Thanksgiving The Easy Way

[Wanderlost]

Mom is with my brother in Kansas until December (Sister is having Mom's bathroom remodeled). Spousal Unit is in cancer treatments.

Neither Sister nor I are inclined to do anything special for Thanksgiving. She'll still be cleaning up from the bathroom remodel and her kitchen update, and I'll be exhausted from driving SU to his radiation treatments every weekday.

We decided we're having crockpot pinto beans, cornbread, brisket (friend is smoking it), and some kind of easy to make dessert (brownies and ice cream, most likely) -- at our house. I will be adding whiskey to the pinto bean liquid for extra flavor (and to clear out stuff from my pantry). Might make an alcohol-infused ice cream topping just for grins, too. Oh, wait, no need -- the Rumtopf is already done and ready to eat.

Doing Thanksgiving the easy way sounds like a plan.

[toedtoes]

Best holiday meal we had was when my mom decided to skip the traditional turkey dinner and go straight to the leftovers.

She got sliced turkey, rolls, cheese, etc, from the deli and we had sandwiches throughout the day. Fix it yourself when you get hungry, no mess, no cleanup, and everyone was happy.

[LMHS]

Just my daughter & I for Thanksgiving. Don't have to work. Barber Chicken stuffed with Brie and Cranberries (frozen, just bake), mashed potatoes (from instant) or Wild Rice blend, green beans or Brussels sprouts, rolls from the bakery. My homemade sugar free whole berry cranberry sauce (always)and a reduced sugar pumpkin custard pudding (also homemade). When it was just my husband and I, we often got a rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club or we ate out for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. A couple decades ago, my husband said it was silly for me to work all week and then, on my day off, spend hours cooking, then hours cleaning up after a meal. So I don't. I make one or two specialty things that I can't buy. It's one thing when you have a large group of people who only make one or two dishes to contribute to a large meal. It's another thing when one person is responsible for the same meal. Besides, we never felt that either Thanksgiving or Christmas was about stuffing one's self to the max. We also don't celebrate "Gift-mas".

[magnusfide]

That's an excellent plan. Sometimes we forget that Thanksgiving is about giving thanks and not about the spread. Enjoy it and each other.

[ReneeG]

Sounds delicious. We're having brisket for Thanksgiving.