for the meat eaters... a vegan pemmican inspired by Lakota Chef Sean Sherman for the vegans... enjoyed by all

wild rice
tofu
nuts
dried fruit
topped by yummy gravy

my neighbor makes a nut loaf. I may try something like that for Christmas.

I live (alone) at my maternal grandparents' place, and all the extended family who are able gather for Thanksgiving every year. I roasted the turkey, and if I do say so myself, it was superb! I dry-brined it overnight with a salt rub, and it was extremely juicy and tender. For the last hour, I added a smoked sausage, and the two meats complemented each other perfectly. We also had a smoked turkey and Honey Baked turkey breast, along with a ham, several kinds of dressing (including oyster, my favorite) and an endless supply of vegetables, salads, and desserts.

With 45 people attending, it was of course a buffet, and everyone ate throughout the house and out on the patio. The weather was perfect, the food was to die for, and the companionship and visiting were extremely satisfying.

My major faux-pas? I forgot to make gravy!

Trust me, I'll never hear the end of it. Oh, well, can't have everything.

I'm impressed. Happy it turned out well for you.

I'm considering a jar of store bought gravy for those just-in-case moments.

Did a small store-bought fresh turkey, my first. Have done home-grown fresh, and lots of frozen birds but that was my first "fresh" bought. Not bad, but not big enough, or I should have done two.

Pies were good, gravy was good, potatoes just a touch gooey - I am learning how to do mashed golds and haven't mastered it yet, but still good, other sides all good. Warm enough to eat out side and the light was just beautiful on the yellowing leaves. Fall seems to be about a month behind this year.

the leaves are just gorgeous at the moment. Bright yellows and reds. Tons of brown have fallen but that's why they call it fall.

I prefer a chunky mashed potato to the smooth creamy kind. But I have a few traditionalists.

The hostess had Alzheimer's and cooked every dish one at a time. We were the only guests and were there to be supportive, but we were supposed to eat at 2PM and nothing hit the table until 4:40. She complained that the was cold and we should have warmed it up in the microwave. Poor darling, she worked her heart out to make a great Thanksgiving meal, and was too exhausted for company after. I'm glad we spent Thanksgiving there, it was just so rough seeing someone you love struggle so hard. She was ready to collapse when dinner was over.

Glad you understand. She is lucky to have your support.

She wanted to prove she could do it and she did. Love is everything.

turkey - good and juicy
ham - excellent
two kinds of stuffing - both great
mashed potatoes - I didn't try since they are not a tradition for me
green bean casserole - as expected
broccoli casserole - a whole lot like the green bean one
sweet potatoes - for once, simple with just chunks of potatoes, butter and just a hint of spice - EXCELLENT!

desserts:
commercial pumpkin pie - didn't try
two different apple pies - didn't try
key lime pie - didn't try (I made it and know it turned out fine)
peppermint meringue cookies - turned out sticky and chewy but everybody loved them
chocolate meringue cookies - turned out crisp on the outside and soft on the inside - WONDERFUL
classic cheescake - absolutely lovely - made by my brother in law and is always so good, that is what I save my dessert calories for!

but my family? Not so much. I ended up roasting some with the roasted vegetables just to say we had some. I used to make more of a souffle kind that I loved but no one else seemed to care.

Now I want cheesecake!

I made the mistake some years ago of offering to smoke a turkey. Since then, I am "voluntold" to smoke a turkey for every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not a terrible amount of trouble other than the 2:00, 5:00 am trips outside to build up the fire.

The Daughter-in-law is a recent convert to vegetarianism (no turkey for her but she didn't scowl at the rest of us). So we had both vegetarian and "regular" dressing. After samples of both, I couldn't decide which I liked better. However, the vegetarian gravy could not hold a candle to the traditional giblet gravy. (I don't think I want to know what's in vegetarian gravy.)

The Daughter-in-law made a cranberry sauce which was simply amazing.

Best of all, no - zero - policitical arguments! An extended family all of whom are right thinking Americans.

smoked turkey is so good!

I don't think my family would want it in place of the traditional but we do love smoked turkey when we have it. Your peeps are lucky!

Nevertheless, every Thanksgiving and Christmas, I recite my mother's rule to live by: "If you never learn to milk a cow, you'll never have to milk one."

Finally discovered the secret of a pretty stress-free thanksgiving meal: peel the potatoes the night before and keep in the fridge, totally covered in water to which I added 1 tsp white vinegar. Between the PA Dutch potato-bread filling and the mashed I peeled 5 lbs. Now I'm not doing KP while dealing with guests and grandchildren.

it's easy to mash them ahead too. If you don't want a crust to form on top, you can spray with a mist of Pam. Stir before serving and no flavor is added.

Kept warm in the crock pot on "keep warm" setting in a slow cooker bag. Worked great. I've found that any longer in the crock pot they start to cook, even at the keep warm
setting.

but company didn't stay long enough to have quite made it worth all the effort. Our younger son and his girlfriend only stayed 2.5 hours, when I had been cooking since 6 am. I need to try to find a way to simplify, if they won't stay longer.

I could not find a bone-in turkey breast that wasn't pumped full of broth and flavorings, so it was good but not like I wanted. Other than that, the rest of the menu was:

Guacamole and chips (homemade guac)
Small relish tray
Turkey
Mashed potatoes (have a new ricer, they were really good)
Gravy
Stuffing (store bought cause that's what my mom always had)
Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts and pear (good, needed to have stir fried the sprouts longer)
Apple-cranberry pie
Butternut squash pie, both had "boughten" crust

Older son helped mash the potatoes and stir-fried the sprouts; younger son babysat the apple pie while I cared for a friend's cat, other than that, all done by me. My husband and I washed the dishes together afterwards. I need to delegate and/or simplify, I guess.

If you don't mind sharing.

Except I use part brown and part white sugar, and baked mashed squash - 1 and 3/4 cups equals a can of pumpkin. And vary the spices some - but everybody has their favorites on those, right? I tend to sub allspice for the cloves.

Friends of mine cooked a turkey. I did mashed potatoes, an apple cake, rolls, and I made the gravy for them.

A gluten-free friend brought her own dressing, but was willing to have some of my gravy. Another friend brought homemade cranberry relish.

Just the five of us and it was a great day.

The potatoes and gravy got exceptional praise. I make mine with cream cheese, butter, and milk. I don't get the version that calls for sour cream, because that gives the potatoes a slightly sour flavor. Shudder.

After dinner we did Wii curling and then played board games. Much fun was had by all.

I love when holidays turn out this way.

Didn't cook a turkey, since small group. Bought a smoked turkey breast, which was delicious. Tried a new Yellow Squash dressing, which everyone liked.

Major Failure: new recipe (of course, have to try a new recipe when I have company!) A rice salad, which used a mixture of rices (wild, brown, etc.) I hadn't tried this particular mixture brand, and searched in vain for water/rice proportions on the package. Could not find so just used my usual, which produced pot full of mushy awfulness!!! It looked like medieval or Dickensonian era porridge. Yuk!

Yesterday, I found directions with a magnifying glass on the package end, and of course I had used too much water.

My worst holiday failure: This was for after Christmas guests. I had planned to have baked quail. When I opened the packages, they had gone bad. We had had ham for Christmas Day, and had some left over, but discovered that one of these guests had become vegetarian, which I did not know beforehand. So it was not a very successful repast.

My problem, I have produced some wonderful dishes in years' past, but have difficulty finding the recipe in my boxes and folders and bookshelf full of cookbooks; New Years' Resolution #1. Organize recipes.

We have a had a variety of failures over the years so it's nice when you have a year where most things flow smoothly.

I guess we want to please so we think "Hey, this new recipe sounds good!" and then we wish we had done something tried and true. Oh well. It's only food. They'll be more.

I guess I'm like most people: cookbooks, folders, clippings, photo copies, cards all hanging around in the kitchen somewhere.

This year my "new" stuff was bookmarked on my computer.

Of course I already have dozens of recipes gained online, from Epicurious, Pinterest, etc. but still I have to hunt between half dozen sites that I like to find recipes. They all need to be combined into one grand File of my own.

with stuffing.

but similar to one I used to make. And since I bake regularly, I was pretty certain they'd be okay. But I did make them on Wednesday, so if they didn't turn out, I'd have time to run to the grocery store and purchase a back-up.

It went well...Stuffing good, mashed potatoes good...I also made 'funeral' potatoes...cheesy potatoes with cornflake butter crumbs on top...use creamy chicken soup (homemade for me no gluten) and sour cream. You could use vegan sour cream too if you wanted to ...my daughter in law loves these...my son said they were the best he ever tasted! Cranberries too...green bean casserole again with homemade soup and gluten free onions...naturally gluten free. For dessert, butterscotch pie, pumpkin pie (found such a good recipe with gingersnap crust/gluten free but could use regular cookies) and New York style Cheescake with vanilla cookie crust (gluten free) ...really good...all in all quite successful... I also did gluten free rolls and regular.

but it sounds good!

I need to step up my desserts!

Cheesecake is one of the easiest things to make. And I really liked this recipe...it didn't even crack! As for the pies. Really simple. There is a reason they say easy as pie. I have to say. The pumpkin was the best I ever made...it had a topping and a gingersnap crust...it is a keeper. I always put too much spice (bitter) or not enough(bland). This was perfect.

And really loved the company...my son and wife, 3 magnificently normal and cute grandkids, and my good friend-mother in law to my son!!

hope to be there one day. Do you have a kids' table and a grown up table or is everybody everywhere?

Everything was prepared perfectly, the turkey was moist and delicious. Nephew Mike (the family professional chef) made brussels sprouts in such a way that it was the first time ever I asked for seconds! And even my pumpkin pie turned out great, even though I haven't baked a pie in over ten years.

The only disappointment for the in-laws is that the Giants lost to the Redskins. Me, I'm a Seahawks fan, and didn't have a dog in the fight.

of course it could backfire and turn into too many cooks in the kitchen.

We had Brussels Sprouts, too. I didn't make them but they were nicely roasted and had a hint of balsamic vinegar. I like them prepared any way someone wants to fix them.

Everybody had a specific thing to do, and since mine was pumpkin pie baked at our place, I wasn't one of the cooks in the kitchen, although I did frequently raid the refrigerator for beer. Nephew Mike did the Brussels sprouts, his girlfriend did the sweet potatoes (so creamy smooth!) and sister-in-law handled the turkey and made the cranberry sauce way ahead of time. She got the balance between sweet and tart down perfectly, and the turkey and stuffing were at their peak.

No crazy embarrassing political discussions, some great food, and seeing nephew Mike for the first time in four years (he lives in Colorado) and meeting his lady for the first time were all wonderful things. It was probably the very best meal I've had with the in-laws, ever.

Good thing, because we moved to SC from NY to live near them, and soak up the warmth and escape the taxes in retirement, so it was a perfect experience with folks that we're going to spend a good number of years with.