Holiday Meal Menu Plan

[Old Fashioned]

We stick with a more traditional menu. Hubs is a stickler about that for many of the main dishes and about the only deviations I can make is the appetizers/snacks, anything in addition to the main items and desserts/pies.......as long as there is a pumpkin pie with cool whip I'm always of the mind to try something new or different but do agree for the most part of must haves, and I would love to make real whipped cream......but NO, it's gotta be cool whip. Ok, what everrrrr!

This is kinda the plan for this years meal......

Appetizers---Chips & salsa, devilish eggs, black & green olives, dill pickle spears, pickled asparagus wraps and maybe some snack crackers & homemade cheese ball

Main Meal---Turkey, stuffing casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, candied sweet potato casserole, corn, both whole berry & jellied cranberry sauce and multi-grain rolls (if I can find some).

Pies---Pumpkin of course, and a cheesecake. If I get around to it I may make an apple pie as well & use the pie filling I canned up this summer.


When all is said & done.......my table is fully extended with both leaves and is piled with food & now you know why I keep that old beast......and it's usually just the 4 of us or 5 when #1 decides to grace us with his presence.

So whatcha all got planned for your feasts?

[Farmfresh]

All of that an YOU are the only chef? Take care there girl. Be careful that you don't over do and end up flat for a month.

As for us, we are varying the Thanksgiving plan a bit this year. We are hitting the appetizers hard and the dinner part light.

Deviled eggs, cheese ball, little smokies, lots of various pickled things, olives, cheezy corn, turkey sandwiches and cranberry sauces. Hopefully there will also be pie.

I am doing the meat for the sandwiches... turkey and chicken. The pickled stuff which means I am opening jars and I will do the cheezy corn and the smokies. Sooooo much work. All the fiddley stuff is coming from other family members.

[Old Fashioned]

Farm----it looks worse than it is. The pumpkin pie will be from scratch, but the cheesecake is from a box and I'll only do the apple pie if there is enough crust left from the pumpkin. OR if I find some cheap ready made crusts I'll use those instead. I always make the pies the day before and any other dishes that would hold well and much of the prepping so I'm not so overloaded the day of and only have to put it together.
I never stuff the bird cause I don't like the blood and whatnot that cooks into the stuffing from the inside of the bird and always do it in a casserole dish on the side. BUT I do add some garlic powder, salt & poultry seasoning in the cavity, then poke in some chopped onion & celery for a bit of extra flavor to the bird & help keep it moist. I also sprinkle the seasonings over the outside skin, then will carefully separate the breast skin from the meat, and put some softened butter in there, also to help keep it moist......then several bastings throughout the cooking time.

And don't forget, I did the same just days after my cancer surgery......but I did keep it simple and only the main basics & used stove top stuffing......nothing extra & nothing fancy but had the important things covered


And one this is for sure.......Christmas meal is anything BUT turkey It can range from ham, prime rib roast, goose or duck...it all depends on what we have, what we can afford and what's available. Someday I would love to have a lamb crown rib roast with stuffing in the center

[Farmfresh]

I am not a bird stuffer either, but mostly because that would NEVER be enough stuffing. LOL. Still, don't sell yourself short. A big meal IS a lot of work. You need to recruit some assistance on the day. Them big old boys need to learn to cook a proper feast... if for no other reason.

Christmas dinner for us is often turkey again, if we decide to do a dinner. Mainly because we all love turkey. Truthfully there are a lot of Christmases that come and go without the Christmas dinner or the dinner is a few days either side of Christmas itself, because for us the big deal is Christmas breakfast. Everyone comes over and we have had everything breakfast at one time or another plus of course bacon. Lots of bacon. After a huge breakfast we do presents and then we do naps.

[Old Fashioned]

Yes, #3 is supposed to participate in the cooking. I'm not sure what his idea of helping is going to be, but we'll find out. Actually I don't usually mind the big cooking as long as I'm not on a time crunch & rushing to get things done by a certain time, like a couple of years ago when I was scheduled for a full work shift and we had turkey for breakfast (I had to leave here by 12:30) Or when things go haywire, like the year either my stove went out or the power went out I can't remember which. But that was really tricky. As far as I'm concerned, the cooking is usually the easy part..........it's the clean up that sucks

[Farmfresh]

Agreed.

Have you ever tried the crockpot liners? We started using turkey roasting bags in the crockpot before they ever had actual crockpot liners even when we had a 4-H group. We would do "cook shacks" at the local horse shows to raise money for our group back then and we would make up our chili, nacho cheese and even pulled BBQ pork for sandwiches in those bags ahead of time. Then all we had to do was pull out an old empty bag and drop in a new full one to start heating. Clean up was easy too. That is how I am planning on doing both the cheezy corn and the little smokies this Thanksgiving. Cooking in plastic is supposed to kill us, but scrubbing cooked cheese out of a crockpot definitely will.

Hopefully those boys will take care of the cleanup for you, but if it is like around here ... I feel sorry for you in advance.

[patriceinil]

Thanksgiving dinner will consist of my sister, my BIL and me. My son is working 1:30-10 pm but he’s off Black Friday.

We cut the menu down a bit this year and we’re making smaller portions since we are only feeding the 4 of us (my son will have his after work).

We’re having turkey, stuffing (regular and gluten free), mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans with onions and bacon, cranberry sauce, Polish sausage, sauerkraut and dumplings, relish tray, rolls and rye bread. We cut the candied carrots and jello salad off the menu this year.

Desserts will be pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard for me and gluten free kolacke.

We also axed the appetizers so we will eat more of the meal that we are fixing instead of filling up on the appetizers and picking at the meal.

[dizzy]

My parents are coming, but as far as I know, my DD is working, so she and her hubby won't be here. I plan a small pot roast w/veggies, and a small, stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, green beans and corn. I'll have apple crisp for dessert.

I was just going to do a chicken, but my parents eat chicken a lot, so I'm doing the roast as well.

[HNA]

We will be going to MIL's for turkey day. DH uncle and family will be driving down from OH/WV, so that will be 6 more people, to MIL and Aunt, DH & myself. MIL wants t handle everything, but asked me to cook up some rice and sweet potatoes. No problem.

[Rhodie Ranch]

Once again, since we'll be at Mother's, my baby brother has asked us over. He makes a turkey, a white friend brings a ham, we bring sweet potatoes, and then...........Filipino food! YUM YUM YUM!!!! Pancet, lumpia, fish, rice five diff ways, sweet desserts, crabs boiled in fish sauce, and more!