Thanksgiving menus

This year's Thanksgiving is going to be a joint affair, with everyone bringing a part of the meal. As it turns out, the menu is HUGE so this will be a true degustation. Here's the menu as it stands:
Pumpkin soup
crab appetizer
Additional appetizer *yet to be determined
Roast turkey
deep fried turkey
mixed greens w/apples, dried cranberries, spiced peacans & raspberry vinagrette
corn timbale
scalloped potatos
cranberry relish
green veggie dish*
sweet potato dish*
Cranberry-orange cheesecake
pumpkin pie
carmel apple pie
chocolate cheesecake

I don't have plates big enough to put even one bite of everything on! What a glorious dilemma!
So what's on your menu?

My first one so keeping it easy:

Turkey (borrowing my mom's NuWave oven to cook it)
Sweet Potato recipe
Sauteed squash medley
green salad
biscuits
stuffing
cran-apple-walnut jello salad
Mashed potatoes

and whatever my BFF brings for dessert

Thanks for the reminder, Dip! I forgot the crescent rolls. Just wrote them on my menu.

Good luck with your first Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite meals to cook AND eat.

I need some ideas for turkey seasonings. I don't want an old boring turkey.

Just two, so:

Deep Fried Turkey
Giblet Gravy (YUM!)
Rice Dressing
Fresh green beans
Homemade French Bread
Homemade Apple Pie


(But I may have to abandon and go to Wisconsin.....

I dunno...whatever the wife cooks.

^^^slacker!

Oh I'll help in the kitchen. The wife just gets a little annoyed at me when I tell her not to build a foil tent for the turkey ‘cuz I was watching Martha Stewart and Martha said the foil steams the turkey. So no coaching this year, but I’ll peel and mash potatoes, maybe make some appetizers, and will do the dishes.

Atta Boy!!

How about doing a boring old turkey, but finding a few different cool gravy recipes to put on the table. I'm sure there's some good ones out there.

I might just skip out on my dad's and and swing by Truff's instead!!

Step-mom is making:

Cheese and sausage tray
Relish tray
Turkey... dry, but ok
Stove top stuffing (because her 25 and 28 year old kids like it)
Yams (will not make mashed potatoes because her kids don't like them)
Corn (so my brother and I do not b!tch, so she tells my dad)
Some store bought rolls (not like how my mom used to make )
Brussel Sprouts (she likes them, and with vinegar so they stink )
Gravy
Cranberry Relish (I crave the stuff from the can, but again she refuses... too tacky. She makes stovetop in lieu of real stuffing, and I am the tackey one??)
Some Jello dish (her son's fave)
Some Squash dish (her daughter's fave)
Ice cream birthday cake for dessert (again, her daughter's fave and to celebrate her, mine and my dad's birthdays which are all in the first week of December)

I dread this day.

is there any room out by the pool for Texas guests Ms. Truff?

I hate turkey. Can't understand why my BFF loves it for both Thanksgiving and again Christmas. Real pilgrims had seafood and we usually have Lobster. But due to the economy we will have Cornish game hens, wild rice, a veg, and Turtle Pumpkin pie. My 17 yr old has never had turkey for Thanksgiving and has no desire to have it. My mom was an awesome cook and my dad a French chef, but I never got into turkey and the whole thing. Just the 3 of us so no big dinner.

There will be six of us and we will have:

turkey cooked on the grill
stuffing
mashed potatoes and gravy
scalloped corn
squash
cherry coke jello salad
green bean casserole
brandied cranberrys
pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake

we have the same thing every year but it works. Although I am thinking about adding oven roasted asparagus this year.

ah, yea but with 30 degree temps and 20+ mile per hr wind, wouldn't you rather come in by the fireplace?

Jay, there'll be a whole herd of peeps here but there's always room for what my family loving calls 'another waif or stray'. If you stay till Friday you can enjoy our make your own pizza bar and the annual sing-along showing of White Christmas.

I think I'll go to Truffs' too. Yummy!

At my sisters' with all the family:

Turkey
mashed potatoes and gravy
dressing
sweet potato casserole
corn
green bean casserole
orange jello with madarin oranges
apple-raisin salad
homemade applesauce
cranberry sauce
wheat rolls
dinner rolls
pumpkin pie
apple pie
german chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting

I feel for ya JJ!

Hmmm I am getting some good ideas here, we are taking in 4 airmen going through bootcamp, and it will most likely be their first holiday away from home, so if I pull in ideas from all over the country there should be something for everyone.

Just hubby and son this year, but I still do the traditional.

Roasted turkey
Stuffing
Potato Filling (home grown potatoes)
Oyster Filling
Gravy
Sweet Potatoes (home grown)
Fresh made Cranberry Relish
Crescent Rolls with homemade jelly
Carrots
Corn (home grown)
Relish Tray
With an amazing Pennsylvania Chardonay I just found
Pumpkin Pie (home grown)
Mixed Berries (for the future DIL)
and a nice Dessert Wine
then the guys will have cigars and port later in the evening.

Rizz - at a local farm festival a few years back, they were cooking whole chickens from tripods and they were amazing. I've adapted their method of seasoning a bit. Loosen the skin away from the meat of the turkey. Slip chunks of celery, parsley and onion into the cavity made between the skin and meat. Then put a quartered lemon inside the cavity where you would put the stuffing. I also add a little poultry seasoning.

After thinking I was off the hook for Thanksgiving, I'm back on now so with less than 2 weeks to pull it together...

Turkey injected with sage butter
Stuffing and dressing (made with bread I season and dry out in the oven)
Green bean casserole, because mama raised me right
Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic
Gravy
Asparagus with almonds and garlic
Cranberry sauce with real cranberries
Croissants
Pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake (made with pumpkins I'm cooking down this weekend)

Because the SO's nephew and SIL are picky little [censored] I'll probably have to make boxed mac and cheese and a generic cheese platter (i.e., Kraft cheese slices and Ritz crackers...not that there's anything wrong with that).

I'll also be mixing up a batch of spiced pumpkin vodka, which goes swimmingly with spiced rum, a bit of sugar and a heavy splash of half and half, served martini style. Since we're hosting this on Wednesday and I work all day, I'll need to take my "meds" in liquid form.

My family will have pizza - on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Those with inlaws will go to those places on Thanksgiving and those that can will go to my Mom's house for pizza on Saturday. By then everyone seems to be tired of turkey and fixings so we do something totally different. The kids love it!

There are only 5 of us, so:

mushroom tartlets
mini-spinach quiche
cocktail franks (because my son must have them! )

Roasted Turkey
Sausage Dressing
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts witth brown butter
Maple glazed carrots
Cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce
Sauteed green beans with garlic
homemade cranberry sauce

homemade pumpkin and apple pies

"tartlet"??????? whatev........

My two favorite things are pumpkin pie and can shaped cranberry sauce!

I've had fresh cranberry sauce before; it's good, but there's nothing like slicing off a slab of canned cranberry!

tartlet = baby sized tart

(here's your tart-cone)

yeah, i know what a tartlet is, julia.

We'll have somewhere around 25.

Crackers & Cheese
Salsa & Cream Cheese w/ Tortilla Chips
Whatever else shows up for snacks

Smoked Turkey
Roasted Turkey
Smoked Venison
Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Mushroom Rice
Giblet Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Dressing
Oyster Dressing
Corn
Heat n Serve Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Watergate Salad
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Congealed Salad

I have to go to my Grannies early for her dinner but I'm also making my own for my monster-in law and brother in-law.

Roasted Turkey
Broccoli cheese casserole
Pasta salad
Green Beans
Mashed taters (mil makes them wonderfully)
Gravy(prolly can style because I'm just not into making my own)
brown and serve rolls
Homemade stuffing balls (Paula Deen recipe)
Pecan Pie for the monster
Pumpkin trifle


and our appetizer will probably just consists of beer for them and my adult juice box for me

Okay Just Jay, go to the store and buy your own can of cranberry sauce. It can be your contribution to the meal!

My year to host...

Smoked turkey
Brown sugar glazed ham
Green bean cassarole
Stuffing
MIL's dressing
Deviled eggs
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Rolls
Pistachio salad
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie

I'm going to Taco Bell for a Thanksgiving feast

Nice, Peepers! That sounds like a great alternative.

I'm intrigued....what is this "cherry coke salad" you refer too???

turkey

I'm going home at lunch and I will try and remember to bring the recipe back with me but it is a jello salad made with cherry jello, cherry pie filling and cola. Very yummy!

fixed.

^^^
Takes one to know one

I think I just foudn a recipe online...sounds worth trying!

Does this look liek the same recipe you use?

CHERRY-COKE JELLO SALAD

1 lg. cherry Jello
1 (20 oz.) can cherry pie filling
1 (12 oz.) can Coke
8 oz. Cool Whip

Dissolve 1 1/2 cups boiling water with cherry Jello. Stir until completely dissolved. Add 1 cup cherry pie filling and 12 ounce can of Coke. Stir. Refrigerate. When set, decorate top with spoonfuls of Cool Whip and remainder of cherry pie filling.

Yes, that is the recipe. You will like it.

AWesome! Think I'll make it for my BFF for Christmas--we used to be totally into cherry Coke

Appetizers (wontons and I'm not sure what else)

Turkey
Stuffing
Gravy
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows
Deviled eggs
Green bean casserole
Holiday green salad (my first time making it)
Rolls

Dessert (pumpkin pie and French silk pie)

Hmmm, kinda boring actually.

We'll play games later in the day so that will fun. Anyone ever played "Mad Gab"? I recommend it. It's hilarious!

What is Holiday green salad???

Good question!

Here's a link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Holiday-Green-Salad/Detail.aspx

Doesn't it sound delicious??

A variation on the same theme as my salad, croak. Found the recipe on Foodtv I think a couple years back. Made it for Christmas Eve (that's the big feastday in our Polish household) and it's demanded by all now. We upped it by putting in Emeril's Spiced Pecans from this recipe. (btw, we make the whole candy recipe for Christmas gift giving.)

I just show up at my Grammys house with 5 cup salad, she's happy, and I get to eat.

what's a 5 cup salad?

Turkey
stuffing
mashed potatoes
gravy
sweet potato souffle
zucchini casserole
green bean casserole
rolls
cranberry relish (with cranberries bought at the bog)
pumpkin cream cheese roll-up
another desert I haven't decided on yet...

1 cup of:

Coconut
Mandarin oranges
Pineapple
Marshmallows
Sour cream

Stir, Chill and Serve Mmmmm

What time should I be there?

here's another one:

Stir sweetened condense milk (can) into large cool whip.
Add a can of drained pineapple tidbits.
Add 2 cans of madarin oranges (drained).
Add a can of cherry pie filling. Stir well. Chill.

Sour Cream?? Interesting dish to dip into

why don't some people like sour cream?

did I say that right? My headband is killing me today.

CheekEE, could you also substitute yogurt for the sour cream? I personally like sour cream so I think it sounds good and cuts the sweetness.

BB - did you miss your calling? Are you a frustrated head chef?

Can i get the recipe for cranberry/orange cheesecake?

Off the top of my head, I'd say start with your basic cheesecake recipe (I use Better Crocker) and add 3/4 C cooked cranberries, the zest of one large orange and 2T of orange juice. But I eyeball those measurements. Instead of the graham cracker crust, I'd use unfrosted sugar cookies that have dried out (you know, because the "kids" didn't eat them in time and "Please get them I really want them") crumbled in the food processor.

Hey...the salad has been made the same for 50 years. I'm not gonna monkey with it. LOL

I ususally can't eat pineapple at all, but I can in this salad. It makes me

My grandma used to make the best fruit salad with canned fruit cocktail, marshmallows and sour cream.

BB, that cheesecake sounds wonderful! Do you mix the fruit into the cheese or put it on top?

OMG! Don't ruin the cheesecake with a package mix. Cheesecake is ssssssssssoooooooo easy to make. Cream cheese, milk, eggs, and flavoring baked in whatever pie shell is the basic recipe. Mom's recipe puts a topping of ........wait for it.........sour cream, sugar and vanilla on top. That's the standard that we hold all cheesecakes to and few measure up. Although I do have a killer creme brulee cheesecake recipe that does.

One of the guests is bringing it so I don't have the recipe...yet. She usually brings the recipe with her dish so maybe I'll get it.

I've never made cheesecake - it scares me.

I could be wrong but I think that BaconBoy was talking about Betty Crocker's recipe for cheesecake, not a boxed mix.

QueenBee, when I want to make a cheesecake quickly I use the Kraft 3-step recipe (I saved it from the cream cheese package and taped it inside a kitchen cabinet). It is sooooo easy and very good!

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/philadelphia-3-step-cheesecake-51208.aspx

hmdagal, I generally swirl the fruit in the batter. But my standard varieties are:

Mint chocolate swirl with Thin Mints crust, topped with chocolate shavings

White chocolate raspberry swirl with sugar cookie crust and white chocolate shavings plus plate dotted with raspberry sauce

Turtle (chocolate chips, toasted pecans and homemade caramel sauce swirl) with pecan sandy crust and drizzled with caramel sauce and chocolate sauce

Pumpkin cheesecake with standard graham cracker crust

Oh, and I try to avoid boxed mixes whenever possible. Good catch, RR Sarah.

Cheesecake is really easy to make. Even I can do it.

It's even easier to buy from a store.

Have any of you all ever cooked a turkey in a brown paper bag?? I've heard it's great. Sorta like steaming it but it does brown and crisp up. I was all for this until I read online that it is now not recommended to use this technique due to the ink, glue, and recycled materials in paper bags can emit toxic fumes when they are exposed to heat. Also, they are recycled so who knows what would infuse into your bird!

Think of the "high" you could get tho', spek...

Turkey
Stuffing
Dumplings
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Broccoli-Cheese Casserole
Corn
Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

Does anyone have a good Cranberry Salad recipe? I have never tried, but thought it might be better than just out of the can.

This one is quick and easy!!

2 cans whole berry cranberry sauce
1 lb. frozen strawberries (sliced)
1 can crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Just combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve. Enjoy.

Just hubby & I for dinner so pretty simple:

Turkey breast
Stuffing
Salad
Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry sauce (homemake of-course)
Rolls
Pumpkin Spice Cake
No pie, too much for just us two

Son, dil and grandbaby coming for breakfast and found a yummy sounding "Blueberry French Break Bake" that I'll try with sausage and fruit.

My dinner turned out great! The NuWave oven cooked a fantastic, moist, browned turkey in exactly two hours! I added green bean casserole at the last minute, and my other BFF brought a yams and apples dish instead of the sweet potatoes. Cooking that much fod though is tiring! So glad I reserved a vacation day yesterday to recouperate!

OK, I've been designated as the bringer of dessert for dinner at my sister's house. I was told to bring "a pie and something else." The trick is that it has to be something I can make Wednesday and that will travel easily (it's a 4 hour drive to her house). I'm planning on pumpkin pie, but need ideas for the second dish. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm seriously considering a 7 layer cake, but I don't really trust trying to transport it quite that far.

Go ahead and take the 7 layer cake. Just don't frost it till you get to your sister's. Pack it in a box with popcorn around it. Or bubble wrap works well too. Then when you arrive, frost it before dinner and VIOLA! a perfect cake for dessert.

time is dragging so slow between now and Thursday - I salivate just reading this thread......

is it lunch time yet?

Maybe you could do something like brownies that travels well?

Here is a recipe for some snickers blondie type brownies...I think I got it from pjs last year for Christmas:

Its Snickers Bars

1 yellow cake mix
1 stick of margarine melted ( I used parkay)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3 regular snicker bars chopped up into pieces

Combine the first four ingredients with mixer-
add the snickers
Bake in 13 x 9 x 2 pan at 350 for 25 minutes.
Cool and cut into bars.

Very easy to make, travels well and they are really good!

We had Thanksgiving on Sunday so I am having leftovers for lunch today. No turkey on Thursday though.

Ditto, ditto, and ditto

Maybe a nice gingerbread or seansonal spiced trifle?

Dunkin Donut holes

I just talked to my sister - apparently the pie is covered and I'm now charged with bringing Andes mint brownies.

That just made my life *so* much easier.

My family doesn't trust me to cook so I'm bringing a fruit bowl.

How are you wrapping youself up, peeps?

Well, I was talking about a fresh fruit bowl. I'll use watermelon, honeydew, cantalope, grapes, pineapple, strawberries and probably some black raspberries for color.

Fruit bowls are nothing to joke about DQ.

I'm a very serious person and this is a serious side dish.

LOL @ serious and Peepers in the same post!

black raspberries?

is that different from a blackberry ?

Since I don't know precisely what they're called, maybe I'll just skip those.

sub kiwi

Yes - black raspberries and blackberries are two different fruits.

Black raspberries are similar to red raspberries, but with a different taste and texture.

Blackberries are large juicy berries - at least double the size of a raspberry.

Blackberries would add interesting color and flavor. Black raspberries are difficult to find this time of year.

ok, thanks everyone for wrecking my plan for a fresh fruit bowl

I'll just move to plan B and bring a bunch of bananas, people can peel their own

Bananas are good in fresh fruit bowls also. Just add some apricot nectar and then add banana slices just before serving so they don't turn brown.

go with the donut holes Peep!