We’re heading to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with our friends and respective pups. Then, we’re hosting an early potluck dinner for eight in our tiny Harlem apartment. We’ll top off the night at a friend’s house eating dessert, drinking sparkling wine and watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Doesn’t this just sound lovely?

We here in Canada had Thanksgiving last month. Our little family had a lovely dinner at home with turkey, my Nana's special stuffing, a huge tray of roasted veggies, homemade cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pies (for a change from pumpkin). Was lovely to not have to rush around anywhere and no housefull of people.

I'd love some help from seasoned cooks/hosts! Not really a traditional turkey dinner question, but we are hosting a Thanksgiving day get together with some friends and I'm wondering if my menu is ok. Since nobody wants to eat leftover turkey for the entire month of December, here's what I have so far for 8 adults and 2 kids.

Mains
prime rib roast, roast chicken

Sides
Pasta tossed with garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, basil
Roasted veges
Roasted herbed potatoes

Hors d'oeuvres
Olives
Proscuitto Melon
Roasted pepper dip w/ baguette

Dessert
Banana Cream Pie
Panna Cotta w/ balsamic strawberries

One of our friends will also bring a side dish (not sure what it is at the moment).

Anything I should add/ change?

P.S. I'm not a very seasoned host- cooking for a crowd makes me stressed!

We are staying home and it will just be four of us. Hubby will smoke a turkey breast on the grill. I will have cornbread stuffing and sweet potatoes. I will do a veggie of some kind, simple and steamed. We will have salad and a relish tray. Dessert will be a cheesecake. Coffee after and maybe out to a movie. The kids are just tired, what with working and school, so it's lowkey and quiet, with no travel. Needless to say, Grandma isn't happy, but she understands.

It's just my husband and me for Thanksgiving. We'll be watching the parade that morning on TV.

In years past, I've made the apple cider baked ham from Cook's Country, which is delicious, but I've been missing turkey. So, this year, I'm making Martha Stewart's recipe for "Spatchcocked Turkey" (You can find the recipe in The November issue of her magazine or online), Ina Garten's roasted brussels sprouts (from her first Barefoot Contessa cookbook), my mashed potato casserole, a sweet potato dish, parker house rolls and pumpkin pie.

Good luck to all of you hosting Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with family and friends!!!!

I've never hosted Thanksgiving dinner before for my family. But this year they're squeezing into my 1b apartment and I have a handful of recipes to try out. My sister's making turkey and I'm doing the rest..

I'm attempting:

cornbread</A>
pumpkin pie
sweet potatoes with marshmallows
baked yams and potatoes
ciabatta stuffing
cranberry
gravy
garlicy greens

I'm still looking for a cornbread recipe that's sweet/moist and has bits of corn in it. And a mashed sweet potato recipe thats designed to have marshmallows involved.

I am working on Thanksgiving, and live 1000 miles plus friends and family. So, I'll be cooking a bit the day before and the day of.

Menu: small roasted turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans with cranberries and gravy (of course!). Dessert is TBD. Last year I made an apple-cranberry galette for my parents and it was a big hit!

Last year, my honey and I went out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner, and we plan on doing that again this year. It's great because you get to have the usual dishes that you love, but the restaurant puts their own little spin on them. (For example, last year, I had egg nog mousse for dessert, something I'd never had before.) Then we'll bundle up and take a long walk along the river.

Another advantage of eating out is that my long-suffering boyfriend doesn't have to deal with two dinners with my crazy family in the span of a month. Xmas with the fam is about all I can ask of him, in good conscience. :)

I do have a question for the smart folks here, though it's not about Thanksgiving per se: we're going to host a cocktail party early in December, and I'd like some suggestions on finger food to serve with the mulled wine my honey is making. I'm a decent cook, but don't have much experience with appetizers. I've already tried out the Cheese Straws recipe, to two enthusiastic thumbs up from the boyfriend, and I'm planning on making some stuffed shrooms and maybe some cookies or chocolate bark.

Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks.

pinguino, your menu sounds great, but if I were in your position, I think I'd consider simplifying a bit. You've got 4 carb-heavy dishes there, and your menu might be a lot to take on, especially if your small apartment comes with a small kitchen. If it were me, I think I'd skip the cornbread and just do roasted potatoes (without the yams), since you've already got a sweet potato recipe in there. One thing to consider is timing: assuming you only have one oven, it's going to be difficult to get several hot dishes on the table at once. I'd do the sweet potatoes ahead, then reheat them in the microwave while the potatoes and stuffing are in the oven.

However you decide to do it, have a great Thanksgiving.

sth- id LOVE to drop some of the items, but people would flip out. i have no idea how my parents pulled off everything staying warm.

I would love to hear more about how people host in small apartments. We'll have 5 adults 1 baby for Thanksgiving in our 1br. I can't decide between squeezing everyone around a too-small table or having folks eat on their laps. Neither option sounds very good. I briefly thought about using the floor with lots of pillows, but I think my in-laws would be uncomfortable and my son would just crawl away. Anyone have good ideas on how to make this feel cozy instead of cramped?

I volunteered to make Thanksgiving dinner for my family this year too -- four adults and one child. I would like to try some non-traditional dishes but my dad would flip out! We're having all the basics (turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, rolls, pumpkin pie). I'm most nervous about roasting the turkey and making the giblet gravy, neither which I have done before.

I got my fresh brined bird at Trader Joe's last night, and every time I open the fridge I whisper sweet nothings to it. I can't wait!

My husband makes the turkey, he does a fabulous job.

We'll also be providing the gravy, stuffing, rolls, swiss chard and leek tart, and pumpkin pie!

Our guests are bringing potato casserole, green bean casserole and corn.

I can't wait.

Everyone and their mother at my parents' house! She always makes an interesting turkey (Creole, Moroccan, etc.) and the stuffing--usually cornbread something. Everyone else chips in and will bring: roasted fingerlings with figs, wild rice, big green salad with cranberries and blue cheese, sweet potato casserole with pecan topping, garlic cheese grits, roasted brussel sprouts, baked oysters (basically butter, cream, and oysters), cranberry orange relish made with Cointreau, homemade yeast rolls, pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie! Yum--can't wait!

We are headed to a friend's house. They are amazing cooks & I'm excited to celebrate with them (instead of fighting traffic!). I am making the pumpkin pie (from the Southern Living cover this year), dinner rolls & bringing champagne for cocktail hour. I think it will be ok to make the pie on Wednesday. Rolls will be made Thursday morning.

Pinguino- sweet potato casserole is really easy to make the day before, except for the marshmallows. Roast your sweet potatoes whole until done (about an hour). Once cool enough to handle, peel the skins off. Mash with a fork, or toss them into a mixer. Add a stick of butter (or 2, if you're making a bigger one than a 9X13 pan), a 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar & a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg. Once it's cooled off some, add in 2 eggs. The eggs will make it pretty light & fluffy. A pinch of cloves if you like. Cover & refrigerate until Thursday. Bring to room temp for a couple of hours & then add it to your 350-400 degree oven (depending on what else you have in there at the time, sweet potatoes are really forgiving!). Cook it until hot, covered with foil. It could take 30 min to an hour. Once it's nice & hot, add the marshmallows & cook uncovered until they are bubbly.

For cornbread- Joy of Cooking has a good recipe. You can add a can of creamed corn to basically any recipe & it will make it nice & creamy. Cornbread can get pretty dry so be careful not to overcook. They are easily made in muffin tins, too. Grease any pan you use so cleanup is easier. Lots of people swear by the Jiffy mix, but I prefer home made.

Happy cooking everyone!

We just moved and so will be having a smallish turkey here. Will likely make my ginger-cranberry chutney, mashed potatoes, gravy, and maybe a green veggie. Keep it simple. Afterwards, I'll take the leftovers and make a turkey pot pie, my favorite.

I'm making a turkey for the first time ever - luckily it's just me and my husband this year. We've decided to spread the holiday out over 4 days - cook the turkey and 1 side dish on Thanksgiving, and then have leftover turkey w/ another side dish for the next three days. :) It should be an adventure!

I offered to do Thanksgiving at my house this year for friends and roommates. I have never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner before, but I have thrown plenty of dinner parties. The guest count is up to 15! I am a little nervous, but some of my friends are coming over early to help me get everything done. I am also planning on getting several things done the day before (desserts, apps, cocktail mixes).

Here's my menu:

Apps
Blue Cheese Spread with Dried Cranberries and Pears
Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Crostini
Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Pancetta

Main
Traditional Brined Turkey
Double Potato Mash with Herbed Croutons
Sweet Potato Crunch
Sausage and Apple Stuffing
Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing (stuffing is big with our group)
Roasted Root Vegetables with a Balsamic Reduction
Brussel Sprout Gratin with Caramelized Shallots
Harvest Salad
Fresh Rolls

Desserts
Coconut Custard Pie
Peacan Pumpkin Butter Pie
Cognac Pecan Pie
Salted Brown Butter Crispy Squares

The dishes above are a mix of family recipes, blog finds a nd Williams-Sonoma favorites. Wish me luck! Happy Cooking (and eating) Everyone!

Going to Mom's, bringing about 1/3rd of the dinner -
Sherry Vinegar dressing for the salad
Leaf Crisps from Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/leaf-crisps
Onion Dressing
Gourmet Green bean Casserole
Roasted Butternut Squash
Cranberry Sauce with Port Wine
Cranberry Orange Relish

Mom is making all the rest.

Wish I could cook but we're headed to the future in-laws where we'll likely eat out since his mom doesn't really cook much these days. But we do always go to the yummiest and expensive restaurants, so it's a treat!

I'm heading south to visit my boyfriend, and we're going to his mom's; it will just be the three of us, I think, which will be nice and peaceful.
The only tradition I insist upon is my great-grandmother's time-intensive stuffing recipe, so I'll be making that and cranberry sauce. The boy wants to make collards, roasted root vegetables and a butter pecan pie. His mom wants a turkey breast, gravy and sweet potato casserole. So we all have jobs and all of it sounds delicious to me. I can't wait!

We are ditching the family T-day this year because we are all just burnt out on travel, etc. 4 days at home is a lot to be thankful for. My daughter is only 3, so she doesn't have any investment in tradition, and my husband is from Japan, and couldn't care less about holidays anyway. So...

My plan is to spread out the cooking/eating of seasonal treats over 4 days instead of stuffing it all into one and getting stressed. And I'm wondering about experimenting with some Japanese seasonal dishes and see if this could fit into future Thanksgivings. I have a recipe for rice with chestnuts that might do. Also kabocha stewed with azuki beans. Osekihan is sticky rice with azuki beans made for celebrations, so maybe that instead of the chestnuts.

No idea really. There will be butternut squash soup at some point and mushroom ravioli with browned butter at some point and probably mashed potatoes. (I hate making them, though. I just do not have the touch.)

Going to the BF's aunt's... and meeting his Dad for the very first time.

Yikes.

My favorite tradition, though, is the Saturday the week AFTER Thanksgiving... making a full-blown Thanksgiving meal for friends... generally, we all have our own plans, and this brings together my "other" family. It's just as much work, but MUCH less stressful for some reason.

Mixed Nuts
Terra Sweet Potato Chips
Cranberry Martinis

Turkey
Sourdough, Wild Rice and Pear Stuffing
Spiced Cranberries with Orange Zest
Brussels Sprouts Chiffenade

And, if I'm lucky, someone brings Pumpkin Cheesecake. :)

Hosting for 21 - first meeting of the families, plus a couple friends from work. Yikes! It's a potluck, with a Google spreadsheet so everyone knows what everyone else is bringing. We are providing pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, and then there is an all-day preparing fest! I'm not sure how many people will fit in my kitchen, but I think we're about to find out.