Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the Thanksgiving week

Mexi-bean soup, made from refried beans, canned tomatoes in liquid, cumin,
vegetable liquid, carrots, olives and topped with fried corn tortilla strips

Friday

• turkey, cream cheese, dried cranberry sandwiches on homemade French bread
• canned corn, heated in the microwave
• carrot sticks and 1000 Island dip
• olives

Saturday

One daughter and I worked at a fund-raiser all day. we were blessed with everything to make a large tossed salad for dinner that night -- lettuce, cucumber, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, croutons and dressing. As we were gone all day, I looked in the freezer for something to go with the salad. I found a large container of soup.

• tossed salad
• soup from the freezer, a homemade tomato-beef soup from last week
• corn tortilla chips
• birthday cupcakes (my son's birthday)

Sunday

We went out for a birthday celebration lunch to celebrate both my son's and his girlfriend's birthdays. When we came back home, we had a scratch-baked cake, and opened gifts. We were all so full that I knew dinner would be a small and simple one. Here's what I made:

• large tossed salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, parsley, ranch dressing (all from the fund-raiser that my daughter and I worked on Saturday), plus olives, cheese, turkey, cabbage
• corn tortillas, topped with cheddar, chopped onions, chili powder and olives, then broiled until toasty

Monday

Early week will feature refried beans as the main item. Day #1 of refried beans will be bean, cheese and rice burritos.

• bean, cheese, rice burritos, plus I found one fast-food packet of hot sauce in the fridge, split five ways
• carrots sticks
• leftover cake

Tuesday

Day #2 of refried beans -- turn some of the beans into Mexi-bean soup, by adding some canned tomatoes, liquid from veggies, olives, cumin, carrots sticks leftover from last night, cut into dices and all was simmered on the stove until the carrots were soft.

• Mexi-bean soup, topped with fried corn tortilla strips
• oranges
• leftover cupcakes

Wednesday

Day #3 of refried beans, more bean burritos. Dinner has to be simple tonight as I've been busy cleaning the house. We'll be 7 tomorrow. A friend of my daughters from school will be joining the 6 of us. I hope we've got everything covered.

• bean, cheese and rice burritos
• oranges
• leftover cake

Thursday

The big feast day.

• turkey and gravy
• praline sweet potato casserole
• green bean casserole
• stuffing
• Thanksgiving fried rice, with turkey ham, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and green onion
• pumpkin pie, apple pie
• olives, pickles, cranberry sauce

I know what we're having for dinner tonight, and I bet you can guess!!

For those in the US, I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with family. And for all of us, I guess the holiday season is upon us, now. Holiday music on the radio. Decorations going up in the neighborhood. Black Friday sales, and a few freebies (free donuts and coffee at Fred Meyer, this morning). 

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Have a lovely Thanksgiving, to those in the US; elsewhere, I hope your day is filled with blessings

When the details don't go as planned, remember that there are no holidays devoted to perfection.

Thanksgiving is a holiday of gratitude, for all of life's blessings, and the lessons learned in our failings.

Some of my personal "failures" from Thanksgivings (and other holidays) past:

• the "turnip" pie. I cooked my pumpkin filling in the same pan that I had previously used for cooking mashed turnips. It was an aluminum pot which absorbs flavors and odors. The whole pie-eating experience was tainted with turnip overtones.
• The Rancid Turkey Fat Disaster of 2011. It was late Thanksgiving night, when I was cleaning up the kitchen from our feast. I had a tall, narrow container of turkey fat/liquid sitting on the counter, with a long spoon in the jar. I reached over to get something, and knocked the whole container over, spilling onto the counter, into a partially opened drawer, all over me and onto the floor. I used every rag in the house to clean it up, along with a couple of bath towels. I threw the whole mess into the laundry room, and added my turkey fat-soaked clothes. I forgot to deal with this until early the next week, when everything smelled like rancid turkey fat. I ran a load of wash, adding additional clothing to the load. After washing, everything in that load smelled like rancid fat. I rewashed everything 3 or 4 times, on hot, with extra detergent. Many items came clean enough, but one sweatshirt and one t-shirt never came clean of rancid turkey fat. I wound up throwing those two items out, as I couldn't wear them without detecting the faint odor of rancidity.
• the too-tough-to-cut-with-a-knife pork roast that I served to my son's girlfriend's parents, for son's GF graduation. I had one opportunity to impress my son's girlfriend's parents -- this one dinner. They live in Shanghai, so it's not like I can invite them for a do-over. I planned this menu very carefully. I really did work hard this day, trying to make everything perfect. But I am lousy with cooking meat. That's just me. I have a good thermometer. I just have bad timing. The pork roast came out so tough, I cringed as I watched our guests work at cutting it into bites, then work further at chewing it all. In the end, they did say that they liked approved of our son, as a BF to their daughter. So, I don't think we ruined his future with them. Maybe I'll get a do-over another year.
• the gravy with more lumps than liquid. I was newly married, and invited my grandparents over to dinner. I made a roast with gravy. I had only made gravy a couple of times before this occasion. My gravy, literally had more volume in lumps than liquid. My grandmother came to my rescue, however. She asked if I owned a sieve (mesh strainer). I got it out, and she showed me that I could push the gravy through the mesh, and make something almost respectable, for gravy. Fortunately, we do get better with experience, and my gravy has improved over the years. (hint: if your gravy looks insipid and pale, use soy sauce to add some flavor and color to the gravy.)
• scorched mash potatoes, burnt green beans, cold coffee served to guests, and more blunders, yet we survived. Holidays are not about perfection, but about celebration. Have a happy holiday, no matter what goes wrong!