Thanks Giving Dinner Suggestions Needed

[lizabu]

Why don't you just make something you know? You have plenty of traditional American on the table. I am sure your guests would love something "exotic" as a side dish. I know I would.

This! Add your own touch. You have traditional items--add something from your own repertoire, too.

Thats what I was just thinking. Make those famous pot stickers and some rice etc. Sounds fantastic to me. I know plenty of Italians that start Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and round it out with lasagna and veal parm.

 

[Sandy321]

I would also say your own tradition will be great -

I also think Costco will have mashed potatatoes pre made there too! Gravy too I'm sure, my mil makes the turkey gravy - I've never been able to come close to getting the flavor she does out of her gravy!

Costco will have a bag of cranberries - and the recipe is on the bag - when you rinse the cranberries, I always look for soft ones, and toss them (only about 4 or 5 usually)

1 cup of OJ
1 cup of sugar
bag of cranberries
cook on stove till berries "pop" about 5- 10 minutes usually
(and I overcooked them one year about 30 minutes! - they were thick, DH LOVED that because for leftovers he spreads cranberry sauce on his bread adds turkey!!)

some families have to have the canned Cranberry - like my mom, she always brings a can to add to the table!!

Costco probably has the rolls too - nice dinner rolls to sop up the gravy!

and if your family enjoys wine - Riesling goes well with Turkey, or champagne to add to the OJ for mimosas while you cook all that good stuff!

 

[swilshire]

For our group of about a dozen, DH always mashes a 10# bag of potatoes. Most kids love mashed potatoes. I make him hide a small bowl for later. There are never any leftovers.

This year, for about 20, we'll have a turkey, a turkey breast, a ham and numerous sides. More desserts than we can eat.

Sheila

 

[KennesawNemo]

Why don't you just make something you know? You have plenty of traditional American on the table. I am sure your guests would love something "exotic" as a side dish. I know I would.

This might sounds silly but I have no American (from birth place point of view) at the table at all,

I just think it would be fun for everyone to experience an American Thanks Giving dinner. It also would help the older kids to understand the history and cultural.

 

[KennesawNemo]

If you can't find the pies at Costco (and you almost definitely CAN, but just in case...) you can find pies in the freezer section of your grocery store, there is one brand (I think it's Mrs Smith's) that doesn't even need to be baked, you just put it out at the beginning of the dinner and by dessert time it's thawed and ready-to-go, a lot of grocery stores have them on special this time of year.

I second what everyone else said... extra sides are easy to make at home, or you can find things like mashed potatoes in the prepared foods section of most grocery stores.

Cranberry sauce usually takes one of two forms... the canned stuff, which I grew up on but never liked, or fresh, which is waayyyy easy. Dump one bag of cranberries in a saucepan, add enough OJ to cover them, add 1 cup sugar or splenda (more or LESS) to taste... boil until the berries pop, stir and chill. Add some orange shreds if you're fancy I think you can also buy it at some delis, but if they want more than the cost of the cranberries, it's quick and EASY to make at home...

Cranberry sauce? It's pretty easy to make, but you can always buy canned.

This! Add your own touch. You have traditional items--add something from your own repertoire, too.

Thats what I was just thinking. Make those famous pot stickers and some rice etc. Sounds fantastic to me. I know plenty of Italians that start Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and round it out with lasagna and veal parm.

I would also say your own tradition will be great -

I also think Costco will have mashed potatatoes pre made there too! Gravy too I'm sure, my mil makes the turkey gravy - I've never been able to come close to getting the flavor she does out of her gravy!

Costco will have a bag of cranberries - and the recipe is on the bag - when you rinse the cranberries, I always look for soft ones, and toss them (only about 4 or 5 usually)

1 cup of OJ
1 cup of sugar
bag of cranberries
cook on stove till berries "pop" about 5- 10 minutes usually
(and I overcooked them one year about 30 minutes! - they were thick, DH LOVED that because for leftovers he spreads cranberry sauce on his bread adds turkey!!)

some families have to have the canned Cranberry - like my mom, she always brings a can to add to the table!!

Costco probably has the rolls too - nice dinner rolls to sop up the gravy!

and if your family enjoys wine - Riesling goes well with Turkey, or champagne to add to the OJ for mimosas while you cook all that good stuff!

For our group of about a dozen, DH always mashes a 10# bag of potatoes. Most kids love mashed potatoes. I make him hide a small bowl for later. There are never any leftovers.

This year, for about 20, we'll have a turkey, a turkey breast, a ham and numerous sides. More desserts than we can eat.

Sheila

This might sounds silly but I have no American at the table at all,

I just think it would be fun for everyone to experience an American Thanks Giving dinner. It also helped our kids to understand the history and cultural.

Thank you all! I really appreciate your suggestions and recipes.

 

[KCMiller]

We're all really happy to have you sharing our Thanksgiving traditions with us, my DISboard friend! And I, for one, would LOVE your potsticker recipe!

Happy holiday!

KC

 

[Styx Fan]

Another easy pie is Pecan....there is a good recipe on the side of the Karo syrup (with the pancake syrup) bottle.

 

[carebee21]

I would strongly suggest ordering another turkey breast. You're posting you're getting a 3 lb turkey breast and a 5 lb ham but you're posting on the high end of the ranges. The turkey breast can range from 2.5-3 lbs and the ham from 3-5 lbs. You can't request a specific size ahead of time only the ranges (for example when you order the ham, you ordered the range of either 3-5 lbs or 6-9 lbs) When you go in to pick it up, they'll hand you one and if it's a 3 lb. you can ask if they have a 5lb, but sometimes they only get small ones, that's why they post a range. So you could end up with less meat than you think you're getting.

Also, my opinion is that I would rather have too much of something than run out of something, so for me, the extra $20ish dollars on the other turkey breast would be well worth the piece of mind of knowing we have enough.