Margaret Pilgrim

Laze away! You can bore me with sausage on a roll any day.

In the country. COLD. Husband got up, built fire in fireplace and put (Pillsbury) biscuits in the oven. 15 minutes later -> hot biscuits with butter and lemon marmalade for him, biscuits with reheated roast chicken gravy for me.

Wouldn't swear that it's a really good recipe, but it makes really good gravy! Cut off and save some odd bits of your turkey. Roast them with some onion, carrot, garlic, EVOO. Deglaze roasting pan (white wine or chicken broth or water); add meat bits, veg and juices to pot with canned chicken broth. Simmer on low until broth is reduced and very flavorful. Strain. Make a roux of butter and flour. Add your stock and whisk until thickened. If not dark enough, add a dash of Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master. Check salt and pepper.

Or as I have come to do, name it after you cook and taste it.

For years, decades actually, I made and was complimented on my piecrust. Then, one day, I tried a PRC. And never went back. I do make suet crusts for pot pies and pasties, but other than that it's Pillsbury all the way. I even shamelessly buy them on sale and store (hoard) them in the freezer.

@Anna N, thanks for reminding us of this delicious dessert.

Bouncing off cdf's suggestion, a family member used to bring a jello "salad" to holiday dinners. Green Jello + can of crushed pineapple + carton of sour cream. (or Red Jello + can of cranberry sauce + carton of sour cream. SWEET, but kids inhaled it.)

Pasty, green salad.

or as is said, the great thing about standards is that there are so many of them.

Join Anna as a non-food waster, but I'm not totally convinced that commercial "Jello" is actually "food".

@liamsaunt, you are, as we all knew, a brick and a trooper. I'm guessing that producing this feast will be healing for you. And I have to smile as I consider that we each probably will serve a by-demand dish this Thanksgiving that gives others pause. That's what makes our individual tables "home". Sharing our TG love with your family.

Needs more liquid, definitely. Check out more recipes online -> some call for as much as half-cup sherry divided between two layers. I've always used dry lady fingers and they always receive the liquid and soften without turning to much.

Absolutely! The fewer bells and whistles, the fewer service calls.

Oh, yes, PLEASE! i used to order a similar platter at The Whistling Swan in Sturbridge, MA. Lovely!

@heidih Good to hear your voice. Good to hear your laugh!

"Sugar, Palm Oil, Hazelnuts (13%), Skimmed Milk Powder (8.7%), Fat-Reduced Cocoa (7.4%), Emulsifier: Lecithins (Soya), Vanillin." What's not to like! Horrible stuff!

I bought a jar for the grandkids' treats. They have been brilliantly fed simple, organic produce. Hosting one 4 year old granddaughter overnight, I put a cherry on top of her ice cream at dinner, She was very excited, put it in her mouth, immediately removed it and said, "It tastes like chemicals!"

Caviar, truffle, uni...I'm a cheap date! Campari! Tastes like the cough medicine my mother used to pour down me.

Complete agreement on both. I find rose a difficult flavor to get right without becoming cloying. However, I do love TD's French cousin, påte de fruit, with its pure fruit flavors. And we noticed that "Coke" had a completely different taste profile in Great Britain and Europe than that that we were familiar with in the US. I compared it to Dr. Pepper. But back to your analysis, I agree that it is no heavenly concoction.

I don't like the concepts as suggested by recipe titles. Wouldn't try them were they created by humans.

Compounding the situation is our flitting between town and country, Glass jars are super for refrigerator and freezer storage, and certainly for preserves and such, but I need a complement of light weight plastic containers for transporting a week of food to the country, Multiple glass containers are HEAVY in a cooler.

Indeed! Small quantities are no problem but we seem to frequently need quart - quart and a half containers for sharing batches of applesauce, chili, ragu. Like last night in the country, son came for dinner and took home a quart of meat sauce, and I had to rob Peter to pay Paul to find a container for him.

Don't knock it! Husband periodically nags me into vetting my hoard and sure as the sun rises, the jars that i tossed in recycle are the precise ones that I need the next day. In addition, I have lots of French working jars, but they ebb and flow into freezer and to son's house, so we either have too many or none. And I did point out this photo to dear husband to show him I'm not the Lone Ranger.

I was apparently taught incorrectly. When my father set up my first checking account, he told me, "You now have money to PAY FOR things you CAN'T AFFORD. Learn the difference." Good advice if improper semantically. IMHO, afford suggests comfortable acquisitions, things that fit easily into your budge rather than strain it or push out necessities.

Indeed. ""Afford" is a function of choice, not ability to pay.