I like that Serious Eats mashed potatoes recipe too but I peel the russets and also add cubes of cream cheese, reheats well with this addition.
Everything looks terrific. I know about Bell’s Seasoning … do they also sell a stuffing mix? I’ve never seen it. I always use some when I make homemade stuffing using a Charlie Palmer recipe.
A bit of crispy skin off the Cdn Thanksgiving turkey in Oct 1996 was the gateway to me falling off the pescatarian wagon. I climbed back on in September 2004, and fell off again, after having some lamb in 2006.
Haven’t managed to go pescatarian for more than a couple weeks straight since then. 
I did not snap a photo of my plate, but it was a good meal. My stepmother ordered roast turkey (fine), gravy (forgettable), harissa braised turkey wings (moist and flavorful, but mild), and mushroom bastilla (delicious) from a local place and made this NY Times stuffing. Her friend brought cauliflower with cheese sauce and a green salad, along with some very nice Champagne. My red wine cranberry sauce was proclaimed delicious (my stepmother, who says she’s not a big fan of ginger, really liked the candied ginger in it), as was the pear fudge pie, seen here sharing the plate with my brother’s mince tarts.
That looks so tasty.
Crust looks nice and flaky!
Spatchcocked the turkey on the Weber after a 24 hour dry brine, came out great with a smoky flavor from applewood chips, also added toum paprika butter under the skin. Creamed mixed greens (kale, spinach, dandelion), mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie with cookie graham cracker crust. Oh and a 5 lb lobster because there were two of us so I wanted to make sure we had enough to eat.*
*Sister’s family went out of town so we are having another Thanksgiving with them Saturday and most of this (except the lobster we polished off) will make it over there, together with sausage sourdough stuffing. Still deciding if I am going to roast another Turkey or not.
You must be part Korean. 
There’s plenty more if you can make it to Asheville.
I only know how to cook for 10!
Pumpkin mousse with a ginger spice cookie.
Wow 
Did you celebrate outside?
File for next year? The savory pumpkin gratin featured in Jacques Pepin’s Tonight Show appearance a few days ago. He used it for the turkey sandwich competition he had with Jimmy Fallon, the host. I suspect the recipe omits an herb or two… I would add summer savory and include something in the onion family.
Inside and out. The bar and food was inside. Outside was hanging with cousins and socializing. But so was inside……
I followed my own Thanksgiving tradition this year. I ate by myself, which may sound tragic but I prefer it. I’m a picky vegetarian, and this way I get to eat exactly what I want. Which is…
Potato-green bean crumble. This is like three Thanksgiving side dishes in one. The filling is potatoes, green beans, onions, rosemary and a bit of vegetable broth. The topping is walnuts, multigrain bread, sharp cheddar and rosemary. This is loosely adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe I read years ago.
Spinach, carrot and roasted chickpea salad with a vinaigrette dressing. The lightness of this really balances out the crumble.
Something apple-y. This year it was apple turnovers from Whole Foods. In the past it’s been Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider or a baked apple.
I’m close with my meat-eating family, but they think my food is “weird,” so I let them do their multiple Thanksgivings with different sides of the family…and I stay home and don’t have to share my cooking with anyone. That’s the true spirit of Thanksgiving, right??
EDIT: I belatedly realized this makes me sound like a total jerk without the context that I live alone. So it’s not a situation where I’m refusing an invitation and the rest of the household heads out without me. My family and I just don’t plan Thanksgiving dinners together and that’s an arrangement that we all prefer!
Just a quick report back, the kid made his way home nicely. Amtrak was an hour delayed and he was starving, and I was worried he’d miss his connecting bus bc their status on website showed it already departed when it hadn’t. But all was well. And the straight-ahead turkey breast roast was done as a torchetta and came out wonderfully! Thank you to @Amandarama. My younger son said he doesn’t generally like the turkey and this year it was his favorite item. That’s big props.
I didn’t think it cast you in a negative light. If I were less ruled by my palate, I’d be a vegetarian. As it is, for decades I’ve eaten less than half of the animal protein I used to, and with the advent of Impossible Meat, the flavor and texture of which completely fool me, I may yet get to true vegetarian. Not only are YOU happier not having to impose your menu needs on your family, it is probably a more enjoyable repast for the carnivores, some of whom feel guilty dining in the presence of a vegetarian or vegan.
Since you mentioned apples, if you like a crunchy, tart-ish apple, look for Snapdragon apples in your area. Not only yummy, but GREAT keepers. I spent most of last winter in a hospital and nursing homes. A friend brought me a bag of Snapdragons, which I rationed. I had no alternative to keeping them in a cabinet, and they lasted over three weeks. The final one was no longer crisp, but it had no brown, soft spots. They are so great eaten out of hand that I have yet to make baked apples or pie with them. They can be ordered, expensively, from Yes Apples.
I could easily be a vegetarian, but without the fake meat. I cannot imagine voluntarily eating that stuff. And if I had to hunt, kill and butcher an animal - just give me eggplant. My husband fishes on Cape Cod bay and I told him years ago if he brought home a fish he had to bring it into the kitchen as if we bought it in a fish market. I don’t have any qualms about chopping vegetables, but I do not want to see the process of dissecting a fish or an animal.
Thanks! I try never to make non-vegetarians uncomfortable…I’m not judging anybody. But I know it can be stressful to host me, even though I’m perfectly happy as long as I have some bread or a potato or something.
I checked Instacart and Whole Foods, but there’s no sign of any Snapdragons in my city. I’ll look out for them, though. Sometimes we just catch on to things a little later than the rest of the country.
