The Menu

If you were coming to my house for dinner tomorrow (and you totally should because there is going to be way too much food for just the 17 of us), you would be dining on the following menu, which I share in the interest of regional diversity. I hear that in the south, they call stuffing “dressing” and sometimes make it with corn bread. I hear that some people have macaroni and cheese as one of the side dishes/casseroles. I even learned about people who eat, gasp, ham on Thanksgiving.


Appetizer course:

• Veggie tray with dip (including black olives that children must, by law, wear on their fingers and then eat off)
• Spinach Dip and Hawaiian Bread

Main Event:

• Turkey (creole butter injected, cajuned on the outside, deep fried in peanut oil)
• Gravy (homemade but without pan drippings I can’t quite remember how to do this…I’ll figure it out)
• Hungarian sausage made by the little old ladies at the church down the street, possibly sauerkraut and pickled beets to go with it (totally not my thing, but everyone always enjoys it)
• Salad (from a bag but I’ll homemake the dressing)
• Rolls (heat and serve, or possibly Pillsbury from the tube, I delegated the purchasing of the rolls to a family member)
• Mashed potatoes (with garlic, butter, and heavy cream)
• Sweet potatoes, candied with butter and brown sugar
• Stuffing made with giblets (from my mother-in-law)
• Stuffing made with sage and celery (made by me)
• Green bean casserole with French’s onions on top
• Broccoli Cream Corn casserole (which is a cross between a quiche and a soufflé and has bacon on top)
• Corn, buttered (also delegated because I don’t care for corn, but I have heard that children like corn)
• My mother is bringing something…I don’t know what it is…she said it has green Jell-o and pistachios in it. I’m not a huge fan of Jell-o salads myself, but she assures me that it is not a holiday without this.
• Cranberry Jell-o (which I made for my husband...it's his favorite cranberry and so easy)
• Cranberry relish (which is so good…I begged my mother-in-law to make it)
• Cranberries from a can, turned out into a pretty dish, with the can marks still clearly visible 

The After-Party:

• Pumpkin pies, 2, with whipped cream from an aerosol can
• Apple slices, sheet cake size
• Pumpkin crunch, possibly…I have the ingredients but I’m not sure I’ll make it
• Various coffees, creamers, egg nogs, hot cococa, whiskey, rum, Kahlua, and Bailey's for the Irishing
• Champagne, Korbel or Frexinet
• Beaujolais Nuveau or a Heritage White (served with dinner...water and milk for the children, the pregnant, and the recovering alcoholics)

Skipping this year:

• pecan pie
• extra pumpkin pies
• sweet potato pie
• deep fried Twinkies (done in the oil before we put the Cajun turkey in)
• any new recipes at all except for the thing my mom is bringing