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Whats on your Thanksgiving day menu?


momof3luvs1

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It is less then a month away and I always do a big Thanksgiving dinner and this year I have family flying in so Im super excited. I always cook way too much to begin with but now I want to make even more. What do you typically serve on Thanksgiving? I am greek, my husband is Italian so I always cook a few dishes from both cultures and then of course top it off with the american traditions ( Turkey, stuffing etc)...but Im always looking for new ideas. How many dihes do you think is enough for 8 adults and 5 children? Also, how big of a turkey would you suggest? Edited by Rockfordmom
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We have about the same size gathering as you, sometimes more depending on if my sisters family comes. We have a 20 pound turkey, it's just enough.Dressing, Mashed potatoes, corn, homemade hot rolls, a few salads depending on what my mom wants. Pumpkin pie and lemon lush for desert. At christmas we have ham, homemade chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes homemade rolls, a few other side dishes. Christmas salad , lemon lush.
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I just made a list yesterday! Smoked turkey, gravy, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, Paula Deen's broccoli casserole, cornbread dressing, veggie and cheese platter, green bean casserole,rolls, pumpkin pie,pecan pie, cake balls, Snickers cookie bars,and chocolate chip cookies. I really cannot wait to have the house full of family, food, and laughter. Making memories that my children will have forever!
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We have about the same size gathering as you, sometimes more depending on if my sisters family comes. We have a 20 pound turkey, it's just enough.Dressing, Mashed potatoes, corn, homemade hot rolls, a few salads depending on what my mom wants. Pumpkin pie and lemon lush for desert. At christmas we have ham, homemade chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes homemade rolls, a few other side dishes. Christmas salad , lemon lush.

Peppy..one of my friends said something on Facebook about chicken and noodles...what is it? I'm very interested!!

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We will be having turkey, ham, mash potatoes, baked mac and cheese, deviled eggs, green beans, collards, succotash, watergate salad, fruit salad, rolls, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potato salad, candied yams, chocolate pie, lemon pie, coconut pie, pumpkin pie (2 each) and cupcakes. Seems like I am forgetting something????
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I don't cook turkey. :giggle: My husband and son normally deep fry it, but husband is deployed this year and we don't feel comfortable with my son doing it by himself. I've ordered a smoked turkey from a local BBQ joint. Their smoked turkey is delicious so I know it will be great.

 

Our normal sides are a brussels sprout and bacon dish, a broccoli/cheese/rice dish and my daughter makes yeast rolls. We have a cranberry orange relish and I'll make an apple pie. My son is the only one that eats pumpkin pie and a neighbor of ours always makes several and brings over about a quarter of a pie so he can have pumpkin pie.

 

We eat about 5pm, so I make finger foods to munch for lunch and while we're cooking. Deviled eggs, a light antipasti tray with different meats and cheeses and pickles and olives and veggies with dips. Things like that.

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We will be having turkey, ham, mash potatoes, baked mac and cheese, deviled eggs, green beans, collards, succotash, watergate salad, fruit salad, rolls, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potato salad, candied yams, chocolate pie, lemon pie, coconut pie, pumpkin pie (2 each) and cupcakes. Seems like I am forgetting something????

 

Me???? lol

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Biggest turkey you can find. That's my motto. I love leftovers.

 

Snacks: chips & salsa, pretzels, crackers and cheese, pepperoni

Dinner: Turkey, stuffing, sweet corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn bread, bread, cranberry sauce, salad, water, milk, sodas

Desert: Apple, pudding, pumpkin, coconut custard, coconut cream, and 2 others, cool whip, whip cream, coffee, tea

Dinner #2: leftovers with the addition of rye bread for open-faced turkey sandwiches

 

This is making me hungry

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Chicken and noodles? You really don't know what it is? My grandma used to make them. SHe's 94 now and her arthritis stopped her from making them for quite a few years so she showed me her recipe. the noodles you roll out and cut by hand. I use 4 eggs, 4 half shells of water and 4 teaspoons of salt. Add yellow gel food coloring for color. Beat until foamy with fork. Add flour until you can roll it out, about 4 cups. Roll very thin, let dry about 4 hours and cut into thin strips , Dry a few hours or a few days. I make mine in advance and leave them out on a cookie sheet a few days to dry. The more they dry the better. Boil a whole chicken , it' svery important to use the whole chicken, you need the neck and back sections for the broth to have the best flavor. Bone the chicken and save the broth. Put it in a large pan and add enough water to boil the noodles. SImmer the noodles about an hour and add meat. It's just a thick chicken noodle soup, but I thought everyone knew how to make them. My grandma worked in a restaurant her whole life and was an excellent cook. If there aren't as many of us I use 3 eggs, etc, at home I use 2 or 3. Mine taste just like grandmas, when my mom tries, hers weren't as good, she doesn't follow grandmas instructions like I do.

 

Peppy..one of my friends said something on Facebook about chicken and noodles...what is it? I'm very interested!!

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I have two Thanksgiving meals: one at lunch and one at dinner and both of them are my house..lol.

 

So on the menu for the Thanksgiving lunch is: I am making mashed potatoes, slaw, oreo dirt cake, and yellow rice. My mom is bringing a ham, dressing, corn on the cob and a pecan pie. my sister is bringing rolls, mac-n-cheese, and probably a cheesecake. (she doesn't really like to cook so we gave her the easy stuff..lol).

 

Our second dinner is alot bigger. I fix a turkey breast mainly for our leftovers and to have some meat for the dressing. I also fix 2 pans of dressing (one with onions and one w/out). I fix mac-n-cheese, turnip greens, corn on the cob, slaw (I will just make extra from earlier dinner), yellow rice, mashed potatoes, rolls, orio dirt cake, a pie (not sure what kind yet), another dessert, and of course we have cranberry sauce. My MIL brings a big turkey, bean salad, potato salad, peas, and usually a few other things. My SIL brought a half eaten dessert last time, so we will see what she does this year. She didn't volunteer to help at all last year with the cooking or cleanup...ugh!!! They have only been married a little over a year so we don't really know what to expect out of her...lol.

 

Anyway, I am very excited about Thanksgiving. I love being with family and I love making all the memories.

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Chicken and noodles? You really don't know what it is? My grandma used to make them. SHe's 94 now and her arthritis stopped her from making them for quite a few years so she showed me her recipe. the noodles you roll out and cut by hand. I use 4 eggs, 4 half shells of water and 4 teaspoons of salt. Add yellow gel food coloring for color. Beat until foamy with fork. Add flour until you can roll it out, about 4 cups. Roll very thin, let dry about 4 hours and cut into thin strips , Dry a few hours or a few days. I make mine in advance and leave them out on a cookie sheet a few days to dry. The more they dry the better. Boil a whole chicken , it' svery important to use the whole chicken, you need the neck and back sections for the broth to have the best flavor. Bone the chicken and save the broth. Put it in a large pan and add enough water to boil the noodles. SImmer the noodles about an hour and add meat. It's just a thick chicken noodle soup, but I thought everyone knew how to make them. My grandma worked in a restaurant her whole life and was an excellent cook. If there aren't as many of us I use 3 eggs, etc, at home I use 2 or 3. Mine taste just like grandmas, when my mom tries, hers weren't as good, she doesn't follow grandmas instructions like I do.

It sounds similar to what we call chicken and dumplings..but not quite the same.... and no ma'am I have never had it! It sounds like perfect cold weather food to me. Thank You so very much for the recipe..I believe I'll be making chicken and noodles in the next week or so!

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I would get the biggest turkey you can find. I love the leftovers!

 

For snacks:

-shrimp

-cheese and crackers

-stuffed mushrooms

-veggie tray

-deviled eggs

 

Dinner

-turkey

-mashed potatoes

-hash brown Casserole

-corn

-acron squash

-yeast rolls

-gravy

 

Desert

-chocolate pie

-apple pie

-pumpkin pie

-peanut butter pie

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Turkey, mashed potatoes/gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, wild rice, cranberry sauce, rolls, corn, green beans, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and....that's it for now. A lot but leftovers are sooo good, especially after a long day of BF shopping and decorating the next day. ;)

We usually just buy Stove Top stuffing and make everything else like the cranberries, etc.

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Our dinner will most be close to the following:

 

Fried Turkey

Honeybaked Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Jello Stuff (From the can lol)

Rolls

Green Bean Casserole

 

Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pie

Pecan Pie

Chess Pie (Possibly)

 

Last year we did a brunch for family that had to go to their others sides familys house for dinner it was:

 

Maple Brown Sugar French Toast Casserole

Hashbrown Casserole

Thick Cut Bacon

Sausage Links

 

Needless to say dinner was LATE last year. After dinner we sat around and planned out our BF shopping (my wife was about 2 weeks from having our first daughter) so my mother in law and I did most of the running while my brother in law kept my wife safe :) Good times

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Our dinner will most be close to the following:

 

Fried Turkey

Honeybaked Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Jello Stuff (From the can lol)

Rolls

Green Bean Casserole

 

Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pie

Pecan Pie

Chess Pie (Possibly)

 

Last year we did a brunch for family that had to go to their others sides familys house for dinner it was:

 

Maple Brown Sugar French Toast Casserole

Hashbrown Casserole

Thick Cut Bacon

Sausage Links

 

Needless to say dinner was LATE last year. After dinner we sat around and planned out our BF shopping (my wife was about 2 weeks from having our first daughter) so my mother in law and I did most of the running while my brother in law kept my wife safe :) Good times

Fried Turkey Hun?:gdlicklips: I've always wanted to do this but have been a little afraid of causing a fire LOL! I was going to have a fried turkey shipped but they are are quite pricey, at least to me. I was considering an electric fryer. How do you go about seasoning your turkey and do you use the traditional Fryer or Electric?

 

Our Menu is Traditional once again:

Turkey and/or Cornish Hen

Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Rainbow Macaroni

Green Beans or Greens

Dressing

Cranberry Sauce

Crescent Rolls

 

Sweet Potato Pie for Dessert

 

Oh.. Can't forget the Eggnog!:smirk:

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We do fried turkey also. We have a gas(propane) turkey fryer. The most important thing to remember when turkey frying is the oil level.

We fill the turkey fry pot with water, and drop the turkey in to measure how much the turkey will make the water level rise(adding approx 3 inches for bubbling oil), remove the turkey and then mark the pot with a sharpie where the water line is. Then we fill it with peanut oil to our water mark. We've been doing it since 2004. Never had a fire or anything. And our turkey frying pot has every years water/oil line marked with Sharpie. We laugh at it every year when we drag it out.

Also-We don't season it with anything. Just plain turkey-the skin gets nice and crispy.

Side Note: Our turkey fry pot can only fit up to 18lbs, so we're always mindful not to go over that when we buy our turkey. The hardest part is keeping the oil temperature regulated to 350 degrees, but not over 375 degrees. And we fry for 3-4 minutes per pound. Excellent!

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We do fried turkey also. We have a gas(propane) turkey fryer. The most important thing to remember when turkey frying is the oil level.

We fill the turkey fry pot with water, and drop the turkey in to measure how much the turkey will make the water level rise(adding approx 3 inches for bubbling oil), remove the turkey and then mark the pot with a sharpie where the water line is. Then we fill it with peanut oil to our water mark. We've been doing it since 2004. Never had a fire or anything. And our turkey frying pot has every years water/oil line marked with Sharpie. We laugh at it every year when we drag it out.

Also-We don't season it with anything. Just plain turkey-the skin gets nice and crispy.

Side Note: Our turkey fry pot can only fit up to 18lbs, so we're always mindful not to go over that when we buy our turkey. The hardest part is keeping the oil temperature regulated to 350 degrees, but not over 375 degrees. And we fry for 3-4 minutes per pound. Excellent!

Do you fry on pavement or grass?

:) @ water/oil lines.

No Seasoning, really!? I'm afraid of that :g_laughin. I thinking I have to put something on it. Thanks for the info.

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We actually just hammered down the menu this week, so here it is! We have Thanksgiving at our house, and there are 5 adults, a teenager, and 2 kids. (And a dog.) All the food is made by DH, me, and my mom.

 

*Turkey (with orange, onion, rosemary, and sage in it.) - DH

*Sausage Cornbread stuffing - DH

*Turkey gravy - DH

*Garlic Mashed Potatoes - DH

*Squash Casserole -Me

*Green Bean Casserole - Mom

*Cheesy Corn Bake - Me

*Homemade Mac & Cheese for the kids - Me

*Cheesy Broccolli Cauliflower Casserole - Mom

*Sweet Potatoes on Pineapple Rings - Me

*Cranberry Sauce - canned

*Biscuits - Me

 

*Coffee

*Wine

*Holiday Punch

*Egg Nog

 

*2 pumpkin pies - Me

*2 custard pies - Me

*2 banana cream pies - Me

*coconut cream pie - Me

*white chocolate cranberry cheesecake - Me

*Boston Cream Pie - Mom

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Do you fry on pavement or grass?

:) @ water/oil lines.

No Seasoning, really!? I'm afraid of that :g_laughin. I thinking I have to put something on it. Thanks for the info.

We fry on our back patio-it's pretty big-about 25 feet away from the house, and concrete. We've never done it on grass(too unstable).

One year it was really windy, and it was really hard to keep the propane lit, and the oil at the correct temperature. Other that that it's been fanatastic.

We always WANT to try some type of seasoning, but we're afraid of ruining Thanskgiving for everyone who comes over. The turkey is kind of the main attraction. We always say we're going to do a Thanksgiving practice turkey in the begginning of November, but things always get hectic and we never have.

If you try seasoning and frying, I would love to know what you do and how it comes out!

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Fried Turkey Hun?:gdlicklips: I've always wanted to do this but have been a little afraid of causing a fire LOL! I was going to have a fried turkey shipped but they are are quite pricey, at least to me. I was considering an electric fryer. How do you go about seasoning your turkey and do you use the traditional Fryer or Electric?

 

Our Menu is Traditional once again:

Turkey and/or Cornish Hen

Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Rainbow Macaroni

Green Beans or Greens

Dressing

Cranberry Sauce

Crescent Rolls

 

Sweet Potato Pie for Dessert

 

Oh.. Can't forget the Eggnog!:smirk:

It's not hard at all. I usually just do an injector with butter/garlic/salt all over the turkey. This year I may brine it first. I use a heavy duty propane fryer (nice wide base and very sturdy) that I bought from Lowes. I just drp the turkey in the pot while it's cold and empty then I run water in the pot until the turkey is just covered, I then remove the turkey from the water and I look to see what the water level is in the pot. Now once I set the fryer up I know where to fill the oil level to. Been doing it for about 4-5 years now and never had an issue or come close to the oil going over.

 

I was skeptical the first year I did it but wow never had a more moist turkey in my life.

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We always do fried turkey and have a dry rub for it. It is TO DIE FOR!! I will have to ask my Mom for the recipe, as I have never fried one myself.

As to what our menu is- for my Dad's side of the family we have about 60 people for lunch, so we have a pot luck buffet (about 15 feet long) filled with every food imaginable(usually fried turkey, fried chicken, roast beef, pork tenderloin, beef stew/rice, Bar B Que, chicken and dumplins, chicken salad, turkey salad, spiral sliced ham- that's just the meats). And another 25-30 different desserts. Then we go to my other grandmother's house for dinner where we have another 25-30 people. Lots of food eaten on Thanksgiving in my family. :gdlicklips:

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