Wednesday/Thanksgiving Eve

lyndausvi

Happy early Thanksgiving!     I hope every has a safe and stress free day.

Today is just another day. DH gave me a job to make ice.  Ha.  We have a counter top ice maker.  So I have to make it and dump it into the freezer.  I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge.        

DH has to go into work for a few hours to prep for tomorrow.  The last 2 years we only had about 50 people for dinner.   They were going to suggest closing in the future if the number were just as low  this year so the staff could have off.     Guess how many reservations we have?   Yep, 80+.   So much for DH getting Thanksgiving off in the future.   

Later on we have to drop off DH's ski boots to get his new skis fitted.   Although they will not "allow" DH to take the skis.  Nope, DH gets a new pair of skis every year and has a history of busting them out too early in the season and ends up needing to get them fixed.  This year the store employees said they will hold them hostage until it's time.     LOL. 

My mom told us yesterday she needs surgery.  Again.  This time the knee cap on the knee replacement broke or moved.  Not sure, but anyway, they need to go back in and fix it.   When you ask?  May 1.     That sounds crazy long time to me.  My mom is already pretty inactive.  This will pretty much make her immobile.  

short+sassy

Just here to 11AM.  Which will probably turn to noon, lol.  But Friday is a holiday also.  4-day weekend!!!  Oh yeah!

Stuffing.  Always stuffing.  I've don't think I've heard it called dressing until this post.  Though perhaps @DrillSergeantCat is technically correct. I don't care.  It's still wrong.  I put dressing on my salad.  Preferably buttermilk ranch.

I personally love Stove Top the best.  I embrace my "low class".  But my H doesn't care for it and insisted we "upgrade" to Pepperidge Farm.  He actually wanted to make the stuffing himself.  Oh hell no.  I put the huge ixnay on that.  He's a good cook, but he's never done homemade stuffing.  Therefore it is unproven.  Therefore it is unacceptable.

We always put crumbled breakfast sausage, mushrooms, and onions in our stuffing.  Just realized we forgot to pull the breakfast sausage out of the freezer!  Also forgot mushrooms.

Despite my marathon shopping trip on Sat., I need mushrooms, sugar-free Cool Whip (for my pumpkin pie), more apple cider, and Crown Royal Apple. My stealthy plan is to fill a prescription and check out at the Wal-Mart pharmacy with my few items.

@MissKittyDanger, if you like pumpkin, you'd probably like sweet potatoes.  When sweet potatoes are turned into pie, it tastes very similar to pumpkin pie.  In my neck of the woods, we also have sweet potato fries, sweet potato chips, and sweet potato tater tots.  However, those last items can be bought year round.  Not just at TG.

Another regional favorite for TG is mirliton, usually with a seafood stuffing.  Mirliton, also called chayote in other places, is a green veggie that looks like a pear.  It has a mild taste.  Personally, I can take it or leave it, so it isn't something I prepare.

But, @MissKittyDanger and the other non-US Knotties, if you all don't have a Nov. TG.  Then you don't have Black Friday.  How do you all know when to start your Xmas shopping?  How do you know (panic)!?!? Lol.

MissKittyDanger

@short+sassy  I do like sweet potatoes. I've never had them as pie, not popular here.
We do have black friday actually. It's just not as crazy as the US version, and companies do it to keep the money in Canada {stupid I know} but also I live close enough to the boarder that I could drive to the US and do Black Friday shopping.

As for 'when do you know to start xmas shopping' - I personally learned from my mum. See it? Buy it. My mum ALWAYS started xmas shopping after my bday in September. Typically I start more actively shopping in October {usually after our TG}, or right after Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day.

CharmedPam

MissKittyDanger said:

Blegh stovetop!
Always have ours from scratch pretty much. My nana taught my dad, and now M is going to do it {because he also is a better cook than myself}
Interesting fact is that M's stepdad's mother makes her stuffing same way.
It's Scottish or Welsh I think.

How to make stuffing in my house:

Bread {ripped into small pieces}
Onions {chopped small}
Mix together with poultry seasoning {start with 1 tbsp - depends on how much you're making, depends on how much needed}
1 tbsp of butter as mixing.

Wet hands and splash stuffing, keep mixing together and wetting hands until thoroughly mixed.

Stuffing - in bird
Dressing - in tin foil on side, still refer to it as stuffing because life is hard enough.

buy "blegh stovetop!" do you mean "the only way to have dressing"?  because I think you did......

lol I think I'm the odd man out on this one.  Stovetop or nothing!

OliveOilsMom

Morning WW!

The only thing I am making is the most important thing, the turkey!  I got up early so I could get the brine set, put the turkey in and have H put it in the fridge before he left for work since it would be too heavy for me to carry.  It ended up being a bit crazy since I forgot to remove one of the fridge shelves last night.  We went out to dinner and when we came back I brought the giant pot upstairs, did the dishes including cleaning said giant pot only to forget to measure it against the shelves in the fridge!  Whoops!  I blame baby brain because it was my intention to do it!

So H was getting a little frazzled because we need to pull the fridge out and to the side in order to remove any of the shelves due to where and how it sits.  But he still left for work with plenty of time to get there on time. So it wasn't too big of a deal.

Tonight is relaxing.  Tomorrow is making the stuffing and cooking the turkey.  Once the turkey is cooked, I will also make the gravy from the drippings.  Dinner is at my brother's house and everyone else will bring the remaining sides and desserts.  It's always a team effort with my family, which is nice. 

And talk about crazy, my mom used to make so many Thanksgiving desserts, it was about 1 pie or cake per person!  She would make about 5 different pies and 3 or 4 cakes, everything from scratch including the pie dough.  It's only been the last few years that she has stopped making so much dessert.

And in sweet potato news - my grandmother used to make the best candied sweets.  She would slow cook them all day and it would be almost like a syrup that covered each sweet potato.  I still dream about them!  I've only had sweet potatoes with marshmallow once, it wasn't bad, but I'd prefer no marshmallows.  My SIL is making a sweet potato casserole of some kind, so we will see what that is!

MNNEBride

I'm not cooking and am bringing a caramel apple salad to my Aunt & Uncle's house.  

Growing up, holiday meals were generally 1 PM.  Now we seem to have moved to arrive at 4 PM and dinner at 5 PM.

I don't like any version sweet potato casserole.  I do like sweet potatoes baked in the skin and served like a regular baked potato.

Stuffing/Dressing is used interchangeably in our family.  I like Stovetop and use it when it's not the holiday, but definitely homemade on Thanksgiving.

 

kimmiinthemitten

CharmedPam said:

MissKittyDanger said:

Blegh stovetop!
Always have ours from scratch pretty much. My nana taught my dad, and now M is going to do it {because he also is a better cook than myself}
Interesting fact is that M's stepdad's mother makes her stuffing same way.
It's Scottish or Welsh I think.

How to make stuffing in my house:

Bread {ripped into small pieces}
Onions {chopped small}
Mix together with poultry seasoning {start with 1 tbsp - depends on how much you're making, depends on how much needed}
1 tbsp of butter as mixing.

Wet hands and splash stuffing, keep mixing together and wetting hands until thoroughly mixed.

Stuffing - in bird
Dressing - in tin foil on side, still refer to it as stuffing because life is hard enough.

buy "blegh stovetop!" do you mean "the only way to have dressing"?  because I think you did......

lol I think I'm the odd man out on this one.  Stovetop or nothing!

Nope!  @thefanciestbeckler and I are here with you!

CharmedPam

kimmiinthemitten said:

lol I think I'm the odd man out on this one.  Stovetop or nothing!

Nope!  @thefanciestbeckler and I are here with you!

I've heard of people making them from scratch or even other brands....but I don't think that exists.  

MissKittyDanger

kimmiinthemitten said:

CharmedPam said:

MissKittyDanger said:

Blegh stovetop!
Always have ours from scratch pretty much. My nana taught my dad, and now M is going to do it {because he also is a better cook than myself}
Interesting fact is that M's stepdad's mother makes her stuffing same way.
It's Scottish or Welsh I think.

How to make stuffing in my house:

Bread {ripped into small pieces}
Onions {chopped small}
Mix together with poultry seasoning {start with 1 tbsp - depends on how much you're making, depends on how much needed}
1 tbsp of butter as mixing.

Wet hands and splash stuffing, keep mixing together and wetting hands until thoroughly mixed.

Stuffing - in bird
Dressing - in tin foil on side, still refer to it as stuffing because life is hard enough.

buy "blegh stovetop!" do you mean "the only way to have dressing"?  because I think you did......

lol I think I'm the odd man out on this one.  Stovetop or nothing!

Nope!  @thefanciestbeckler and I are here with you!

you're all crazy

OliveOilsMom

Stovetop was not around in my house.  We always make our stuffing from scratch.  Cube bread (potato bread is best IMO), add seasonings (poultry seasoning, parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary - whatever you like), salt & pepper, onion, celery is optional and an egg to bind it all.  For our turkey I will probably need 2 eggs to bind it all.  Then stuff it in and it cooks at the same time as the bird.

I've had stovetop and its not bad, but homemade is way better - sorry!

We usually eat around 5 now.  Back when some of my older relatives were still with us, we would eat around 2.

lyndausvi

@MissKittyDanger  I only way I like Stovetop in DH's meatloaf. Never for turkey or by itself.

 Otherwise it's scratch all the way.  Our recipe is much like yours.  We also add celery and buttermilk to bind.  ETA - also add sage and other herbs.

MissKittyDanger

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

lyndausvi

MissKittyDanger said:

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

He made it last night actually.    He cooks up Stovetop stuffing.  We normally use the "pork" flavor, but have used them all.    After cooking he lets it cool down in the fridge.   Once it's cooled he adds it to the ground beef, add a few eggs (normally 1 egg for each pound).   Mixes together and cooks.     



Amazing meatloaf.  At work he does a buffalo meatloaf.  It's a huge hit. 


ETA - the Stovetop is cooked per the box instructions.

CharmedPam

@Lyndausvi.  I am keeping this recipe in my back pocket! Looks great!

OliveOilsMom

lyndausvi said:

MissKittyDanger said:

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

He made it last night actually.    He cooks up Stovetop stuffing.  We normally use the "pork" flavor, but have used them all.    After cooking he lets it cool down in the fridge.   Once it's cooled he adds it to the ground beef, add a few eggs (normally 1 egg for each pound).   Mixes together and cooks.     



Amazing meatloaf.  At work he does a buffalo meatloaf.  It's a huge hit. 

In a similar fashion, I always use oatmeal in my meatloaf!  H doesn't like oatmeal and was a little leery the first time I made it, but he LOVES my meatloaf!

short+sassy

Randoms about TG

@Heffalump, oyster stuffing is really popular in NOLA, though I have never had it.  I never heard of it until I lived here.  Never heard of the mirlitons (sp?) I mentioned earlier either.

I had also never heard of frying a turkey until I moved here.  That is a very popular maneuver here.  I misunderstood.  I assumed they breaded it like fried chicken and asked if they broke it apart first or if they actually just fried the whole turkey (thinking it was breaded).  My b/f at the time looked at me like I was a crazy person and said, "Do you think its breaded like fried chicken?"  I told him, "Yeah!  I mean, that's what fried is."  He corrected me that it was cooked in hot oil, ie fried, but not breaded first.  Because that would be crazy (side eye from him).  Hmmpphh.  I didn't know, I don't come from a land that uses oil like its water, lol.

I had green bean casserole for the first time when I was 19 at a work potluck.  No idea this was a TG staple side dish.  I go home excited to tell my mom about the wonders of green bean casserole.  Her response, "Oh yeah, a lot of people have that for TG.  But I don't like it, so I never made it."  I will never forget that feeling of utter betrayal.  How could she have sent me into that cold, cruel world.  An innocent lamb.  With no knowledge of green bean casserole.

I don't mind whipped sweet potatos.  Not my fave.  But I scrape the marshmallow topping off, if it is served that way.  I don't like marshmallows at all.  The top of hot chocolate is my only caveat for them.

bleve0821

OliveOilsMom said:

lyndausvi said:

MissKittyDanger said:

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

He made it last night actually.    He cooks up Stovetop stuffing.  We normally use the "pork" flavor, but have used them all.    After cooking he lets it cool down in the fridge.   Once it's cooled he adds it to the ground beef, add a few eggs (normally 1 egg for each pound).   Mixes together and cooks.     



Amazing meatloaf.  At work he does a buffalo meatloaf.  It's a huge hit. 

In a similar fashion, I always use oatmeal in my meatloaf!  H doesn't like oatmeal and was a little leery the first time I made it, but he LOVES my meatloaf!

I make mini meatloaves in a muffin pan. I always make it with oatmeal. I thought it was weird at first but it really works. You almost don't even notice it.

MissKittyDanger

lyndausvi said:

MissKittyDanger said:

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

He made it last night actually.    He cooks up Stovetop stuffing.  We normally use the "pork" flavor, but have used them all.    After cooking he lets it cool down in the fridge.   Once it's cooled he adds it to the ground beef, add a few eggs (normally 1 egg for each pound).   Mixes together and cooks.     



Amazing meatloaf.  At work he does a buffalo meatloaf.  It's a huge hit. 


ETA - the Stovetop is cooked per the box instructions.

So it basically replaces oats with the recipe M uses. Interesting, I'll have to try it

short+sassy

lyndausvi said:

MissKittyDanger said:

@lyndausvi  never heard of using it in meatloaf! Explain!

He made it last night actually.    He cooks up Stovetop stuffing.  We normally use the "pork" flavor, but have used them all.    After cooking he lets it cool down in the fridge.   Once it's cooled he adds it to the ground beef, add a few eggs (normally 1 egg for each pound).   Mixes together and cooks.     



Amazing meatloaf.  At work he does a buffalo meatloaf.  It's a huge hit. 


ETA - the Stovetop is cooked per the box instructions.

That's a great idea!  Like a substitute for bread crumbs.  My H loves my meatloaf.  I even got one of those "sold on TV" meatloaf pans that came with a great recipe book.  I'll have to try out the Stovetop option when he isn't looking.

kimmiinthemitten

@lyndausvi I want Stovetop meatloaf now!

CharmedPam

re:  meal time

I guess society is making meal time around 1pm these days.  With stores being open at like 5 pm on Thursday now?  I'm looking for sales for TV's right now and I'm smh at the times/days stores will be open!

lyndausvi

kimmiinthemitten said:

@lyndausvi I want Stovetop meatloaf now!

I'm going to have some for lunch.  

CharmedPam said:

re:  meal time

I guess society is making meal time around 1pm these days.  With stores being open at like 5 pm on Thursday now?  I'm looking for sales for TV's right now and I'm smh at the times/days stores will be open!

We use to eat between 1-3 anyway.  Then we would have turkey sandwiches later in the evening.

Not that I shop on Thanksgiving.  Partly because stores are not even open here.   But if I'm not working, I'm watching football.  If I'm lucky I can do both.

kimmiinthemitten

@lyndausvi

thefanciestbeckler

So in other completely unrelated news, I had a really steamy dream about an ex-BF last night. For years before I met DH this guy was "the one that got away" in my mind. Now that I'm older there is no way in hell I would want to be with this guy, plus I love my husband so I'm kinda thinking "WTF did that come from??"

It's making me feel really awkward and I keep thinking people can tell by looking at me that I dreamed (dreamt?) about another man. LOL.

ETF words

ILoveBeachMusic

We are having a really small dinner - only 4 of us. However, we will have smoked salmon for app. Turkey, dressing (made with Pepperidge farm cubes), sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows - pecans, brown sugar all the way), broccoli, green beans, probably cranberry salad and pumpkin pie for dessert. I have pumpkin bread in the oven right now and it smells delicious.

ShesSoCold

thefanciestbeckler said:

So in other completely unrelated news, I had a really steamy dream about an ex-BF last night. For years before I met DH this guy was "the one that got away" in my mind. Now that I'm older there is no way in hell I would want to be with this guy, plus I love my husband so I'm kinda thinking "WTF did that come from??"

It's making me feel really awkward and I keep thinking people can tell by looking at me that I dreamed (dreamt?) about another man. LOL.

ETF words

LOL I hate that feeling! A few months ago I had dreams that I'd gotten back together with two of my exes (both total shitheads). Complete with plans about how to tell H and where we'd live and shit. I felt all icky for days.

Edited for typo

MissKittyDanger

thefanciestbeckler said:

So in other completely unrelated news, I had a really steamy dream about an ex-BF last night. For years before I met DH this guy was "the one that got away" in my mind. Now that I'm older there is no way in hell I would want to be with this guy, plus I love my husband so I'm kinda thinking "WTF did that come from??"

It's making me feel really awkward and I keep thinking people can tell by looking at me that I dreamed (dreamt?) about another man. LOL.

ETF words

I've had those. Sometimes with people I never dated! I always wake up confused on where it came from.
I'm always convinced people know what I had a dream about!

thefanciestbeckler

@ShesSoCold I think I remember you posting about that! I am so creeped out by myself today. In the dream dude was like "what about your husband?" and I straight up said "who cares?" What?? Lol!

@MissKittyDanger It's the weirdest feeling. I had to confess it somewhere so I picked WW. Lol!

MissKittyDanger

@thefanciestbeckler  does your H have a good sense of humour? I've told M about a steamy dream I had a long time ago about one of his friends. He didn't tell the friend but he'd keep making quips about it and joking about it.

Dreams are dreams, don't look too much into it

charlotte989875

Just made it to Buffalo. No traffic, no snow so I'll call that a win. 

I did did have a mini meltdown this morning. I woke up with neck pain and unable to turn my head. I slept terrible. H asks what's wrong and I just start crying and say I don't want to go. Ugh. I know there's going to be family drama after my last trip home, I'm tired of always traveling on holidays and I'm exhausted.  But we're here and it will be fine.