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edinburgher

@Greying_Pilgrim - American date, we'll be on our October holiday for Canadian 

Greying_Pilgrim

edinburgher said:

@Greying_Pilgrim - American date, we'll be on our October holiday for Canadian 

Ah, I see.  Do your DD's have 2 weeks for the tattie holidays/half-term?  Several of our local schools are moving to the shorter summer holiday/2 weeks autumn half-term calendar.

Greying X

rtandon27

@edinburgher - yes the big river site can be a good place to get across the pond goods! - I've developed the habit of buying a tin or two in the sales post festivites & storing them to the following year! - Do you have a recipe you use?  If not, this one is the tried and true off the back of the can recipe I've used for years!  I do miss these tinned pie fillings, in particular the cheery one!

@Greying_Pilgrim- I'm super surpried that there was not much for you to eat, as it is extensively a harvest festival with at least a dozen veggie dishes on the table and the turkey, though present is not as predominant on the plate as the 'Hallmark' images would have you beleive.  One of my friends always make her three-bean salad which goes down a treat with veggie & non-veggie alike!  I've also known for there to be a 'nut roast' which includes both pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  Ham is non-existant for this particular festivity north of the boarder, being mainly an Easter offering.  Pecan pie is really delicious, but definately a south of the border type of dessert - the closest thing we have is a butter tart, I prefer mine with raisins!  I also like to make a cobbler, either cherry or peach along-side the pumpkin pie if we are catering for guests.

My bare bones simple meal is roast turkey thigh, green bean casserole, roast carrots & parsnips, sweet potato with maple syrup, kale or chard, mash & gravy, - and of course a jar of whole berry cranberry jelly on the side! - followed up by pumpkin pie with wipped cream.  What I like best about this holiday is the focus on being thankful, enjoying company of friends and family without the pressure of gifting or one-up-man-ship that I feel happens with Xmas these days!

Greying_Pilgrim

Well, in the family's defence, they didn't know I was being brought along, too far in advance (although Thanksgiving has at it's heart breaking bread with 'neighbours' I suppose), didn't know I was veggie, this was in....... 1990? and I don't think there were any other non-meat eaters catered for; so even the veggies were prone to being adorned with bacon 🤣 But it was nice to be included - as it's not a celebration I was familiar with, until my spell in the States.

The pecan pie was very sweet, but i think I preferred that it at least had some texture, which pumpkin didn't. 

I very much like the sound of not only your TG menu, but also your thoughts around the whole purpose of the meal.  +1 for being fed up of extravagant gifting/one-up-manship.   

Greying X

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - ssssshhhhh - don't tell OH that bacon is not a vegetable - sometimes lardons on top is the ONLY way I can cajole him into our 'Meatless' Mondays!  He proudly tells our friends that 'even he' can managed one day a week without meat! 🤣🤣🤣

edinburgher

@rtandon27 - first time making it, so thank you for the recipe! I think this will be a Mrs E project 🤔

Care to share your green bean casserole recipe? 

rtandon27

edinburgher said:

...Care to share your green bean casserole recipe? 

Haha - that did make me laugh - just remember that my OH can't stand this! - you might want to give it a miss, based on his 20 years dislike of the dish!

This one also comes off the back of a tin, but in my defense my Gran (and everyone else's Gran) got it off the back of a tin! I use frozen green beans as they come already cleaned and chopped and seem to cook up better than fresh ones.  Any fried onions will do - we get ours at the international store in the middle of town, I think they come from a factory in Leicester where all things sub-continental come from - they have more flavour than the typicla grocery store offering.

edinburgher

Good Lord - that is a fancy canned soup

rtandon27

@edinburgher - haha - the fancy one did not exist when I was a kid - Gran just use the good old mushroom one!

edinburgher

Haha - I assumed as much! The pancetta version of the recipe from that website also sounds 🤤