brrrrr it was cold today. I was super chilly!
crab legs are great but cold. They’re sold cooked so all I did was open the shrink wrap package and rinse off the crab legs. They came out of fridge 10 minutes before supper :-)
As soon as I returned home from play date, I knew that I wanted to grill sausage for myself. Soup would have been good but I wanted the sausage. Evergood hot links are so yummy. Still have 2 more Costco prepacks!

off to get Cherries Jubilee to celebrate Jaimito’s successful and safe return.

You chose a grilled sausage over king crab legs?
FYI, they are always sold cooked. I heat up by steaming or throwing on the grill. Serve with melted butter and lemon. Well, that is a lot of crab legs...i hope somebody in your house enjoyed them.

I ate 2 evergood hot link sausages, a baked potato, roasted Brussels sprouts, raw avocado, and about 2 king crab legs. Maybe 1-1/2? They were excellent. Definitely had melted butter and lemon but they were great alone without distractions. I used the avocado like a palette cleanser :-)

The Cherries Jubilee was fabulous.

hopefully I can make the meatballs for Wednesday :-)

I’ll check on whether I can get a turkey at Safeway... I feel that I need to practice cooking one before thanksgiving!

This. I wouldn't do sausage and crab legs. I'd do one or the other.
Cooking a turkey is simple, given everything else you cook. No need to practice, and who wants that much turkey in one month?

Omg yes...turkeys are usually eaten over several days in leftover form. I can't imagine taking a few days and having pasta with Rao's sauce in between and then making another turkey. I also don't see the point. Unless you are entering a contest or serving a big feast just have the Thanksgiving one be your first one.
gaobest, i suggest you find a simple website or cookbook or magazine that breaks it all down for you. I forsee some day and night anguish over the next 2 weeks. There is no law that says you have to have turkey...i have been known to have a steak or pizza if it was just me or 2 people . Also,.i used to turn my nose at buying pre-prepared turkey dinners with all the sides that most grocery stores offer. I have had a few now that others have done and they have been excellent . One of my old jobs used to have a company lunch that was from Whole Foods and it was amazing.

I couldn't agree more. Unless it's deep fried, a whole turkey seems to be one of those things that people eat out of respect for tradition but wish that it were anything else. But the sides are another story, usually the star of a Thanksgiving meal.

For a smaller group, if you must have turkey, consider roasting a turkey breast. I've done that for 3 people in the past. But I fully support breaking from tradition. This year our Thanksgiving is with my in-laws, and we've agreed no turkey. My mother in law is still deciding, but I'm guessing beef.

Omaha Steaks apparently offers a fully-cooked turkey that you simply need to reheat as well.

I suggested that we opt for dinner from a restaurant this year. It'll save me from dealing with cooking.

I have spent a few Thanksgivings at Disneyland feasting on a Monte Cristo sandwich or their awesome corn dogs. Sometimes we would then cook a small turkey or breast the day after Disneyland or the weekend before .
Even small turkeys can be too much food...a couple years ago I did a capon instead. It was hard to find and I spatchcocked and grilled it but I overcooked it. Still a tasty bird. I know some people do Cornish hens for Thanksgiving. Prime rib sounds like a good Thanksgiving too.

It will be Indian night tonight, with Skewered chicken tikka, dhal, spiced cauliflower, raita and basmati. I always struggle with wine when it's Indian, so will try a light Cotes du Rhone tonight instead of my usual failsafe off-dry white. We'll see!

Requested thanksgiving meal includes turkey. It’s a very easy list of dishes! I have zero desire to add a thing to it. I’ll definitely enjoy the leftovers after the holiday. I’ll save the bones and really try to make stock.
Turkey
Gravy for turkey
Sweet potatoes with Marshmallows
Stuffing

Cranberry sauce - fresh at Costco
Cranberry jarred sauce (Safeway etc)

Turkey bacon
White bread for pb&j

I love turkey dark meat so much :-)

Yum! Enjoy :-)
May I please have your spiced cauliflower recipe?

hey, who here remembers TURKEY RICE in Taiwan - I had it first in Chiayi and then in Taipei.

You're going to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Thanksgiving, along with turkey???

You beat me to it.
I also don't get the turkey bacon for thanksgiving. :confused:

Neither do I.

normally for thanksgiving we are at a buffet which includes pb&j on white bread (crusts cut off) and brown sugar bacon (pre-buffet drinks & appetizers). We will replicate the pb&j but amend the brown sugar bacon to do turkey bacon, either cooked on its own or baked on Club crackers like we do for Christmas.

just so there’s zero confusion about the king crab legs supper, my original intention was to just have the crab legs and maybe lox for supper. However, I arrived home feeling cold from the play date, so I decided that I wanted grilled evergood hot links sausage. It made sense to offer to also grill chicken apple sausage for my cold baby. Everything was delicious and amusingly this was still dollar-wise cheaper than our old restaurant burger meals at barneys :-)
there’s zero logic about sausage and crab; I am a person who’s mixed cigarettes with a gelato entree at an Italieneiscafe.

we will probably now have king crab legs thrice a month until Costco stops stocking it! It’s just so delicious!

Link: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...ll-recipe.html

Tonight Mr. CE is cooking chicken marsala, which I love, but I'm slightly annoyed because today is the day our cleaning people are here and he is the messiest cook :( And in our house, the person who doesn't cook does the post-dinner clean up.

We're doing Thanksgiving with another "mixed" couple -- Canadian and American -- and we're hosting. The other day my Canadian husband told me he'd planned out the menu, which made me laugh. (Although Canada celebrates Thanksgiving (with poutine and nanimo bars, I think), Jewish Canadians typically don't because they celebrate Sukkot, which falls at roughly the same time.) Anyway, he did OK with the menu planning once I told him what special dishes were non-negotiable to me and the other American, who I've celebrated with more than a dozen times.

Appetizers:
* Charcuterie
* Herb-marinated feta (I know this arguably falls under charcuterie, but Mr. CE was very excited by the recipe)

Main:
* Turducken and gravy (our first turducken!). It's stuffed with a cornbread stuffing.
* Mashed potatoes
* Mushroom and chestnut stuffing
* Oyster casserole (one of the non-negotiable dishes for the two Americans)
* Roast brussels sprouts
* Maple glazed sweet potatoes
* Cranberry sauce

Dessert:
* The other couple is responsible for these, which likely means pumpkin pie and apple pie. We're having a planning call tonight.
* The other American has this awesome frozen cranberry "salad" recipe that is sometimes on the table with dinner but that I always save for dessert (since I hate pie) -- cranberries, apple, orange, walnuts and celery pureed and then folded into whipped cream and frozen. OMG.
* I may make a cranberry upside down cake or a cranberry tart. We'll see.

That looks awesome and reminded me of a great dish from last year's Thanksgiving dinner for 10, pasted below.

Appetizers:
1. Brie and cranberry bites https://www.delish.com/cooking/recip...-bites-recipe/
2. Veggies with tapenade
3. Shrimp cocktail

Dinner:
1. Turkey
2. Gravy
3. Oyster casserole
4. Stuffing
5. Farro salad? or beet, orange & onion salad https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...recipe-1945063 (We ended up doing Charlie Bird's Farro Salad. We had one vegetarian and one quasi vegetarian, hence the additional non-traditional items.)
6. Mashed potatoes
7. Wild mushrooms and brussels sprouts: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...ussels-sprouts
8. Roast cabbage with parmesan and walnuts: https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/11/r...-and-parmesan/
9. Cranberry relish
10. Bread/rolls
11. Roast heads of garlic: https://skillet.lifehacker.com/give-...ted-1839648746

Dessert:
1. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream
2. Upside down cranberry cake (I almost subbed this for what was affectionately known as "funeral cake" when I was growing up because my Mom took it to every funeral, and now that I'm thinking about it, I may make it for Thanksgiving week this year.)
3. Chocolate bowls with chocolate mousse, whipped cream and bourbon-soaked cherries
4. Sweet potato pie

Looks like a nice menu. I am shocked that you hate pie!

ditto - how do you get the oysters and then make oyster casserole? I’ve never had such a delightful-looking dish.

$25 a lb crab legs would be a once a year splurge for me. I don't want you ever to post 20 times about saving $1.00 on a few apples again. :pThose crab legs are around $40 a package...you used to spend $80 on burgers at a restaurant.
Please explain how pb & j ever ended up on a buffet table (with or without crusts). Especially a thanksgiving buffet. Who does that?? Chuck E Cheese?

Seriously---hating pie???
I have tasted a turduken and it is yummy but feeds about 20 people so I only had it once.

I get them already shucked, either from WF or a seafood market. It's traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dish in parts of the Atlantic coast. Basically roughly broken table water crackers mixed with melted butter, plus oyster liquor mixed with heavy cream. In a casserole dish you alternate layers of crackers and oysters, then pour the liquor/cream combo over it all and bake it. it can only be eaten once or twice a year unless you enjoy gout and heart attacks.



It was a bit of a generalization when I said I don't like pie. I don't like pumpkin pie, pecan pie or apple pie. I enjoy some berry pies, and almost anything with a graham cracker crust.

ok...i was trying to figure how you like tarts but not pie.

Exactly. I've never known a buffet to have pb & j.
I'm with you on pumpkin pie and I can't eat pecan pie. I do love apple pie though!

The apple brined smoked turkey dinner from Whole Foods looks pretty tempting, as does the Scarlett pie.

pb&j is served at a glencoe country club. Oh wait - it’s served at Sunday buffet as part of the kids section. They made it for our child by request on thanksgiving. Membership has its privileges. Mind you we haven’t been there since 2019 due to pandemic (they’re closed in winter). Those days are over. Sad!
I’ve already mentioned how a barneys burger meal comes to $80 for a meal for 3 - on average $16/burger (or chicken breast), two different fries dishes, two $6-7 milkshakes, iced tea, 9% sf tax, 4% sf health, 20-30% tip... somehow it’s like $80. Or more. Those days are fully over.

saving money like that makes it easier to buy the red king crab legs, which we like more than Dungeness crab.

wow! Thank you. Sounds yummy.
I don’t know oyster liquor. I’ll google it.

I'll save you the trouble -- it's the liquid found in oysters.

awww you’re so sweet. I already checked. I also learned about the importance of oyster liquor!

Poker play date

Indian pizza (chicken & cauliflower pizzas)
indian pastry desserts

sartori chocolate-covered strawberries
Robbins cherries jubilee
Trader Joe’s chocolate chip

Friday night will be steak night, with fresh beans, roasted potatoes and, most essentially, a bottle of Claret!

How long do we have to wait to see those meatballs ? :p
Are you playing poker in person?

Bought a just over 2 1/2 lb strip loin (NY strip/steak) roast yesterday and cut it into 5 steaks (cheaper by $1/lb in roast over steak format). Had pan-seared steaks last night with baked potato and rotkohl with bacon and raisins. Will share one steak tonight as the secondo. Primo will be spaghetti a la carbonara with home-salted pancetta. More steak tomorrow.

What is for dinner tonight? That's the question. I have no idea. We did a great job menu planning Sunday-Wednesday this week, then ordered from an Indian-Pakistani place last night. We have plenty of leftovers, but both had them for lunch.

rotkohl recipe please! I’m still dying to make it this year.
I went to Germany for 15 years and always loved rotkohl. Now I get it in Carmel at the Swiss fondue place because it’s a side dish for certain entrees :-)

My wife just winged it. I think she fried some chopped bacon at really low temp to get the oil out. Take bacon out, cook cabbage, add raisins and vinegar. Wasn't enough bacon fat.

I can try finding an Austrian recipe for a more proper method.

Spaghetti with Rao’s marinara and homemade meatballs
big salad (avocado romaine celery carrot bell)

dessert tbd, but surely ice cream - most likely Robbins Cherries Jubilee and Haagen daaz chocolate :-)

I want to see the meatballs !!

I want to know the recipe used.

too much milk liquid compared to the reduced amount of meat in the recipe ratio. Oops. Meatballs weren’t round after baking and I’ll retry with a better milk/meat ratio. But taste worked.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f5d67e7bc.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...340894acb.jpeg

That's just a minor thing & easily adjustment . They look great! What seasonings are in them? Parmesan in the mix?

thanks! It’s the Betty Crocker simple(Ton) recipe. Beef Worcester milk egg crumbs. I forgot salt & pepper. So they couldn’t hold roundness during the baking. I know that carando uses Parmesan cheese so I could add some to the mix. No parsley yet because the overall goal is for my child to eat these; so next time I’ll improve the milk / meat ratio and make a few with parsley if I remember to get the parsley :-)

for bread crumbs I grated a baguette that had gotten old. I’ve also seen recipes using sliced bread.