Thanksgiving Plans?
 

So whatchya all doing a week from this Thursday? My wife is working till 2 in the afternoon, so after that we have (so far) NO plans! :):):)

Ok, to clarify, no plans to go over to anyone's house but we DO have plans to watch our Pack beat up on some Lions.

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Headed to Texas to spend time with the fam.

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got a great day of internet surfing all planned out.

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Heading out of town to the inlaws for the usual...

By out of town, I mean 10 minutes down the road. It's in a different city than where I live... :lol

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Texas.........:heeheehee

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Thanksgiving Day we will be home, but we will celebrate with family on Saturday.

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Headed to Louisiana.

gonna eat too much turkey and watch too much football.

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Of course this subject gets people thinking about the food thing, but last year we didn't serve any turkey or ham. But we did serve pork! 8 lbs of Georgia chopped pork and 8 lbs of brisket catered from Famous Daves. The best Thanksgiving meal EVER!

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The list usually revolves around...

Turkey
Dressing
Ham
Brocolli & Rice Casserole
Cheese Balls & Cracker for snacking beforehand.
Sweet Potatoes
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake

There's a lot more but I'm drawing a blank right now. As long as there is dressing and pecan & Pumpkin pie there... I'm fine.

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Don't forget the gumbo!

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LOL! I never forget gumbo!


However, Thanksgiving is pretty traditional at my mom and dads house. Turkey, Cornbred dressing, bread stuffing (my sister married a yankee so this is a concession to him but its good so...) baked ham, yams, green bean caserole ....4 or 5 deserts etc...

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I have all of Eddie's family(10) at my house Wednesday (10) and all of my family (14) on Thursday. Then I leave at 2 AM on Saturday for Belize.

I'm a tad bit stressed. LOL

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Now... I'm not going to fret it too much because I like making my own roux... but I was amazed to find that you can't buy roux anywhere around here in Arkansas. I'd been spoiled by Texas & Louisiana stores.

Walmart... Kroger... none of them carry roux up here in Arkansas.

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My Sister and I are running a Half Marathon on the 27th, and she is trying to lose weight for her Donny Osmond Cruise (yes she is a Donny Osmond Groupie)

so, we are having an organic, free range, hormone free turkey breast. Stuffing made with Ezekiel bread, basically, it's all going to be healthy stuff.

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That is just nuts! I would make a stink!

It was shocking to me when we moved to Dallas and they didnt carry pistolets.

For those that dont know, it is a type of roll we have in Louisiana. We stuff it with etouffee and deep fry.


Ive gotten lazy in the last couple years. I buy roux more often than not but I will still make a pot or two of gumbo a year where i make the roux.

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I guess it's how easily that I am amused that keeps me making my own roux because it's a hassle making roux but it's worth it all when I spoon it in and see roux making boiling water boil more. I LOVE that part. :)

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Roux? huh?

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yeah I have no clue what it is either, guess i should google it

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Roux is a mixture of cooking oil & flour that is cooked down to the desired color and added to dishes such as gumbo. It adds color & taste and thickens up the gumbo somewhat.

Gumbo is just soup without roux.

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That's just sad. I am trying to gain weight, so I will eat as much as possible.

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Roux is kind of like gravy or some sauces. Flour and oil mixed then put into soups to thicken them.

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I'm jealous, my sister and I both have to work at not being over weight, I bet there are many women who want to strangle you :heeheehee

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Sheesh, I sure hope not. I've been told I ain't worth killing..........:heeheehee

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are you having you kids home for Thanksgiving Cindy? are you cooking?

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I will eat a little bit. Unlike most people, I don't pig out on T-day. My stomach is so small.

But I will probably spend most of the day watching movies on my 52" HD Big Screen TV with the PS3 hooked up to it. :)

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That is mostly our plan as well, except we have two football games to watch. We just got a new Samsung 59 plasma set (to replace our smaller 47 incher LCD, which has been banished to our bedroom. :) )

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Ahh Roux.... It is a thing of beauty!

Cream gravy is a mixture of a blond roux and milk.

mix butter or oil with flour in equal parts, and cook until no longer raw, but before any color change occurs then add milk. a pinch of nutmeg is always good in cream gravy...or béchamel if you prefer the French term.... this is what the French call a mother sauce.

Then there is a more peanut butter color roux. this is often used in "brown gravy". after frying meat, the drippings are mixed with flour and cooked until the flour begins to turn brown. water is added to this to make the gravy.

A dark roux is called for when making Gumbo. It should be the color of chocolate, but it takes a steady hand to make a very dark roux. a dark roux is just a few seconds away from being burned, so you have to be careful..

It should be noted that the thickening quality of roux is diminished the darker the roux becomes.

There. Now you know everything you need to know about roux.

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My son went through a stage of proclaiming any deviation in color in foods as burnt. It's burnt... Oh my how many times did we hear that over clearly NOT burnt food.

I told him... son... cooking is simply the art of burning stuff just right. :)

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I believe my Mom and my Grandmother are coming here to our house.

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Yep, on Saturday. I am only making dressing!!

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:thumbsup

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LOL! weve dealt with some of that. my oldest inspects every bite for any color variation.

"Whats that?" is a constant in at the dinner table.

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I wish I could run a marathon. I need to lose 10 pounds very badly.

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Beat you, I'm already here. Lol

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Turkey, ham, chicken and cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes/gravy, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls, blueberry salad, mac & cheese, corn casserole, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cherry delight, and whatever else happens to come to mind between now and then!!

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Just like every other year in the past, my whole side of the family is coming to our house for Thanksgiving. About 25-30 of us. Maybe less this year tho because we have a couple who've abandoned us and moved to Florida. Go figure! Everyone will bring stuff and we'll have enough food to feed the homeless. Which is probably what we SHOULD do, but won't :(

And after we stuff ourselves sufficiently, we all go bowling. Then come we come back here for pie.

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I am likely to work until about 1200, and then I will be heading down to visit extended family (no such thing actually exists in my family), and there will likely be nearly 20-30 people in the house depending on who shows up.

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We will have about 35 guests in our home for Thanksgiving. My menu reads a lot like Digging's and Sherri's. Love this time of year!

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One year we cooked Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's small apartment in San Francisco and then took the leftovers to the homeless people across the street at the train depot. It was such fun and they were SO appreciative. They even got pumpkin pie.

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My Dad and Step Mom will be here from TN so we are going to probably play golf in the AM and then die due in a food comma later that evening.