So...whats for dinner?

Lacey, you arouse "favorite take-out place" envy in me!

One good thing about Thanksgiving season is the availability of turkey thighs and turkey drumsticks in the supermarkets. I have a recipe for turkey thighs that I really like. It's an oven recipe and has apples and some apple cider. I like the roasted turkey when it's "fresh" but do not like left-over turkey meat much. The dressing is my favorite Thanksgiving food. I enjoy left-over dressing sandwiches spread with a little cooked cranberries!

I bought huge bags of fresh cranberries at Sam's. They're re-closable bags. DH likes cooked cranberries with cottage cheese. To cook the cranberries, I just wash them in a colander, put them in a pot with some water and some bulk splenda. Cook them until they pop and let them cool and gel. They're delicious.

DH just served me an old-fashioned with Wild Turkey rye whiskey. He's a keeper!

I bought a quart of shucked oysters today to take north to IL. Our Thanksgiving hostess, DH's sister, makes a traditional bread dressing and an oyster dressing, which is traditional here in south Louisiana. She started doing this some years ago. I don't think she so much as tastes the oyster dressing because she doesn't eat oysters.

At last count, there were 31 people for Thanksgiving. DH is excited because all his nieces and nephews and spouses and offspring will be there along with his brother. Plus Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday. I don't have a favorite holiday any more. I've done holidays and enjoy everyday life without a lot of fuss and required behaviors. Given the choice, I prefer to be a guest/helper rather than the hostess.

With that said, if Susan runs a raffle with the winner attending her Thanksgiving dinner, I will buy all the tickets I can afford! Even if she doesn't serve brussel sprouts, which I like. Susan, I think it's remarkable that you even make the bread for your dressing!

Tonight's dinner is leftovers, either lima beans and brown rice or home-made ravioli in tomato sauce. And a really good garden salad with blue cheese and kalamata olives.

Eric she has to learn her geekiest is ok. Takes a while. I was probably the only girl to read Lord of the rings at my junior high waaaaaaay back in the 60's..... LOL I was such a geek before we were called geeks. Glad they enjoyed the cake though. Just saw the 2nd Hunger game movie. It was really good. So treated myself to Chinese. Hot and sour soup and twice cooked pork.

Nancy, I wonder... do you have a rye bread formula that you think would be particularly good as cocktail bread? Here is the one I was planning to try: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/02/cocktail-rye-bread-recipe.html . I have just about every kind of rye flour, plus rye improver and a rye blend in the pantry. I own the two King Arthur cookbooks [though don't find their bread recipes to be great,] and Bread Baker's Apprentice.

As to this brussel sprout thing, you know, if you need to eat two slices of bacon in order to eat a vegetable, it just isn't in the cards. I have actually tried roasted sprouts with bacon, but still find its bitterness too overwhelming. Just like kale, I only taste the yuck and not the good. Reminds me of when I lived in Texas and everyone tried to tell me I just needed to try okra fried! Why I would ask, would I add anything fried to my life? I do eat fried food these days [and have a bigger pants size to show for it] but okra fried is NOT a Boston thing at all.

The turkey stock is amazing! Only got 1 3/4 quarts so it must be very concentrated. Today I will roast some aromatics and let them simmer in the stock before throwing it all into the freezer.

I was supposed to meet my mother for brunch in Concord, NH today and do the lamb hand-off but she is in the middle of a blizzard and will stay safely home. So, I have a found day and need to figure out how that lamb will makes its way to my house.

*susan*

If you want a softer crumb, I think Bob's Red Mill has a buttermilk rye recipe that might make a good cocktail loaf. Haven't tried it though.

DD is *NOT* ashamed of who she is. It's more of a joke among us.

I have three hopes for her and so far, so good on accomplishing them.....

1) That she not be "I'm a helpless girl and I like it that way".

2) That she be confident with herself.

3) That she is "versatile"...meaning she can do many things, maybe not perfectly, but well enough to get them done...instead of just one thing perfectly.

Nancy..is bread flour high gluten enough?

In my "it's hard to believe" department. 30 years ago, today, Mickey died. That, getting married and the day DD was born are all events that will (and probably should) stick with me forever.

We've been out stove shopping. The electric ranges are now pretty much *all* smooth cook tops, which apparently don't work well with our large collection of cast iron cookware (which neither of us want to give up). We don't have gas service, but I suppose we could get the propane set up. Or we could go with a cheaper coil type stove....decisions..decisions...decisions... :-)

i wonder if using sourdough starter, instead of yeast, would allow one to skip the "let sit for 1-3 days" step for making the starter.....Will have to experiment.  :-)

Eric

Not so much work. I know I will be using King Arthur Flour and they have a great conversion tool on the website. I always translate to weight before doing a new bread formula. Slight change of plan though. Those blasted pantry months got into my glass container of Pumpernickel flour, so I am using the "Perfect Rye Blend" which will in the end be too light. I am surprised by a full tablespoon of yeast for a starter. I might have a backup plan just in case the dough creates too light a crumb. One of the many reasons I love cooking. Everyday is a new adventure!

Tonight was supposed to be a Rosh Jogan, an Indian lamb curry, but the lamb took so long to thaw we went to Plan B.... frozen meatloaf slices with some mashed potatoes. Why? So I had potato water of course! Feeling quite rotund. Curry is in the oven now. Will be perfect for tomorrow night's dinner. Stews always taste better the next day after all.

Eric, can you possibly afford induction? I understand that it is very expensive, but I was very impressed with it on a house swap.

*susan*

It does seem like a lot of yeast. Could probably get by on less.

Everybody here spent the day in Ft. Worth and just got home. Coffee in hand, washer on. No idea what DH will have for dinner. I'm having graham crackers at the moment with my coffee.

I did manage to resist fresh figs at Tom Thumb. But overspent at Central Market. WooHoo.

Monica, your schedule is identical to mine! Boy was shopping a nightmare today.

Supper was an easy grilled ham, stovetop mac and cheese, steamed broccoli and applesauce.

So, I could use your help. As you know, the kid has a boy, who has two cats, and they all live with us right now. In the past, they have eaten T-Day dinner at our house in the early afternoon [one of main reasons we eat early] and then head north to his family's dinner at 5pm, 40 minutes north. This day stresses both of them to no end. This year, my kid called his mom and said, this year we won't make it for dinner, just expect us for dessert. His family "gets" Easter so the kids thought this was a good compromise. Evidently not!

Instead, his family has changed their dinner to 1pm for the first time in the boy's 30 year memory! Net result is, the kids will only have dinner with us. [passive-aggressive much?]

Trying to be supportive, I asked him tonight if there were any holiday dishes that his family serves that we don't. I expected some g-dawful casserole with canned onions, or something. Nope. His fondest T-Day memory is a Pumpkin Roll. Googling quickly found a Libby's Pumpkin version and then some riffs on websites I don't trust at all.

Though I see no reason to add yet another dessert to our three traditional pies, pumpkin roll it is! So, does anyone have a good pumpkin roll recipe that they can share? Can I stuff this with something beside cream cheese? Does anyone have a tried/true recipe? Am I out of my league here?

*susan*

Wish I could say I was T- giv shopping...but in fact, I was organizing my messy recipe file (euphemism) so I could find my T-giv menu and recipes. Done!

So tomorrow I will shop for what I still need...mainly veggies including those controversial brussells sprouts (love the ones on the stalk I get from Traders... they taste really fresh...if you like their taste!). And since we are having our tiny T-giv football fest, I am even thinking of roasting only a turkey breast with separate legs since DH loves those. This would be a major departure for any t-giv we've ever had, and I'm sure the mini crew will be fine with it. In fact, on our walk this afternoon DH and I stopped at the local food store to pick up some salmon for dinner and I showed him the turkey breasts and separate legs and he was very happy with that option. Yay....and I could still get a partial carcass for soup!

Tonight we had baked teriyaki salmon, Greek salad, and sauteed kale with garlic, red onion and walnuts.

We also each had a small whole wheat soft pretzel (I impulsively made some last night) for a carb! Odd with dinner but good, ad a bit healthy.

So Susan, given your feeling about those two crucifers, do you even let broccoli rabe pass your front door? I'm always amazed that I love all of those vegetables...but glad I do since I use them each AM in smoothies and often for dinner in some form.

Happy cooking everyone.....

Carrie, so excited for you with your new home. Your story about staying there reminded me of when we stayed the first night in our newly built lakehouse.....definitely camping out on raw floors for us....which is very different from your experience I'm sure. And such excitement! Congratulations!

We had Asian noodles with sautéed carrot, onion and cabbage, and pork potstickers for dinner tonight - which occurred after I was almost run over by a lunatic in the Whole Foods parking lot! I mainly prepared this because I needed to test out my old electric wok which has not been used in a number of years, but is needed tomorrow for the Thanksgiving fajita lunch at DH's office. Yes, I said fajitas. I guess nobody wanted to have turkey, so fajitas it is!

susan - Ina Garten has a pumpkin roll recipe, but it is the standard cream cheese filling. My DH loves pumpkin roll but every time I make it I swear more than I do with any other recipe. I can never get the fleepin' cake out of the pan, into the towel, and the paper off of it! If we had to pay a "swear jar" I would go broke in one day! I made a 4 layer pumpkin cake with a pumpkin and whipped cream filling for our Tampa BCO lunch a little over a week ago. Everyone enjoyed it, so I think you could make the roll - basically the thin and flexible cake part according to the recipe, but instead of the cream cheese do some cooked pumpkin combined with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and whipped cream. The cake itself is light enough that I don't think it would squish that light filling out. Then dust the top with more P sugar - what do you think?

Pumpkin roll way beyond my meager cooking skills. Did find this.

http://spinthemeal.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/pumpkin-spice-cake-roll/

or this from Paula Deen. Both I think are cream cheese free.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-roll-cake-recipe2/index.html

I'm drooling looking at all of them. I might even try one well maybe 1/2 of one for us.

Special, I saw Ina's recipe. Complete ripoff of the original Libby's version. Oh dear... swear jar? Now I am nervous! Must butter the pan and the paper well then. And do an interpretive dance to the pumpkin roll g-d.

Cinnamon ice cream! Oh yea.... that actually sounds good. I think with Specials caution, I should make this tomorrow just in case I need to do it a second time. Wrap it around some high quality ice cream, and freeze it. Just need to find room in a freezer.

I was so naively optimistic. Now I am nervous.

*susan*