Topic: What are you eating / What did you eat.

[8ullfrog]

Mom is sick and wanted mashed potatoes and gravy.
Mashed potatoes wasn't a problem.

The gravy was nearly a castrophe, mom took the labels off two identical containers. One is flour, one is pancake mix. The only indication was she left the box top of the pancake mix... in the pancake mix. If I hadn't seen it sticking out, that gravy would have been weird.

I mean, not mint french toast weird, but weird.

Honestly, reading that back, I might try it.

[6pairsofshoes]

I don't know about mint french toast.  It might confuse my taste buds.  Sorry your mom feels unwell.  I love mashed potatoes.  We like to put parsnip in with them.  Will probably have that with Thanksgiving dinner.  Not sure if we will cook duck or turkey at this point.  Turkeys are cheap as usual, although not as cheap as they once were.

[6pairsofshoes]

We are getting ready to have a turkey with sides and dessert.  I am grateful for having a warm place to live, plenty of food and good friends.  I hope you are all enjoying the day.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[goldshirt*9]

Happy thanks giving day to all over the pond 

[smokester]

Happy Thanksgiving USA peeps!

Not entirely sure what y'all are celebrating, but if it involves good food and drink, I'm well up for it!

[8ullfrog]

It was mostly a "golly you" to the south and a call for unity from Lincoln.
They dress it up as being about the pilgrims, but in reality it was a call for unity.
Which is funny because people always talk about their racist uncles being absolute shits at thanksgiving dinner.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-proclaims-official-thanksgiving-holiday

[6pairsofshoes]

I always regarded it as an annual gluttony ritual performed with friends and family.  We spent all day cooking and had a more elaborate than usual dinner.  We'll be eating leftovers for days.  It's good to have a microwave.

[8ullfrog]

Just got the turkey breast instead of the full bird, it turned out fantastic. Cranberry sauce was canned, because cranberry sauce isn't worth 12 hours of waiting.

We did have a minor spillover problem because the breast rolled in its pan. That was fairly unpleasant, but the stove fan took care of it.

I don't think I'll go for a full bird again; this was a lot more convenient.

One substitution we made was because the celery at grocery outlet was terrible, so we sliced carrots razor thin and sauteed that for the stuffing. I think I actually like that better. I mistakenly thought it was part of the cajun trinity, so I knew I could swap it. Turns out it isn't supposed to be carrot, but bell pepper. Whoops!

[6pairsofshoes]

I considered a breast but we love dark meat and that kind of excludes it.  Glad yours worked out.  I make raw cranberry sauce with a food processor.  Basically a bag of raw cranberries, a whole orange (a thin skinned one like Valencia works better than Navels because the latter have thicker rinds and so add to bitterness).  Some additional orange juice (I tend to grab mandarins and juice them until it tastes right) a cup of sugar and run it until it's minced well.  Refrigerate.  It's really refreshing.  And it freezes well.

Carrots are a great addition to lots of dishes, like spaghetti sauce, grated fine -- their sweetness helps counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.  Sometimes if I have any left over, I'll throw them in a salad.  We added parsnips to the mashed potatoes.  They really do something to make them special.

Right now I'm eating some stale Goldfish crackers.  Guess I'll toss the rest in the compost.

[8ullfrog]

I think the richness of the carrots offset the celery of the celery.

[8ullfrog]

Tonight, we did a bagged chicken/noodles/stirfry bag.
They forgot the chicken.

I know bell pepper is part of Asian cuisine, but there was too much bell pepper here, and the noodles were stiff and lousy.
Sauce was good, but that's damning the meal with faint praise. I guess the broccoli was good too.

I also think it was somewhat stupid to do a chicken dish to break up the monotony of leftovers.

Either way, it's on the no-rebuy list.

[6pairsofshoes]

We had a small green salad and are about to have some garden tomato pasta sauce out of the freezer because too much turkey gets old fast and spaghetti is about as different as I can get from the regular Thanksgiving fare.

That's too bad about the bagged Asian dish.  There's several of the "Innov-asian" and other freezer meals that  I guess you thaw out and toss together with some rice for dinner.  Generally, the more someone else has had a hand in food, the more it costs, so I tend to stick to the basics.

[8ullfrog]

The bag meals are a lot like Campbell's soup. They wax and wane, and hope consumers don't notice the wane.

Last night was shredded up potatoes and mozzarella. Delicious and separate. Mom had spaghetti, but my stomach has been an bottom lately, so it was just potato slices and shredded mozz. I suppose one could make a rather bland charcutier board of things, but I wouldn't bother.

[6pairsofshoes]

Since I'm not a burger eater, I'll often just opt for the Baked Potato option at Wendy's when I'm driving on long trips cross country etc.  I slather butter and sour cream on it and don't feel a bit guilty since I need the nutrients.  If your stomach likes to eat cheese and potatoes go for it.

I'm making mushroom risotto tonight, which is basically rice porridge with some vegs and cheese cooked with wine and chicken broth.  It will be a refreshing change from the endless turkey meals, but, boy, did I stretch out that bird to epic proportions. 

[6pairsofshoes]

A cup of tea.  And soon, some coffee cake that my husband orders once a year.  It's really rich:  cinnamon and walnuts in a bundt cake.  I'm going to go cut a slice and try to wake up.  Some days, there's just not enough caffeine in the world.