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BeatriceB

BeatriceB

Growing up, after my parents got divorced, Dad did Thanksgiving, though I did the pies after a few years (I started out working on my crust when I was 12 or so (ack! cardboard!), and by the time I was 14-15, it was really good).

 

Ours was very traditional and simple:

If Dad's girlfriend was coming, we had an appetizer of smoked salmon with capers and lemon, because he wanted it to be "fancier" ;)

Then the roasted turkey with:

Sausage stuffing (made according to the recipe on the back of the Jones package with Pepperidge Farm herbed stuffing bread)

Turkey jus, never an actual roux-based gravy, made by deglazing the roasting pan with white wine and adding chicken stock, reduce

Mashed potatoes, made by me, because I always complained that Dad started them too late and they weren't done enough; peeled and chunked russets mashed with hot milk, seasoned with S&P and nutmeg and finished with butter

Green peas (frozen)

Green salad, which no one but Dad actually ate

The pies, apple and pumpkin, with optional ice cream

 

In more recent years, I've added creamed pearl onions with browned bread crumbs on top, and Brussels sprouts instead of the peas. After 1994, when there was a huge upheaval in my family, I spent Thanksgivings with my best friend's family in Nashville, who had a surprisingly similar menu, perhaps because my friend's mother was from Boston. BUT they had the delicious creamed onions, so that's become part of my own tradition now.

 

ETA: Oops, forgot to mention the necessary (for color and acidity) cranberry sauce! Dad just used the recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray bag, but it was an annual, and hilarious, battle because for some reason he was determined to make it set up in a mold, but it never unmolded right. Every year, I'd say "Dad, just put it in a bowl -- it's just as good," but no, the mold drama had to happen!

 

 

 

BeatriceB

BeatriceB

Growing up, after my parents got divorced, Dad did Thanksgiving, though I did the pies after a few years (I started out working on my crust when I was 12 or so (ack! cardboard!), and by the time I was 14-15, it was really good).

 

Ours was very traditional and simple:

If Dad's girlfriend was coming, we had an appetizer of smoked salmon with capers and lemon, because he wanted it to be "fancier" ;)

Then the roasted turkey with:

Sausage stuffing (made according to the recipe on the back of the Jones package with Pepperidge Farm herbed stuffing bread)

Turkey jus, never an actual roux-based gravy, made by deglazing the roasting pan with white wine and adding chicken stock, reduce

Mashed potatoes, made by me, because I always complained that Dad started them too late and they weren't done enough; peeled and chunked russets mashed with hot milk, seasoned with S&P and nutmeg and finished with butter

Green peas (frozen)

Green salad, which no one but Dad actually ate

The pies, apple and pumpkin, with optional ice cream

 

In more recent years, I've added creamed pearl onions with browned bread crumbs on top, and Brussels sprouts instead of the peas. After 1994, when there was a huge upheaval in my family, I spent Thanksgivings with my best friend's family in Nashville, who had a surprisingly similar menu, perhaps because my friend's mother was from Boston. BUT they had the delicious creamed onions, so that's become part of my own tradition now.

 

 

 

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