Thanksgiving / holiday dinner

[LTS3]

What is everyone planning for their holiday dinners this year given the whole pandemic thing? Are you still planning a typical huge feast and freezing all the leftovers or you are scaling down to a small meal for a few people?

As usual, it'll just be me and the cats. I haven't done a family holiday dinner in years (long story). I picked up a local edition of Edible Magazine and there's a whole article about how to plan a smaller Thanksgiving meal with the "new normal". There's a recipe for braised turkey legs and thighs that seems really good. I'd have to scale it down to just 2 legs or 2 thighs, not two of each since I don't have a pot big enough. I'm not even sure if I can even fit a single turkey leg or thigh in my 5 quart pot I'm kind of about leaving the pot to simmer for 3 hours on the stove. I wonder if I can do the bulk of the cooking on the stove and then put everything into a slow cooker to braise for 3 hours?

The same magazine has a recipe for honey lemon chicken thighs which could be an alternative holiday dinner. It calls for boneless thighs and each side is cooked for about 5 minutes. Is that long enough to fully cook the meat? If I use bone-in, would I just cook the meat longer per side, maybe 8 to 10 minutes?

 

[klunick]

We get our dinner from Bob Evans and invite my mom and sister down for dinner with us.

 

[Xraystyle]

Korea's thanksgiving-type holiday was two weeks ago. I met with two friends separately that day. The government had really encouraged people not to visit their hometowns this year (as you're supposed to do, to clean graves and pay tribute to ancestors), so a lot of the restaurants and shops stayed open. Usually Seoul becomes a ghost town and us foreigners just kind of roll around waiting for everything to re-open since none of us have family here.

My friends and I had Taco Bell and Chinese dumplings. Not really that much different than what I would've had at home, haha

 

[game misconduct]

probably get a marie calendars meal to eat with girlfreinds parents few days before. then go to my dads thanksgiving day to eat again basicly two huge meals for the price of one holiday hehe

 

[Kat0121]

It will just be the cats and me. I will make something that I can share with them. I will roast a half turkey breast. That way they can have some and I'll have leftovers to make sandwiches with. I might bake a potato and have stuffing and cranberry to go with. Maybe a small salad too. Nothing too exciting. The girls both love turkey.

 

[denice]

I am thinking about making a lasagna. I know it isn't traditional Thanksgiving but we aren't getting together for Thanksgiving so it will just be me. I rarely make it so it will be special for me and it freezes well. I can cut it up in individual portions and freeze those.

 

[Winchester]

Just Rick and me. And that's fine. I have the turkey in the freezer and will get him out about a week prior and throw him in the fridge. I always do an overnight brining and then will throw him into the electric roaster. Standard sides: mashed potatoes and gravy, baked corn (maybe dried corn as Rick loves that), cranberry relish, crock pot stuffing, mandarin orange and pecan salad. Butternut squash pie standing in for the pumpkin pie (pumpkin pie is hard to find around here and I'm not dealing with running around looking for it). And some rolled sugar cookies in the shapes of leaves. Iced tea.

We won't be going out on Black Friday this year because of Covid. And that sucks. I love Black Friday shopping.

I think this year will be our last whole turkey for Thanksgiving. Starting next year, we'll probably start doing a turkey breast.

 

[AbbysMom]

Well this question really set me off.

I've been saying for years that I needed a break from the over the top Thanksgiving celebration I have every year. I didn't want it in this way though. It's been a tough year and things are never going to be the same. It will probably be just Aaron and I. No clue what I'll make. I can't picture myself doing a turkey with all of the trimmings though. I'm not sure if I'll be able to visit my mother on Thanksgiving or not. It's still over 6 weeks away and who knows what will be going on by then.

 

[LTS3]

A non-traditional dinner for just 2 or however many people you need to feed is perfectly fine

 

[amethyst]

Being Canadian Thanksgiving today my husband and I had Cornish hens for dinner tonight. They are tasty, cook quickly (about an hour in the oven) and one bird per person.

Since my in-laws didn't always do turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving, and since I am from the US originally I still like to celebrate US Thanksgiving as well. I go all out with that feast instead every year, I even get a big turkey (20+lb) even though it's just the two of us (just smaller amounts of sides since it's just for two), my in laws use to come but haven't in years. I make a lot of stuff with the turkey leftovers, freeze a bunch for later as well as make turkey sandwiches, turkey soup (most of which I freeze in meal size containers), stock (gets frozen in small containers for the pets as well as used for cooking later), and go plain on the turkey when cooking so I can share with the cats and dogs. The past couple years we have had the chunks I froze as a turkey dinner to have for New Years.

 

[Winchester]

I remember when I used to look for the largest turkey I could find....25 pounds, if I could find one. And everybody (my parents, Rick's parents, my sister and BIL, brother and SIL) came here for dinner. We had tons of food and leftovers and everybody would go home with a huge container of everything. Plenty of desserts.

Sadly, those days are gone. My parents are gone as is Rick's dad. His mom is in a nursing home and can't leave the facility; even if she could, she's in a wheelchair and it would be difficult to get her in our car, let alone trying to get her into our house. My sister and BIL visit their kids now; sometimes all her kids will come home and she'll have the large dinner. We always go.

But with the virus, it will be Rick and me. So I'll be scaling things down a bit. And, you know, I dearly love to cook and I've always loved doing those huge dinners. It was always so much fun.

 

[klunick]

Mom and sister told me this week that they will not be down for Thanksgiving dinner so I will probably order the meal for 4 so there won't be a lot of leftovers.

Not happy they are doing a cherry pie this year instead of apple or pumpkin.
• Slow-Roasted Turkey • Bread & Celery Dressing • Corn • Mashed Potatoes with Gravy • Green Beans with Ham • Cranberry Relish • Rolls • Cherry Supreme Pie* •

 

[bbdoll22]

I’m playing it by ear but most likely it will just be me, hubby and the kids ages 8&10. My side of family is conservative during Covid. My husbands family not at all. 16 people of just immediate family from different households. Add in the aunts and uncles and whoever is dating their plus ones and it’s a lot of people. They’ve been constantly getting together during Covid and making me feel like the bad guy because I won’t attend and will not let my kids attend.
In that note I’m putting up a family vote choices of 1 entree.
either:
Turkey and fixings
Prime rib and fixings
Or eggplant Parmesan, salad and garlic bread.

 

[game misconduct]

if i had my way i would cook a bird up using a turkey fryer but most likely will just order a marie calendars turkey meal to eat with girlfriends parentsand then eat with my side of the family cant do like i did in my 20s with my group of friends and go to each others houses for an all day eating festival a plate here a plate therethose were the good old days

 

[catapault]

Last year we went to a cousin's home for a huge family Thanksgiving - people from four outside states all coming together in New Jersey. There were sad things, good things. It was a wonderful time. This year it will be just the two of us, staying home.

I'm not that fond of turkey. Do like goose but that's a lot for two people. I'm thinking of getting a duck. Have boneless breasts for The Meal. Use wings and carcass for stock. Turn legs into confit for a later meal. Or poach and make a duck mushroom strudel.

But there's time for the menu to change.

 

[strider rose]

dont really know as we dont cook much here at home . the in laws wont have a dinner this year due to covid

 

[maeganj]

My husband is going back to work (overseas) for 3 months mid November so my parents are coming down this weekend and we are doing a small early Thanksgiving. He is going to smoke a turkey we raised and I'm doing the popular side dishes with a couple pies. In the end it'll just be a big dinner but it's fun to hang out by the grill all day. So on actual Thanksgiving it'll just be me, pets and farm animals, a regular day!
My mom and I like to talk about how my grandma used to do EVERYTHING in a small house with 1 oven. My aunts and mom would bring side dishes and pies there was just so much food but in the end not many leftovers because of us kids and cousins. I really miss being a kid sometimes! Bottomless pit for a stomach.

 

[Winchester]

maeganj You know, my MIL had one of those really tiny kitchens that was hard for one person to turn around in, let alone two people try to work in. But, oh the meals that came out of that kitchen were simply wonderful. She always wanted a larger kitchen, but never got it. She was an excellent cook and baker.

I think I've got our Thanksgiving dinner down:
Roast turkey
Crock pot stuffing
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Corn pudding OR dried corn (Rick loves dried corn)
Roasted butternut squash
Mandarin orange and pecan salad
Cranberry relish
Sweet potato pie or butternut squash pie
Cookies

I suggested to Rick that, since it's just to the two of us, I'd just stuff the bird. Did not go over well. And he wants me to make the whole stuffing recipe. Since I now know that I can freeze the leftover stuffing (I forget who told me that last year, but thank you!), I'm fine with that. The other sides will be decreased for the two of us. We'll have leftovers, but won't be swamped with them. Other than the turkey, that is. I think Tom Turkey is probably about 18 pounds. I'm going to go ahead and roast him. Leftover turkey for a couple of days then it can go into the freezer for future meals.

And I'm thinking of apple-stuffed pork chops for Christmas dinner. Not sure of the sides yet, but again, it will just be Rick and me. And he really likes stuffed pork chops and it's something we don't have very often at all anymore.

 

[LTS3]

I'm going to make this: Skillet Chicken with Cranberries Easy enough for me to make and doesn't require too many ingredients or cook time. I'll probably make stuffing from a box to go with it.

 

[maeganj]

I'm going to make this: Skillet Chicken with Cranberries Easy enough for me to make and doesn't require too many ingredients or cook time.

Oh, this looks good! I love skillet/1 pot/instant pot stuff when my husband's not home, easy clean up.

To be honest I prefer chicken over turkey. We tried to keep our turkeys small but could only get our hands on bronze breed, we're trying to do something like Kentucky Bourbon because they're more dark meat, smaller, but heritage breeds are weird and have to live in a group of 100 and I can't handle that population...