Average Jane Plans A Feast

On today's agenda is a big grocery shopping trip to get all of the ingredients I need to make Thanksgiving dinner. I've already gone through the sales circulars and figured out which stores have the best deals. Better still, my company gave each partner a $25 gift card to the store where I'll be buying the turkey and most of the produce, so that will definitely help.

I'm planning on making most of the classics from my Thanksgiving recipe booklet: roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and fresh cranberry sauce. By popular demand, I'll also be purchasing a small can of cranberry sauce for those who choose nostalgia over flavor.

My aunt is bringing a corn casserole and a pumpkin pie. I'll be making a pumpkin cake roll. Rather than make dinner rolls from scratch, I think I'm going to buy some Hawaiian rolls instead. They taste almost exactly the same and it'll save me three hours of prep time. Also, bread is not exactly a big focus when you have a meal like this.

As an appetizer for any early birds, I'm baking a small wheel of brie with brown sugar and pecans on top and serving it with water crackers. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might make Pomegranate Salsa.

I don't know exactly how many attendees I'll have at this point, but I'm still keeping the invitation open for anyone in the area who'd like to join us. There will be plenty of food no matter how many guests we have.

When I see all of the angst-ridden articles about people's fears of preparing Thanksgiving dinner, it always puzzles me a bit. It's really a pretty straightforward meal, albeit one with lots of components. As long as your oven and stove burners are all operational, you should be fine.

My biggest problem is finding somewhere for everyone to sit. I assume we'll have a minimum of seven diners, so I'm hoping I can get by with the big, plastic utility table I generally use for folding laundry. I'll have to bring it up from the basement, clean off the cobwebs and cover it with some kind of tablecloth. Seating will be a mishmash of folding chairs and wooden chairs from a cheap old dining set that also resides in the basement these days.

So that's my plan. What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?

Comments

[Dawn]

I'm planning a similar menu for our first Thanksgiving in the Caribbean, including the non-traditional pomegranate salsa now that I have the recipe. Our invited guests are English, Hungarian, and a Pakistani from Scotland. This will be their first Thanksgiving dinner.

[Amanda]

Thank you for posting the cranberry recipe here. Cagy and I were discussing and exchanging favorite recipes when she said your recipe was the best. I'm going to try it this year.

[kcyogachick]

While watching Food Network I learned a new way to get the seeds out of the pomegranate. Cut it in half and then whack the shit out of the outside of it with a wooden spoon, face down into a bowl. The seeds just flew out! Also, they sell just the seeds in the produce section of TJ's.