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I love all of those things. I don't have them anymore at my thanksgiving table, but if I'm served (any and all of it!) somewhere, I go for it and bask in nostalgia for days gone by with Nana and the whole fam!

Cans of thick slop and sludge never get anywhere near my cooking. As a matter of fact, Campbell's cream "soup" line is single handedly responsible for making crock pots the biggest laugh in the kitchen. (The crock pot was later de-throned by Sandra Lee as the biggest laugh in the kitchen - ironically a chronic user of cream soups.)

Everything was fair game until you got to the marshmallows.

Marshmallows aren't Thanksgiving food. They're candy.

I found this one on the cocktail menu at Morton's Steakhouse and started making it myself- I haven't had a single person tell me anything except "this is absolutely delicious". It really is a perfect summer drink.

In a large rocks glass, muddle 3 slices of seedless cucumber. Add:

1.5 oz vodka (Morton's uses Absolut 100, and maybe a little less than 1.5 oz)
.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
splash of fresh lime juice
top with ginger ale (Reeds, Stewarts, or another high-end brand is best but Canada Dry will work).

stir gently and enjoy.

Oops, wrong link above for the recipe, but now you know where to buy Bitter Lemon, also very good with Pimms Cup.
Here is another Pimm's Cup recipe:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/10279

Don't forget the Mojito! To make it easier, I steep mint in water with sugar and lime (a minty lime simple syrup ) and then pour rum in a tall glass, add minty syrup and top with club soda. After straining the mint out , the syrup is clean and easier to drink with no bits of mint getting stuck on your tongue. To really cheat, buy some "Simply Limeade" and steep mint in it!
so refreshing and tasty.

I had forgotten about a Gin Rickey and cannot wait to try one again! thanks!

You could most definitely roast the veggies in a separate pan, or divide them among two pans. For the taste, though, I'm okay with a little added fat.

My mother Fran was a renown pie-maker in Kirkland Washington. My sister and I have tried to replicate her apple pie, the likes of which we have never found since at any gourmet dinner, top restaurant or bakeoff. She piled up chunks of Gravenstein apples in her amazing pies, which oozed with buttery apple syrup created during the baking process. Gravensteins are rare, tart and bursting with flavor. She would be horrified to hear people using mushy Golden Delicious and Macintosh. Her final trick was to paint the bulging pie crust cover with a light layer of egg white. The egg whites cooked into a beautiful, very shiny, golden glow rather than sort of brown and dull crust typical of most pies. With all due respect to the commenters, nobody can beat Fran Stewart on apple pies. Gravensteins rule. If only we had written down her recipe ... and so much other wisdom.

OK, I have to throw in the southern holiday favorite sweet potato casserole with brown sugar-pecan crust.
Bake, or nuke, the potatoes, cool, peel, haul out the trusty Kitchen Aid and mix with vanilla, sugar, etc. Chop pecans and mix streusel topping.
For the last 2 years I have been buying the St. Clair's casserole and honestly my family and I thinks it is even better than homemade.
And I appreciate the time to prepare other goodies I can't, or won't, order.
Happy holiday eatings to all.

I read everyone of these and i agree with some of them, but I sense a serious case of laziness running deep in this thread ;)
Nobody said Pâte à choux, or Crème Anglaise, which are more tedious than difficult, I remember making 200 Eclairs for a family gathering, and spending hours whipping by hand and stressing the final result was a labour of real love only to have my favorite aunt say "you could have just used vanilla pudding, nobody would have known any different", I was crushed..I would have known, but made from scratch is worth it almost 97% of the time IMO.. happy HoliDaze Everyone, Love to ya SE!!

I can't believe anyone considers stock a problem to make, just put it in a pot and simmmer. How hard is it to strain,skim and freeze to have fresh stock for your cooking? It only costs a bit of time and is so superior to any you can find in the stores!

Puff pastry is the thing I find totally unnecessary to make yourself unless you enjoy the satisfaction that comes with making such a time consuming recipe, if so then more power to ya!

@chanterelle, the secret to polenta is that you don't actually have to stir it all that often if you put it on a flame tamer, and you don't have to cook it for an hour -- 20 to 30 minutes is just fine. you can also bake it in the oven and it will turn out great.

Amen to pumpkin. During a period of righteous self-sufficiency, I bought pumpkins, cut them up (a perilous chore) and made my own (stringy, mealy) puree for pies and bread. Yuk! Good ol' Libby's every time now. As for stock, I know you can avoid all the preservatives, especially sodium, making it yourself, but there IS a kind that's better than MY homemade: Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth - Low Sodium. Just 70 mg per cup of the salty stuff, and so help me, when rice is cooking in the boiling broth, you'd swear there was a chicken in the oven. Also if I can find it in MY little bitty town, you can, too.