Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope your feast doesn’t require a fire extinguisher. If you’re worried about entertaining this holiday season, here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks.
Yes. My husband actually bought a sign with the words, “Where there’s smoke, there’s dinner.” We were newlyweds, and I responded with a very resentful and deadpan, “Ha. You’re so funny.”
Fate being the master and commander of the School of Hard Knocks, I set off the alarm in our forty-floor apartment building a couple of months later. In my defense, I didn’t burn anything. The steak was broiled to perfection.
Will I ever learn? Nope.
Our home has the most obnoxious alarm system. I love to bake but hate to clean ovens. When smoke pours out, I grab a kitchen towel, soak it, and drape it across the vent along the top of the door. That keeps the piercing alarm from going off and the man’s voice from screaming, “FIRE! FIRE! GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE IMMEDIATELY!”
Afraid your turkey will turn out dry as a bone? Cook it breast side down, and it will be up to its elbows in juices. This works for cornish game hens too. You don’t want your turkey to look like this:
Oh, my.
Worried that your turkey will look pasty instead of oven-brown? Mrs. Rockwell made that mistake too.
The following Thanksgiving, she flipped it over and cooked it for another forty-five minutes. Voila!
I almost sent my mother-in-law to urgent care one year when the stuffed bird wasn’t quite done. To avoid a second Thanksgiving debacle, I bought an electronic meat thermometer and threaded it around the oven. This keeps me from cracking the lid to check to see if the button popped up. I also bake the stuffing separately and pour the juices over the top.
So I hope my tips save you a trip to Urgent Care and keep your alarms nice and quiet throughout the holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Do you do the cooking? Are you having turkey? Do you live in another part of the world, where you don’t have turkeys?
Susie Lindau's Wild Ride 
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Susie! Your alarm system would make me unhappy too. 😂
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It’s so loud!! 🤣
Happy Thanksgiving to you!
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Maybe there is a volume adjustment on your control panel or hub?
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I wish. It’s from 2000 and hurts my ears!
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Time for an upgrade! 👍🏻
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Right!
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Yikes! Now you’ve got me worried. I hadn’t thought of all those things possibly happening. 😉
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LOL! Now you’ll be prepared for EVERYTHING! 🤣
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Well I’ve just finished whipping up a sweet potato soufflé, a huge pan of dressing complete with cajun sausage (just the way my hubby likes it), cranberry pecan relish, and butternut squash soup. The soup is for dinner tonight, the other stuff is ready to pop into the oven tomorrow.
We always have turkey, but the past few years we’ve smoked it. All that bird cooking happens outside, which saves on unnecessary basting on my part and frees up the oven for the other delicious side dishes. My husband has to worry about the bird. It always comes out perfectly and we LOVE the smoky flavor, especially the leftovers. Yum.
We’ve got friends joining us this year so someone else is bringing the dessert. I’m about ready to kick off my shoes and relax. Tomorrow should be easy peasy, just putting things in the over and setting the timer. (I hope I didn’t just jinx it.)
I hope you guys have a fantastic Thanksgiving and no alarms go off and no fire department personnel show up at your door.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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Thanks, Patricia! Me too. 🤣
You are rocking it. Way to get everything done early! What recipe are you using for your soufflé? It sounds delicious!! I prepped two veggie dishes and plan to whip up the pie and work on my Christmas card sketch, but that’s it.
I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!
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I use a recipe I found in a magazine a couple of years ago. It’s really sweet (which my husband loves), has yams, vanilla, eggs, whipping cream, and a couple of other things, maple syrup; then it’s topped with a pecan crumble. It’s almost like pie without a crust.
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Yum! I found a recipe and made them yesterday. Thanks for the idea!
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Yes! Mine was similar. Thanks again for the idea. It was a huge hit!
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Happy Thanksgiving! I’m laid up with a broken ankle and so we’ll be staying home and having pizza.
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I’m so sorry, Jan! I hope you enjoy catching up with Netflix or a good movie and heal up soon!!
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Happy Thanksgiving Susie! I always put the bird into an oven bag and it comes out great. This year we’ll celebrate about a week late when my hubby gets back home from his work week (away). Hope you and yours have a wonderful and delicious day.
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Great idea, Susan! Anytime the family is together is the best time. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to you! ❤️
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You and and your family have a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving. 😉
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Thank you, Kevin! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
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Hilarious poster and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
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LOL! Thanks, John! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
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Thanks for the smiles Susie. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Happy Thanksgiving to you!
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Hope your thanksgiving went well – those meat thermometers are remarkable tech & definitely save grief with smoke alarms. We don’t have turkeys much in NZ (other than the ones we unerringly elect to Parliament), nor ‘thanksgiving’ – but for some reason every retailer in the country has taken up the ‘Black Friday sale’ idea.
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That is so funny, Matthew!
I’m in the thick of Thanksgiving. So far, so good.
Black Friday has crept up early this year, appearing right after Halloween. Ridiculous, and yet, I can’t complain about the deals. 🤣
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Happy Thanksgiving & Hello! December! Can I say I am suspect of those pop ups in birds to let you know it is done – been pink too many times to not trust it. I pretty much did a dutch oven and crock pot dinner for Thanksgiving this year. Love a crock pot to keep everything warm and ready to eat. You had me chuckling with the voice that comes out of the smoke alarm. Our does that too. We had a flooring installer in the house grinding and he set it off and when it started talking he ran for it – still cracks me up – poor guy. That thing saved us one night too – our battery backup started smoking in the middle of the night and the talking is what woke us up – thank goodness! Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
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The alarm voice is TERRIFYING! How ironic that the battery back up almost started a fire. WOW!
I’m glad to hear you’re skeptical about those pop ups too. It’s tough roasting in high altitude!
Happy Holidays, Renee!
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