other neats will show up too. i dont like going out to eat on Thanksgiving. With our group its easier prep and ckean up because its split up. No one is worn out. 😊 If the temps stay up, we will get outside after eating. Burn off some of those calories! haha

Alpha gal is becoming increasingly prevalent on the US east coast. All mammal foods including gelatin, collagen, dairy products can spur reactions. Not everyone has thevsame level of reactivity. Some people react to airborn particles— cannot be near cooking meats or an outdoor grill. Reactions can be very inconsistent in scale for an individual. GI symptoms, rash, and anaphylaxis are all possible. Some people recover in 5-10 years.

I have used Miyokos and did not love it, but would use it in pie or tart dough. The apple cake I’ll make for TG uses milder veg oil than olive.

Apple/cranberry crisp with vanilla ice cream is a non-negotiable for our gathering. I prep before and bake while we're eating dinner.

My infamous sweet potatoes which include butter, brown sugar, drained crushed pineapple, pecans, sweet potatoes (of course) and lots of marshmallows, is a must. Almost a dessert!

debra

Maddie, I agree regarding apple cranberry crisp…or pie.

This is my cranberry upside down cake (recipe from Martha Stewart) that I’ve made for both Thanksgiving and Christmas…and occasionally year round. It’s one reason I buy a lot of cranberries this time of year to always have in the freezer. This simple one-layer cake is so pretty and so good! I took this photo of it some years ago. I serve it warm with whipped cream or ice cream. My husband also loves it for breakfast.👍🏻

Not for Thursday, but could you share the apple

cranberry crisp recipe? That sounds so good, maddie260. And Chloebud, yours is picture perfect.

djacob: "My infamous sweet potatoes..."

Infamous means "well known for some bad quality or deed"....so I guess they're so bad they're good?

:)

Has anyone done the cranberry pops that are flooding social media? In the recipe I’ve seen, you soak a bag of fresh cranberries overnight in some flavored liquid (vodka, Sprite, Olipop Apple Crisp, etc. - seems pretty much anything will do). Then you drain the cranberries, cover them in powdered sugar in a lidded container. Shake ’em around until they are totally covered. Place the cranberries on a lined cookie sheet and bake at some really low heat (200, maybe??) for 4-5 minutes. Supposedly, when you bite into them they crunch and pop, thus the name ”pop”. I’ve bought the Olipop and the cranberries, but that is as far as I’ve gotten.

ETA Found the video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ-wRmNjZ3H/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

^^^^^ We had a young, very non-domestic friend live with us for a few years and one Thanksgiving she contributed sweet potatoes to the meal. Not sure if she was assigned or volunteered, but my husband declared they were the best hockey pucks he'd ever eaten, so they did become infamous.

@Salvona: this is the crisp topping. I make in bulk, 2 or 3 recipes, and freeze what I don't use. When my three children were in elementary school, famous Bay Area chefs put on "cooking demos" for a school fundraiser. This was from the dessert chef. Any seasonal fruit can be used and topped with the crisp mixture.

2 cups of flour

1/2 pound of butter

1-1/2 cups of sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2-1/4 tsp cinnamon

1-1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

Just mix it all together until it's very crumbly. I use my kitchen aid for mixing.

Then, just add fruit and bake! For Thanksgiving, I peel and slice honey crisp or Pippin apples tossed with a bit of cinnamon. Then, mix in cranberries. Top with a layer of the crisp topping. And, bake for ??? - I just eyeball it. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream.

salonva, thanks! That simple cake always looks ”jewel-like” to me all on its own.

bbstx, I happeneed across that same Instagram video. I made sugared cranberries years ago using fine granulated sugar, but the sugar didn't stay on them very well. They did pop when I bit them. I took them to a family get together and they really weren't a hit - I think one must like fresh cranberries to enjoy them. I've not made them since, so that will tell you the impression they made, and probably wouldn't make this new version but would try them if someone else served them.

This Ina Garten TURKEY ROULADE and dressing is becoming my standard TG fare now that I'm in SC and hosting TG again - good for a small group. Last year we had just our next door neighbors and this year we're having another neighbor couple as well. I also make an old Cooking Light Maple Pecan sweet potato recipe that everyone loves - only slightly sweet. Homemade cranberry sauce from the recipe on the bag, no recipe for mashed potatoes, gravy, rutabagas, sweet baby peas for something green and take and bake rolls for the guy who only likes meat and white stuff. I love pumpkin but I don't like pie crust so this year I'm making pumpkin bars - my mom's recipe.

katz, that's my Christmas Eve meal. I love that Ina recipe. So good!

@rob333 (zone 7b) - I'll be having it again for Christmas as the turkey breast was BOGO. Didn't need two but can't pass up something offered at no additional charge.

Agree on the Ina recipe. I also like the tasty coating for her Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast.

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

On my pecan pie recipe thread a couple weeks back, someone (I'm sorry I don't remember who and I'm too tired from baking all day to go look) recommended these -

Link: Lemon Shortbread Cookies

I made them this week and they are delicious. And the lemon curd made in the microwave was really easy (I was skeptical, but it worked).

Testing my cheese leaves! so cute!

They are adorable

Well, I made the cranberry cake today..... I think it's going to be delicious but it was not a success. When I had it at the pot luck, it was more bread like but just very sweet. This is definitely cake which is ok, but it didn't stay together or pretty when I took it out of the pan. oh well....

Most of our family isn't big on pie, so my contribution is a frozen dessert.

Crust:

2 cups crushed Ritx crackers

5 T sugar

9 T butter, melted

Mix the above, and press into a 9x13 pan. Freeze

Filling:

1 quart vanilla ice cream

1 pint orange sherbet

Soften, mix together. Add to pan and freeze

Topping:

6 T butter

1 C sugar

4 T lemon juice

2 beaten eggs

Melt butter, add sugar and lemon juice.

Beat eggs; add small amount of lemon mixture to eggs

Gradually add egg mix to hot topping

Heat over low, stirring until thick (~10 minutes - seems like forever)

Cool before pouring over ice cream. Freeze.

Those cheese leaves are adorable! I just finished slicing all the cheese and meat for the charcuterie board. Maybe next year I will have to get leaf cookie cutters and do that. Or maybe not. Seems like a lot of work! Maybe just a few to scatter around the plate.

I think all I have left to do is slice the pumpernickel for the spinach dip.

I don't think I've ever been done cooking, baking and cleaning this early. Yay me!

I am very thankful for DH who does all of the main meal. I actually get to relax a bit tomorrow and visit/talk with guests. DH is always busy. Of course that's until it's time to clean up. That's all me (and my DD that helps).

I'm going to look into having someone come in on TG day and do the cleanup next year. Is that a possibility? Are there people that will come in for like 2 hours to clean up from the main meal? I would pay a lot of money for that!

@rubyclaire love the IG reel ”it’s just all different now” 😂😂😂

I don’t know what happened to it! Will try again…too funny 😄

I once made a turkey or chicken pot pie from ? NYT Magazine recipe. It was topped with pastry ”leaves” so it was very pretty as well as delicious. I hope I still have that recipe.

A friend’s family used to serve a cranberry and golden raisin pie. I made it one year with a homemade lattice topped upper crust. As the pie cooked, the filling bubbled up to kiss some of the golden lattice pastry here and there. Absolutely eye-catching.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We had the pies for Thanksgiving last night. I used Truvia and Bob's Red Mill one to one gluten-free flour. Everyone at the table would eat it again. No one thought they were missing out on anything?! So it was gluten free and diabetic friendly, and everybody was happy, even if they didn't need the substitutions.

https://preppykitchen.com/strawberry-rhubarb-pie/

I realize it's not in season, but our guest wanted strawberry rhubarb pie. Can't imagine how much better it would be when the filling was in season? It was pretty good!

sounds yummy, rob333. IMO, strawberry-rhubarb pie is never out of season.

DS brought these as an appetizer. I didn’t have one but everyone was going crazy over them. He totally overshadowed my cute leaf-shaped cheese slices.

https://www.thekitchn.com/ham-cheese-sliders-recipe-23252913

Later this week, I’m taking dinner to one of the cookbook club girls who recently had surgery. I’m going to throw in some of those sliders for lunches. Wrap in foil and freeze. Then throw in a toaster oven for about 15-20 minutes Et voila!

If you are like me and have a bunch of uncooked potatoes left that you most likely won't use before they start sprouting eyes, you can make twice baked potatoes with them and freeze them for use later.

I'm making a batch now while the weather stinks outside. This is the recipe I follow.

Twice baked potatoes

Sweet potato salad

^This scored very highly at my Thanksgiving meal. I’ll be making it again for a regular weeknight meal.

https://leitesculinaria.com/223178/recipes-ham-cheese-potato-casserole.html

I like this recipe to use up extra potatoes, leftover ham and cheeses. I’ll admit it is best when made as written, but I’ve found it to be pretty forgiving too! I don’t always use gruyere. Sometimes I use a little more ham, sometimes a little less.