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I have had this problem myself - I make appetizers that involve a circle of bread as the bottom of the item, so end up with all the crusts left over. I bag them up (usually in the same bags that the bread came in) and freeze them. Then I can easily pull out a handful for any of the applications mentioned above. If you don't have the room to freeze the crusts, then I'd go with drying them and making bread crumbs, and again, freezing them (much smaller space tho)!

Don't you be blaming Canucks for that - I can barely FIND candy corn up north here and THAT is no nanaimo bar!

Baked potato bar - the potatoes will keep warm in the oven until someone else arrives and wants to eat. Kids love them - they may eat them plain, they may gussy them up, but all in all, they'll get something into themselves. I usually serve toppings like cheese, sour cream, green onions, chili (could be kept warm in a small crock pot), broccoli, fried mushrooms, butter (of course) etc. Serve a salad selection alongside (green, caesar, coleslaw) and a good bunch of appetizers that keep well at room temp (you could include additional protein there for the serious meat eaters).

To my knowledge, and I've been cooking/carving pumpkins for years, there is nothing you can do with that stuff. That being said, I believe it is edible - I saw Jamie Oliver cooking squash the other day with all the seeds and stringy stuff included... I cook pumpkin only to get the flesh for pies and other sweet baking - perhaps if you stuffed a pumpkin with savoury ingredients (and I have a friend who has a great recipe for such a thing) you could leave the stringy bits in and have that included in.....

Pumpkin pecan is amazing - a layer of pecan pie on the bottom topped with pumpkin pie. I've never made it - but I had it at a staff meeting once - and then we insisted that our colleague bring it every fall until he retired! His charming wife (and excellent baker) accomodated our wish..... I've never dared make it - I'd eat the whole thing.

I took Thanksgiving dinner to my sister's. We had roast turkey with traditional sage stuffing (and it was the best looking turkey I've ever made - and tasty too!), mashed potatoes, green beans with a sprinkling of toasted almonds, cranberry sauce made from scratch and gravy - oh and crescent rolls from the can because my sister just loves them. It was low key - just four of us - my sis and our two kids (10 and 6) and we had a lovely time. A great meal - I look forward to hearing about American SE's Thankgiving adventures in the next month!

@machellebelle - I'll be over with the souvlaki and salad around 6 OK? (grin)

@bareneed - so I took that cheese dip to my friend's party last evening - the party was celebrating her nine year old's birthday and the arrival of her newly adopted 4 year old daughter.

Apparently a fight broke out this morning over the remains of the dip! I made it without cayenne as this was a kid-oriented party, but any food that inspires a fight is OK with me - that stuff ROCKS!

I work at a B and B right now - I took the job specifically because I was interested in running one in the future. First off, I can say it is hard work - I have lost weight, as has my boss from running up and down stairs. We have five rooms on two levels - three with ensuite bathrooms and two that share a bath. When it is full, we can accomodate 14 people. The cleaning is the hardest part for me - the tubs are clawfoot and you just about have to climb into them to get them clean!

On the breakfast front, I get up at 5:30. I have fresh baking every morning - scones, oatmeal banana cookies, biscuits. We set out other types to breads, fresh cut fruit, yogurt, coffee, OJ, all homemade jams, cereals etc. After the guests get into that, we do made to order hot breakfast - eggs, French toast, pancakes bacon, sausage. When we have a big group, we usually have a baked French toast of some variety or a strata. I usually finish cooking and cleaning the kitchen by about 10:30 - if the place is full, I finish cleaning the rooms by about 2 (I work by myself, just to be clear) - and the next set of guests arrive at 3. It's a busy busy life - I really enjoy the cooking and the guests, but the cleaning just about wrings me out!

Hey @bareneed - I'm Canadian too and your secret is OUT! I have bought pimento cream cheese at kosher joints in TO - but your cheese dip sounds awesome. I have to attend a party next week in honour of a little girl recently adopted from Ethiopia, and I think I know what I'm bringing.... whereabouts are you in the Great White North?

Pork and sauerkraut - put your meat in a big huge pan and treat as @simon suggested re slicing fat and rubbing with spices. Throw some onions in the pan too. Low oven, cook for 6 or 7 hours. Drain most of the juice off (do NOT throw away - place in fridge, skim fat and hold for later use in this recipe or use to make pea soup). Throw a couple of jars of good kraut into the pan all around the meat - more if you really like it (my family does). Tent the thing to keep the moisture in and cook for another 3 hours or so - meat should be falling off the bone (check to make sure your kraut is not drying out - add more water or pork liquid if it is). For the last hour, you can throw in some Bratwurst if you like (adds a nice flavour to the kraut). Serve with loads of bread and pickles and maybe some fresh beets. Awesome!

Vension meatballs are great - I usually cut venison 1/3 with beef to cut down the gamey-ness factor - the last deer my man bagged was a oldie...... a younger animal would not have produced such strong tasting meat. For regular meatballs I use a recipe I found on the web - I admit it, it contains Onion Soup Mix. It's incredibly quick, tasty and lends itself to meatball subs, spaghetti, swedish, you name it. But for fancy occasions, I use my mom's three meat (beef, pork, veal) meatballs - heavy on the sage. They are heavenly but more time intensive than the aforementioned ones. I shall dig up the recipe this afternoon.