Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Baked Potato Bar

I have been meaning to write this post for forever, but I didn't have the pictures. I still don't but I want to get it up anyway. We threw a baked-potato bar party over the summer, and at the end, I turned to Mr. Barefoot and said, "this would make a great thanksgiving!"

For a baked potato bar party, it's a super-simple concept that is really easy to make potluck and vegetarian or even vegan - we provided potatoes, greek yogurt, sour cream, butter, and spices, and everybody else brought toppings for both regular and sweet potatoes. We had black bean vegetarian chili, pulled pork, candied pecans, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, etc. For Thanksgiving, you could add roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, corn salsa or creamed corn, mac& cheese, green beans, and all manner of vegetables.

I love this as a vegetarian concept because nobody has to bring meat, and you end up with a holiday that doesn't revolve around meat. It's also novel enough that people won't complain as much about there not being a turkey. It's also great for people who are not very experienced cooks, because it's pretty hard to screw up baked potatoes. Just put a bunch on a cookie sheet and bake them for awhile. If you do eat meat, but don't cook very well, I personally would crockpot roast some drumsticks or something, and shred them to be a topping, but you could also provide roasted drumsticks as a side dish to avoid cooking a full bird. It also would be a great idea for a side dish if you do want to host a meal with a beautiful turkey, but don't want to put in the work to do multiple side dishes - a few potatoes go in the oven as soon as the turkey comes out, and while it rests, they bake, and everything is ready to go at once.

It also makes a great Thanksgiving leftovers brunch idea - because what leftovers aren't better on a roasted sweet potato? Minimal work, maximum fun - that's my kind of holiday!

What are you doing for a vegetarian (or carnivorous) thanksgiving?

Apples and Sweet Potatoes

I mentioned to my boss that in a fit of delusion, I bought a giant bag of apples, and also, the sweet potatoes from the CSA just keep coming, and today she brought me a whole bunch of recipes.  I copied most of them, but one is too hard to copy, so I'm retyping it here instead.  If you make it, let me know how it goes. 

Apples & Sweet Potatoes
2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
4 lg sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup applejack (do they still sell this?)
lemon juice
cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Peel and cut potatoes into thin slices.  Cook them in boiling water to cover until nearly done (soft but not mushy).  Cook peeled, cored, thinly sliced apples in a slight amount of boiling water until same texture as cooked potatoes.  Sprinkle apples with lemon juice after they are cooked.  Grease a baking dish and alternate layers of apples and potatoes.  Sprinkle the top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.  Dot top of sprinkled apples and potatoes with butter.  Pour applejack over top of apples & potatoes.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

(Serves about 6. Unless Boston is coming over, in which case, 2. Maybe.)

Sausage Stuffing

The thing about stuffing is that it's actually pretty simple.  When you use homemade croutons, it's a little tricky, since there is no package to follow, and I also use the turkey stock and drippings to add flavor to the stuffing, so I don't really have a way to count what goes into the pot.  I just make enough stuffing for everyone to eat, and then go with it.  This isn't vegetarian stuffing, there isn't a way to make it vegetarian.  If it was vegetarian, it would be called something else, not sausage stuffing.

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 stalks celery
1 package sausage, any kind
several cups bread crumbs
2 cans chicken stock or turkey stock
Turkey drippings

Recipe:
1.  Cook sausage in a saucepan on medium heat.  Add onions and celery to cook in fat.
2.  Add broth, bring to a boil.
3.  Add croutons.  Continue adding until the stock is absorbed in the bread.
4.  Add turkey drippings over the top.  Add more turkey stock if necessary.  Stir.
5.  Bake in the oven at 350 until done to your satisfaction.

Gingersnaps

My husband and I are thieves.  Sometime in our lives, we stole from a roommate a Betty Crocker cookbook.  I'm pretty sure it was him that did the actual thieving when he moved from one apartment to the other, but because he thought it was mine.  Once upon a time, we didn't live together and I kept a few cookbooks at his place.  (And a toothbrush, but the cookbooks moved in first.)  It was actually this relationship dynamic that led to this blog (since I never knew where my recipes were).  Anyway, we stole the cookbook.

I've made a few things from it - lemon bars, and pineapple upside down cake.  Both are really good, really easy, really solid recipes.  I suppose there is a reason this cookbook is on it's 10th edition, but everyone still makes fun of Betty Crocker.  Go figure.

I needed to make gingersnaps for the thanksgiving cheesecake recipe and I turned again to this book.  The dough was delicious, and the cookies are too.  I modified the recipe a bit to get softer gingersnaps.

Ingredients:
1 cup packed brown sugar (I used light)
3/4 cup shortening (I used 1 stick of butter and 1/4 cup oil)
1/4 cup molasses (spray the measuring cup with pam first and the molasses slides right out)
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

Procedure:
Cream brown sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg with electric mixer on medium speed.

Add in everything else.  Mix until it looks like cookie dough.

Chill overnight in refrigerator (you don't have to do this, but I did, so let me know how they turn out).

Lick beater and bowl.  Avoid eating batter with spoon, it's unseemly.

Then put on ungreased cookie sheets 2 inches apart and bake at 375.  (I baked mine at 350 and they came out delightfully soft and gingerbready.)

Even the softer gingersnaps crushed right up in the food processor for gingersnap crusts.

The deliciousness

Green beans with radishes

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Sausage stuffing with homemade croutons

Homemade crescent roll dough with brie and cranberries

Mashed potatoes

With a LOT of garlic

Squash Casserole

With cheese

The Barefoots cook Thanksgiving dinner

Recipes to follow! Hope you had a great holiday!  

Thanksgiving Begins

So I received a lovely recipe card box and recipe cards from my sister in law at my bridal shower.  For a little while, I was like, "I have two recipe binders...how could I possibly also use recipe cards?"  Then I started dealing with using several unwieldy cookbooks in the kitchen and decided that I should transfer my thanksgiving recipes to the cards.  

So now, instead of a cookbook or laptop, I just have the cards.  I'm also a sucker for tradition, and I love the idea of having a box of traditional holiday recipes, even if I don't make every one every year.  I also love the idea of handing these down to my kids one day.  This one is for gingersnap crusted pumpkin cheesecake, which I'm taking to my grandmother's tomorrow.  

I found the recipe on Allrecipes and changed it a little bit.  

Crust: 

Ingredients:  

• 1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• Procedure:
• Mix brown sugar, crumbs, and butter together with a mixer until it reaches paste-like consistency.  
• Press into a springform pan.  This was really hard.  The crumbs did not stick to my nonstick pan, and it was very hard to press evenly or get a nice line.  This is the first time I've made a cheesecake in a springform pan though, so I think next time will go better.  

For the filling:

3 sticks cream cheese (or half a log from costco)

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups solid-pack pumpkin (in re-reading the recipe, I used 1 1/2 cans which is actually almost 3 cups...oops)

1/2 cup heavy cream 

1/3 cup maple syrup (remember to spray pam on your measuring cup before you measure this - it slides right out)

1 tbsp vanilla (I forgot this)

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

1/2 tsp ground allspice 

4 eggs

Oven at 325.

Procedure:

1) Cream brown sugar and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until fluffy.  

2) Add pumpkin.  Add heavy cream and maple syrup.  Add spices.  

3) Beat in eggs, one by one.  

4) Pour into filling and put in oven.  Cook for 90 minutes, let cool for 30, and then refrigerate overnight.  

Results:

1.) My cheesecake leaked.  I'm not totally sure what this is, but the pan that I baked it on came out sopping wet.  

2.) This is a very tall cheesecake, I think the 1.5 extra cups of pumpkin don't help.  Not totally sure what the crust will look like.  According to the reviews, as it cools, it will continue to cook and also possibly cave in.  

This is beginning to feel like a bad idea. 

Butter and Me.

I have a complicated relationship with butter.  I had high cholesterol as a child and a mom who believes that fat = the devil.  In high school, I started baking on my own and began to understand something that is entirely separate from fat and cholesterol and calories:  I don't really like butter.

I don't add butter to things - MIL Barefoot was appalled that I didn't butter my toast before adding jam, Mr. Barefoot was confused that I don't put butter on a cheese and tomato sandwich (seriously? gross), I put syrup on my pancakes but it doesn't occur to me to break out the butter.  Sometimes I make a buttery noodles dish with Parmesan and yes, I like butter on toast.  When I bake cookies, I often search for a recipe that doesn't involve a sickening amount of butter (I don't like them if they taste too buttery).  If a recipe involves more than two sticks of butter, I typically steer clear.  As a health student, I hang on to the teaching about saturated versus unsaturated fats, so I usually pick olive oil over butter.

I read a number of cooking blogs - some that think that butter is unhealthy, some think that it is crucial and that nothing tastes good unless you use butter.  Such bloggers take the Paula Dean approach - scolding the rest of us for not using butter.  Some go another step and say things like, "what does low-fat mean?"  I know a few people who act like this too, and then complain about how many fat people there are.

As a person who used to be considered "obese" and now fluctuates between "overweight" and "normal", I'm sensitive to these attitudes, because I think they create an unhealthy dichotomy.  Some people act like they eat a full stick of butter every day, and it makes people like me feel like they got the short end of the stick, metabolism wise.  Which, frankly, a lot of us did.  But we don't need it rubbed in our faces like that.

My point with all of this is: I don't cook with a lot of butter.  And every Thanksgiving, I have a series of conversations about the use of butter in cooking.  I firmly believe that there is very little at Thanksgiving that requires as much butter as people put into it.  I also think that people use Thanksgiving as an excuse to overindulge and make food with at least six sticks of butter.  Which isn't necessary, because frankly, if you add enough salt and garlic to anything, it will still be delicious.

"Who Brings the Sprouts?"

My father in law is a difficult man to impress.  I try very hard but the best I get is an ironic smile and a compliment I'm never sure is genuine on food I'm not sure is good.  So early on, when we began sharing holidays, he asked who in my family brings the sprouts on holidays.  Ever since, I have made an effort to be the one who brings the sprouts.  I tried cooking them in cream; I tried cooking them with maple syrup.  They were...edible.  Mr. Barefoot and his sister preferred them to the usual steamed brussels sprouts, but FIL Barefoot seemed unmoved.

Undaunted, and refusing to allow steamed sprouts a place at my table, I'm searching for sprouts recipes.  I think maybe these golden crusted sprouts.  Or, since I'm a sucker for anything with balsamic, I might give these a try.  

Green Beens Sauteed with Radishes and Rosemary

This recipe is delicious.  Not enough people use radishes.  Try 'em! This recipe got rave reviews when I made it for a dinner party.  From "Cooking from the Garden".
Ingredients:
-3/4 lbs green beans, snapped in half
-5 lg red radishes
-1 tbsp butter
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
-3 scallions, finely sliced
-1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1.) Blanch beans in approx 6 cups salted water (put beans in boiling water for 4 minutes)
2.) Drain and put in ice water bath
3) Cut radishes into matchsticks - a mandoline is helpful for this.
4) In a nonstick saucepan, melt butter on low heat and add olive oil.
5) Increase to medium and add rosemary.  Let cook for 3 minutes.
6) Add beans, radishes, scallions, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Saute for 4 minutes and serve immediately.

Thanksgiving Menu Plan

When you only have 5 people coming for thanksgiving, you do not need to make 10 side dishes.  I learned this the hard way last time, and was a major stresscase.  This year I think I will limit us to cooking:
-Turkey (Turkey Breast in the crockpot)
-Stuffing (Brought by MIL Barefoot)
-Roasted redskin potatoes in the crockpot (I may just cut them and put them under the turkey in the crockpot to cook in the juices and then make myself a small separate batch)
-Vegetarian main course (still deciding)
-Green beans with radishes (recipe tomorrow)
-Brussels Sprouts (my FIL always asks who is bringing the sprouts - I'm sure there is a recipe in one of our new cookbooks)
-Corn Pudding (brought by my SIL)
-Dessert (brought by my MIL)

This still looks like a lot of food, but it means Mr. Barefoot and I are only cooking 5 things and that two of them are in the crockpot and involve a minimal amount of work).  I can also enlist MIL and SIL barefoot to help cook vegetables once they get down here.  I'm also not going to make gravy - I think I'm going to use store-bought gravy.  Any recommendations?

I'm also going to serve a goat-cheese cranberry log with crackers.  Usually I do brie and cranberries, but I'm going to mix it up a bit - Mr. Barefoot often accuses me of being a one-trick pony.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Tonight we had our good friends over for dinner.  You know how you have that group of friends that every time you call them, they've got something going on and it's impossible to meet up?  Well, these aren't those friends - we have those friends too.  But somehow, the one night a month that we are free and have nothing planned, and we call them, it's miraculously the same night they have free and have nothing planned.  So we get together and eat food and play board games and it's awesome.  We usually play Ticket to Ride, but sometimes we go for Settlers of Catan.

Tonight, I made baked cod (this recipe, but I used garlic parmesean dressing and regular panko instead of croutons) with a leek and pea risotto and pumpkin bread pudding for dessert.  I made pumpkin bread yesterday, but when I went to take it out of the loaf pan it self-destructed and I got a mess of pumpkin bread - perfect for bread pudding.  So I tossed everything in the crockpot with some milk and it was pretty good - could have been improved with vanilla ice cream, but definitely something I would consider making for the holidays, especially for people that don't really like pumpkin.  Mr Barefoot doesn't care for it, but he made extra-sure to tell me how good the pudding was.  (I didn't use the allspice that the recipe called for, since we were out - I think that helped.)  I adapted the recipe from the "Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes" cookbook we have, which is a great general slow cooker guide.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding:
Ingredients:
1 loaf pumpkin bread, left sitting on the counter all night because you were too lazy to put it away (or baked in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes to dry it out.)
1 3/4 cups milk
2 small apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries or raisins)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 8oz container greek yogurt (I used vanilla but you could probably use plain)

Procedure:

1. Cut bread into 1-inch pieces, place in a greased slow cooker
2. Pour milk over bread, let soak in for 10-20 minutes while you core and chop the apple
3. Stir in dried fruit and apple pieces 
4. Combine egg, butter, yogurt, brown sugar, and any spices you would like into a small bowl
5. Pour over bread and apples.
6. Allow to cook on high for 2 hours (if you have a demonic slow cooker like ours) or on low for 4 hours.  

Let's Talk Turkey

Oh wait. I'm a vegetarian.  We're hosting the in-laws for Thanksgiving this year, so in addition to making a turkey (I think we will crockpot turkey breast because it's only 4 carnivores) I need to make a delicious, not scary, vegetarian entree for myself that will also be a good side dish for others.  I'll be making mac 'n cheese for the Big Barefoot Thanksgiving, so I didn't want to do that twice.  The only requirement is that there must be some form of protein in the entree, and also I don't really want to do a soup.  I would also like it if the dish was vegan, so that I can bring leftovers to Thanksgiving the next day (we do it on the Friday) for my vegan cousin.
Some candidates (I would love more suggestions - particularly anything that has to do with butternut squash or sweet potatoes):
PUEBLO CORN PIE
6 to 8 servings

This layered casserole is adapted from a Native American recipe.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium green or red bell pepper, diced
• 1 1/2 cups cooked fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels
• 2 1/2 cups canned or cooked pinto beans
• 2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes, or one 16-ounce can diced, tomatoes, lightly drained
• 2 teaspoons chili powder, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt to taste

Cornmeal topping:

• 1 1/4 cups cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup grated vegan Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese, optional

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the garlic and bell pepper and continue to sauté until the onion is golden brown. 

Add the corn kernels, pinto beans, tomatoes, and seasonings. Stir well and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Remove from the heat. 

Bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil in a heavy saucepan or double boiler. Slowly pour the cornmeal into the water in a thin, steady stream, stirring continuously to avoid lumping. Add the salt and cook over very low heat, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Oil a shallow, 1 1/2-quart baking dish and line the bottom with half of the cooked cornmeal. Pour over it the skillet mixture and sprinkle with the optional grated cheese. Top with the remaining cornmeal, patting it in smoothly. 

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the cornmeal is golden brown and crusty. Let stand for 10 minutes, then cut into squares to serve. 


Sweet Potato Gratin 

• 1 t oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 T lime juice
• 1½ t lime zest (grated peel)
• 2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
• ½ t dried thyme
• 1½ t salt
• ½ t pepper
• 2½ c coconut milk
• 4 c sweet potatoes (about 1½ pounds), peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 c cooked rice
• 1½ c cooked black beans (or 15 oz can, drained)
• 1½ c fresh spinach, cleaned, de-stemmed, and finely chopped
• ¾ c cornmeal
• 1 T vegetable oil
• ½ t dried thyme
• ¼ t cumin
• ¼ t salt

Preheat oven to 350, and lightly oil the baking dish.
Combine garlic, lime juice, lime zest, spices, and coconut milk in the medium bowl, and pour a third of it into the dish.
Spread half of the sweet potatoes in the dish, then half of the rice, beans, and then spinach. Pour another third of the coconut milk mixture on top, followed by the rest of the sweet potatoes, rice, beans, and spinach. Top with the rest of the coconut milk.
Mix cornmeal, oil, thyme, cumin, and salt and sprinkle over the gratin.
Bake for 30 minutes, rotate the pan in the over, and bake another half hour, until the topping is golden and the sweet potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes, until any remaining liquid has been absorbed.

Mushroom And Spinach Galette

Nicole Spiridakis for NPR

My mom makes a delicious mushroom galette for me each year at Thanksgiving, and I've taken that idea as my inspiration here. I've removed the cheese and butter to make it lighter and vegan-friendly.

Makes 6 servings

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour and salt. Drizzle the olive oil over the flour and cut in with a fork, combining lightly until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water over the flour, a tablespoon at a time, and mix lightly with a fork. With your hands, press the pastry lightly into a ball, wrap in waxed paper, and let rest in the refrigerator at least 20 minutes.

Filling

2 shallots

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup red wine

10 white mushrooms

2 portobello mushroom caps

1 bunch spinach, washed and coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

Chop the shallots and place them in a frying pan with the olive oil. Saute over medium heat until they begin to soften. Lower the heat and add the wine. Slice the white and portobello mushrooms, and add them to the pan, cooking until they soften and release their liquid. Add the spinach, salt, pepper and herbs and cook until the spinach is wilted.

On a wide surface, roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it becomes a 1/4-inch-thick circle. Arrange the vegetable mixture in the middle of the dough, and loosely gather the dough around the filling, leaving an opening at the top (the dough won't close completely). Place the galette on a new sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven until filling is bubbly and crust is lightly browned, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Slice and serve.

Meatless Monday: Pumpkin Stuffing

I made Pumpkin Mac & Cheese for thanksgiving dinner on Friday at my parent's house, so for Thursday at my grandmother's, I used some of the extra diced pumpkin I had to do a roasted pumpkin cornbread stuffing.

I've taken this recipe from the Food Network, and combined it with slow cooker stuffing techniques from the Authority on Slow Cooking. I started by roasting the pumpkin and mushrooms in the oven on about 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 bag cornbread stuffing

1 onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 box of sliced roasted mushrooms

1 cup sliced roasted pumpkin (cut up into 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)

1 can veggie broth

1 can water (just fill the veggie broth can with water once you're done with it, don't call me from the store telling me you can't find a can of water.

sage, thyme (fresh if possible), salt, pepper to taste

ground up pumpkin seeds
1 egg (optional)

Procedure:
1) Dump everything dry into slow cooker, mix well.
2) Add liquid, mix more.
3) Cook on high for 2-4 hours, or low for 4-6 hours, depending on how broken your slow cooker is. (Ours cooks too fast, so it takes 2 on high or 4 on low.)

Enjoy! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Sweet Potato Casserole

This is one of my new favorite slow-cooker recipes. It will be great for a thanksgiving or christmas dish.
Ingredients:

• 2 cans sweet potatoes, drained and mashed (or two sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed)
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon OJ
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  

Equipment:

• Crockpot
• Hand mixer
• Large bowl
  

Procedure:

1. Lightly grease slow cooker
2. Mix sweet potatoes, margarine, sugar, brown sugar in a bowl.
3. Beat in eggs, milk, and OJ.
   
4. Transfer to slow cooker.
   
5. Mix pecans, 1/3 cup brown sugar, flour, and 2 tbsp margarine.
   
6. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours.
   

T-2 Days: Recipes

Here is the tutorial I used to make vegetable stock. Combined with some onions, garlic, and celery and stuffing mix, it'll make great stuffing.
What else is on the table on Thursday?
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes with Rosemary
Ingredients:
2.5-5lbs redskin potatoes
4 cloves garlic, sliced
.75 c. vegetable broth
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
pepper
Equipment:
Slow cooker
Procedure:

Place in the slow cooker. Add garlic, broth and rosemary. Stir. Cook and cook on high until potatoes are tender, about 3-4 hours. Pour in milk and sour cream, mash. Serve right away or adjust the setting to low to keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Green beans with Almonds
Eggplant with goat cheese (recipe to come, depending on deliciousness.)

T-3 Days: Don't be that guest.

I know I harp on this every year. But seriously people! Don't show up empty handed to Thanksgiving! Don't show up at 5 when dinner starts and leave at 7 before cleanup. If you are the hostess, do not be shy about drafting your guests into cleanup duty! If they are close enough to you that you invited them over for Thanksgiving dinner, they are close enough that you can ask them to do the dishes. If nothing else, when you play the thankful game, toss out a, "I'm thankful that you guys are going to do the dishes."
My Uncle John always shows up with a pie, and his wife always helps clean up. One son brings something and the other carves the turkey. They are on the list of "good guests". The list of bad guests? One set of family members that shows up at the start of dinner and then leaves before it is over, avoiding bringing anything or set-up/clean-up. On the list? The husbands who let their wives do all the work and then watch football. The wives that let their husbands do all the work and then watch football.
There is a concern about "too many cooks" if you are sharing a kitchen with houseguests. Do what we do - cook in shifts. Plan a schedule. The night before Thanskgiving, I can tell you when the turkey goes in and my dad gets the kitchen, when I get the table for prep, and when I get the stove, and how many burners each of us get and for how long. I know which dishes go on the bottom rack of the oven below the turkey. I know what I have to cook in the crockpot or the toaster oven.
There is an issue when people bounce from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving - it can be tough to keep dishes hot between one house and another. The most ambitious of us do it in shifts - prep two dishes. Bring one to Thanksgiving #1 and put the other in the oven when you get there - usually, the chef isn't using the oven once dinner is on the table. The better option is to bring a cold dish - desserts are best for this. This is my first Year of Two Thanksgivings. I'll be bringing pies to my grandmothers, which I plan to bake tomorrow night. (And then not eat. We'll see.) I'll also prep stuffing for my parents to bake and take over with the turkey. If you really can't bring anything, and really are so pressed for time, make sure you thank the hostess doubly and try to make up for it, either at Christmas dinner, by hosting next year, or just having them over for dinner sometime.
There are a million ways to help out at the holidays. If your mother/Aunt Sue/Uncle Charley/Grandpa is so controlling that they will not let you show up to Thanksgiving dinner with a side dish or dessert in hand, call them and offer to come a half an hour early to help out. Maybe you can take their kids for a walk or out to play in the yard so they aren't in the way. If you don't cook, offer to bring wine or sparkling cider. Sometimes, its really just the thought that counts. Calling and offering something can be a really nice thing to do. Or just let them know that they can call you and ask you to get ice/drinks/crudites/whipped cream from the grocery store if they forgot it. (A great option if you are traveling and can't cook.) If nothing else, make sure you stay later and clean up. Or when she/he gets up to clear the table after dinner, say, "Oh no, Aunt/Uncle/Grandma/pa/Mom/Dad - you did so much cooking for this fantastic meal that you do not have to clean up. Cousin/wife/husband/parent and I will take care of that." This way, you not only get to help out, you draft your lazy-good-for-nothing family into it as well. Just don't break the fancy china.
Nobody like a guest who shows up with one arm longer than the other. Don't be that guest.

I have a beef with canned food.

The following is a list of things that should come in cans:
Soup (including broth)
Fruit (including pie filling)
Beans
Spaghetti Os
Coconut, condensed, and evaporated milk

Canned food should be generally used for:
Quick and easy dinners
Dinner when you/somebody else is sick
Nuclear winters
Taco night
Baking
Countries/cities in which there is not a regular supply of fresh produce.
People who don't have running water.

Does Thanskgiving fit anywhere on that list? NO!

I understand that some people do not have the benefits of potluck Thanksgiving, in which four people spend Thursday slaving away in front of a hot stove, instead of just one person doing the work. But that is NO reason to make Thanksgiving dinner out of your bomb shelter! What is next, canned turkey? (I'm sure it exists.)

I guess there are some merits to a canned thanksgiving. It tastes the same, year after year, and man do you meet that RDA of sodium. Some things are not in season, I will grant you that. Some things are really hard to prepare from total scratch. But then consider why you are making that dish instead of something delicious and fresh. If you have young, screaming children - don't host Thanksgiving. Or at least have a potluck. Say you'll make a turkey, and everybody has to bring something. Worst case scenario? You end up eating turkey. Plus, all your lazy good-for-nothing relatives and friends learn how to bring food to an event, instead of just showing up to get fed. Lazy good-for-nothings, btw, are anyone over the age of 12. Yes. I get judgmental if you don't bring stuff to Thanksgiving, or don't let people bring stuff. The spirit of the holiday is to give thanks and celebrate togetherness, not to be a control freak. (I'm totally not being a control freak, no matter what Mark says. He has been put in charge of plenty of stuff.) Plus, young kids are great as little helpers - they can be put to work peeling potatoes, measuring stuff, stirring things, washing dishes, polishing silverware.

I don't think I've had canned yams. Ever. Yams should not come in a can. Mostly I wonder - what is so hard about yams? Peel the sweet potatoes, chop them, boil them, mash em up, cover them in marshmallows. You can do it in a slow cooker. You can prep them the night before. While I'm at it - potatoes should not come in a box unless they are being made into potato bread. Mashed potatoes can be made in just thirty minutes while the turkey sits. Put early arrivals to work. Buy redskins or thin-skin potatoes, wash, chop into quarters, boil for 15 minutes, then mash. Add salt, pepper and garlic.

Somethings can be made as a mixture of canned and fresh dishes.

I don't touch green bean casserole. I think it is probably the most disgusting idea anybody has ever come up with. I generally think this because it is based on canned green beans. Canned vegetables in general - wonder why they aren't on my list? THEY AREN'T FOOD!!! They are overcooked, oversalted, shadowy ghosts of what food USED TO BE. I wonder if maybe green bean casserole was made with fresh green beans (because, see list, canned soup is acceptable), would I be less nauseated by it? What if it was fresh green beans with a light Parmesan cream sauce and crunchy breadcrumbs on top?

Cranberry sauce? Okay. I will say that handmade cranberry sauce is delicious, but also a huge pain. Since cranberries are fruit, they do technically fall under the exception. But try, just try, mixing your canned cranberries with some mandarin oranges in the food processor. I can pretty much guarantee you that people who have never before liked cranberries will love them.

Stuffing? Use the breadcube mixtrue you can buy. Even buy the stovetop if you want. But add some stuff. Add, at the very least, fresh garlic, onions, and celery. This year, I'm thinking about adding fresh peppers.

You have three days until Thanksgiving. I challenge you to go out and replace one of your regular canned staples with something uncanned or unboxed.

Keys to a sane thanksgiving.

Alright, there isn't actually such a thing. But I have one thing that really helps. It sounds "a bit rich" coming from somebody as messy as me, but keeping the kitchen as clean as possible, and not letting dishes pile up, is key.
This was the kitchen as I made vegetable stock on Sunday.
My cookbook.
Stock simmering
What I did while the stock simmered
I felt much better.
Vegetable stock recipe to come!

T-4 Days

This morning I hit up the farmer's market for all my Thanksgiving supplies. The list was long but I was able to get pretty much everything on it, even eggplant. I got home and chopped celery, onions, and garlic for stuffing, and stored that. It should keep for a couple days. If it doesn't, I have plenty more because man, you get a lot of celery. I got green beans and already trimmed those to store (apparently you are not supposed to trim them until right before you use them because they will lose nutrients.
I got potatoes, both sweet and redskin, and fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme for dishes and turkey stuffing. (I don't make stuffing in the turkey, but I do put sage and an onion and an apple in the cavity for flavor.) Plus the spices get used to make the stock.
I got a stalk of brussels sprouts, but now I have NO idea what to do with them. Mark's dad likes them, and I think I'll either steam them or saute them with bacon, but I'm not quite sure how to store them. I'll check the Joy of Cooking.
I will be going to the grocery store to get my turkey today. Since it is Sunday, and it needs to thaw for a couple days, it will go straight in the fridge. I think Safeway said they had turkeys for $0.39 per pound. Giant is $0.49. I've been seeing them for $0.99 a pound elsewheres. Three years ago when I did one, it was $0.29 per pound and that was standard. Oh well. I hear the economy is bad.
I also have broccoli, which I think I will steam up.
How are you getting ready for Thursday?

Turducken

Mr. Barefoot's friend's have a tradition of making a Turducken. Last year they did a TurGooDucken, but the chef has complained that the cost is too high and the labor too difficult, therefore this year will mark the return of the plain old turducken.
The first year I made baked ziti - pasta stuffed with three types of cheese sounded good. Last year I made peppers stuffed with peppers stuffed with peppers. (Red pepper, green pepper, jalapeno. Stuffed with a rice-pepper mixture.)
This year I could branch out - I could do peppers stuffed with stuffed mushrooms, but I need a third layer. I could do peppers stuffed with peppers stuffed with peppers again, but this year mix up what I use as filler stuffing. I'm thinking a mix of rice, quinoa, and cous-cous. There was some discussion of deep frying the peppers to add an extra layer. I am pretty sure this would end in disaster, my friend thought it was a great idea.
I would love to find a good way to mix sweet and savory in this mix somehow, but I don't think that is possible. I also want to mix flavors and textures. I also don't want to spend $30 on peppers again...