@TheLibrarian28, same! You express the sentiment beautifully. Adding my gratitude for the HO community.
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I promised the last group I had over for Thanksgiving (pre pandemic) that our next T dinner would be either prime rib or tenderloin. Turns out no one was crazy about turkey. lol.
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Log of frozen cheese cracker dough that she can slice and bake sometime in the future. I’ve just made a dozen of these so I have it on the brain I guess.
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WaPo has a good looking recipe for portobello and chestnut wellington that lots of people seem to make for Thanksgiving in place of a meat main. I haven’t tried it yet but its on the list.
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Frozen dough! 
yes!
I did this many years ago with a molasses ginger spice cookie recipe that I was obsessed with, and making iterations of dough became stress relief from my day job, especially since I mix everything by hand 
. I would bake them plain, and then try additions to no end. My favorite addition ended up being white chocolate and cranberries. Pistachio and white chocolate came in close second. 
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“Tis the night before my first (early) Thanksgiving, which is our traditional extended family one moved up, so it’s been a busy afternoon and evening.
For apps,
— Kheema spirals done, ready to reheat tomorrow
— Beet-cured salmon made and frozen, defrosted on the way as intended, but I’m feeling lazy now so I’ll slice it in the morning
For the main meal,
— Haricots vert trimmed, blanched, and ready for their butter bath tomorrow
— Brussels sprouts trimmed, halved, seasoned, and doused in olive oil, ready for a high temp roast after the turkey comes out
— Stuffing balls, double batch, made and baked lightly, will go in to crisp up along with the sprouts
— Judy bird on track (with frequent but gentle suggestions and nudging for the past week), dry-brined already and sitting open on the very cold porch to air out. ETA: I have also finessed two roasting pans and negotiated oven rack locations and pan positions so both turkeys have a chance of cooking evenly (refer last year). My mom would smack me for saying it, but there’s definitely some age related cognitive decline going on with my aunt, because there was no way the birds were going to fit or have clearance with her intended positioning.
And that’s all for me.
Cousin is the mashed potato maven, aunt is the gravy queen, nephews made cranberry sauce (they’ll eat most of it too), and desserts have been purchased (aside from the orange olive oil cakes I made, but those are gifts).
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you can trim and prep B sprouts and they don’t brown? this is exciting if true!
Still noodling this. We’ve had some family upsets. I’m thinking to go much more simple than usual, but not sure if that will upset folks. Thinking to spatchcock the turkey for faster/easier cooking (and dry brining) and limit the sides compared to usual.
MIL just got out of hospital (again, 2nd stay in 3 weeks) tonight and kids might be uneasy if I don’t do the full usual boat, but I’m a bit stretched, so we’ll see. My #1 helper (daughter 3) will be here Tuesday night but #2 helper (daughter 2) won’t be here until Wed night. And daughter 1 won’t come this year at all, as she’s about 2 weeks out from baby delivery.
It’ll be a weird Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and probably next as well.
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Best wishes to you all in season which is uncomfortably weird for your family…and baby on the horizon!
Do what you can, and try to rest. You are stretched…being together I hope will bring you all some solace. That’s the important part.
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You can also buy them like this. I was told that was what had been purchased. No, no that was not.
(I was also told cousin specially came over to prep vegetables this morning before I arrived. No, no she did not. Prep anything, that is. She did come over.)
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Grrrrr😵
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Yum! You mentioned a bunch of my favorites 
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Don’t forget to donate money to the Food Bank!
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Aw rats. I took mom to Trader Joe’s yesterday so she could restock and totally forgot to pick up puff pastry to make those kheema spirals. I would be ok with just those and buttery mashed potatoes for T-day
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Exactly as expected, every year — no grrr here, I don’t think I even believed it when told.
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Good luck navigating it, we’ve had a few of those.
Sometimes the comfort of the familiar holiday meal is a salve.
We have tried to pare down over the years to what people really eat (no squashes anymore, no sweet potatoes either, no random other veg, no extra desserts) and do a lot of the prep early so it’s a lot less on the day.
In years past the gravy was done a few days early, stuffing balls day before like this year, prepping the green veg early is new but I’ve been lobbying for it. If we could only get the mashed potatoes done two days ahead, I mean they reheat great, but there’s some odd resistance.
It doesn’t take away the weirdness of illness and death and missing people, but it does abate some of the meal-related stresses.
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If you have ground meat of some sort, just make kheema
Kheema + mashed potatoes = my favorite shepherds pie
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Have been too busy to think much about Tday but finally had a weekend off to plan, shop and prep! Just the two of us this year, so we’re sticking with our faves for sides (sausage and roasted veg stuffing, mashed yukon golds with gravy, haricots verts with browned butter, lemon and slivered almonds) and desserts (apple and pumpkin pies), but I haven’t been able to decide on a main (neither of us really likes turkey). I wandered around Restaurant Depot and Shoprite today looking at protein options and remained uninspired, so I finally just said screw it and grabbed a whole duck.
Right now I’m planning to confit the legs and sear the breasts, but open to other ideas if anyone has come across a fabulous duck prep recently. Speaking of which, has anyone ever made (or tasted) rillettes that incorporated duck livers into the mix? Like a rillette/pâté hybrid?
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I finally decided sides for our Tday for two. A large whole chicken, roasted with my favorite buttery almond & bread stuffing, will be the main. Fresh cranberry sauce, a pea/water chestnuts casserole, devilled eggs, ripe olives. Dessert will be pumpkin pie (I may bake 2 6-inch pies and freeze one) and pecan tassies. Dinner rolls may or may not be pulled from the freezer and heated.
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Dungeness crab, spaghetti squash, salad with blue cheese dressing, stuffing, Joel Robuchon potatoes, cranberry sauce. It’s just the two of us this year.
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