Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@sailordave--from what I understand some people like to use them for calibrating specialized ovens or tweaking the grill temp. Over on Slice, Adam wrote an awesome article about a pizzeria in Portland, Oregon, Apizza Scholls that shows the owner with his infrared thermometer (nice photo Ed!) which he uses to make sure his oven is at optimum temperature. I thought it kind of looked like a speed gun.

Probably the dressing although I don't drown mine in gravy like my husband does. He probably goes through 2 cups of gravy over the course of dinner (and the turkey is plenty moist). We've joked about finding an enormous soup plate for him to use so his food can bathe in the gravy.

My grandfather, whose parents died when he was quite young, grew up with two elderly great aunts. The great aunts loved their pie filling but hated the crust and being thrifty frugal spinsters who would not let anything go to waste, forced my grandfather (poor lad), to eat their crusts. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter were the only times a pie was allowed into his house. He never ate a bite of pie as an adult. Quite frankly, as a little kid, I didn't mind--Gramps was a dairy farmer who believed in supporting his living and had ice cream from Dairy Lea for dessert twice a day and two milkshakes a day. I loved that huge icecream freezer!

Congrats gastromeg! I agree with the above suggestions. Another thought is frozen grapes--they'll keep your mouth busy and it's like having bite sized iced pops without the mess, more nutritious and flavorful.

Thanks to all for the great suggestions. I have stock going in the slow cooker and will be trying out the different soups for breakfast and lunch for the next week. That should clear out my dang chest and stop me from whining!

I agree with nhfoodie. High temp for 15 min and then reduce the oven temp. to 325.

Turkey, swiss, coleslaw with T.I. on marble rye, year round; lettuce, tomato and cucumber with mayo on whole grain toast at the height of tomato season; grilled cheddar and swiss with tomato on sourdough that has been dusted with grated parm for an extra carmelized crispy crust for fall and winter.

I agree with creaming the butter and sugar well so that it's light and fluffy--get as much air as you can into this mixture before incorporating other ingredients. Another thought is what size eggs are you using? Large is standard for most baking, although Ina Garten prefers extra large; going up one size may provide the extra boost you're looking for, but hopefully they wouldn't be too cakey. Also, how fresh is your cream of tartar and baking soda? That could also be affecting how your snickerdoodles bake up. Lastly--do they taste good? The taste is where it's at, and most people would gladly eat a tastie cookie rather than a pretty, yet bland cookie. Good luck, and if you modify your recipe/technique with success, PLEASE let us know. I always wonder how people make out in their endeavors.

A knife safe to keep my husband from using my good knives to cut sheet rock and prune branches. Why can't he use the tools I got him for those tasks! I also wouldn't mind a quieter food processor--I ususally don't use my processor much--prefering to use a knife, but due to a knife shortage around here...

We only had around 75 kids this year. Most years it's well over a hundred. We have some snickers, milky ways and peanutbutter cups that my husband will most likely take into work. The skittles and starburst I'll let the kids have...although it seems that I heard some wacky tale of Mario Batali making a sauce with starburst at some drunken bash in his early years...hmm.

Shopping and chopping here.

Perhaps Hell Week isn't such a bad thing...it might just help you to double down and be quite careful about what you eat before the next calorie nightmare--Thanksgiving. Always like hearing about your serious diet.