BeeZee

We had friends over for dinner last night, endive salad with pomelo segments, olives, and mustard viniagrette, vegetable lasagne (Barilla no-boil noodles, spinach, mushrooms, zucchini) and locally baked semolina bread. They brought dessert, cheesecake from Termini Brothers in Philadelphia, which was outstanding.

I know I checked the date on the bagged baby spinach before buying (nothing like a bag of green slime) but the tomatoes had no date, unfortunately. The culprits are some split/mashed/otherwise damaged ones at the bottom of the box. No big loss, they were tasteless, anyhow (despite looking suitably red). The remainder will probably go into soup.

Picked up 3 persimmons at 79 cents each, they need to ripen a bit. I hesitate to buy produce at TJ’s, the large carton of grape tomatoes had several on the bottom that were already moldy. Not worth returning.

Too much meat the past couple of days, I needed something lighter. Quick soup with pantry ingredients - boxed stock with asian flavors, baked tofu, rice noodles, seaweed, carrots, roasted broccoli florets. DH enjoyed it also.

Interesting how many turtle dishes they had.

I have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Mastodon accounts. LinkedIn for work. I use each one for different info, and so far I have found Mastodon hard to get used to, but the hosts have been working on it and posting a lot of suggestions on how to navigate it.

To put things in perspective, I am glad we could get together. That is always most important. That no blows were thrown or tears were shed is a bonus😉

Predictably, my sister didn’t follow my timeline for meal prep (this was her first time hosting Thanksgiving) and at 3pm I opened the fridge to put something away and the turkey was still in there😵. It was a bone-in breast around 6 lbs, so I took it out to come to room temp, prepped it for her, and in the oven around 3:30. It was done at 6:15. The lasagne she made primarily for her husband wound up getting served as a first course while turkey rested, it wasn’t quite warm enough in the center, but by then we’d had it with his whining. My cousin gleefully boasted how she doesn’t follow recipes and her 2 pies were evidence, but they were OK. I was exhausted because I more or less wound up cooking most of the dinner, sans the clean up.

I appreciate your foresight in bringing something to properly line your stomach before imbibing!

Roasted turkey wings for make ahead gravy, you can see where I pulled off my cook’s treat. I picked most of the meat to use for another meal (got 6.8 oz from 4 wings, less my snacking).

Tried this today for lunch, on some Wasa, a sprinkle of lemon juice. I like cracked black pepper and thought they could have had even more. Fish was mild, meaty texture, light smoke. They were pretty fused together in the tin so I found it hard to pull out whole fillets (4 in the tin). Fish was from Latvia.

Leftover from dinner last night. Brown rice, grated ginger, little soy sauce. Roasted butternut squash (S&P, garlic powder). Pepitas and dried cranberries. Last night we ate it with roasted salmon fillet.

I had the lentil soup (lentil and "ancient grains") which is in the refrigerated case, pretty good, not overly salty. Quite thick/hearty, not a "looker", it's brown and bears some resemblance to dog food when it's congealed. Some little pieces of carrot in the mix. Intended to be a couple of work lunches, wound up splitting with DH. He added some green can parm, I think I would put some sherry vinegar in mine next time. I'll buy it again.

Yes, I picked up a bone-in one (7lbs) on Saturday. It was free due to the supermarket's customer loyalty program.

I haven’t had to be the main cook for Thanksgiving for a while, it is nice not to be stressing out, but I still have the feeling that I should be doing something. Bought the supplies for my contributions (gravy and veg), except the Lacinto kale, which I will buy on Monday. I will make the gravy Wednesday and cook kale Thursday a.m. This all assumes my sister doesn’t panic and realize she needs me to make something else… BTW, for all of the talk of turkey shortages, I saw no evidence of that in the supermarket, at least for the mainstream products.

Had a meeting with a vendor who is in the middle of nowhere, but I had scoped this out previously, so I made sure I finished my meeting by lunch time

After talking to my sister and helping her think about oven logistics, I’ve decided to make sauteed greens with apples (kale or something similar). Can be eaten room temp if reheating on stovetop becomes problematic. She’s making lasagne as another side instead of stuffing 🙁 since her Sicilian husband won’t eat turkey or most of the other traditional items (except the twice baked potatoes). I was also drafted to make gravy, since I can make it ahead by roasting turkey wings.

For the first time, my sister is hosting Thanksgiving at her (tiny) home-but actually this year several family members are going elsewhere, so I think we will all have someplace to sit. She's making bone-in turkey breast, Mom is making twice baked potatoes. I think I'm being tasked with the vegetable side, and like @kayb, am contemplating brussel sprouts. We all like a simple prep where you roast halved sprouts in a mixture of oil, salt, and a lot of pepper (I think a little garlic powder, too) and shredded parm (which works since we don't have mac+cheese) until browned - but it's good without the parm, too. Or I might roast green beans and just toss with some grated lemon zest. I need something I can make ahead and not worry too much about reheating. Sis doesn't have a microwave, so oven space will be at a premium.

Agreed! I used to have a work friend who would bring me food gifts, but he works in a different location now. With everyone fearing dietary minefields, germs, etc., it has become less common. Actually, the last "unexpected" food gifts received at my house were during COVID shut down!

I really love the Chinese tradition of giving food gifts "just because", I know that would brighten my day!

use powdered egg whites for safety?

Vegan brownies, made with avocado. You’d never guess, it just makes them very moist. I had some dark chocolate so I chopped it up and sprinkled over the top before baking.

@weinoo, those Tots...I'm swooning!

Finally got the homemade chicken soup I have been wanting, broth looks a little anemic but it was serviceable, particularly since my sense of taste is dulled at the moment.

@Okanagancook, yes, I roast the squash at 400, usually I cut the slices around 1/2” thick. @ElsieD, it is kind of time consuming, but I throw the mess of seeds and stringy flesh into a bowl of water, separate and pull the seeds, throw them into a mesh strainer, and rinse them again.