Share your Thanksgiving menu and recipes

[fortworthgal]

In an attempt to get myself into the holiday spirit, let's all share our Thanksgiving menus and recipes.

Our typical menu consists of roast turkey with cornbread dressing and gravy, corn souffle, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (I can't resist it), cranberry mold, rolls, and usually pumpkin and apple pies. This year I think I'm going to do something a little different and try a focaccia bread dressing with mushrooms and chestnuts.

 

[Wally_Hood]

With few variations, our menu is the same as yours, FW Gal. It's the one day out of the year that I do some of the cooking. Since we're hosting folks with no local family, the dishes they're bringing will add some interesting tweaks to the meal.

We start out with Mrs. Hood's relish tray, for snacking during prep and cooking. I make the cornbread the night before from my mother's handwritten recipe, then make the dressing the morning of. This year it's two dressings, one with sausage and one without. Both will feature dried fruits and slivered almonds; I use the broth from the giblets, neck, and so on, for the stock to add to the dry ingredients.

I cook the turkey in the cooking bag, and put the standard spices into the cavity.

For the gravy stock, I load up the bag around the bird with chunked carrots, celery, and onions, and when the bird is done, you can pour out the stock. Mrs. H does the gravy but won't touch the stuff.

Last year a guest brought corn casserole, but won't be with us this year, so we'll miss out.

I can't wait....

 

[sal]

typical menu for me, but I have to admit I prefer stove top and cranberry out of the can. Something I really look forward to

 

[John in Covina]

2 things:
when making turkey i like to coat the turkey with mayo (like putting on sunscreen) it promotes moist meat. I still tent with aluminum foil.

second - add a cup or so of chopped and drained spinach to the veggies (like onions and celery) you sautee for the stuffing. This was my mom's trick, everyone liked her stuffing but could not figure out why it had a little something that made it different.