thanksgiving weekend!

I make sweet rolls on Christmas morning as well, but they are made with an orange syrup instead of the brown sugar and cinnamon I use at other times. My kids would complain bitterly if the orange rolls didn't show up.

I don't make nearly as many things for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. We do usually have turkey, stuffing, yams, cranberries, gravy, mashed potatoes and pie.

Christmas Eve we have lefse, clam chowder, ham balls, potato sausage and lots of cookies (spritz, berlinerkranser, etc)

This Thanksgiv> Hi all,

Since we're sharing...

For Thanksgiving we have Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (Matthew likes Stove Top, but I found my Dad's homemade recipe last Christmas and I prefer that... so I may do both this Christmas); turnip (rutabagas) with a small carrot cooked and mashed with it, butter and brown sugar; corn, jellied cranberry sauce, and gravy. For dessert we have pumpkin pie and apple pie... store bought... I haven't been brave enough to try baking a pie yet. :o)

We tend to have the same meal for Christmas.... but then our Christmas (in Canada) is two months apart, so I don't feel all turkey'd out by then. ;o)

New Year's Day we have baked ham with pineapple rings and brown sugar on it, baked beans, and scalloped potatoes. Dessert can change from year to year, depending on what we feel like.

Good Friday we have fish & chips... or fish cakes and chips.

Easter Sunday dinner is usually the same as New Year's Day dinner.

St Patrick's Day (and about three or four other times throughout the year when we feel like it) we have our boiled dinner consisting of Sweet Pickled Cottage Rolls (in the netting), cabbage, turnip (rutabaga), carrots, two whole onions, and potatoes all boiled in one HUMONGOUS pot together. After it is cooked everything is removed from the pot with a slotted spoon, and the broth is saved (frozen) in plastic ice-cream tubs for soup at a later date. Whatever meat and vegetables are left after the initial meal is over, is put in a frying pan and reheated the next day as Bubble & Squeak.

Gemini

- These have always been traditional meals in our family on these days, throughout all the years... before I was even thought of. :o)

Gem, You reminded me of my first attempt at a homemade pie. I decided to make pastry from scratch. I bought lard or maybe it was shortening, I'm not sure. Anyway, I have a wonderful book of dessert recipes, and I decided that the pastry recipe in there was the one I should make. Well, I picked the apples from my mom's tree, cored them and made up the pastry. I put everything together heaping up the apples in the centre. I put the pie in the oven to bake, and when it came out it was one worthy of a commercial on TV. Golden and gorgeous! That night for supper, I got the pie and the ice-cream out for dessert. You could have used a saw to cut it! When I tried I didn't even get crumbs, much less flakes. LOL I had misread the recipe and used only 1/4 cup of lard instead of 3/4 cups. When the apples baked, they mushed down into the pie plate, and the crust stayed up where it had started. There was more air in there than apples! LOL Took me ages to figure out what I had done wrong. But it still tasted good. Funny thing - the pastry tasted like shortbread and my shortbread tasted like pastry. I still don't know why. So if you get up the nerve to try to make a pie, and it doesn't go so well, just think of me. It can't get much worse that that one! LOL

Me neither...my DH likes to bake so I leave pies to him, or buy them.

Nice, isn't it? :)

My favourite; baked ham with brown sugar glaze and pineapple! My mom used to put maraschino cherries inside the pineapple rings and there'd be fights over the cherries.

I am in THE BEST place for fish and chips....three meals a day all year long if you want. I prefer homemade fried fish on Good Friday.

Gem, that's Jigg's Dinner! Ever have pease pudding? Mmmmm....yellow split peas in a pudding bag (cheesecloth bag) in the pot and boiled with the dinner. Add butter/margarine and a little pepper and mash it up. Tie the bag tight or you'll end up with pea soup....hard lesson, don't ask :) .

Just called 'hash' around here. Usually leftovers are carefully planned beforehand so company can come the next day for hash.

Your traditions sound close to mine...you did say you have Newfoundland history, right?

Michelle

Judy, I can see your Minnesota roots in your menus but where's the lutefisk? ;-)

I had it Christmas Eve when I was a little girl but I have left it OFF my menu - Minnesota roots or not. (In fact all Christmases for many years were in St Peter, Minnesota with my grandparents - or Sleepy Eye, Minnesota with my aunt. )My kids have never asked for it to be added either.

LOL Norma, that is so cute! That sounds like when my Mom tried to make a raisin pie for my Dad.... the top crust was thick, so was the bottom crust. My Dad grinned and asked "Where are the raisins?" My Mom said "I don't know... I put a LOT in there!" My Dad finally found them in a tiny bundle in the center of the pie. She mentioned it to her friend who had a "no fail" recipe for pie crust.... my Mom made it fail, her friend was stunned and said "I don't believe you... I have never heard of ANYONE making that recipe fail." My Mom just laughed about it and said "I guess I'm special then!" By the way.... my Mom *never* attempted to make pastry again! LOL

So now I have my Mom and YOU to think of if I mess up my first attempt at baking a pie! LOL

Gem

Two of my aunts made excellent pastry, and my Dad was pretty good too, but he preferred his pie from the bakery.... can't imagine why (read my response to Norma about my Mom's pie baking experiences. LOL).

Yes, it's great! :o) I love turkey dinner, but not *that* close together... there's always a ton of leftovers for making other things that last a while too! ;o)

My Mom never put cherries inside the pineapple rings... possibly because a certain finicky child who shall remain nameless (looking very innocent here) hated them. I love FRESH cherries, but not those maraschino ones... way too sweet.

I'm coming to visit you! LOL Just kidding! I love battered halibut the best! The dumbest thing around here though... the fish & chips restaurants are closed on Good Friday... which you would think would be their busiest day! *tsk*

OMIGOD, I haven't heard that phrase in forever! My Mom used to say "Jigg's Dinner"! :o) I don't remember there being any pease pudding in with the boiled dinner... but then, when we load up that humongous pot, there's no room for anything else in there.

Yep, we often called it hash too! I just use the term Bubble & Squeak because of what it normally does to you after eating it. LOL

Yes... my Mom was born and raised in St John's Newfoundland. My Dad was born in Kentville Nova Scotia, and my three older siblings were all born in Newfoundland. So when I came along as "an afterthought" after they moved to Ontario, my Mom lovingly referred to me as her "Foreigner!" :o)

Gem

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 20:02:15 -0500, "MRH" spewed forth :

Thanksgiving this year was rubber chicken (sic) with yummy sides. My propane tank wasn't filled in a timely fashion by the person who said he would shoulder the responsibility, so my 17# fresh turkey had to be roasted. As I didn't discover the lack of propane until I tried to fire the outside stove under the fryer pot it was a little late to oven roast a bird that size.

So we ate rubber chicken provided by my MIL. We ate turkey on Friday. And yesterday. And today. And probably will tomorrow, too, after which I'll start feeding it to the cats and the dog in desperation to get rid of it.

Side dishes: spicy sausage in red sauce over spaghetti squash; sauteed beet greens; roasted beets/carrots/parsnips; Wednesday's sourdough bake; mashers with garlic; and freshly-killed pumpkin pie.

Christmas will be venison backstrap (I bought a deer tag and sent it out with a friend who hunts - yay for venison sausage!) saurbraten, turducken, and assorted sides. I discovered that my local yuppiemarket stocks unsugared blueberries in the freezer case so Christmas dinner might see a blueberry pie instead of pumpkin.

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

I never said *I* fought over them (another one looking innocent here)....I'd argue for the pineapple!

Come on down!

I love battered halibut the

They're absolutely blocked solid with people here....most of them take preorders in advance.

Well, guess what I had for dinner today....Jigg's Dinner with salt meat and pease pudding....if you hurry there's some left! :)

That'd make you ....a....a.... mainlander! LOL That's where I am, a townie born and raised...St. John's. DH is from the south coast of the island.

Michelle

Oooo Gemini I like bubble and squeak too - I did not know Canadians made it - or at least with that name. God Bless Gwen

Gemini remember there is always my "never fail" throw it all together no measuring pastry that literally does not fail God Bless gwen

Eastern edge, one learns something every day on this group - I had always wondered whar "Pease Pudding" was now I know. God Bless Gwen

Oh! Wooly, I volunteer to help "get rid of " the turkey. I love turkey but it *the* most expensive meat here and we seldom have it - but always if it is on the menu when we very occasionally dine out. ( and lots of times when visiting North America !!!)

You can , of course, freeze the left overs and they are as good as fresh baked. I usually put them in an airtight container after spooning over the top a thin layer of gravy which keeps them lovely and moist. My Christmas pie is :- a cold baked pie shell . Spread with low fat cream cheese - moistened with a tiny bit of orange juice until it is spreadable. Cover this with strawberries and then pour over a glaze , by using any kind of red jam (jelly??) and melting it with a tablespoon of cointreau. The cointreau can be left out , of course.

God Bless Gwen

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:27:14 +1000, "Gwendoline Kelly" spewed forth :

I did put some in the freezer: all of the meat from a drumstick, a thigh and most of half of the breast. I also made two gallons of stock with the carcass, all of which is in the freezer now too.

The meat left in the fridge is approaching the "too elderly for human consumption" phase of its lifecycle, so the cats will eat well today, and the dog will eat well tomorrow.

And in January I'll start breaking out leftovers from the freezer as by then we'll have recovered from the turkey glut.

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

I remember... I have it saved to try someday! ;o)

Gemini

Well, I'm not sure about the rest of the Canadians... but our family love(d) this meal. :o)

Gemini

What do you have for Christmas dinner, Wooly? Ham or Goose? My parents had tasted goose before and weren't crazy about it... they said it was too greasy for their taste.

Gemini