Mac and cheese with bechamel and a little tomato
Butternut squash soup
The chaos is my favorite part, the people. I am hosting so make the turkey plus a bunch of vegan sides because one kid is vegan and otherwise she gets not much. So for her a stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted sweet potatoes with chili paste, green beans & mushrooms, “creamed” greens in coconut milk, confit of parsnips.
Now would I rather be putting butter in most of those,and eggs in the stuffing, and sausage? Fuck yes. But I’m her best chance at getting something that is delicious not just vegan, so I do only vegan sides. We have two grandmas attending and one insists on bringing a whole Thanksgiving no matter what I ask so there is all the regular stuff. Like sometimes she literally brings another turkey with her, it’s ridiculous. I only want her to bring pies, I cannot pie.
Cranberry sauce from the can; is it mostly sugar? Yes. Is it yummy? Hell yes. Does it have cool little ridges? Absolutely.
Stuffing and deviled eggs. However my family is also full of deviled egg fiends, so mostly stuffing
Whatever I bring. Seriously, the ex gets my kids this year. Of course I’m going for them, but:
- no alcohol
- no soda
- low sugar
- no corn anything
- very little spice of any kind
- none of my family’s traditional foods unless I bring it
While they’re making my favorite pumpkin pie, somehow it can’t have any spices this year. Just pumpkin. So bland but might as well be mayo
Is this some kind of weird puritanical family or something?
Sure I tell them they’re weird all the time, but in this case it’s just understandable compromises adding up to wtf
My ex’s father came to live with her. He doesn’t drink, is diabetic, and is having digestive issues. He also had a bad food experience involving corn so can’t stand the smell. My ex has banned soda to improve her health. I can be understanding of any of these, but it adds up to too much
That does suck. The stuff with the Father I get. The soda ban I’d let slide, especially if it’s a recent change.
But banning flavor is criminal.
The soda ban is actually the tough one: I wish they’d pick a ban: soda or alcohol. I’m fine without either but when your banning both, the number of tasty drinks goes way down
Dump some into a nontransparent water bottle; you get your soda, your ex doesn’t have to see it and be “tempted” by it.
Not a bad idea!
Just be prepared for the yelling when she finds out and crys about it.
Collards. I only recently discovered them as a transplant to the southern part of the country, and I love making them because they’re phenomenally tasty. Plus you can justify that they’re dark leafy greens (never mind the gratuitous pork fat).
Green bean casserole.
I was grossed out as a kid, but that stuff is the bomb.
I don’t like mushrooms so I make what’s basically cream of onion soup as the sauce and it’s amazing. Also, stuffing. My mom doesn’t really like either one and it’s just us, so I get to eat all of it myself.
Nice! My family doesn’t like mushrooms either, so my mom has always subbed in cream of chicken, but onion sounds pretty great too.
It’s my sister-in-law and I who practically eat the whole dish, lol.
Now I’m hungry lol
Stuffing. I would eat stuffing every Goddamn day of the year except I’d get fat as fuck. I have to literally limit myself to eating it once a year for Thanksgiving or I’ll gradually work it into my regular dinner meal plans and even that is too much.
Stuffing has no flavor when my family makes it. Plus the texture makes me gag but texture is like 90% of my hangups with food. I’m a picky eater but I really don’t want to be.
Man then your family is doing it wrong, sorry. I use fresh bread, a ton of butter, onions, celery, thyme, sage, salt and pepper, then bake it so every bread cube is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I have food texture issues too, so I feel your pain, but there’s definitely a wrong way and a right way to make stuffing. Also, NEVER put stuffing inside the turkey, it can result in undercooked stuffing and salmonella from the turkey.
They don’t do any of that lol they just open the box and cook it. Glad I live 1700 miles away from mess this year
I add spicy breakfast sausage and bake it crispy on top. It’s so good!
Yes! Another fan of spicy sausage in stuffing! My mom one year made the stuffing (not cornbread-based–Stove Top brand with savory herbs, I think) with half mild sausage and half spicy sausage for younger me who didn’t like much spice. We also added pecans and dried cranberries in addition to onion and celery. We’ve barely ever deviated from that recipe since!
It’s so good! I can’t wait!
Sounds better than the flavorless mushy bread crumb mess my family serves
The stuffing. I frickin love stuffing
I always have stuffing in my pantry because I’m not waiting around for 1 dinner a year to have it.
I wish it was a more common side. Like if a restaurant had that as a side I would totally get it on non holidays
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Leftovers
Political discourse.
Candied yams from a can with toasted marshmallows is all I need! Everything else is details.
Stuffed mushrooms, my aunt’s scratch made wheat rolls, and bacon wrapped asparagus.
I ordered the Popeyes Cajun turkey and i make great stuffing so I’m looking forward to both of those.
Popeyes makes turkeys??
Yep. I’ve seen them advertised but never bought one before. It’s $100 (which i though was kind of a lot) and says it feeds 8-10 people. Arrives frozen, fully cooked - thaw for 3 days and then heat.
Whoa $100?! That’s criminal. There’s no turkey in the world worth a bill. Then again I don’t like turkey, but still. Shits like .80¢/lb.
I guess if everyone chips in on it it’s fine but it can’t possibly be that good. Popeyes is sub-par at chicken, which is like their whole thing.
We’re cooking in an airbnb, so I’m paying for no prep. There will only be 5 of us and one is vegan so it will likely become sandwiches and gumbo on Friday and Saturday.
That’s fair then. I’m just blown away at that price tag though.
