Thanksgiving: What are you doing?

I am making cranberries (from real cranberries) and am wondering if there's an ingredient I could add to make them a little special this year. In the past, I've added orange juice and orange zest but would like to try something different. Any ideas?

Diana, I wonder about something like... mint. Do you mind if I send your question to Lynne?

Cooking a turkey

I made some stuffing for it from a onion and apple cut up of course, with some oat meal, rice, wild rice, also some dried basil, nutmeg, garlic, sage and a couple slices of torn up wheat bread.

The first half hour or 450 degrees has been up and now at 350 till I check the temp at 160 degrees. This is usually done by the smell first.

Oh, yeah! I got to baste it some every so often.

Resting and now that coffee is gone I’m eating some dark chocolate.

A little nutmeg might be nice in there Diana, if it is hot

Oh yes, see if she has any ideas, too!

Hmm, I never thought of oatmeal for the stuffing but it sounds good, Richard.

Richard do you use a timer to remind yourself to baste it? Not sure how I feel about oatmeal in stuffing... that's a personal preference.

No problem, Diana! Forwarding it now.

I probably should Julia, as it should be done on a 15 to 20 minute scale, but I don't.

I use about the same amount of oat meal as rice, and half of those for the wild rice Diana , that would be about two serving spoons each and one for the wild rice

Great conversation, wish I had time to listen...

I am going to my mother's for Thanksgiving but have a chocolate cream pie and green bean casserole to contribute to the dinner.

The Cover it Live feature for this program is awesome, Julia!

Thinking about all my family in the States knowing its just another day here in Canada. Our Thanksgiving is in October.

Hope everyone enjoys their Turkey!

Hubby is making breakfast now - I will be cookin this afternoon.

Not making the traditional Turkey - but instead a "Tuscan bean turkey soup" - but...
I had a bit of basil pesto I made and thought i'd add a small spoon of it to the soup, and now all I can taste is basil pesto. Any quick fix to counter that?
Also...whats with the boiled eggs for deviled eggs? Sometimes there are always those few eggs shell that just wont peel?? Help?!! =)

Has anyone ever made a turkey on the Weber? They're discussing it now - we've never done it, but we've tasted turkey done that way. It's very good if it's done right!

The cook has benefits.....tasting and snacking since 4am. When do we eat?

Donna and I are staying home and not doing much of anything today. We returned home late last night after a two day trip south to Kentucky and West Virginia to deal with a very sudden family funeral.

Our thoughts will be on family and others today. As you can guess, thankfulness for loved ones (those who are still with us in this world and those who are not) are prominently on our minds and in our hearts on this day.

We wish everyone a Happy Giving of Thanks.

I'm making a chicken. I need to start my stuffing soon. I'm not doing a lot of experimenting, but it ill be interesting to see what people come up with

Maple hurricane sauce - butter, maple syrup, thinly sliced apples simmered 3-4 hours - boil to a thicker sauce and serve warm over vanilla ice cream - Wow, that sounds good!

Stuffed the 14# turkey and popped it in the oven. Made dressing for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. IOW, two casseroles of dressing. Cooked beets last night, will soon dice them and maybe make a lemon glaze for them. Daughter's making pumpkin pie now, son will make banana muffins next.

In an hour I'll peel 7 pounds of potatoes to boil for mashing. Then set table, arrange fruit plate, welcome my folks who will bring cranberry sauce (home made like Diana's), buttercup squash and sugar-free apple pie (for all the diabetic AARP people). My in-laws will arrive with relishes and ginger cookies. Breadsmith provided rolls that I picked up yesterday. I snuck one last night.

Wine from Trader Joes as well as non-alcoholic sparkling cranberry juice and hot, spiced apple cider.

bon appetite!

Susan - what a feast! You really go all out.

By the way, I highly recommend the Cutco potato peeler. It's the best!

Not a big Turkey fan but, Mmmm everything sounds so good. Becky and I are headed to my sister's house with Tarragon Sweet Potatoes in a light amber maple syrup glaze. (my own recipe, I hate marshmallows but love sweet potatoes so I always volunteer them)

Atticus - the potatoes sound awesome. My husband is a big fan of maple syrup (especially Grade B) and the tarragon is a nice touch!

Right this minute I am cooking chocolate chip cookies, in a little bit I will be making a turkey breast, stuffing, potatoes, gravy & corn!

Thanks Diana - Tarragon is one o my favorite herbs. I'm drooling over your real cranberries and that Maple Hurricane sauce!

Just ate a plate of thanksgiving food, it was so yummy! We ate mashed potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans and stuffing. Looking forward to part deux tonight lol.

Just made pies and once again am very dissatisfied withe the "new " vegetable shortenings that have lost the fat. My never fail pie crust receipe now longer works with this product. Any ideas on how to adjust crusts for the new lower fat shortenings.
Edmomass

I'm working 9-6

I'm going to my grand-daughters, but making a sweet potato-apple bake to contribute.

My grandmother is cooking Thanksgiving dinner(I know it will be amazing because she has that special grandmother touch.) I, meanwhile, have been working on my contribution, the apple pie. I have been peeling/slicing/coring apples for hours! I finally have the called-for eight cups, one finger in a Band-Aid, and am taking a break before I do the crust. If you had guessed, cooking is not really my thing. Any ideas on how to make the filling a little more flavorful? I'm using lovely firm, tart granny smith apples.

On a lighter note, I wish every one the happiest of Thangsgivings!

Whew, that live-blogging ended up being more of a chat and it was SUPER BUSY, but boy was it fun. Are we missing anyone that needs help here?

Picked up my turkey dinner early from Wegman's,,heated it up and now we're done.

Hi, Julia! Diana linked me over here - thanks, Diana.

I made a lovely blueberry-apple cobbler (the kind with pie dough underneath the fruit, so it gets all soaked with fruit juice as it cooks. Yum)....I always add a little lemon juice to the fruit and sugar mix, and I use turbinado sugar instead of refined white sugar. I used rice flour for thickening the fruit mixture.

I also made a couple of heart-shaped pans of cornbread.
Then I took it all down to the big old grey stone Presbyterian Church in the center of Yellow Springs, where our InterSpirituality Council was hosting our 5th annual Thanksgiving Feast for the whole village. The whole village doesn't come, of course - but boy what a crowd we did have. The Unitarians did the turkeys (5 - but we could have used 6); and various other congregations and groups chipped in veggies, bread, stuffing, desserts.
I love helping in that big old kitchen, and totally love helping everyone get their food into position for the eaters.
Before we started the food line, we circled up - at least a hundred of us, with more coming later - and we all held hands, and in our minds held hands with everyone else in the world, too - and we sang "We Are One World - We Are One Heart."
Whew!
The clean-up scene in the kitchen is always fun, too - we got to singing. We got some great harmony on "Union Maid"---------"Oh, you can't scare me, I'm stickin' to the union" etc.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE -
and
LOVELY LEFTOVERS.

Groan........I gonna be wearing that meal all winter.

Diana,
about that cranberry sauce -- I always make my own and have on different occasions added apples, aplple juice, raisins, and coconut to it, also orange as you ae doing == they all worked well. never tried mint, but, Julia, that's an interesting idea.

Kerry - funny you should mention apples as I considered that! I ended up going with my tried-and-true orange zest but added a few sprinkles of cinnamon. They were good - no one ate any of the canned cranberries - just mine! Thanks for your ideas!

Diana, it's a little late for me to respond to your cranberry sauce question -- and I see there are other suggestions. Walnuts are a nice addition, if your family likes the strong taste of this nut. Pecans are a milder alternative. Pomegranate also seems like a natural addition to modernize the taste. I'm delighted to hear your version went over so well!

I stayed at home and tended to my sick hubby, and prepared a huge dinner for 12 of us. I turned my back and my daughter had put mashed potatoes on my one year old grandson's tray. Needless to say there was a bath after dinner!

Hello :o),

I just wanted to stop by since I am finally going through what is now listed as under 5,200 pieces of gather new mail that is sitting in my inbox on here.

With that mentioned I just came across either a mailing from you yourself, or someone else brought this piece to my attention. You or they felt that your creation should be shared with the gather community, which I am very glad that it was passed on to me to view. So I wanted to say Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to publish it here on gather for us to all view. :o)

As well before I leave you I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year... in 2009 :o)