Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

I’m really impressed with Wegmans (our favorite grocery store) and what they have available for thanksgiving. I found a half turkey breast, brined and ready to cook right in the bag. I also got Bob Evans mashed potatoes. Perfect sized serving for the 4 of us. We LOVE Stove Top stuffing, and I’ll defrost some of the fresh corn off the cob that I froze during its peak in the summer. Add some brown and serve rolls and we’re good to go!
 
It has just been us the last several years and no one in my family likes all the casserole and salad concoctions so we keep it simple:

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Veggie- I’m thinking roasted brussel sprouts
Hawaiian Rolls
Apple and Pumpkin Pies w/whip cream
 
It’s our first year celebrating American Thanksgiving! :)

I’m working from home this year so I figured, why not? I’ll be home to watch the turkey.

turkey
stuffing
mashed potatoes
carrots/peas/corn/ sweet potatoes
dinner rolls
dessert - whatever my daughter decides to make - probably pumpkin pie
 

I found this online a couple of years ago. lt works for me:
Step 1. Roast the turkey.
Step 2. When done, cover it loosely with foil and let it rest for 30-45 minutes. This allows the juices to settle into the meat before it is cut. If you cut it too soon the juices will run out, resulting in a dry turkey.
Step 3. Carve the turkey.
  • Cut the turkey breast in 3/4" thick slices. If you slice it too thinly, the turkey won't hold in the juices as well and remain as moist.
Step 4. Place the sliced turkey in a baking pan that will fit in your refrigerator. Keep the sliced pieces pressed together. Drizzle pan juices on turkey.
Step 5. Cover the sliced turkey with plastic wrap, pressing it down to close any air pockets. This also helps retain moisture in the turkey.
Step 6. Cover the pan with a lid or piece of aluminum foil and refrigerate.

Here's how to reheat and serve the turkey.
Step 7.
Remove turkey from fridge and rest on counter for 30-45 minutes to allow it to return to room temperature
Step 8. Remove the plastic wrap and spread out the turkey slices in an even layer. For quick, even heating, it's best to spread the slices in a single layer, overlapping them slightly--don't stack them if you can avoid it.
Step 9. Drizzle chicken or turkey broth evenly over all of the sliced meat. You can use canned broth or make your own. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil.
Step 10. Reheat the turkey without overcooking it.
If you've taken care to roast your turkey properly so that it has remained moist, you don't want to undo that by overcooking it and drying it out during the reheating process. There are two methods; choose the one that works best for you. With both methods, the turkey should be in an even shallow layer in a baking pan. If it's piled too high, the outside layers will overcook before the center layers are hot.
  • FLASH REHEATING at a high temperature is a method often used by restaurants chefs. The concept is simple. Put room temperature food in shallow, covered pans, and put it in a 450 degree oven for approx. 7-15 minutes. It heats the food fast (in a FLASH) without cooking it further. This is the method I recommend if you don't need the oven set to a lower temperature for cooking other dishes at the same time.
  • STANDARD REHEATING in a 350 degree oven is another option that normally will take 25-30 minutes for room temperature turkey to be heated through. This method is the best option if you have other dishes that need to cook in the oven at the same time at that temperature.
Either way, the important thing is to remove the turkey from the oven as soon as it's heated through completely without letting it overcook. Ovens and cooking times can vary, so I recommend checking on it about half way into the reheating process to help you gauge when to remove it from the oven.
Step 11. Transfer the hot turkey to a serving platter. I like to use a fish spatula for this--it's nice and long, so I can neatly transfer a whole row of turkey slices at once.
Step 12. Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of hot broth over the turkey just before serving. There should be some hot broth in the bottom of the reheating pan that can be used for this.
Thank you!
 
We will have the normal party of three, so the usual menu:

turkey
stuffing
mashed potatoes
homemade cranberry cherry sauce
crescent rolls
gravy
a “mocktail” of ginger ale and cranberry juice
cherry pie and pecan pie, with vanilla ice cream

Then we have some nice bread for turkey sandwiches and an assortment of chips to go with them, to round out the weekend.
 
The original plan was that DS and his GF would come down on Wednesday, we would have Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday and then they would drive 3 hours to be with her parents for Thanksgiving dinner. So to enable them to not have 2 identical meals in one day we decided to go with filet mignon, baked potatoes, asparagus, salad, rolls and dessert.

Will current C-19 issues, they did Thanksgiving this weekend with her family and will be at our house Wed - Fri of Thanksgiving week. I think we are sticking with the menu above. But, we will need to be prepared for Christmas 2 weeks later and haven't even started thinking about that menu. I guess we will talk about that over Thanksgiving.

They will then come to our house the weekend of Dec. 12 for an early Christmas and spend Christmas weekend with her family (The woes of being the mom of the boy.) They are doing this so they have a 2 week window between their "bubbles" so they hopefully don't carry C-19 from one location to another.
 
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This year will be DH, DS & me. For the past several years, we've been eating out. We don't eat in restaurants now, so we've decided to order a meal from Publix. That's the only place I've found that offers a whole turkey instead of a breast. Their meal includes: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry orange relish & marshmallow delight. (I think it's really random that they include marshmallow delight for Thanksgiving, but whatever. 🤷‍♀️) I haven't decided, if I'm going to add their sweet potato casserole or make one myself. I'll also be making a broccoli casserole, deviled eggs & yeast rolls. We'll probably use the sweet potato casserole as dessert. DH & DS never really had a sweet tooth & I seem to have lost my ravenous sweet tooth a couple years ago. :confused3 DH & I are looking forward to having leftovers for the first time in several years.
 
Our Thanksgiving is going to be the same people as always the 3 of us and my parents but now we just added my grandma(she doesn't want to be alone but doesn't want to go to the larger family function other family members are planning) and our nephew who is working in CA from WA and now can't go home because of the new quarantine recommendation for both states.

I'll be making all the traditional stuff we always have.....turkey, red mashed potatoes and gravy, my AMAZING cornbread stuffing(seriously...its just soo good), green bean casserole, some type of sweet potato casserole, green beans casserole, rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, a green salad with roasted butternut squash, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese and balsamic vinegarette. For dessert, we have homemade apple pie and either pumpkin pie or cheesecake(haven't decided which yet).

I'm also not a big fan of turkey but I like everything else....especially my yum yum stuffing. LOL
Now wait just a minute! You can’t do that...tell us about this wonderful yum yum cornbread stuffing and leave us hanging without sharing the recipe! :goodvibes I’m ready.:magnify:
 
Our 3 households are getting together and eating outside. We are together all the time.
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes/gravy
cranberry sauce in the can (for the Hallmark people, love when Henry Winkler says out of the can in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year)
Rolls Hawaiian
The remaining is undecided which is my household LOL *me, my oldest DD and youngest DS
2 pies maybe 3. I have a frozen Marie Calender pumpkin pie so far and son wants to make an oreo pudding pie. Will probably buy one more pumpkin pie and whip cream

2 veggies We have some bacon grease left over and I love brussel sprouts cooked in bacon.
carrots/peas because my mom always made them
My daughter also wants to take her dill dip with sour dough bread
oh and youngest DD who is making the turkey is making deviled eggs
We all bring our own drinks
 
Well, it's seeming like it's going to just be the two of us this year, sooo....

Chips and dips!
Gourmet grilled cheeses and fries!
Pizza!
Portillos chocolate cake!
Limoncello!
Wine!

That sounds pretty good!!

So, I guess we're doing the reheated traditional meal Thursday (gag) and we're going to do the steak dinner on Friday. Sigh.

Why not still have your planned steak dinner for Thanksgiving, and have the leftovers on Friday?!?! They'll never know:rolleyes:

This year it looks like it will just be the core 5 folks who live on the farm with us, which makes me a bit sad but I'll get over it. Could be worse -
Luckily everyone enjoys traditional Thanksgiving fare - and I absolutely love cooking the meal - so we will have all the usual items for dinner.
Husband and sons traditionally goose hunt that morning, we will have a heavy nibble spread including crab dip & charcuterie mid day, and dinner around 4:30 or so. Since it'll be a small group, I got a turkey on the smaller side and we will fry it. I'll make to much, I always do - luckily we all enjoy the leftovers, but by Saturday we will be sick of it all!
 
We spent last Thanksgiving at WDW. AKL Kidani, Savanna View with my parents and my brother. Dinner at Boma. We made the decision while we were there that it was going to become our tradition because it was wonderful. This year, my parents (older and not in great health) won’t travel until a vaccine is widely available, so back to a smaller traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and tomatoes and pumpkin pie meal. It will be my parents, DH, DS and me. Older DS usually spends Thanksgiving running all over the place to see his dad’s family, so we’ll try to eat early and have my parents out of the house before he comes home with all of the germs. On Fri, DH’s parents will cook everything (they don’t like other people’s cooking 😂) and take food to DH’s brother and family and to us. Then they’ll go home and we’ll have a zoom call to “eat together”
 
Turkey breast, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, gravy, salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, dessert of some sort that DW will bake. The difference this year is it will just be the 2 of us so we'll make smaller quantities and do a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey.
 
We have scaled down our Thanksgiving gathering as far as people (nine total, 3 of us plus my parents and my sister and her family). My DH is on call the next day preventing us from traveling, so for the first time ever, they are coming to us. We are going traditional but like several others have mentioned, I am not a Thanksgiving menu kind of girl. However, since we already rocked the boat by changing the location, the menu will be traditional.

Turkey - my mom is handling
Ham - Me (trying to decide on Cracker Barrel, Honeybaked, or store/cook)
Dressing/Stuffing - Ordering from Cracker Barrel
Gravy - Ordering from Cracker Barrel
Mashed potatoes - Me
Corn Pudding - Me
Green Beans - Mom
Rolls - Me (buying at a local bakery)
Macaroni and cheese - My sister
Pasta Salad - Mom (we n\ever had this growing up but in the last 5 years or so this has become a staple at any holiday meal for some reason)
Paula Deen's Corn Salad - Me
Deviled Eggs - Mom

My sister is bringing drinks and dessert
 
We are going from 50 guests (years past) to 10 this year. Menu will stay the same but will just pare down the amounts of each item. We tend to do casseroles. I already made my gravy today and will freeze and just reheat.

Thanksgiving Day Menu 2020

Appetizers

Chilled Shrimp w/Cocktail Sauce
Cheese and Crackers
Spinach Dip

❖ ❖ ❖
Main Course
Roast Turkey
Spiral Ham

❖ ❖ ❖
Side Dishes
Green Bean Casserole
Corn Casserole
Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Dinner Rolls

❖ ❖ ❖
Desserts
Pumpkin & Apple Pie
Coconut Custard Pie
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
Choc Covered Pretzels & Toffee
Pecan Pie
Assorted Other Desserts

❖ ❖ ❖
Beverages
Soda ♢ Assorted Juices ♢ Sparkling Cider ♢ Beer/Wine ♢ Coffee/Tea

MJ
 
We are still working on our menu - just our immediate family for the holidays, but it's been hard to get the "traditional" food because of shortages in my area so I'm not sure. We weren't able to get a ham at the grocery store yesterday, but DH was able to snag on of the last two turkeys available. We did get eggs so I can make deviled eggs, but no brussels sprouts and they were out of canned corn. I'm not willing to run out to a lot of grocery stores, so we'll either make do or try to do a curbside order.
 
Just the four of us this year, and Dh will have to work until at least 1pm. We will probably go out unless things shut down again (not likely in our state).

If not, I will cook a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (probably just bake a couple, DH is the only one who eats them), deviled eggs, rolls, and some kind of green veggie. Chocolate pie for dessert.
 
It's just going to be the four of us this year. I asked the kids what their Thanksgiving must haves were. One said pumpkin pie and the other said bread. I'm going to get an enormous Costco pumpkin pie and at least three different types of rolls/biscuits. There will probably be turkey too.
 

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