It is done! The Thanksgiving dinner menu has been set (and a shout-out of heartfelt thanks to blog reader Andrew Brown, who corrected my calendar mistake and made me realize I had far fewer days to prepare than I thought).
[mainbodyad]My week is booked with responsibilities for work, and the spouse also has a wide range of commitments, so following a family dinner over at my parents’ with the siblings and kids, I came home and put everything together for the actual Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. That way, all we have to think about is getting the food prepared for the everyone since my family is responsible for hosting this year.
The table is set, the ingredient list is being drawn up, and the necessary supplies should be procured by tomorrow evening by a family member who volunteered to help in that department. This should be about as low-stress as it gets as long as I don’t leave anything to the last minute.
The table setting I put together for the tables on Thanksgiving day this Thursday.
This is how the individual Thanksgiving place settings will look. The coloring in this picture is slightly off so you can’t see the charger under the white bone china plate, but it is a three-dimensional ever green color that looks great.
What about the food? The Thanksgiving menu is as follows:
The Thanksgiving Menu
Appetizer: The pumpkin tureens will be filled with the corn chowder recipe I detailed on the site back in February.
Main Course: Traditional turkey, prepared slowly, with stuffing
Side Dishes: Handmade egg noodles in turkey broth, aligot potatoes (French style stuffed with melted Gruyere cheese, mozzarella cheese, whole milk, garlic cloves, unsalted butter, table salt, Yukon Gold potatoes, and ground black pepper), baked macaroni and cheese, candied yams, dinner rolls, green bean casserole
Sauces: Cranberry sauce, cranberry orange sauce, lingonberry sauce
Beverages: Cinnamon apple spiced tea, cranberry tea
Dessert: The now-famous cinnamon rolls, giant brown-butter Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie
The meal will be followed by an afternoon of classic Christmas movies to kick off the season, board games, and other family traditions. I’m excited. My biggest concern is the timing. The cookies and cinnamon rolls can be prepared prior to the meal itself, as can the sauces, teas, and dinner rolls. The turkey, corn chowder, and major sides are all more complicated. Those are the most rewarding, but I need to setup the structure so it all goes off without a hitch.
I’m excited about it. I love my family, I love cooking great food, and Thanksgiving is a time for both. I’ll post pictures of the food for the fellow foodies out there. If any of you have recipe suggestions or ideas, send them to me in the contact form. You guys (and gals) have been a wellspring of information!
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