If you have just one oven but lots of side dishes to cook for Thanksgiving, this clever, multi-tiered oven rack may work for you. You can cook multiple dishes at once—the yams, Brussels sprouts and stuffing, for example.
The rack, which is 15″ x 11″ x 8¼”, holds up to three levels of heavy casserole dishes and then folds flat for storage. This rack is from Sur La Table (online at SurLaTable.com); but you may be able to find one locally as well. Easy assembly required.
Why didn’t we think of this one? Photo
courtesy SurLaTable.com.
Knorr + your pan drippings = easy, good gravy. Chart courtesy Consumer Reports.
With everything you’re doing on Thanksgiving, do you have to turn those drippings into gravy, too?
Consumer Reports did a taste test with commercial gravies to consider the options. The tasters tried 10 products—four dry mixes (add water, stir, and heat) and six canned or jarred gravies (just heat). They also tried them with and without the turkey pan drippings (minus the fat), which some products suggest—and which produced the best results.
Results
Knorr is very good; in fact, guests might think it’s homemade. It has a big roasted-turkey taste, a fresh impression and slightly sweet, caramelized flavors nicely blended with herbs.
McCormick actually tastes freshly prepared, though it’s a bit starchy—and meat or potatoes could mask those.
Flaws increase as gravies fall lower on the list. Products rated “Fair” have even more drawbacks. The Franco-American is gelatinous; Simply Organic is also bitter; Serv-A-Gravy has little flavor, period.
As we always find when reviewing specialty products with THE NIBBLE, the same proved true with Consumer Reports’ test of supermarket brands: Neither packaging nor price was related to quality. The best and worst gravies were dry mixes, and that low-rated Franco-American was relatively pricey.
Nutrition
Per serving, most of the gravies have 20 to 25 calories, very little fat, and 260 to 360 milligrams of sodium. (The exception, Serv-A-Gravy, has 15 calories and 210 mg of sodium.) Many include a little fat, stock, or broth from chicken or turkey, plus a dairy product. Those without meat flavor, fat or dairy—Simply Organic and Serv-A-Gravy—were lowest-rated.
Bottom Line
Try Knorr with pan drippings (minus fat).
Most Thanksgiving dinner tables become too filled with food to hold large floral arrangements. If you receive large arrangements, place them on the coffee table or other central place where everyone can enjoy them. But if you’d like some decor on your table, opt for one of the following quick-and-easy ideas:
Cranberry-colored candles—either in candlesticks or pillars on the table.
Small cylindrical glass vases (think large tumblers—and you can use tumblers) filled with fresh cranberries and water, with one colorful Gerber daisy standing in each. Choose a contrasting seasonal color like orange.After the festivities are over, disperse the floral tumblers to add seasonal decor to small areas of the home—bathrooms and bedrooms, for example.
Savor the aroma of a great cup of tea. Photo
courtesy DenbyUSA.com.
Tea is a relaxing social tradition, where friends get together to talk and enjoy each other’s company. Why not invite friends over for tea during Thanksgiving weekend? Many people are in town to see their families, and tea is an easy way to bring people together.
Here are some ideas from THE NIBBLE and The Fitzgerald Hotel Group’s “Fitz to a Tea” November tea service.
Pumpkin Tea. Serve a “Pumpkin Tea” consisting of pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin scones. Have a some cranberry scones or muffins for those who don’t like pumpkin. Serve your favorite black tea, or try the Pumpkin Spice Tea from BigelowTea.com (KOF-K kosher) and Zhena Gypsy Tea (gypsytea.com, organic, Fair Trade and KSA kosher). Dragonwater.com has a caffeine-free (rooibos) pumpkin tea.
Thankful To A Tea. No matter how busy we are, we all can lend a hand—and we all could use one. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, host a “Wish List Tea.” All the participants submit in advance one reasonable request they hope someone else in the group can fulfill. It can be a night of babysitting, a used bicycle, the loan or donation of a black cocktail dress or size 9 red pumps, someone to explain home equity loans, etc.Teas the season to be thankful…and to relax with friends over a good cup of tea.
Along with all of the wine recommendations below, here’s our favorite holiday apéritif, a version of a Kir Royale (Champagne with framboise—raspberry liqueur).
Instead, serve Cranberry Royales as an apéritif this holiday season, a combination of cranberry liqueur and any sparkling wine.
1. First pour the cranberry liqueur into a Champagne flute—an inch or more, depending on how sweet you like your cocktails.
2. Then fill the flute with sparkling wine.
3. Don’t stir, or else give half a gentle stir with a swizzle stick (stirring destroys the bubbles).
You can make your own cranberry liqueur with two weeks’ lead time: There are many recipes online. You’ll have it in time for Christmas!
Find more cocktail ideas in our Cocktails & Spirits Section.
Serve Cranberry Royales before Thanksgiving
dinner. Photo courtesy SXC.
