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Thanksgiving dinner


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What was on your menu? We postponed by a day because our daughter was in isolation, but planning on turkey (may smoke half of it in our Traeger), cranberry & orange relish, cranberry/apple dressing, rolls, oven-roasted Brussel sprouts, butternut squash, and pumpkin pie. Its just the 4 of us, so keeping it simple. I realized we forgot potatoes, but probably not the end of the world because the kids are not the biggest fans of the mashed stuff.

Also found some oatmilk eggnog at the store and it is good. Maybe some hot mulled wine, too.

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The short answer is too much. The main pieces were a prime rib and a turkey breast. Then they're were loaded mini potatoes, mashed potatoes, mozzarella dinner rolls, homemade stuffing, a salad. My stepson made three different pies. My stepdaughter made thesev cheese crisps with bacon and jalapenos that were actually really good. My wife also put out a meat cheese and veggie platter beforehand that of course people fill up on. Too much.

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Tina and I have technically four thanksgiving dinners. I made our own Thanksgiving on Monday so I could have leftovers and take something for lunches at my second job which I was working this week. It was a couple of turkey breasts roasted with fresh sage, rosemary and thyme with butter and salt and lemon which I served with my homemade dressing with apples and sausage, mashed nanners with gravy and some random frozen veggies.

Then we went to my friends house at noon yesterday and had EVERYTHING imaginable with smoked turkey like two different dressings (One with cornbread and diced boiled eggs and eggplant that I NEVER touch) and another with big chunks of white bread, sweet taters with marshmellows, sauerkraut, rolls, homemade gravy and I brought roasted asparagus with lemon and parm, potatoes au gratin where I discovered my oven doesn't get hot enough because the potatoes were still stiff and three different veggie dips such as hidden valley ranch fiesta dip, a hot garlic and parm dip and a spinach and artichoke dip that I served with homemade garlic thyme crackers.

Then Tina and I drove to visit my Dad who was my brothers house for Thanksgiving. We weren't actually invited to his dinner so basically I crashed it on purpose (My niece planned it for her family only and had it at my brothers because his house is bigger and he had a fire pit and they REALLY like drinking) My mom made turkey rubbed in a spice called "Slap yo mama" and she made her green bean casserole and then there was some kind of weird cornbread casserole with actual corn and three different pies. Tina and I ate the ham, drank my brothers HIGH END tequila and had pie. Oh and we watched the Cowboys lose.

 Then we left to go hang out at a very good friends house until 10:30 AM and just chill and pet cats and dogs and talk to normal people about things while sipping wine next to a fire pit in the windy chill and look at all there art because my friends are theater and arts type ppl. The turkey was awesome but we got there so late everything was cold so we drank spiked coffee and laughed and ate turkey and yummy desserts like a lemon torta.

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We hosted my husband's family this year. I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, roasted Brussel sprouts, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, rolls, gravy...the usual. It was good. After years and years of doing meals for my giant family, I apparently don't know how to cook for only 9 people. We only ate about a quarter of what I'd made. There was A LOT of food. But I'd also bought a box of cheap meal prep containers so people could take home lots of leftovers, and they did! We have very little left in our fridge. 

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My husband finally remembered that we have culinary lavender so he seasoned the turkey with lavender, rosemary and sage. I made a half recipe of stuffing and realized I always make a half recipe, so I still have way too much. Husband did have fingerling potatoes stashed somewhere so he cooked those with the Brussel sprouts. My pumpkin pie spilled all over the damn oven for the fifth year in a row so I've now sworn off making my own pumpkin pie and will just buy it from now on (and honestly, my homemade stuff isn't as good anyway). So now I am drinking red mulled wine and it is good.

Maybe next year I take a break from the stuffing and do something fun like cornbread casserole or Mac n cheese. The kids won't touch the stuffing anyway.

Right now I am wishing I had some brie because a friend who is a chef/foodie says they do leftover turkey sandwiches with brie and cranberry sauce and I am here for it.

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It is just us so we invited over some new friends that also don't have family here.  They have a pretty extensive allergy list so they offered to cook and we bought booze.  I made root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, garlic) mixed in olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and paprika) and gluten free cornbread with rice milk and without the egg (they were actually really good).

They brought a lot of really good food!  The vegan pumpkin pie was awesome.  I used to be really skeptical of vegan recipes when substituting different ingredients (ie rice milk for cow milk), but when vegan food is made to imitate non-vegan food (for example vegan cheese or beyond meat) I still think it is pretty bad.

I bought a really nice gaming laptop when we went into lock down a year and a half ago and it is working great except for a rattling fan.  The husband (of the couple that came over for Thanksgiving) works on computers and he said he would replace the fan for cheaper than the local shop.  Long story short, he ends up bricking my computer.  Bricking as in nothing happens even when I hit the power button.  These friends are in a tough spot financially (which is the only reason I agreed to let him do it rather than an insured shop). I know they don't have the money to replace my computer so I didn't even ask.  I overspent on this computer hoping to not replace it for 4-5 years.  This happened right before we ate so I had to hold back crying all of dinner as to not make him feel bad. 

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On 11/26/2021 at 10:45 AM, Cerina said:

We hosted my husband's family this year. I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, roasted Brussel sprouts, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, rolls, gravy...the usual. It was good. After years and years of doing meals for my giant family, I apparently don't know how to cook for only 9 people. We only ate about a quarter of what I'd made. There was A LOT of food. But I'd also bought a box of cheap meal prep containers so people could take home lots of leftovers, and they did! We have very little left in our fridge. 

Only 9 people.  That’s crazy!  :)  Nine is a lot to me.  Huge families have always seemed crazy to me!

I actually dislike traditional Thanksgiving food.  But Thanksgiving food leftovers are awesome!  I’m totally jealous!

56 minutes ago, Destiny Skywalker said:

Oooof. Hopefully a legit shop can get it back up and running fast.

I just bought a new one.  

I think the motherboard was fried as he didn’t hook up the fans correctly and I heard the tiniest pop when it powered it on then it died.  He kept working on it for the rest of the day and I just smiled saying it was okay while crying on the inside.  

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With my maternal grandparents down (which is our usual family gathering), we're 21. And that's not including strays. We always have strays. This year we wound up inviting my sister-in-law's half-sister (from their dad) over because her shitty family went to a family thing and didn't invite her. We see her at different functions through the year, so she's not a stranger or anything. Sometimes our strays wind up being strangers to most of us. 

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