What are you cooking today? Tomorrow?

[alisoncooks]

Right now, I've got a pumpkin cheesecake cooling in the oven.

The turkey is sitting in the sink, waiting its turn. This'll be the 2nd time in 20 years I've cooked turkey. 😱

Later, I'll precook onion/celery for dressing & broccoli for broccoli casserole.  And peel potatoes. 

Tomorrow is assemble and bake: dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, rolls (brown & serve), cranberry/apple crisp, cranberry sauce (can).

Anyone else have their schedules and lists and checking things off?

[KungFuPanda]

We’ve bumped things til Friday so I have a bonus day. 😬 I did do my cranberries yesterday. It’s enough for Thanksgiving, leftovers, and a freezer stash for Christmas. 

[Bambam]

Already done:
    1. Pioneer Woman make ahead mashed potatoes
    2. Sweet potato casserole
    3. bread toasted for dressing + onions & celery cut up
    4. Cranberry sauce 

Still to do today:
    1. Pumpkin bread

Tomorrow:
    1. Prep and cook turkey breast
    2. Saute onions and put together dressing in crock pot
    3. Make green bean casserole
    4. Bake mashed potatoes & sweet potato casserole
    5. Try to remember to do rolls too (bake from frozen already prepared rolls)
    6. Make the cranberry/apple crisp. 


 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Bambam

[Loowit]

DD did the cranberry sauce yesterday.

Right now, I have roll dough raising in the oven.  I will form the roll balls, and then refrigerate to bake tomorrow so they are fresh.

I will be making an apple pie and two pumpkin pies today, also.

Tomorrow I will bake the rolls in the morning.

Roast the turkey when the rolls come out.

Stuffing is going in the crockpot this year.

I will do the sweet potatoes tomorrow (Instant Pot to cook, then mash and bake)

I will also do the roasted Brussles sprouts tomorrow.

DD will be making the mashed potatoes tomorrow.

I would like to do more ahead to just heat up tomorrow, but I do not have the refrigerator space.

I have cut out a few things I was going to do: pecan pie, hot spinach dip, and baked brie.  I will do those on Friday I think to have while we decorate for Christmas.

[cjzimmer1]

I made the jello salad that my kids requested. (despite the bad rap that jello salads get, this one isn't too bad, jello, cream cheese, whipping cream and fruit).  I went to make the pumpkin pies and discovered I don't have enough evaporated milk.  Seriously with all the stock up I did of nearly everything we use, I missed this and now have to go to the store on the day before Thanksgiving.  So not what I wanted.  However since I have to go anyways, I'm going to buy some slider buns for our BBQ instead of making them so at least that makes my day a little easier and I'll probably pick up some fresh veggies instead of using frozen.

Then depending on how ambitious I feel, I will make apple pie bars later and mix together a hashbrown casserole to bake tomorrow.  I think that's all I need to do.  The kids asked for a bunch of appetizers so I bought stuff from Costco last week so I can just heat and bake throughout the day as they want to nibble.

[catz]

I made salad dressing and candied pecans for an apple/dried cranberry green salad, I baked potatoes and put together a twice baked potato casserole.  I was going to put the potatoes back in the skins but my potatoes were kind of small and I didn't have enough patience.   I seared my beef tenderloins (I have 2 smaller steaks for elders on friday) and I will put together my beef wellingtons.  My teens will work on a pie tonight, they may need to finish tomorrow.  

I won't need to do much tomorrow other than bake my beef tenderloin, warm up my potatoes, chop and roast carrots and put together my salad. And clear our dining room table which is serving as an office right now lol.  

Edited November 25, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[Pawz4me]

It's just the four of so, so I'm keeping things simple.

I've baked a pumpkin pie today.

Tomorrow I'll "bake" sweet potatoes in the crockpot, make scalloped potatoes, roast some veggies. I've got a spiral sliced ham in the fridge, and rolls in the freezer that just need to be thawed and baked.

I also bought a pumpkin roll and a couple kinds of cookies so if anyone wants those instead of/in addition to pie.

Easy peasy.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Pawz4me

[alisoncooks]

11 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I made the jello salad that my kids requested. (despite the bad rap that jello salads get, this one isn't too bad, jello, cream cheese, whipping cream and fruit).  

I don't judge jello-love! I grew up in a rural area with lots of church revival potlucks -- I've eaten (and enjoyed) my fair share of jello salads! (Our family likes the mandarin orange/cottage cheese variation.)

I sent DH out today for whipped topping. And also: butter in the shape of a turkey. (Saw it on FB and HAD TO HAVE IT!!!) 

[Drama Llama]

One of the nice things about our pod, is that we have multiple cooks even with covid, so I'm only in charge of vegetables.  

We are making this soup.  We made it last year (the only year of his life I've actually cooked for Thanksgiving) and so apparently it is now "tradition".  

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robert-irvine/roasted-parsnip-and-vanilla-chocolate-soup-recipe-1938073

So, I am roasting some parsnips today, but otherwise making it tomorrow.

I'm also going to make roasted broccoli, steamed carrots, and caesar salad.  I figure this is the year for having people's favorites, and that is what people want. 

We are also making lemon bars today.  

[Tenaj]

Today:  Two pumpkin pies (done), one apple pie (done) and one pecan pie (done).  Cinnamon Applesauce Jello (done).  To do as soon as my dh gets back with my pick-up grocery order:  bake the sweet potatoes for sweet potatoe souffle and put together the green bean casserole.  

Tomorrow:  Bake the two hams, make mashed potatoes, raisin sauce and cheesy corn.  

I'm cooking for around 17 but only hosting part of that number here.  Part of the family will be eating at a different house and we'll deliver their meal to them before we eat.  

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, alisoncooks said:

And peel potatoes. 

If you peel potatoes ahead, what do you do with them? Put them in water and then cook them in that water?

[PeterPan]

16 minutes ago, JanOH said:

Cinnamon Applesauce Jello (done)

I need to google this, hmm...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229387/red-hot-applesauce-jell-o/  wow, it's saying cherry jello and red hots. You do this? Is it good? Sounds fun and different...

Edited November 25, 2020 by PeterPan

[Ali in OR]

Thanks to this thread, I just got the turkey brining. It brines for 6-8 hours, then rinse and let it rest in fridge overnight.

I also need to make the chocolate cream pie today.

Rolls tomorrow morning, dh will start smoking the turkey around noon, then make green salad and mashed potatoes. Oh, and heat up the jarred gravy and get the cranberry sauce out of the can. I know that sounds lazy, but those are actually the preferred versions for our feast.

[Sneezyone]

Today is my big prep day too. 
 

DONE:

- once-baked potatoes ready for round two.

- sweet potato pie

- dressing ready for baking

- Mac n’ cheese ready for baking

- chicken  is marinating

- tomato bisque for DD who just had her braces tightened. 😬

- steak sandwich for DS (microwave ready)

- Tom Kha Gai broth, for dinner, is simmering.

Tomorrow, just final bakes, blanched and sautéed green beans, and my bestie is making garlic shrimp.

THE KITCHEN IS NOW CLOSED!

Edited November 25, 2020 by Sneezyone

[math teacher]

I will make cranberry sauce today if I think I can fit it in the fridge. My fridge is stuffed. I could make the cornbread today since it doesn't need refrigeration.

Tomorrow-put together the dressing and bake it. Make the gravy, mashed potatoes, and green bean bundles. Bake raspberry cream cheese coffeecake.

[sweet2ndchance]

We decided last minute over the weekend to have a turkey dinner so I bought the turkey Sunday and put it directly in the fridge.

I usually make a lot of homemade stuff for Thanksgiving but I decided to easy button everything this year. Almost everything is store bought or instant. I'm cooking but we are doing it next door at dh's Grandma's house. Everything is packed up and ready to go down to grandma's house.

I bought pies and rolls this morning.

Gotta wash up the serving wear that only gets used at Thanksgiving and a couple of pans to take with us that will be used for dinner tonight.

Gotta find my electric knife

I was going to wing it since everything is fairly easy but a check list like I usually do probably isn't a bad idea

I'm feeling a bit off today (low blood sugar) so not having to do much today has been nice

[Tenaj]

15 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I need to google this, hmm...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229387/red-hot-applesauce-jell-o/  wow, it's saying cherry jello and red hots. You do this? Is it good? Sounds fun and different...

It's a holiday tradition around here . . . it started out as just Christmas but everyone likes it so much I make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas both.  My recipe is a bit different than that one but basically the same . . I've made that one when I lost my original recipe.

Cinnamon Applesauce Jello

1 3 oz pkg. lemon jello

1 3oz pkg red jello (I've used cherry or strawberry)

2 cups boiling water

2 cups applesauce

1/4 cup cinnamon red hots

1 t. lemon juice

Boil the water and melt the cinnamon candy then dissolve the jello into the water.  Add applesauce and lemon juice.  This will fit in a 9x9 square pan.

I just made ours and quadrupled the recipe.    I've also just subbed red jello instead of the combination of lemon and red.  Sometimes I have trouble finding the lemon jello.

[saraha]

The only thing I am making today is Quivers cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow. It has been a yearly tradition since she posted that recipe a million years ago!

we are eating everything we can out of the fridge to make room, so dinner will be eclectic tonight...

Edited November 25, 2020 by saraha

[PeterPan]

27 minutes ago, JanOH said:

It's a holiday tradition around here . . . it started out as just Christmas but everyone likes it so much I make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas both.  My recipe is a bit different than that one but basically the same . . I've made that one when I lost my original recipe.

Cinnamon Applesauce Jello

1 3 oz pkg. lemon jello

1 3oz pkg red jello (I've used cherry or strawberry)

2 cups boiling water

2 cups applesauce

1/4 cup cinnamon red hots

1 t. lemon juice

Boil the water and melt the cinnamon candy then dissolve the jello into the water.  Add applesauce and lemon juice.  This will fit in a 9x9 square pan.

I just made ours and quadrupled the recipe.    I've also just subbed red jello instead of the combination of lemon and red.  Sometimes I have trouble finding the lemon jello.

Ooo thank you! I think it's too late to get it done for Thanksgiving, but I'm going to try it for Christmas! 

Well my counters are almost wiped. I'll cook the rest of the night I guess. I've been washing laundry today and now ds has appeared to help cook. Junior chef!

 

[freesia]

Dh made cranberry orange relish      And ds2 made pumpkin pie yesterday. 

I made a pumpkin cheesecake today and ds1 is presently working on an apple pie. I will prep the stuffing tonight. 

Tomorrow turkey goes in the oven. We will also have gravy, mashed potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes and onions. Drinks—white wine and sparkling cider. And whipped cream—lots of it. 

[Laura Corin]

Today was roast paprika beetroot and cauliflower with edamame in a miso and mustard dressing, on a bed of pea shoots.  The veg box arrived today!

We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday or Sunday - we'll be having pheasant.

[Ellie]

I've preppred the dressing, will cook tomorrow. Ditto some of the ingredients for the turkey-breast-in-the-IP recipe. Will make a pumpkin pie when I'm finished here. 🙂 Will also prep potatoes for mashing, to be cooked in the IP tomorrow and then mashed and whatnot the way my Aunt Jane did them. I think I might make dinner rolls tonight, too; maybe.

There will only be three of us so I'm not going to be all that busy. 🙂

[alisoncooks]

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

If you peel potatoes ahead, what do you do with them? Put them in water and then cook them in that water?

I put them in water (fridge, overnight) and then drain them before using.  

[alisoncooks]

1 hour ago, Ali in OR said:

Oh, and heat up the jarred gravy and get the cranberry sauce out of the can. I know that sounds lazy, but those are actually the preferred versions for our feast.

We LOVE canned cranberry sauce. We eat it year round. 

I bought jarred gravy before I realized I was making a large/whole turkey, so now I'm going to give homemade a try (I have never made gravy before!!)  If it goes poorly, I'm no worse off than I'd originally planned. 

[Acadie]

Today:

-Turkey dry brining in fridge--DONE (wish I'd gotten to it yesterday, though)

-Turkey neck broth for stuffing--DONE

-Cranberry sauce--DONE

-Roast kabocha squash, cranberries and onions with maple spice glaze 

 

Tomorrow: 

-Roast turkey & make gravy

-Make mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, stuffing and salad

-Whole Foods pumpkin & chocolate pecan pies w/whipped cream for dessert! In theory I like baking but when prepping a feast I often buy dessert

[lmrich]

Turkey brining 

cranberry sauce made 

sweet potatoes par-boiled and ready for roasting 

Mac and cheese made

cranberry/apple crisp made (one gluten and dairy free) 

Derby pie and pumpkin crunch cake in the oven now - smells so good!

later ... pumpkin fluff and pumpkin pie

Luckily I had a soup in the freezer that I threw in the crockpot so I don't have to cook dinner tonight. 

Tomorrow 

make stuffing and roast turkey and cook everything else! 

make salad 

Enjoy 

[Matryoshka]

We're celebrating outside on Friday when it will be warm and sunny rather than cold and rainy - so I'll be baking a couple of pies, and dh always makes cranberry-orange relish, on Thursday and the rest will be on Friday morning.  One dd is bringing the mashed potatoes and one more pie.  On Friday I'll make deconstructed turkey (turkey parts), and also make gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and stuffing.   It's only 5 of us, instead of the usual 15 or so - that should be plenty.

We're bringing my parents pie for a patio visit on Sunday.

I had planned to just make a small turkey, but the smallest they had was 26 lbs.  Not this year.  Breasts were gone, so it's a back/neck, four thighs, and two drumsticks - and I got some giblets for the gravy.  An all dark meat year!  And I'll still have bones for soup...

ETA: Dd who is bringing potatoes and a pie has also offered to make one of my pie crusts for me so all I have to do is roll it out.  Woot!  It will magically appear here at some point tomorrow...

Edited November 25, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Annie G]

Today: 

Made dough for pie crusts, baked chocolate chess pie. Baked a pie crust.  
Left to do today: make filling for French silk pie to fill the above baked pie crust. Roll and bake another crust and assemble lasagna for tomorrow. 
 

Tomorrow: 

make focaccia

make custard and meringue for the peanut butter pie (to put in the crust I hope to roll and bake tonight)

bake lasagana

make sausage balls for breakfast

 

 

[teachermom2834]

Usually I am preparing for Thanksgiving dinner all week. This year it is just the four of us who live here. We thought one adult ds and his girlfriend were going to join us but now they are not because he has Covid (he is fine, just coming to the end of his contagious period).

Thinking there would be six of us but I still didn't really want to cook I got a deep friend cajun turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and macaroni and cheese from a local restaurant. I am making stuffing, dill bread, and pumpkin pie. I can do it all tomorrow so I'm getting other things done today and just going to enjoy cooking and eating tomorrow. I will also make what my family calls "pudding dessert" but I was informed as an adult that the rest of the world calls it...umm..."teA in a pan" 😉 I'm going to make that over the weekend because ds requested it but we won't have room to eat anymore tomorrow.

And no...there is no vegetable...we don't eat vegetables on holidays. LOL. I count the pumpkin pie as a vegetable!

[Jenny in Florida]

I baked small batches of three kinds of cupcakes last night, along with the pecan coconut filling for the German chocolate ones.

I am about to head into the kitchen to start some sweet potatoes baking. The plan is to do our usual casserole mixture but bake it in single servings back in the skins. (Different and better for the small group.)

I will probably make the cranberry sauce and possibly the apple sauce for our potato pancakes tonight.

I will also prep the rest of the frostings for the cupcakes.

After that, we will assess. "Dinner" is early tomorrow, and I want to be able to sit and enjoy the parade, so I need to squeeze as much into tonight as I can. However, I am also already tired from spending the afternoon putting up the lights and outside decor, and there is still cleaning to do. So it will be a balancing act.

[matrips]

We just made the pies and cranberry sauce today.  

[Junie]

We do Thanksgiving Dinner for Cheaters every year:

rotisserie chicken

Stove Top

instant mashed potatoes w/ jarred gravy

store-bought pies

canned cranberry sauce

 

However!: at this moment my dh is making a gluten-free lemon meringue pie so that I will also be able to eat pie tomorrow.  I know that lemon meringue is not a usual Thanksgiving pie, but it's what I want. :)  Oh, and I have to eat the whole pie by myself.  (Everyone else will have pumpkin or apple pie.)

[Ellie]

2 hours ago, saraha said:

The only thing I am making today is Quivers cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow. It has been a yearly tradition since she posted that recipe a million years ago!

I would love to make those again, but with only three of us here, they would never be eaten. 😞

[BlsdMama]

Today was Fudge Fest. Let the voting commence!  😂 

 

[saraha]

35 minutes ago, Ellie said:

I would love to make those again, but with only three of us here, they would never be eaten. 😞

Could you not ice them and freeze them post baked?

[alisoncooks]

Turkey came out of the oven, DH took its temp and we commenced to tearing it apart...aaannnd it wasn't fully cooked. Pink juice from the thigh joints. I'm not too concerned - we broke it down to large chunks and I plan on reheating it in the oven tomorrow before lunch. Maybe 350* for 30 min covered will be enough to finish it off. At least we won't have to worry about it being overcooked!

And I decided to fully prep my dressing since the package said I could (it says just cook it 10 extra minutes tomorrow). Done!

[Selkie]

I take holidays off from cooking, so everything we're eating tomorrow was bought pre-made and only needs heating up or minimal prep. We're having a vegan buffet with all sorts of favorites:

beet latkes

pan fried dumplings

samosas with tamarind and cilantro chutneys

shawarma

daal lentils

kadhai

aloo paratha

aloo gobi

turmeric fenugreek rice

piecaken & brownies for dessert

  

[Nanax6]

It's just hubby and I this year.  The kids and grands are all staying home to keep everyone safe.  

I made all our food low-carb/keto this year...we decided not to cheat this year for holidays. 

Breakfast will be keto sausage balls and low-carb cranberry bliss bars. 

For dinner  I've prepared crockpot turkey breast, fresh cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, loaded green beans, cauliflower mash, dressing, gravy  and pecan pie.   

Happy Thanksgiving! 

 

[Joker]

This year is so weird! I’m only making a ham, mac n cheese, deviled eggs, and rolls. I ordered turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a pumpkin pie.

I did make sausage balls this morning for breakfast and we will have them tomorrow morning as well (it doesn’t feel like the holidays until I make them). I just wasn’t in the mood to make everything myself this year. 

[Ellie]

3 hours ago, saraha said:

Could you not ice them and freeze them post baked?

Hmmm...I had not thought of that...

[saraha]

Oh c'mon, everyone needs cinnamon rolls this year, try it! Worse case scenario is it doesn't work, but you got some out of the first batch! 🥰

[Carol in Cal.]

Chocolate pecan pie and cranberry sauce are made.  

Turkey, stuffing, dressing, asparagus, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy are tomorrow.

Am considering surprising DH with cinnamon rolls Friday, but given that we will have leftover gravy he will probably want biscuits and gravy with bacon for breakfast.

[KungFuPanda]

I get a bonus day because we’re doing Thanksgiving on Friday. Today I roasted my pie pumpkin and some butternut squash. Tomorrow I’m gonna prep stuffing, make an overnight blueberry-croissant-cream cheese thing, and make pumpkin pie. 

[Drama Llama]

28 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I get a bonus day because we’re doing Thanksgiving on Friday. Today I roasted my pie pumpkin and some butternut squash. Tomorrow I’m gonna prep stuffing, make an overnight blueberry-croissant-cream cheese thing, and make pumpkin pie. 

Can I get this recipe?

[KungFuPanda]

7 hours ago, BaseballandHockey said:

Can I get this recipe?

Enjoy!
 

https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/blueberry-croissant-puff

[HS Mom in NC]

On Wednesday:

Lime Jello Salad (AKA Green Stuff) It needs a couple of hours to set, so it's easier to do it the night before.

On Thursday:

1. Deep dish apple pie that I assembled a few weeks ago and froze.
2. Butternut Squash sprinkled with balsamic vinegar, roasted in the oven, and then sprinkled with toasted walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese.

[math teacher]

Today I have made:

Dressing-2 kinds-MIL doesn't like eggs so I make her a special pan every time-easy MIL points

Giblet gravy

Cranberry sauce

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Green bean bundles

Mashed potatoes

Tomorrow is appetizer day- Turkey Cranberry Sliders, stuffed jalapenos, stuffed celery, deviled eggs , can't remember what else right now.

 

[Acadie]

Can I just say how relaxing it has been to prepare our Thanksgiving feast with no in-law judgment or drama? Everything's cooked and eaten and cleaned up, except the broth simmering on the stove. 

I'll be glad when we can travel for Thanksgiving with family again, but wow, this was surprisingly sweet. Just the four of us, including our newly-returned college student. And our mini-poodle who turned 10 yesterday.

Off to nap, then hike around a nearby lake before logging into extended family Zooms.

Anyone hungry before dawn tomorrow is welcome to raid the fridge!

[alisoncooks]

Lunch went well! There were some small mishaps but, overall, everyone was pleased. Now I'm laying on the couch (in my sweats) watching Miracle on 34th Street -- it starts with a Thanksgiving scene.