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Back off Pammie! He's MINE and EVERYONE knows it!!

@carol~Get over yourself! You know he's all mine!!!!!

@katie...stuffing will be a little gooey,but still good,but the sprouts will definitely be gross...they do not reheat well.

Whoa, I did not know that sauce should not have onions. What about spaghetti sauce? I make the good ol' ground beef type of sauce when I do spaghetti and lasagna. Sometimes I do make the vegetarian version but I still use onions. I think I'll try w/out next time.
What is the taboo with onions? Is the flavor much different or is it a texture thing?
I don't use onions in my pizza sauce, though.

Saw him in a tiny theater a couple years ago. Nothing rehearsed, just him talking. Was really great. During signing got to shake hands and talk for a couple minutes and get pics since there weren't thousands of people there.

No no no, not yet.
It's besciamella, not beshamella in the lasagne, not the lasagna.
Apparently it's besciamella in the north of Italy (Bologna) and ricotta-mozzarella in the south (Napoli). Where do you come from?
All that because it's an Italian dish, not French, in which case it would have been Béchamel, with an accent.
For Mac and Cheese just use bechamel, it's ok.

Kids-
Enough already.

Here's an alternate recipe and it's delicious.

Manicotti “Llttle Puffs” -Mom’s recipe (my notes and additions)

Sauce
The sauce can be made several days ahead. Keep refrigerated until use.
1/3 cup olive oil
1-1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 2 lb.-3 oz. can good quality Italian tomatoes, undrained
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
1 Tbs. salt (? amount)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp. pepper
(pinch sugar)
1-1/2 cup water

(Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often until the onion begins to soften. Add garlic, lower heat to medium low and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often until the garlic starts to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients stir. Simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Do not let sauce scorch.

Pasta
This pasta is crepe-like and very tender.
A 6-inch non-stick pan works is the perfect size for making the pasta crepes, but any omelet or crepe pan will work.
6 eggs
1-1/2 cup unsifted flour
1-1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine the eggs, flour salt and water with an electric mixer (or blender) until smooth. Let stand for a 1/2 hour or longer. (Lightly oil and ) heat a crepe pan over medium high heat. Pour 3 Tbs. of batter into the heated pan. Cook the crepe until the topp is dry but the bottom is not browned. Remove the crepe and cool on wire rack. Crepe should be thin. If not, thin the batter with a little milk until it is the desired consistency for thin crepes.

Filling
2 lbs. ricotta cheese
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, small dice
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
-additional 1/4 cup grated parmesan for topping)

Combine all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl. Blend well.

To assemble:

Preheat oven 350 deg. Lightly grease two 12 x 8 x 2 inch baking dish.

Put 1-1/2 cups of the tomato sauce into the bottom of each baking dish distributing evenly to cover.

Spoon approximately 1/4 up of filling down the middle of each crepe. Roll up and place seam side down in the sauced pan. Repeat with remaining crepes and mixture.

Cover filled manicotti with another cup of sauce. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

If it is cooked, basted well, and has ground spicy sausage and crunchy bits in it, then it is good stuffing. There is no bad stuffing, only stuffing not as good as you'd hoped.

On Tuesday I have to drive two hours to my parents' house, but on Wednesday I'm going to make the brine, bake two pies (Toll House Cookie and Pumpkin; I might bake an apple pie as well, but that's a pie we buy from a local farm), and make the cranberry sauce. I'm trying to find some way I can make the brussels sprouts and the stuffing ahead of time, but I don't know how to reheat those without making them taste gross.

My Thanksgiving is pot luck, so I'm actually cooking my own turkey and sides this weekend so I'll have plenty of leftovers and meals to put up.

The things I make in a leisurely way in advance are:
1) the squash, which takes up either a burner or the oven, (and which doesn't suffer at all from being made early). Nuke to reheat.
2)the rutabaga, which I boil or steam cubed and then reheat and mash when I want it ready,
3) the whole cranberry sauce.
4) Apple pie filling. For myself I don't actually bake a pie for Thanksgiving. I'd rather have a second helping of stuffing. But I make a casserole full of apple pie filing - sliced apples, white and brown sugar, minute tapioca, a little cinnamon. I like to add this to my frozen Thanksgiving meals too.
5) Sometimes I make bread in advance so I can cube and dry it for stuffing. Sometimes I buy bagged and supplement it with a good bread.

The just leaves the stuffing, the potatoes, the sweet potatoes and something green to cook while the turkey is in the oven, and this is quite manageable. I microwave the sweet potatoes in slices, which is how I usually cook them. I cook the giblets and neck for the broth, and saute onions and celery and get the stuffing ready to go in the oven near the end of the turkey time, or put it in the oven when the turkey comes out if I'm cooking a huge turkey. I make the gravy from the pan juices once the turkey comes out and is resting.

One tradition of our potlucks is a fresh fruit salad with a pineapple juice custard folded with whipped cream for a topping. Makes a nice bright counterpoint to the heavier starches.

I made the Bayless tacuba style enchiladas tonight because of this thread.

Thanks for the tip. They were great! Green, flavorful, and creamy.

I added a jalapeno to the poblanos, and sprinkled on some green Tabasco Jalapeno sauce for a kick. AWESOME.

I did a 1.5 recipe, so we have plenty of leftovers.

@allot~No worries. It happens sometimes. And some of us think it's fun. We've been around for awhile, we've got each other's backs/stoves, this is where we became friends and we might sometimes be somewhat annoyed by (oh, I Really don't want to say idiots), others with uneducated and/or intolerant views of other, perhaps knowledgeable, cooks/chefs.
Please forgive all of the /'s. They seemed pertinent when I used them.

@joyyyyyyyyyyy~Did I spell everything right? GO TEAM!