All right- I’m in full Thanksgiving mode! Now that my son is home, the holidays can begin. We started the week off right by collaborating on a dinner:
My son made the sauce and pasta; I made garlic bread and roasted cauliflower.
AND… I tried making a pumpkin roll. I used this recipe from Nora Cooks. Here’s how it looked from the outside:
And here’s the inside:
There were issues. The ratio of cake to frosting is off (although if you really love frosting, you might disagree with that.) Also, the cake broke a little while I was rolling it up- you can see that the cake swirls aren’t perfect.
But I was still pretty happy with the way it came out. For a first attempt at a roll cake, it wasn’t bad. I mean, I see people messing this up on baking competitions, so I think it’s hard to get it perfect.
Anyway! During dinner we discussed Thanksgiving plans and agreed on our menu. Our whole meal is vegan, as always. This year we’re trying a new recipe for Vegan Turkey Roast. Then we have the dishes we make every year: cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce… AND PIE. Obviously.
We made a schedule for the week- make cornbread on Tuesday, stuffing on Wednesday, etc. My son said that pies have to get made on Wednesday, because “if you’re making pies on Thursday, you’ve lost at Thanksgiving.”
Ack! I don’t want to lose at Thanksgiving! The dough for pie crusts will be made on Tuesday, and the pies will be done by Wednesday night.
For the apple pie, we’re going to attempt this crust design from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I’m not sure if we can pull it off, but I also don’t think it will look any worse than our usual crusts- so we might as well go for it.
How about you- are you ready to win at Thanksgiving this year? Do you agree with the “pie on Wednesday” rule?
#nablopomo2022. Thank you, San!
31 Responses
My son said that pies have to get made on Wednesday, because “if you’re making pies on Thursday, you’ve lost at Thanksgiving.”
Jenny – this made me laugh SO hard.
For starters you are already WINNING if you make your own pies. I have a “buy til’ I die” approach to pies. Literally. If I never make a single pie while I roam this sweet earth, it will be okay with me. So try telling your son, you automatically win at Thanksgiving since you are making pies FROM SCRATCH. I’m virtually sending you a whole sheet of gold stars for this alone. And another sheet for attempting a pretty design?! That’s an A++ on Thanksgiving.
Hope it’s a fabulous week. As you know it is just life per normal here in Canada since Thanksgiving happens in October. But I’m slowly working through things for Christmas and prepping for company. My father-in-law flies in tonight for a visit, and my parents arrive for the winter next week (they rent a house in our town, so they’re not overnighting with us, but I’ll help them move in + host them for meals as they settle back into their place).
Also, that pumpkin roll looks amazing. Yet another thing I’ve never tried to bake. And I have to admit I like A LOT of frosting to cake in my ratio, so this would suit me perfectly….
You’ll be fine as long as you never, ever make a homemade pie- don’t even let your kids know that’s a possibility (that’s where I went wrong!) I’m sure store-bought pies are DELICIOUS.
Oooooh, I haven’t made a pumpkin roll in forever. I gotta get on it– so fun to make so, so, so delicious!
Yes, now that I’ve made one, I want to try again! The next one will probably be Christmas-y though and not pumpkin.
The only thing we’re in charge of is salad, so I scored some romaine (lettuce is hard to find these days!), feta, and blueberries at Costco today. I’ll throw those in a bowl and whip up some sort of dressing (I’m undecided – any good options out there, readers?), and have some glazed walnuts on the side (some of our niblings have nut allergies). I’m calling it a win.
I think that’s the perfect ratio of cake to frosting on your roll, but I’d rather just have frosting and no cake, so maybe I’m not the right person to ask.
Ha, you would like my cake then! My family doesn’t like frosting as much (they’re clearly insane!)
NGS, I have a favorite salad dressing that is bright enough that it does well with the heavier dishes at Thanksgiving. It’s a classic vinaigrette, but here are the specifics:
Whisk together:
3 TB Balsamic Vinegar
2 TB Fresh lemon juice
1 TB Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
Very yummy. We always have some in our fridge.
WHAT??? I’ve never heard of the Wednesday pie rule and I disagree. Sure, you do the prep work for pies beforehand, but whenever possible I like to bake the day of the holiday to add to all of the lovely smells in the house.
I’ve never made a roll cake but it’s on my bucket list. The pumpkin roll looks delicious.
Well, we’ll just see who wins this Thanksgiving!!! Just kidding… I’m willing to admit that if you have more help and a bigger kitchen, pies could be made on Thursday.
Totally unrelated to Thanksgiving, but we are having pasta and roasted cauliflower for dinner tonight too!
Ha ha, that’s funny!
You are definitely going to win. Definitely pie on Wednesday.
My hubbys family doesn’t cook and orders the dinner premade. Ugh. But can’t complain it’s not about food but about family. Or is it?
I may bake an apple pie to bring.
Happy thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy the day.
Well… I know some other people who do that, and I’m sure the food is delicious. I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving as well!
That meal looks lovely but your pumpkin roll is STELLAR! I am so impressed and I think your ratio of cake to frosting looks quite delicious. I have no doubt that your pie and design will turn out so great!
On the other hand… I made cranberry sauce yesterday to get ahead of the game… and burnt it. So I need to start again. SIGH. But my mother and daughter are in charge of the only pie, and I plan to lean heavily on family input for the turkey, so hopefully as a team it will all work out.
The vegan turkey roast looks so interesting! I have never had a vegan roast before, but I love chickpeas. What is the texture like — does it hold together? The photo on the recipe you linked to looks like it is so smooth and holds together nicely. But in my head, the chickpeas would be crumbly.
I’ve never made it- so I’ll definitely give a full report on Friday! You’ll also see the pies… we’ll find out how they come out as well. You just reminded me about cranberry sauce- the last couple years I’ve gotten away with the canned variety!
My effort this year is going to be to make as much as possible on Wednesday. I don’t want to be running around when family arrives. I’m not in charge of dessert, but my daughter is. She is going to make a pumpkin Bundt cake, with cream cheese frosting. For her, it is always all about the cream cheese. A traditional Bundt cake would be a glaze, I think, but there is no reason she can’t have it her way, right? That will also be made on Wednesday.
She’s the chef, so she gets to make it the way she wants! I’m sure it will be delicious. We’re also doing a lot of cooking on Wednesday.
Well done on the roll cake! It definitely makes me think of the Great British Bake-off! It is tricky to get the right frosting/cake ratio!
My mom always made our pies pretty well in advance and then froze them. They are traveling right now but fly in today so she’ll be baking pies tomorrow at my brothers. She is the pie queen. Her pies are so beautiful. I have not made a pie since when I was in 4H during my adolescence. I don’t really love pie to be honest… My mom often puts aside a GF version of the pie for me – usually just the filling. Which I am a ok with. One year she made a whole GF pie and then I felt obligated to eat it! And I do not need that much dessert in my life.
I just need to bring 2 side dishes to Thanksgiving so am not feeling stressed about the holiday. But I’m not hosting!
Making pies is an art I have definitely not mastered- it’s hard to do it really well when you only do it a couple times a year. My grandmother was the pie maker of our family- she made the most delicious blueberry pie that we loved so much.
Oh my… I think I just barely lose (or win?) at Thanksgiving then. I’m always up until 2am the night before finishing the pies. Though I went to Costco and the grocery store today and I already feel defeated. Shopping the week of Thanksgiving is so exhausting.
The kids are off school tomorrow so I think I will recruit them to do pies as a good “no school” activity.
The last time I tried to do a roll cake (a Yule Log), I don’t know what happened, but the cake didn’t rise and I had the most pathetic looking Yule twig. Your pumpkin roll looks lovely.
Thank you Diane! Next up… I’m going to try a yule log.
Yes! Make the pies tomorrow so you don’t have to be up till 2 am!!!
Yum – that looks like a great dinner your son (and you) put together. Is this like a vodka sauce or something?
I love that you’re all planning Thanksgiving dinner together… the pie design looks gorgeous. Please let us know if you pulled it off (well, I don’t expect you NOT to…). The real question is: are you really not going to have any pie?
P.S. no, thank YOU for participating in NaBloPoMo again 🙂
Oh, I’ll have my sugar-free pumpkin pie! You’ll hear all about it.
Phew, relived to hear that 🙂
I thought your pumpkin roll looked really good! Especially for your first attempt. Nicely done!
Totally agree with your son about making pies on Wednesday. I always make cookies for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner so I made the dough tonight and I’ll bake the cookies tomorrow. 🙂
Well, it’s Wednesday night and the pies are done! It definitely feels good to get that out of the way.
Those roll cakes are tricky (in my humble opinion). I have a lemon roll cake I want to make but am postponing it because I am intimidated.
I never heard of the pie on Wednesday rule but I am also not a Thanksgiving expert. Most years by the time pie comes along I am already so full that I just can’t anymore anyway. That pie topping looks so pretty.
Well, my son came up with the pie on Wednesday rule and he’s not a Thanksgiving expert either! I will say it’s nice to have them done.
*relieved
I agree pies can be made a day in advance. Specially such pies that have a filling. They usually get better when sitting a day.
as of right now I feel I am handling this Friendsgiving adventure pretty professional but I am a bit anxious on how the turkey is tuning out. I never do meats and if never this sort of meat. We”ll see.
Hope you Pie will be wonderful. I know you are looking forward to a whole one to yourself.
I’m definitely enjoying my pie! Good luck with Friendsgiving- I want to hear all about it.