Welcome back to work, little campers! If you were lucky enough to get a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving, this first day back is going to be torture. If you're one of those poor bastards who has to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving (this category includes my sainted husband) when the rest of the country is bumming around and eating turkey sandwiches in their pajamas, I am sorry.
In any case, on this wretched Monday back after a holiday, let's indulge in a little food-related nostalgia, shall we?
Today I would like to hear about your absolute favorite, it's-not-a-holiday-without-it, gotta-have Thanksgiving dish*. For me, that's mashed potatoes. Not that I don't eat mashed potatoes with some regularity (especially this year, Lord help me), but I am not in the habit of adding a full cup of heavy cream to them on a regular basis. YUUUUUM.
I also may have mentioned my undying devotion to the crescent rolls made by the MiL's sister, but these are a new addition to my Thanksgiving dalliances. Mashed potatoes were my first love, and I remain true to them, even when stuffing my face with rolls.
So what's the must-have for you? Cranberry sauce? Gravy? Stuffing (or dressing, if you're southern)? Green bean Campbell's Cream of casserole?
* Why is it that NO ONE ever claims to love the turkey more than anything else? Mere filler, I say. Maybe next year we should just drop the charade and forget the turkey. More room for potatoes that way.
Gotta have the big bird. It's what they put the skin on. I can live without the turkey, but I gotta have the skin.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have to work on Friday, but after a four-day weekend (bra and shower optional!), it most certainly does suck to be back at work.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it just isn't Thanksgiving without the pumpkin pie. I made sure to supplement that tradition this year with sweet potato pie (the first I'd ever tasted) and pumpkin bread. Oh HELL yes.
Now that I'm back in the family fold, any old piece of pie will do. But when Mark and I lived in Alaska, there was totally a thing I made every Thanksgiving, and it was not Thanksgiving without it: Brie and cranberry scrunchies-- brie and cranberry sauce baked into phyllo dough soaked in butter. Mmmmm. They are a ton of mess and bother, though. So it's okay that I don't have to make them any more.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess that it's all about the green bean casserole for me on Thanksgiving. It's a travesty I'd never admit to the rest of the year, but my annual indulgence in such a white trash treat is savored like truffles.
ReplyDeleteI have to have ham and mashed potatoes. Not so much for thanksgiving dinner itself, but for the mashed potato pancakes and fried ham in maple syrup for several breakfasts afterwards. YUM!
ReplyDeleteIt all about the bread for me. I make homemade bread often but never rolls except at the holidays. Oh how I love a warm roll smothered with cranberry sauce, mmmmm!
ReplyDeleteFor desert it is all about the raisin pie. Not sour cream raisin or any other filling, just plain raisin please with a dollop of whipped cream.
To bad all the leftovers are gone, darn kids.
Letters. My step-mom makes some sort of dough and shapes it into letters and bakes them. Each person at dinner gets the first letter of their first name. Ooh, they're yummy, too. We only do this at Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner, and that's what makes it the holidays for us.
ReplyDeleteWow, I have to agree with Drew and say it's turkey skin. Not crazy about the rest of the bird. I'm pretty fond of the stuffing too, but no one else in this whacko family I've married into cares about it so I'm not making it just for me. It hurts my feelings when no one else eats it. Then I start crying and the whole day is ruined.
ReplyDeleteTurkey and pumpkin pie are way better than potatoes. I made two pumpkin pies so we still have one left to devour, along with the leftover turkey.
ReplyDeleteI'm a stuffing kind of girl. It has to be made with lots of onions & celery cooked in butter with some homegrown sage mixed in. I like it really wet and baked in a casserole dish and the crispy top is my favorite! Almost like a savory bread pudding.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I grew up thinking I didn't like stuffing. Then at my first Thanksgiving with my wife's family (before we were married) I had to eat my mother-in-law's stuffing. I don't know if it was her recipe, or just that I was no longer 5 years old, but now I like it.
ReplyDeleteAs for sweet potatoes, we had a sweet potato casserole this year. I'm going to get the recipe and make it as a pie. I don't like sweet potatoes and this stuff was good.
i'd have to say turkey with cranberry sauce slathered over it!
ReplyDeletegotta have the stuffing that's come out of the bird and creamed onions or it's not a holiday meal
ReplyDeletethe stuffing, the one that's the simplest, not crammed with sausage and cranberries, the basic one.
ReplyDeletestuffed between two slices of white bread the next morning with turkey and gravy? it seems a crying shame I don't eat like that all the time.
My mom now makes a cranberry crunch dish; it's whole cranberry sauce topped with sliced apples and baked inside two layers of an oatmeal crust. It's so tasty.
ReplyDeleteOh, and going back to work today totally sucked it.
Chris demands a pumpkin chiffon pie, which is a family tradition on my side. I would gladly give up my pie if it meant I could keep my mashed potatoes with stuffing and gravy. They are one. A holy trinity. Don't make me choose.
ReplyDeleteBest thing about the turkey is the smell of it cooking. The gravy poured over the mashed potato is my favorite part. Hell, gravy over everything!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, instead of a turkey, this year I roasted a homegrown chicken. Had to have weighed 12 pounds! It was delicious and gravy from that was even better than turkey gravy.
Pumpkin pie is a favorite too, but I make them with homegrown butternut squash.
Sheila
I put cream cheese in the mashed potatoes this year and nearly passed away from the deliciousnessocity.
ReplyDeleteIt is, also, my very true love.
Despite the fatness.