Guns & Outdoors Forum

This year I’m grilling steaks.
1. No mass clean up
2. No left over for 2 weeks
3. Done in 10 minutes
4. Tastes better than turkey
5. Served on paper plates
6. Beer goes well not buying the in-law horde expensive wine
7. I can hang out at the grill and not make small talk
8. I feel great about that decision.

Japhy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:25 am This year I’m grilling steaks.
1. No mass clean up
2. No left over for 2 weeks
3. Done in 10 minutes
4. Tastes better than turkey
5. Served on paper plates
6. Beer goes well not buying the in-law horde expensive wine
7. I can hang out at the grill and not make small talk
8. I feel great about that decision.

I have an issue with #5
A beautiful juicy steak deserves a real plate.

I'm smoking the turkey as usual. This year I wised up and bought a Bluetooth meat thermometer to take out the guesswork.

My MIL is coming, which isn’t ideal. But won’t be around long.
But I’m sure between the her and my wife, I’ll do something wrong.

Don't care much for turkey anymore, so I'm making roasted Cornish hens with apple and sausage stuffing, cranberry relish and mashed taters to go with the prime ribs the FIL is making...Supper on Wednesday night is elk backstraps...

Jayhawker wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 4:08 am Don't care much for turkey anymore, so I'm making roasted Cornish hens with apple and sausage stuffing, cranberry relish and mashed taters to go with the prime ribs the FIL is making...Supper on Wednesday night is elk backstraps...

You win

Historically, me & the better half's winning strategies have been

1. Eat at someone else's house.

2. Ignore the holidays entirely aside from the minor prep needed to stay home in order to avoid everyone else's "need" to engage in them.

Thanksgiving is a moving target this year because it’s a really busy time for commercial pilots and my son-in-law is on call so it could be any day from Wednesday to Sunday. But we are ready!

My wife makes the absolute best turkey on earth and her garlic mashed potatoes are legendary. Thanksgiving is HER holiday and the kids are glad to let her have it. Of course there WILL be canned cranberry sauce on the table, and we will say Grace before dinner led by her. Then football and cigars!!! We do have our traditions that the kids will be carrying on after we are gone.

Deb likes to have a big thanksgiving with friends. We'll have somewhere between 15 and 18 over this year. I roast a traditional stuffed turkey, bake a spiral cut ham, and smoke a 10lb turkey breast. The women will bring every imaginable casserole and pie. Everything from the roasting pans to the plates and flatware is throwaway stuff so cleanup is easy, and everyone leaves with a to-go box of leftovers. The kitchen even gets cleaned up before everyone leaves. We've been doing this routine for a while now and it clicks along pretty well.

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:46 am I'm smoking the turkey as usual. This year I wised up and bought a Bluetooth meat thermometer to take out the guesswork.

I picked up a wireless thermometer several years ago and kicked myself for not doing it sooner. Mine came with 4 probes and I can monitor the stuff in the smoker to the exact temp that I want without getting up and opening the door.

The holidays are my mom’s. We’ll go to her house for Thanksgiving. She’ll want family pictures, and we’ll all gripe and complain. But do it for her anyway. She’ll have all the fancy dishes and silverware out on a formal dining table, a couple bottles of of wine and a HUGE meal. I’m definitely not a fan of formal dinners. But she loves having her kids, grandkids and now great grandson all at the table together.

After the meal, my sister, BIL and I will clear the table, put all the food away and clean the kitchen so my mom can relax. It wasn’t always that way. Just the last few years, I started cleaning everything up and my sister and BIL joined in.

My mom has worked her butt off my entire life and gone above and beyond for us. It would be impossible for me to ever repay her for what she’s done for us. The least I can do is the little things to make her happy on Thanksgiving.

I forgot to mention that we usually have a range day on the Friday after.

So, today, before we head North for the holiday, I made cranberry relish, by running cranberries, apples and oranges through the LEM grinder with a medium plate then sugaring the output to taste...straight forward and simple...the same stuff my Mom made when my brothers and I were kids...

Also putting together the apple and sausage stuffing and making the broth to use in the giblet gravy..
.

Jayhawker wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 7:03 pm So, today, before we head North for the holiday, I made cranberry relish, by running cranberries, apples and oranges through the LEM grinder with a medium plate then sugaring the output to taste...straight forward and simple...the same stuff my Mom made when my brothers and I were kids...

Also putting together the apple and sausage stuffing and making the broth to use in the giblet gravy..
.

Your cranberry relish sounds a lot like my wife's Pennsylvania Dutch recipe.

Diver43 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 7:26 pm

Jayhawker wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 7:03 pm So, today, before we head North for the holiday, I made cranberry relish, by running cranberries, apples and oranges through the LEM grinder with a medium plate then sugaring the output to taste...straight forward and simple...the same stuff my Mom made when my brothers and I were kids...

Also putting together the apple and sausage stuffing and making the broth to use in the giblet gravy..
.

Your cranberry relish sounds a lot like my wife's Pennsylvania Dutch recipe.

Mom and her sisters were Kansas Mennonite stock, so the similarity would follow....

All of the usual traditional stuffs......

20# fresh turkey (free from wife's work)
Stuffing (in bird)
Mashed potatoes (Bob Evans)
Sweet potatoes
Rheems noodles in chicken stock
Green Beans (with bacon)
Stouffers mac-n-cheese (Oldest stepsons favorite)
Texas Roadhouse rolls (1st year for these, usually get brown-n-serve)

Last year we got a roaster oven for the turkey to free up the oven. Temp was set for a 5 1/2 bake. It was done in three. Guess the temp is off. Won't have that problem this year.

Had to slide off a piece of the tri tip roast and sample it. They have been known to be poisonous. So, I cooked it to make sure it was safe for everyone to eat.

Just got done making pie.
Pecan (for the guys)
Dark Choc pecan (for the girls
sweet potato pie
cherry/pudding with shaved chocolate on top

Tomorrow
Turkey, stuffed
ham
candied sweet potatoes (not casserole)
mashed taters (real)
Gravy (real)
Veggies
cranberries
Wine, beer, and a selection of single malts

Roaster is in the trash. Set heat to 325 degrees. Sometimes the heat cut off at 340 degrees. Sometimes it didn't get to 300 degrees. Just stuck the bird in the oven.

Right now I hear voices calling to me from the kitchen. I can't tell if it is the pumpkin pie or the pumpkin roll. Better have one of each. Just to make sure.

That'll shut em up...... for a little while.

Rolling solo today due to school across the country, and I'm not much for preparing a formal Thanksgiving meal. I threw together some ground turkey tacos and chased it with some good bourbon.

shotgunshooter3 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 24, 2023 4:08 am Rolling solo today due to school across the country, and I'm not much for preparing a formal Thanksgiving meal. I threw together some ground turkey tacos and chased it with some good bourbon.

Not on/near a base? Chow hall used to set out a good spread on holidays.

This year I fixed the turkey dinner early, 19th because I had cataract surgery done on the 20th and wasn't going to push my luck.
Fixed a 14lb turkey and dressings made with mild Italian sausage in it. Mashed taters and turkey gravy from drippings, gravy from turkey with the sausage has an excellent flavor. candied yams with pineapple.
Homemade pumpkin pie from fresh puree that I had just made.

jbp-ohio wrote: ↑Fri Nov 24, 2023 3:01 pm

shotgunshooter3 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 24, 2023 4:08 am Rolling solo today due to school across the country, and I'm not much for preparing a formal Thanksgiving meal. I threw together some ground turkey tacos and chased it with some good bourbon.

Not on/near a base? Chow hall used to set out a good spread on holidays.

My last Thanksgiving on a base was right before heading overseas. Good food all things considered, but I prefer to go it on my own these days.