Thanksgiving Dinner
 

Sounds great Des! Will be fun with such a big group.

I cooked a turkey last Sunday to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. We might be traveling for the US Thanksgiving so figured I should do my turkey early! Fortunately it was just hubby, me and Jaxon. Not sure I'm ready to tackle a dinner for 20 people!!

We don't have 20 but about 8 - 10 every year. I LOVE Thanksgiving. I love to cook and eat it. We Fry a turkey every year and do a ham. Yumm Yumm I"m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Last year was my first Thanksgiving at my house. Luckily, it was only for about 8-10 people. I made a small turkey and small ham. My mother made the dressing and sweet potatoes. I also made the usual sides plus some green beans wraps (wrapped in bacon) and a few other appetizers. I hope to do it again this year!

All of our families (grandparents on each side) have a big Thanksgiving meal, but most do it at different times and even a different day. Those (for each) generally have about 50 or more people. Those are more of a potluck style dinner...we all bring something (Thanksgiving related of course).

As always, I will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. There will be 13 of us there, 14 if my nephew comes in to town. I'll do the turkey and dressing as well as peas, deviled eggs, and sweet potato casserole. My younger brother will do chicken wings (my son and my nephew don't eat turkey or ham!) and corn, while my sister who lives here in town will bring her usual, rolls:rolleyes: We have it at my house cause my mom lives in an apartment and so does my sister. My older sister lives right outside Pensacola so having it her house is out..LOL! Her, my BIL, my niece, and her husband will be coming up - not sure if my nephew can get off work to make the drive up.

We always have a blast - just tiring doing the majority of the cooking! But like you, I can't wait!!!

I will be hosting it this year for the first time ever. My parents had to sell their home last January and move up by me so now I have to do Holidays here. I hate to cook very rarely do it and am stressing already. There will be 15 or so people!! Yikes!

I will hosting as well this year. The menu will be close to the same as last year. Turkey, ham, Crock-pot dressing (best dressing I've ever tasted), mashed potatoes, 7 layer salad, broccoli salad, rolls, baked corn, noodles, stuffed mushrooms, pumpkin pie, eclair cake, deviled eggs, and sweet potatoes. It was wonderful.

Thanks that' so sweet of you to offer! Can you fit 15 more people!!!!lol

Woohoo!! I'm hosting for the very first time too.
Before, I used to go 3 different houses for holidays feast.
Now that I have a house of my own, the table is turning to me.
I'm excite cus I get to decorates my place, but scare at the same time cus I can't cook. Guess I need to place an order with Boston Market soon. :D

I don't eat dessert either!!..at least, I don't eat dessert unless it's plain chocolate cake or apple pie, anything else, I don't eat! Last year for Thanksgiving, I bought a sampler cheesecake from Wal-Mart - traditional, turtle, chocolate, and strawberry....it was YUM!! I had a small (I mean tiny) slice of the chocolate. Oh, and my sister from Florida brough a Pecan Pie (yuck!) and a caramel cake (another yuck!). It will be a great time just being with my family - the cooking and cleaning done beforehand will all be forgotten after we've stuffed ourselves, waddled into the living room, plopped on the sofa or floor, and say we're watching the football game when we're really sleeping;)

I felt the same exact way when I had my family over the first time for Thanksgiving - it was also my first time making cornbread dressing. I was a nervous wreck that it would not turn out but it did!!! The best compliment came from my mom (who used to make the best dressing ever!)...she said that my dressing was very good, so good that she was not making it anymore...and she hasn't! She's disabled now due to arthritis in both knees and can't stand up to cook like she used to so I guess it's a good thing I can make the dressing! Only difference between her dressing and mine: I don't cook chicken to chop up and put in there - just the cornbread and seasonings.

I'm sure you'll do GREAT:) Can't wait to hear how things go afterwards.

Yum!
 

Hey your menu sounds yummy and different! Would you mind sharing some of your recipes. Like the crockpot dressing, 7 layer salad, broccoli salad, and stuffed mushrooms. I would love to make one of these this year!! :D

Me and My Fiance, Mike are doing dinner at home this year just the two of us. I am a good cook but..... I cannot touch raw meat without gagging so I have mastered the use of the tongs lol
A few years ago I made dinner here for just the two of us and it was my first time ever preparing a turkey to cook. I thought ok I can do this, I will just put the tongs in and pull out that gross crap inside. Mike usually prepares the turkey I make all the other stuff to go with it, I make the stuffing but he stuffs the turkey. He had to work the year I had to do everything. I couldnt get the stuff out with the tongs so Im on the phone with a friend whom is almost like a mother to me. I call her when I need motherly advice. Im on the phone with her and shes talking me through this and she convinced me I had to stick my hand in there and pull it out. Well I did and the bag inside ripped and the stuff touched me, that was it I lost it and was freaking out, shes on the phone laughing her butt off. I think if I had someone do that to me on the phone I would laugh too. The turkey came out good from what Mike said but it had little to no stuffing in it, you cant stuff the thing with a large spoon and not use your hands lol. I used to love turkey and always looked forward to the day after for the sandwiches but one of my meds have thrown my taste off and now I cant eat it. :( However I can eat Turkey Lunchmeat.. Go figure
We usually do the family thing but just want to spend Thanksgiving at home just the two of us.

I have been hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for the past 24 yrs... yes thats a lot of turkeys lol. I usually have anywhere from 12-24 people depending. I start off with a delicious chicken soup, then I have mashed potatoes that I make my own, sweet potato pie, all sorts of veggies, cranberry sauce for turkey. My husband is in charge of the turkey he always does an excellent job and the turkey is so succulent .Desserts are usually brought by my family mostly home baked, pumpkin pie, coconut custard pies,chocolate pudding and so much more.. Gee Im getting hungry...lol

I'll be hosting as usual and I NEED the crock-pot dressing recipie!!!!

Pretty Pretty Pretty Please! :D

Last year my BFs Mom "hosted" and I made: turkey, dressing, cranberry marmalade (instead of regular cranberry sauce), fruit salad, green bean caserole, yams, ceasar salad, lasgana (to reflect my 100% Italian heritage), mash potatos & gravy, buttered basil baby red potatos, baby carrots with balsamic vinegar, homade macaroni & cheese, and of course pumkin pie but also a great apple crisp. Of course my mother helped with the cooking, we just did not take the credit.

Can you give us the recipe on the crock pot dressing?

I have been hosting thanksgiving for about 25 years the whole crew comes about 30-40 people,everyone brings a dish from veggies to salads and I make turkey,a goose that the boys get every year,usually a deer roast ,scalloped corn and a celery hotdish,baked beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes,mashed potatoes,gravy,cranberries and all the pies 3 pumpkin ,2 cherry and Ethan (one of my boys)makes 2 french silk pies and a jello dish with friut,cant forget the homemade buns.It is alot of work and is not cheap but I love it.We always have wine and drinks also for those who want it.
Our house is not that big so we all cram in some sit on the floor etc.
Hopefully it will be nice outside this year and the kids can go outside for awhile and play,they can really get loud,then us adults cannot talk over all teh noise and running they want to do.We usually have a room for them to go in with movies toys games etc..But they still end up out with us!!
I have already started planning for it myself.

Crockpot dressing sounds wonderful. I do crockpot macarroni and cheese every year...and it the best mac & cheese I ever had.

Here is the Crock-Pot Dressing Recipe. It's so wonderful that my family likes it served throughout the year!!!

1 cup butter or oleo
1 cup chopped onions
2- 8 oz. cans mushrooms (drained)
1 20 oz. loaf of bread (cubed)
2 eggs well beaten
1 cup chopped celery (optional)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 cup parsley
5 to 8 cups chicken (cubed)

Thin mushroom soup with broth. Heat mushroom soup, broth and butter until butter is melted. Mix all ingredients together and let stand for ten minutes. Put in crock pot and cook on high for 45 minutes, then on low for 3 to 4 hours.

* Instead of 1 cup of butter I use 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup more broth.

Another tip is not to lift the lid till it's ready to be served.

To save time on Thanksgiving Day...Everything that can be fixed the day before..like deviled eggs..I do the day before. As with the Crock-Pot Dressing...I have everything cut up and ready the day before and then put it all together on Thanksgiving. It was alot of food, but I didn't spend much time in the kitchen at all on the big day. More time to eat...It was great! :)


Almost forgot to mention that on 4womentalk.com we have a lot of wonderful recipes in the recipe forum. Check it out ladies and come join us!!!

I don't like dressing on my turkey and someone who brought some was sure too strong for me . . . being that your recipe is easy, I just might use it too. Thanks for sharing. oh btw, can you take it out of the crockpot and eventually serve it on a nice platter? Leaving it on a crockpot doesn't seem "fancy" enough :D :D :D

Yes, I served it in a beautiful bowl I have. When you first take it out of the crockpot, you'll think...OMG it's way too moist...but it isn't....believe me, it becomes the best not too dry...not too moist...dressing you could ask for. It doesn't have that "strong" flavor either, like some dressings have. Like I said, my husband and son are not big on dressing, but they request it often throughout the year. You can subsitute turkey for the chicken also. I can't wait to have it again.

Yumo!! That sounds so good. I am going to make it this year at Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing the recipe

If you follow the recipe and leave the lid on till time to serve..you will not regret it. I fixed it for the first time last Thanksgiving and everyone, I'm not exaggerating.....EVERYONE made such wonderful comments, saying it was the best. They all left with the recipe in their pockets. Made me feel so good.:)

Well, I have told my friends and family about me hosting and everyone will be coming. I originally planned for 17 people but one family friend decided that she will NOT miss this one :eek: so she is coming along (5 more people). I was flattered because she never came the last few years when my friend was hosting :eek: but now I have 5 more people to figure out where to seat them :eek:

Okay, here's my tentative menu so far . . .

Appetizer: Endive with bay shrimps and herbed cream cheese
Salad: Assorted greens with apples, dried cranberries and
grapes with pnzu vinaigrette
Main Dish: Roast Turkey with Pomegranate Glaze
Roasted boneless leg of lamb with red-wine sauce
Side dishes: Mango and cranberry relish
Mashed potatoes with lemon and chives (for the lamb);
Mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecans (for the turkey);
Yorkie3's stuffing :thumbup:
Wild Mushroom, haricot verts and shallot saute (nice change from the traditional green bean casserole)
Rice pilaf with dried cranberries (well what can I say, I am asian so gotta have some rice)

Dessert Tiramisu
Pumpkin swirl bread
Assorted miniature cheese cake (have done this many times so might get this replaced with something else)