Thanksgiving Menu - 2014

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Sugarplum

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Jan 4, 2013
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I am having my family of four, and my brother, SIL, and their 3 kids. They are driving from Disney and should get to my house around noon. Dinner is to be at 3 pm.

Here is what is on the menu.

Snacks (For before dinner, game viewing, etc.)
Cranberry Muffins (from a mix)
Veggie tray of carrots, celery, green pepper, broccoli and pea pods with Good Seasons dip
Shrimp and c.tail sauce, with lemon wedges
Cheese plate of cheddar, Swiss and Havarti cheeses and summer sausage with assorted crackers
Garlic & herb cheese spread and crackers
Crab dip and townhouse crackers
Blue & white tortilla chips & salsa
Bugles and onion dip
Bowls of mixed nuts on bar

Appetizer
Fruit salad of fruit c.tail, mandarin oranges, jarred red & white grapefruit, bananas and apple, sprinkled with cinnamon
Garden salad of iceberg mix and spring mix with grape tomatoes, cucumber and green onion. Blue cheese crumbles. Dressings of Good Seasons Italian, Panera Balsamic Vinaigrette, Ranch, Blue Cheese and Vidalia Onion.

Main Course
Roast turkey (14 lbs)
Roast turkey breast (7 lbs) (per my sister who usually hosts our brother's family and recommended doing an additional turkey breast early in the day)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Stuffing, or Dressing is the correct term since I don't stuff the turkey (I am a stuffing failure, I can only do Stovetop, lol)
Wild Rice Medley with Pecans and Cranberries
Candied sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows
Green Bean Casserole
Creamed spinach
Corn
Acorn Squash
Cranberry Jelly (canned)
Cranberry sauce (homemade)
Dinner Rolls (purchased from bakery)
Crescent Rolls - IF I have time, but I bought the other rolls just in case.
Relish tray of green olives, black olives and cream cheese stuffed celery

Desser
Homemade Apple Pie
Homemade Pumpkin Pie
Brownies (from a mix)
Homemade Chocolate Chip cookies
Cheesecake (store bought)
Fancy Chocolate petit fours and salted dark chocolate
Whipped cream for the pies & cheesecake

Beverages
Beer (assorted IPAs, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for brother)
Wine (have an assortment of Pinot Noir, Pino Grigio, Petit Sirah, Chardonnay, Red Blend)
Juice & Sodas (for kids)
Bottled Water and Seltzer with lemon & lime wedges
Egg Nog (with or without alcohol), with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, whipped cream optional
Coffee & tea

I like to have a very varied assortment of foods, so there is something for everyone. And I should have plenty of leftovers to send home with my kids and have stuff for the rest of the week and weekend.

This is the menu AFTER I cut some items off, lol.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Scaled down

Turhamkin (turkey, dressing, chicken, dressing with a large slice of ham) all rolled up and baked. It is wonderful to cut and since you leave on the turkey wings and legs it looks like a real turkey. Cutting is wonderful since the birds have been deboned.

Fresh cranberry relish

Mashed potatoes and gravy (gravy is frozen, I used Ellen's recipe she posted)

Might bakes some sweet potatoes, might not

I'll make a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie
 

Sugarplum

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Jan 4, 2013
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I printed Ellen's recipe too! I didn't have time to make the gravy ahead but I plan on trying it during this holiday season! Looks delicious. Again, I stink at gravy (but DH made a great gravy one year) and I rely on powdered gravy, still delicious, and I add to it.
 

MrsSoup

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Oct 13, 2007
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Both menus sound delish!

We are having:

Fresh veggies and dip
Hard Salami and Pepperoni Party tray

Turkey, cooked in my new electric roaster
Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing (Stovetop) but i'll mix some wild rice into some of it since DH doesn't care for rice
Green Beans cooked in the crockpot with bacon, onion, salt and pepper
Homemade noodles- takes forever but totally worth it- cook them in chicken broth
Rhodes Rolls- frozen, i'll pull them out in the morning and let them rise in the warm kitchen
Gravy- I have a packet just in case, but i'm hoping to make it right in the roaster with the turkey drippings. Never done it before but i'm going to try, the packet will be my backup if that doesn't work out. :)

We will have pumpkin pie and a chocolate/butterscotch chip pie for dessert with whip cream.
 

AnnieClaus

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Nov 6, 2007
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Appetizers:
veggie tray
olive/pickle tray
cheese/meet tray

Main:
turkey
stuffing in the turkey
stuffing out of the turkey
green bean casserole
mashed potatos and gravy
sweet potato casserol
peas with pearl onions
rolls
cranberry sauce- homemade
gravy

Dessert:
Apple pie
pumpkn pie
cherry pie

Annie
 

DahliaDoll

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Oct 15, 2007
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Turhamkin (turkey, dressing, chicken, dressing with a large slice of ham) all rolled up and baked. It is wonderful to cut and since you leave on the turkey wings and legs it looks like a real turkey. Cutting is wonderful since the birds have been deboned.

Fresh cranberry relish

Mashed potatoes and gravy (gravy is frozen, I used Ellen's recipe she posted)

Might bakes some sweet potatoes, might not

I'll make a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie
Where can I find the gravy recipe?
Also, how do you make the cranberry relish?

Sugarplum ~ I hope you survive! I could never pull that off.

It's just DH and I this year, so we're trying to keep it simple, but we were still in the kitchen nearly all day today. We're brining a turkey overnight and are going to cook it on our Traeger grill (first time we've tried this). We will also have dressing (Stovetop with added sautéed onion and celery and some toasted walnuts), gravy, green bean casserole, lefsé, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

Lefsé is a Norwegian flat bread, so we won't have rolls, but I plan to make some rye rolls to use with leftover turkey. I also have some yams that we will eat later with leftover turkey. With just 2 of us, I don't see the point in trying to eat it all in one day!
 

Snowey

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Our menu:

Turkey
Stuffing ( Pioneer Women's recipe) first time I am trying this
Mashed potatoes
Baked sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar
Peas
Corn (I always have to have corn) :)
Roasted Brussell Sprouts roasted in olive oil, red pepper and parmesan cheese
Gravy
Cranberry sauce

Cheese and crackers along with olives and pickles for appetizers
Wine :)

Pie with whipped cream or ice cream !

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :turkey:
 

tanya

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Jan 8, 2012
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They all sound absolutely delicious. We don't have Thanksgiving here in Australia. I am seriously considering hopping on a plane with DS9- we can be there in about 16 hours.
 

Gidget

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Nov 24, 2007
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All of the posted menus sound delicious!

This year our feast will include.

*Cream of mushroom soup, and served w/ sherry
*Kale salad, with dried cranberries & pistachio nuts & poppyseed dressing
*Roasted turkey w/ chestnut stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed onions topped w/ peanuts, cranberry sauce, and mini corn muffins, served with chardonnay
*Cheese course served with nuts & fruit, & port
*Coffee & pie (apple, mincemeat, and pumpkin)

Cheers!

Gidget-
 

aggy

Santa's Elves
Oct 11, 2007
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Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

This year we're having:


Turkey
Spiral honey ham
BBQ ribs
party wing platter
crab stuffing
sage stuffing
candied yams
mac & cheese
mixed collard & kale
green beans
potato salad
amish macaroni salad
dinner rolls
fruit tray
pineapple upside down cake
homemade lemon ice tea
sodas
wine
 
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DahliaDoll

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I buy the relish at our local deli.

Ellen posted the gravy recipe here:

http://magicalholidayhome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31416&highlight=make+ahead+gravy
Thanks for the link! Sounds very interesting. Too late for this year, but will keep it to consider next year depending on where we're going to be ... and how good my gravy turns out this time.

Tanya ~ Come on over. You'll be here in time for some great leftovers which can almost be the best part! We can pick you up at SeaTac. Are you bringing the whole family? Our second guest room isn't quite ready for guests, but we can put you up anyway!

 
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AnnieClaus

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Everyone's menus sound out of this world!!!!!

Tanya- Maybe next year you and ds could do a little Thanksgiving dinner.

Sugarplum- I think you win the award for the most elaborate menu! I would love to be at your house over the weekend enjoying all those left overs!!!!

DahliaDoll- I do a cranberry/apple sauce that I got from Williams Sonoma.
It's: Cranberries, a green apple peeled and diced, a bit of oj, some orange peel, sugar, cinnamon, cloves. It's beautiful and very good!

Everyone enjoy!

Annie
 

tanya

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Dahlia- I agree leftovers are the best part! And after all that yummy food- DS and I won't need a guest room. You can just roll us back onto the plane home!

Annie- what a great idea. I see no reason why DS and I can't have a thanksgiving - we can be thankful just as well in Australia.
 

Ahorsesoul

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For a last minute rush job our Thanksgiving turned out just fine.

Turhamken, turkey, stuffing, chicken with a thick slice of ham all wrapped together. Everyone loved it with the ham. Will do that again

Make Ahead Gravy--Thank you Ellen for sharing. This will be my gravy recipe forever.

Baked Sweet Whole potatoes-nothing exciting but always good

Spicy Custard baked in a pumpkin--this was a last minute item I decided to do. I usually never try something brand new on a Holiday. I usually try out a recipe before hand. IT was excellent and not very time consuming.
http://norecipes.com/crustless-milk-and-cardamom-“pumpkin-pie”/

Mashed potatoes

French Bread

Black Olives-can't have Thanksgiving without them

Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes-This time I used Betty ****ers Yellow cake mix, gluten free of course, was excellent

Banoffee Pie-excellent if you like bananas, caramel and whipped cream on a graham cracker crust
 

Sugarplum

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Jan 4, 2013
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Ahorsesoul-I might have to try some of your desserts! They sound intriguing. And I'm definitely trying the gravy!

Annie-I love the Williams Sonoma cranberry sauce! I love the cloves in it. I have another spicy tart recipe I make each year, but only half the recipe since I'm the only one who usually eats it. This year I made a full batch, but froze half of it. Yesterday at the table, my bowl was EMPTY. Everyone ate it! Except DH, he only likes the canned, lol. So I'm glad I stashed some in the freezer and I will pull that out today. There have been years I do both recipes (half portions of each). Almost my favorite part of the meal.

Everyone's menus sound so wonderful. I love having a big selection. By the time we passed all the food around, everyone's plates were so full, even with just a small sample of each item. I had one bite I took that was toasted marshmallow from the yams and a big crunchy onion from the green bean casserole, surprisingly delicious together, lol.
 

Cindylouwho

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Nov 4, 2007
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SugarPlum - I'm in awe of your menu! Would love to have been there!

Ahorsesoul ~ I know what you mean about trying new recipes at the holidays. I was worrying on my plan as the turkey, stuffing, bread and pie were all new this year. It was either going to go great or really bomb. Thankfully it turned out GREAT! And all gluten free and all homemade. Next year I'll be using my food processor more though! I think this lineup will be a keeper for several years - but I do need to add back in Sweet Potatoes. I missed them.

Here was our lineup:

Turkey with Holiday Rub (Recipe compliments of Living Without's Gluten Free and More)
Turkey Gravy w Chives (from all the drippings)
Acorn Squash w/ Wild Rice Dressing & Pine Nuts
Rosemary Stuffing (using GF Against the Grain Baguettes)
Corn (we agree; gotta have corn)
Holiday Spiced Cranberries over Cream Cheese (we love cloves in them too)
Rosemary Focaccia (from GF Canyon Bakehouse) - Wow was this good!
Pumpkin Pie baked in a GG GingerSnap Crust - using Mi-Dels cookies. Delciious.
Sparkling Cider & Wine

Day 2:
Add in the Mashed Potatoes & Caesar Salad (Since no one could fit it in on Day 1) :)