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Your favorite side dish on Turkey Day?

Talent312

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Tie: Home-made fruit salad & mashed-taters w/gravy, followed by deli-bought croissants.
 

bluehende

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Mine is a favorite and also childhood memories. Jello and ice cream. Take semi set jello and use a mixer to fold in ice cream.
 

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My must have is stuffing with chestnuts.

Care to share your chestnut stuffing recipe please? I went chestnut picking this past weekend and look forward to using them for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
 

VacationForever

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The first year we lived here in Florida my husband wanted us to eat out. He thought he was being really nice because it was our first Thanksgiving away from family and friends. I didn't have the heart to tell him no. I hated the dressing and the pies were mediocre at best. But the real tragedy was that there were no leftovers! We were both sorry the whole Thanksgiving weekend.
For several years, our neighbors always had a large Thanksgiving party with friends and family and we would join them on Thanksgiving day. We would buy a turkey and cook it on Friday. That way we always had turkey for the rest of the week even when we did not cook on Thanksgiving day. They divorced and moved and there went our Thanksgiving party and we are back to having turkey at home on Turkey day.
 

mdurette

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my mother makes a French meeting stuffing/dressing called Gorton. It is slowly simmered ground pork and spices. It is the only time of year we get it.
 

wackymother

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Cranberry relish--both the kind my grandmother used to make, in a tabletop meat grinder, with apples and oranges, and the kind I make, on the stove with orange juice and oranges and walnuts. I could skip the turkey altogether!
 

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Care to share your chestnut stuffing recipe please? I went chestnut picking this past weekend and look forward to using them for Thanksgiving. Thanks!

Okay this is embarrassing because I haven't made my own stuffing from scratch in years nor roasted and peeled the chestnuts in the last few years either. I just doctor a bag of the Pepperidge Farms Herb Seasoned Cubed stuffing. I saute onions and celery in the butter, use chicken broth for the liquid, and buy a pouch or two of the roasted, peeled chestnuts at Whole Foods which I chop and add to the stuffing just before I stuff the bird.

The other thing we like to make with the chestnuts is red cabbage. This is a great side dish anytime but looks particularly festive at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't really use a recipe but you can probably find one online.
I saute a large thinly sliced sweet onion in a little oil or real butter until the onions get soft. The heads of red cabbage aren't usually very big so I try to find one that is about the size of a small cantaloupe. Add the thinly sliced red cabbage, a scant quarter cup of packed brown sugar, a half cup of apple cider vinegar, and a third cup of water. I add a little cinnamon, ginger and allspice too. Maybe a heaping quarter teaspoon but no more than half teaspoon. Cover and cook for about 35-40 minutes under low heat, until the cabbage gets tender. I start with medium heat and reduce the temperature once it starts to simmer. Stir occasionally. Then add a couple of apples chopped into small pieces and the chestnuts (chop them in bigger pieces) and cook for another 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. You can do everything up to adding the apples and chestnuts the day before and finish it off while you are cooking the potatoes and vegetables for the meal. It doesn't have to be served immediately so it can sit in the pot at the back of the stove off a burner to stay warm while you are getting the rest of the dishes ready.
 

SueDonJ

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But this is now considered an absolutely no-no as it increases the risk of food poisoning due to the difficulty in getting the cavity cooked at high enough temperature.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/porta...y-preparation/turkey-basics-stuffing/CT_Index

Not even looking at the link because "they" have been saying for at least the last couple decades that no poultry should be stuffed and cooked, and going by FoodNetwork it's something that will have the Food Police at your door confiscating your ovens! If they'd been around when my mom was cooking the stuffed birds low and slow overnight, they probably would have boarded up her kitchen completely! I don't do the low and slow thing but a stuffed bird has never made me or my family/guests sick, so I'm going to continue to prepare and cook my birds stuffed because that's the way I learned how to do it and that's the way I like it. :) The only exception is with cornbread stuffing - it just doesn't compare in taste or texture to cornbread dressing.
 

SueDonJ

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Ya gotta have the turkey, if only to get the pan drippings to make gravy to slather all over the dressing and mashed potatoes.

But my fave side dish is the Makai Gal's whole-cranberry-and-orange relish.

Does she want to be generous and share the recipe? :)
 

Tank

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Steamed , buttered , colaflower breaded with Italian bread crumbs lightly salted
 

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I see many people like "stuffing"..Saw this on tv....Make whatever stuffing u like. (outside the bird)...Then place stuffing in small muffin/biscuit pan and put in oven....Looked fantastic ..U can eat w/ fingers or cut on plate..
 

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How to Make Gravy
By Melissa Clark/ Cooking/ Guides/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

"Good gravy is more than just a sauce for the turkey. It brings all the elements of the Thanksgiving plate together, elevating mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey to their transcendent ideals. You can use the classic method for making gravy, whisking it together at the last minute using the turkey pan drippings, or you can make the gravy ahead, then spike it later with the flavorful drippings. And visit our How to Plan and Cook Thanksgiving guide for more ideas and advice...."

17CLARKTGIVING1-videoLarge-v2.jpg

Evan Sung for The New York Times


Richard
 

spirits

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We made dressing quite often when we roast a chicken so although that is one of my favorite sides with turkey....I am not voting for it this time. I love another side that I only make when I do turkey. It is a casserole of mashed carrots and rutabaga. So light compared to the other sides and because it is only made once or twice a year...that is my favorite

http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/vegetarian/carrot-and-rutabaga-mash-recipe/
 

Sea Six

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My wife does something with brussel sprouts and bacon that drives me crazy! Plus this combination of instant mashed potatoes and stove-top stuffing that sounds like crap but it tastes amazing, and it's easy for her to do.

Especially this year since she just had total shoulder replacement surgery and can hardly move her left arm. We'll just be glad to still be here this year
 
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rickandcindy23

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My daughter-in-law made a mac and cheese with lobster side dish last year that I loved. She baked the mac and cheese in individual ramekins. I was eating the grandkids' portions and never did get mashed potatoes or stuffing last year. Delicious dish. I asked for the recipe, and she made it up, just added some lobster, so no recipe. I hope she makes it again this year.
 

MuranoJo

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I love it all...mashed potatoes and (cornbread) dressing smothered with gravy, a cranberry jello salad, sweet potato dish, green bean casserole from scratch (Cook's Illustrated recipe), and even Rhodes Ranch rolls (necessary for turkey sandwiches later). I've been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the extended family for years and have the planning down to a science by now.

But I have to say one of my favorite sides (actually more of an hors d'oeuvre) is clam dip (using cottage cheese) with chips. I love that stuff. MIL said they got the recipe from a can of chopped clams back in the 50's and it's kind of a family tradition now for any holiday.

I think I have most of the sides ready now, so I can relax a little bit tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Tuggers!
 

jehb2

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Ham, cornbread, mac n cheese, sweet potatoes, stuffing drowned in gravy, pecan pie, apple pie, sweet potatoe pie
 
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x3 skier

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Peas and mashed potatoes

Cheers
 

Glynda

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Brewster Green (two weeks).
So I'm starting off the day after with leftover ham plus eggs for breakfast! My favorite way to eat ham. Lunch will be turkey sandwich or panini (If I'm not too lazy to get out the panini maker which is another gadget that takes up too much room).
 

Timeshare Von

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I too love the stuffing . . . and homemade whole cranberry sauce. My Mom used to make the best . . . but she's long gone and I'm the only person who likes it around here, so the canned Ocean Spray gets by.
 

Timeshare Von

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Well, I've been eating stuffing cooked inside the turkey for over 80 years--haven't had food poisoning yet.

We were talking about that last night! Yes, I cook the stuffing inside the bird too and it's fabulous! I always have a small bowl that won't fit inside, so it's good in the oven in a Corningware dish . . . it's not the same . . . but it's OK.
 

Sugarcubesea

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For several years, our neighbors always had a large Thanksgiving party with friends and family and we would join them on Thanksgiving day. We would buy a turkey and cook it on Friday. That way we always had turkey for the rest of the week even when we did not cook on Thanksgiving day. They divorced and moved and there went our Thanksgiving party and we are back to having turkey at home on Turkey day.

My 1st cousin has hosted Thanksgiving Day Dinner for the past 10 years and next year they are planning on downsizing their home and I worry that I will then be back to a lonly thanksgiving dinner... I love being surrounded by my dad's family and its my time to get to see everyone... I just love it...
 
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