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I hope you don't still have the chest cold but another great suggestion would be Beef and Barley Soup.

So many wonderful ideas! I may have to make two or three different kinds. Darn. Did I mention, dressing is my favorite thing at Thanksgiving?

Good old lox and cream cheese with tomato. Typical Sunday morning :)

on a long road trip, im looking for salt &vinegar chips or cheese popcorn and some high caffeine drink.

my mom always makes a bread stuffing but starts with TONS of celery & onion sauteed in butter and sage...then she adds breakfast sausage, sometimes craisins &/or walnuts. it's soooo f'ing delicious...to wake up to smell it cooking in the morning is my favorite part of thankgiving!

I make the same stuffing that my mother always did, but these days I use better bread -- homemade instead of white sandwich bread.

I first started learning this stuffing when I was a little kid, and it was my job to get in there and mix it all up. Over time, I got to add the ingredients and learned how it was supposed to feel before it went into the bird. It's got to be moist, but not gloppy or gummy. The first time I made it on my own, I just winged it, no recipe, and it was fine.

It's basically bread, left to get a little stale/dried overnight -- or just bread that's a few days old. A little milk or water or stock to moisten the bread, then a whole bunch of celery, onions and mushrooms that have been sweated in way more butter than should be legal, until they're well-cooked and limp, but not browned. Poultry seasoning and extra sage, to taste. Salt. Pepper, maybe. Eggs to bind. Some giblets and maybe some stock if it needs it to moisten some more.

I always used to cook the stuffing in the bird, but lately I've opted to cook it separately, so the bird doesn't have to cook as long.

The roast beef at Manny's Deli in Chicago. I get it extra rare on an onion roll that is SOAKED in roast beef juice. The potato pancake and pickle on the side aren't too shabby either.

I found a copy of Margaret Rudkin's Pepperidge Farm cookbook. In the book, she talks about how their Sage & Onion stuffing mix was the first commercially available, and how it was derived from her grandmother's recipe. I haven't tried her grandmother's recipe (I do use the bagged), but I did post that recipe here.

I make a white bread (nonsourdough), cube but don't usually dry it out. I don't include the end crusts but otherwise don't remove the crusts. Bell's seasoning as well as fresh sage (and this will probably be the flavor you're familiar with from the packaged stuff). Usually cook the neck and giblets before making the dressing, and include the neck meat with the broth. Lots of sauted onion and celery (include celery leaves). Sometimes include mushrooms. Sometimes include diced apple (leave skin on) and usually that's Northern Spies. I like a dressing that's fairly moist, and will use chicken broth to add to the turkey broth if I need to. Dot with a little butter. 350 till it's crusty on top.

Confession-
Got home late and didn't feel like cooking. Ordered a take and bake pizza.
Got home. Discovered oven isn't working. Returned to take and bake and asked them to fire it in there oven.
We all got a chuckle out of it (pizza guy, customers and me..well, not really me.)

Called service repair man this morning......phhhttt!

Sorry, I have to disagree. Kissin' seems to have lasted (for my friends) long past when my cookin' do.

We had long-cooked pork with apples and mushrooms in a wine sauce. I made whipped sweet potatoes with maple syrup for the side. Also snagged a small 3 cheese foccaccia from Whole Foods which got reheated, served, and scarfed up. Cooler weather dictates stewy, soupy food and that suits me just fine. When I lived in FL, I used to pine for "a place where stew makes sense." Happy to say I now live in ATL and we have chilly Autumn weather! YAY!

The sandwich you make on Thanksgiving after all your guests have left is my all time fav and probably even more so because it's a special once a year thing. You know, it's that sloppy dagwood of a thing piled preciptously with turkey (reheated in a frying pan with a little oil so it's a little bit golden) mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce held together by an entirely too small parkerhouse roll.