Thanksgiving Traditional Foods

[happylabs]

Good topic Karen! I was just thinking of starting one.

In addition to the bird, we have traditional foods: mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, veggies, usually corn for my brother and another veggie, maybe green beans or peas. Pumpkin pie is a must for my family and maybe a chocolate pie for those who do not care for pumpkin.

I have my menu and grocery list prepared for shopping later today but I feel like I have forgotten something.

Buddy is the only one of my 3 cats that will come out while we are eating and demand a bite or two of turkey. He is such a funny boy. He also likes a bite of dinner roll with butter on it.

[Pinot's Mom]

I, too, grew up in RI, but on the other side of town.

Thanksgiving growing up depended upon whether we were home or not. If we went to Barbara Kerney's across the way, it was a SPREAD! Turkey, ham, lasagna, all kinds of food - HUGE. If we were home; Turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and usually a family thing called "Christmas green salad". This was a jello/whipped cream/pineapple/pimiento creation that usually melted next to all the hot stuff, but that was OK, no one wanted it anyway.

Now (T-Day is at our house this year) it's Turkey cooked with bacon on top (so my whole family can fight over that when it comes out of the oven), stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, broccoli casserole, MUST HAVE crescent rolls, salad and for dessert there will be pumpkin, mincemeat and pecan pie.

[happylabs]

I, too, grew up in RI, but on the other side of town.

Thanksgiving growing up depended upon whether we were home or not. If we went to Barbara Kerney's across the way, it was a SPREAD! Turkey, ham, lasagna, all kinds of food - HUGE. If we were home; Turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and usually a family thing called "Christmas green salad". This was a jello/whipped cream/pineapple/pimiento creation that usually melted next to all the hot stuff, but that was OK, no one wanted it anyway.

Now (T-Day is at our house this year) it's Turkey cooked with bacon on top (so my whole family can fight over that when it comes out of the oven), stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, broccoli casserole, MUST HAVE crescent rolls, salad and for dessert there will be pumpkin, mincemeat and pecan pie.

I feel sad for the lonely and melting jello salad.

[pomtzu]

I feel sad for the lonely and melting jello salad.

Hey - that salad is GOOD! I make one like it - lime jello, whipping cream, miniature marshmallows, crushed pineapple, and maraschino cherries. It's served as a dessert tho, and not with the hot meal. It's a pretty dish at Christmas with the green of the jello and the red of the cherries! And it tastes great too - very rich with all that whipping cream!


ETA: If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. It REALLY is very yummy!

[Randi]

I've got a recipe for Pecan Pie - can anyone tell me if it sounds good, or do you have one "to die for"? I've never made one before.

Pecan Pie Recipes

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons almond-flavored liqueur, such as Amaretto
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pecans
1 pie crust (9 inch size), unbaked or frozen

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, slightly beat eggs with a fork. Add sugar, corn syrup, butter, almond liqueur and vanilla; stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean and center of pie appears barely set.

Cool on wire rack.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Or is it over?

[Karen]

It's not over yet - it is always on a Thursday, so will be this Thursday!

Yes, when we had the jello salad it was not near the hot food! It didn't have marshmallows in it, or pimentos, but that does sound pretty, Pomtzu!

(I won't be making it, as I am allergic to citrus, and the pimentos, too, but I can visualize it!)

[catland]

My mom always put the jello on its own plate so it wouldn't get warm with the rest of the food. She would put it on a leaf of lettuce and the jello would have grated carrots and celery (her idea of a vegetable?).

Also, to honor our Norwegian heritage we'd always have lefse! (looks like a flour tortilla but made out of potatos).

[Karen]

In our house, the tomato aspic went on a lettuce leaf, so pretty red against the green!

Cool, do you have a lefse recipe? Just curious! Swedish, not Norwegian in my family, but it sounds intriguing anyway. We'd sometimes make "Swedish hamburgers" - a regular burger with grated potato and chopped onions mixed in, but never had lefse.

[moosmom]

A tradition that my maternal Grandfather started was celery, stuffed with blue/cream cheeses and paprika on top. It's one of my childhood favorites.

My "Bumpy" taught me how to make gravy from scratch with pan drippings.

THOSE are wonderful childhood memories!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

[sparks19]

Pretty traditional here.

Turkey

mashed potatoes

gravy

corn

stuffing

green bean casserole

and then more desserts than we should be eating after a meal like that lol

Today I had the BEST pumpkin pie I think I've EVER had. Hannah's preschool had their thanksgiving lunch today and it was all really good but that pie was the best.

I will never forget the year when we were at Brians family thanksgiving and one of the younger cousins made her uncle a pumpkin pie. her first pumpkin pie she'd ever made. She was SO proud of herself. her uncle took a piece of the pie and took a big bite ... only to realize that she really just used pureed pumpkin lol no sugar or anything but he was such a trooper and ate the whole slice

[Asiel]

To all of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow---

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!!!!

[jennielynn1970]

My family is PA Dutch... so we have traditional PA Dutch style foods.

Roasted Turkey
Potato stuffing
Dried corn (rehydrated in milk and cooked)
Spinach or lettuce with hot bacon dressing
Fresh cranberry relish/sauce
**Guy Fieri's Green bean casserole (not PA Dutch, lol)
Gravy to die for

Desserts are usually
Mince meat
Pecan pie
Apple pie
Pumpkin
or some lighter dessert like lemon sponge