I can't believe it but we are doing 3 dinners this year. Already had the first one last Sunday for our neighbor Kay who has left for her winter stay in Florida. It was traditional with roast turkey, gravy, candied yams, cornbread dressing, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce (the whole berry, and my favorite, jelly dumped from the can), tossed salad, steamed cauliflower and cheese sauce, twice baked potatoes, home made rolls, and 2 kinds of pie, pumpkin and mixed berry, with whipped topping optional.

Round 2 is for a friend who cannot be with his family on Thanksgving Day. It wil be very much like the first meal, if a little toned down with only 1 kind of pie, apple.

Round 3 will be at my parents house. Mom is making 2 kinds of pie, custard and sweet potato and making homemade whole berry cranberry relish. A cheese and cracker/relish tray. Weather permitting, the turkey will be grilled outside. Our contributiuon will be Mr Fargon's homemade cornbread stuffing (his mother's recipe.) And on top of that is the traditional sage dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean/cream of mushroom/fried onion casserole.

I'm getting full just thinking about it. And since I have to work the actual holiday, no doubt there will be some kind of feeding at work. uh!

If you are looking for something that travels well and doesn't need to be heated up again at the destination, do some sort of cold dish.

Celery sticks stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and nuts is one of my wife's favorites. I even think it's pretty good. Sometimes it's nice to have something light and crispy to chomp on in between all the other stuff on the table.

I make a huge batch of deviled eggs for my family's Thanksgiving every year. It's been my assignment since I was about 12. I usually eat about half of them myself.

After much thought, no one here but me. Think I'll fix a small pan of oyster dressing, 8X8 and a take off of this pie. http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=11454

I noticed not much talk about pecans or pecan pie. No wonder. I buy from collins street bakery sometimes and they sent me an e-mail for pecans.
"Shipped in our Needlepoint tin to ensure freshness.
1lb 7 oz for only $28.95
Shipping is only 2.95 per U.S. address."
What a bargain, stock up.

Okay, I wound up eating at T/A...not too bad.

Turkey was moist, I avoided the grayish-green stuff though.
Ham was good but fatty. Sweet potatoes were good. Could have used some brown sugar though. My preference. Mashed were good for instant. Gravy was...wet.

All in all, not too bad for a truck stop and 11.99.

We ate out ourselves, at a dinerish place in Oxnard that we favor particularly for its Joe's Specials* -- comfort-food place named Henri's, at the Five Points intersection where Rte. 1 turns due north. The kind of humble but steady joint that serves you open-face roast beef sandwiches and at least three kinds of flaky pie kept on footed pie keepers on the counter.

Okay, a serving of white meat with a stuffing that incorporated shredded dark meat in it, with raisins to give it a piquancy. Robust for a stuffing, watch for drumstick tendons. Brown gravy on the breast meat, a chicken gravy with shreds of carrot on the mashed potatoes, sweet corn bread, and finished up with pie, pumpkin a la mode for her, apple for me.

Tasty enough, and not bad as a plan B, plan A having gone out the window, but I think I'll push for cooking our own feast next year.

*Joe's Special or Joe's Breakfast: ground beef, chopped onion, more chopped spinach, a little garlic and sauteed mushrooms scrambled together with eggs. Season(ed) with abundant black pepper and salt to taste, usually served with hash browns. Invented early in the twentieth century in San Francisco by a guy named Joe. Well, that's one of three origin stories, anyway.

Joe's Special, one of several recipes that a google will get you.

Another.

We ene up having a great meal at our ranch in the middle of nowhere, west of San Antonio.

For breakfast:
Homemade biscuits slathered with butter and citrus marmalade, coffee and OJ

For lunch:
Crab cakes and a light salad with vinnagrete and a glass of wine

For dinner:
Roast Cornish Game Hens with an orange/redwine basting and reduction, a wild rice and dried cranberry dressing, braised brussel sprouts, a nice red wine and home made pumpkin pie with a dollop of fresh made whipped cream.

After that we passed out. :D

Ohhh over here, truck stop food is highly coveted. The prices of food over there are a bit funky. Considering you work on the tip system n all.

Our waiting staff get $16 to $18+ per hour and our prices are very similar....but in most other circumstances our costs are heaps more....the only place I found eating out prices in line was in Hawaii.

Can someone please point me in the direction of a tried-tested Bean Casserole Recipe???


Oh and this Sweet Potato with marshmallows n pecan?? must try it too me thinks

My mother-in-law makes an excellent one, if nobody has one at their finger tips, I'll effort that.

It's so easy, you'll kick yourself with your big orange webbed feet, Ducks: it's really a matter of opening a few cans.

Depending on the number of hungry mouths expected:

Mix and put in a deep casserole:

1-2 cans cut green beans; frozen ones work too but take rather longer to cook
1-2 cans condensed Cream of Mushroom soup, or Cream of Celery soup if you like that better, straight from the cans, not diluted with milk -- it's a sauce
Black pepper to taste; with the soup's salt content salt won't be needed.

Top with frozen Tater Tots, plain or garlic. I haven't had any particular luck with minced garlic in the casserole for some reason -- just doesn't seem to do much of anything. You can pack more Tater Tots into the casserole if you peg 'em in endwise and upright, rather than just laying them on top.

Heat, uncovered, at 375 F until heated through, about 1 hour.

I've tried variations on this, like adding canned tuna -- okay but nothing great -- perhaps tuna casserole should just be tuna casserole, without any beans. Lima beans for green beans is good.

See - I have never even *heard* of Green Bean Casserole???? or Sweet Potato with marshmallows???


I'm going to try though, I love beans.

Do we have canned beans Ali???

Look here. http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recip...astIndex=false

What the hell you mean, Tater Tots?? Everybody knows that the only proper topping for green bean casserole is Durkee's French Fried Onions.

Oh, and use frozen french cut green beans. They're better.