Thanksgiving in 10 days! Anybody have something they cook that's a little different from the "norm" that you'd like to share?

I know of two rices, what’s the third?

@Adirondackwannabe : I use Wild Rice, short grain brown rice, and Wehani rice (it’s a red long grain rice with a nutty flavor. Lundberg brand, probably at your health food store). I saute onions, mushrooms, dried cranberries, Granny Smith apple bits, pecans and a splash of OJ then mix it all up and stuff Mr. Turkey. Very yummy.

That sounds so good, I might need a towel for the drool. (sorry mods, but tell me you don’t find that interesting).

I make pretty good garlic mashed potatoes
Boil them in whole milk, don’t put the garlic in until there about half way cooked or depending on how strong you want the garlic to be. Mince in some crimini mushroom, and maybe even a serrano chili, there good.

I’m in charge of making home-made roll again. I don’t know why because the last few years they have been disesterous. But then my family enjoys humor at my expense.

@AmWiser Try the Pillsbury or other rolls in the tube in the cold foods section of your grocery store. My guess is they will not be able to tell them from scratch if you hide the fact they came from a tube.

@Adirondackwannabe are you kidding!?! These people know food and if I attempted to bring in store bought/processed anything, someone would surely sniff it out, and I would be ostracized from the table :-D Plus I’m not a fan of store bought foods if I can avoid them.

@AmWiser Try it. I’ve been amazed at how good some of those are. Just read the labels carefully.
Second thought try the bakery section for fresh made rolls.

I’ve tried the ones that @Adirondackwannabe is talking about. They are in the frozen section and are just dough balls. You thaw them and let them rise and bake them. They taste home made to me.

@Adirondackwannabe Go to a bakery in a neighboring small town. Serve in your dish. None the wiser!

@Adirondackwannabe I’m sitting here LMAO, because you just don’t know my family. Plus, they are expecting my home-made rolls. I’ve got a surprise for them this year, oh yeah, I think I’ve perfected my recipe, I’ll try it out this weekend to make sure they are—perfect- good. :))
@chyna I’ve tried the frozen dough balls, and they are delicious.

@AmWiser :) I think we have the same family. :)

I think we all have families like that. I have been known to ask the baker in my town to prepare an item for me and package it in my dishes/bowls etc. Since I live in a small town and our family lives in the city, they honestly believe I’ve learned small town home baking since we moved there 17 years ago. Jokes on them. My famous family pumpkin roll is a Polish receipe created and baked with care by Helmut.

Also, it prepared right, and you can find them, are Japanese sweet potato’s, they are amazing.

Instead of making mashed potatoes, my dad bakes Fresno potatoes (they’re loaded with cheese and bacon bits – it’s always the first side dish to vanish on Thanksgiving no matter how much my dad ends up making.) My grandmother used to make tacos every year, but her arthritis prevents her from working in the kitchen much.

Also, last year we had two turkeys because my aunt and uncle quibbled over the best way to prepare one (my vote was for my uncle, who used a rotisserie.) Otherwise, we’re pretty traditional with Thanksgiving. Turkey, stuffing, yams, rolls, pumpkin pie, yadda, yadda.

Mashed potatoes with a little horseradish mixed in is great.

@Aster : I love the horseradish idea, I’ll mention it to our mash-maker…

Smoked quail, shred it after cooking and put it on top of crackers with brie. mmm

Persimmon pudding is a big hit in my family.

I make a crockpot mushroom dressing that has become my yearly contribution by popular demand.

There is also a baked mixed vegetable dish I make, but I can’t remember the recipe offhand. I make it because I despise green bean casserole and want another option.

I am serving a tomato dish I found in my Afghan cooking book.
Chopped green pepper, Spanish onion, ½ lb fresh mushrooms, ½ lb fresh spinach
Sliced, 1 small eggplant, 1 zucchini
½ cup broth
6 large tomatoes, sliced thick.
Sautee all except tomatoes for 10 minutes, stir occassionally
Add broth, top with tomato slices, cover and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.
Slide into serving dish with tomatoes on top, and sprinkle shredded mint leaves on top.

[mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

@augustlan : Ooh! Thanks!

I make a sauteed squash & vegie dish:

Corn nibblets
Diced onions
Minced fresh cilantro
Peeled, chopped acorn squash
Fresh cracked black pepper

I make a green bean dish (not the ubiquitous casserole, though I do like it).

Cut up one pound of bacon into bite size pieces, and fry til done, but not crisp. Meanwhile, chop one medium onion and add to skillet with bacon to soften. In a large crockpot, combine 2 large cans of Hanover Blue Lake green beans (add the liquid from one can, discard the liquid from the other), bacon, onion and a decent amount of the bacon grease. Cook on low (or auto) overnight, stirring occasionally.

Also to elaborate on my Garlic Mash Potatoe idea. You cube the potatoe’s and leave the skins on. Boiling them in whole milk makes them creamy and also speeds up cooking time, the whole milk seems to boil hotter. Also you got to put in a lot of garlic, and can even add some tomatoe. Best mash potatoe’s I’ve had, but I’m a little biased.

This year, instead of the traditional pies, I made Chocolate Cherry bars. Mmm so tasty and everyone loved them!

@WillWorkForChocolate : I want me some o’ those!

I can give you the recipe if you’d like; it’s very simple.

Absolutely! I’d love that! I’m probably not the only one…

I’ll post it here, for anyone who’s still following. Oh, and it came out of a Hershey’s cook book, so you can bet your hiney it tastes good!

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
¾ cup Hershey’s cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1½ cups plus ⅓ cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup chopped almonds
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup Hershey’s Mini Kisses
1 cup chopped maraschino cherries, drained

1. Heat oven to 350. Generously grease 13×9x2 baking pan
2. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat; stir in cocoa until smooth. Remove from heat. Add the sugar, 3 eggs, 1½ cup flour and chopped almonds; mix well. Pour into prepared pan, back 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining 1 egg, ½ cup flour, sweetened condensed milk and almond extract. Pour over the baked layer; sprinkle the Mini Kisses and maraschino cherriews over the top. Return to oven.
4. Bake an additional 20–25 minutes or until set and edges are golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Refrigerate until cold, about 6 hours or overnight. Cut into bars.

Makes approx 48 bars

My butt got bigger just reading that! Thanks for posting it.

Ha, I know! It’s definitely rich and fattening, but omg omg omg it’s sooo worth it just to eat one! Or ten…