Our 2006 Thanksgiving Menu

I finally finished making our menu for Thursday evening. Due to Bud's American upbringing, we've adopted this US tradition in the last few years (this is my 4th bird, I think) since it's the perfect excuse to have turkey (and I love turkey)!

THANKSGIVING 2006
MENU

Appetizer
Hot Chili-Cheese Dip with Nachos

Main Course
Easy Herb Roasted Turkey
with
Bread and Celery Stuffing
Chestnut Stuffing
And Gravy

Roast Pork with Gravy c/o Mom

Pasta c/o Dinah

Side Dishes
Hash Brown Casserole II
Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole
Squash and Apple Bake
Cranberry Jelly c/o Ocean Spray

Dessert
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Apple Pecan Cobbler
Fudge Brownies c/o Mom
Vanilla Ice Cream

The menu combines a few tried-and-tested recipes (Bread and Celery Stuffing, Hash Brown Casserole, Apple Pecan Cobbler) as well as new ones I want to try (Chestnut Stuffing, Awesome and Creamy Corn Casserole, Chocolate Pecan Pie). I hope I can find all the ingredients I need (yellow cornmeal is always a problem), but my turkey has been thawing in the fridge since Monday.

I also decided to delegate some of the tasks this year by assigning my mom to make Roast Pork and Dinah, my SIL, to make the pasta -- this ensures that there will be left-over turkey for me on Friday (unlike last year where there was none). Haha!

This year, I am planning to inject my bird the night before with seasoned chicken stock to ensure moistness. I would also like to try roasting with the breast-side down first but I don't think I have enough strength to turn-over my 8kg turkey after an hour of baking, so I'll have to leave this for when I have a smaller bird.

I can't wait to have my turkey!