How to cook a Thanksgiving Dinner?
914447
No offense to a previous answer, but I cannot imagine a turkey heated up in a crock pot...\n\nMartha Stewart will tell you how to prepare a la di da Thanksgiving dinner - get ready for a lot of work\nI have seen that Rachel Ray (the woman who never sleeps) is running a Thanksgiving dinner in One Hour television special. Look for it soon on Food Network\nGo to Epicurious.com for answers on how to prepare the dishes you want to serve.\nMake it simple!  No one needs 7 vegetables and three kinds of potatoes!  Simplify.  Consider buying your gravy already made from a store like Boston Chicken.  Don't make your own cranberry either or the pies if all of this is new to you. Thanksgiving is daunting enough to the experienced!  Newcomers should take the easy route wherever possible.\nThanksgiving is about loved ones and giving thanks, not for losing your mind in the kitchen!\nHappy Holidays!\nClarkie
140914
Use a turkey baster!\nhttp://www.chefsresource.com/turkey-baster.html
929860
Well.....Just do normal Thanksgiving meal and hope for the best. It's going to seem odd and there isn't much you can do but hope for the best. \nGood Luck
789825
We have both turkey and ham because my mom hates turkey. ALSO we have :\n\nHome made Crescent rolls, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Creamed Corn, Scalloped Potatoes, Cranberry Dressing, Fruit Salad, Devilled Eggs, Vegetable, Fruit & Relish Trays, etc. I KNOW I'm forgetting something. Sorry. \n\nFor dessert, we have Pumpkin pie, Sweet Potato Pie, French Silk Pie, Triple Berry Pie, and Apple Pie. These are all home baked not store kind. \n\nFor snacking, there are pumpkin bars & Chex Party Mix. \n\nI LOVE baked macaroni & cheese but can't fit it in the oven with all the other stuff in there or I would make that, too!\n\n Happy thanksgiving!!
804104
Well, in my family we have a huge amount of vegetarians, so in order to make something for them we usually do something along the lines of stuffed eggplant or a vegetarian lasagnia.  Both of which turn out excellent and everyone can enjoy them.  Recipes for those can be found at numerous cooking sites.\n\nOr\n\nThe other half of my family doesn't follow the traditional thanksgiving, because none of them like turkey.  So we created our own tradition.  Thanksgiving day, we order a huge amount of chinese food to go, we usually blow about $300-400.  We open up all the boxes on the table and just pass em around.  It's really a lot more fun and less depressing than it sounds.  Best of luck...
706313
Only the desserts.  There is nothing worst  than reheated stuff for the big day.   It would be like leftovers for  Thanksgiving.  You'll do  fine if  you can line up some help for Thanksgiving to help you with the side dishes.  I agree with the poster that gravy and rolls should  be done shortly before the meals is served.  The only thing that I do ahead of time is season the Turkey  and chop the onions and celery for the stuffing/dressing.
825153
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/holiday-cooking/thanksgiving/main.aspx
896875
It was good.  We went to my sisters house and had the whole family together.  Our Thanksgivings where my mother and father, both in their 80's, is numbered.\n\nThe little children are always the most fun. Newborns, toddlers and first graders. \n\nI made a seafood platter with big boiled shrimp, crap claws and oysters on the half shell for before dinner.  Drawn butter, fresh lemon and a hot horseradish cocktail sauce.\n\nWith all the traditional fitings we also had a "savory bread pudding" and oven roasted parsnips.  Here the recipe.\n\nIngredients\n4 Large eggs\n2 cups 1% milk\n1/2 tsp Hot sauce, such as Tabasco\n3/4 tsp Salt, divided\n1/4 tsp Freshly ground pepper, divided\n3 1/2 cups Cubed stale whole-wheat country or sandwich bread\n1 10-ounce Package frozen spinach\n1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil\n1 cup Chopped onion (1 medium)\n1 cup Chopped red bell pepper (1 small)\n4 cups Sliced mushrooms (12 ounces)\n1 clove Garlic, minced\n1 cup Grated Gruyere, Emmentaler or Manchego cheese (3 ounces), divided\nPreparation\n\n1. Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add milk, hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; whisk until blended. Add bread and stir to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.\n\n\n2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-by-8-inch (or similar 8-cup) ceramic or glass baking dish with cooking spray. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the water bath.\n\n\n3. Cook spinach according to package directions. Drain, refresh with cold water and squeeze out excess moisture. Set aside.\n\n\n4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and red pepper; cook, stirring often, until tender and golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic; stir to blend. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover and increase heat to medium. Cook, stirring, until any excess moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add spinach, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring, 2 minutes.\n\n\n5. Add the mushroom mixture and 1/2 cup cheese to the egg mixture; stir until blended. Scrape into the prepared baking dish; sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese evenly over the top. Place the baking dish in a larger pan, put in the oven and pour boiling water into the larger pan to about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake until the pudding is set in the center, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool slightly; serve hot or warm.
743093
Right after Thanksgiving
817533
Boil sweet potatoes (small to medium, the big ones are tough) in their jackets, until just done or under done. Rinse in cool water and peel. In a large casserole, spread soft butter all over (the more butter the merrier) and alternate cut up potatoes with brown sugar (I think you call it demara sugar) and little lumps of butter. Crumble a potato all over as a final step (that's my sisters trick) it makes the sauce tasty. Bake until bubbly brown. Some people insist on miniature marshmallows on top but not our family.
727010
Its pretty much like cooking in an oven.. mostly setting it at 350-370 degrees and cooking it anywhere from 15 to 20 min a lbs depending on if its stuffed etc..  Make sure to use an thermometer to check internal temp.. I have one of those automated probe that you stick in with a control panel that you keep outside the oven.. an alarm sounds when the internal temperature is reached.. real handy to have. Happy Thanksgiving.  - Nish
389664
Thanksgiving, at it's most basic, is a harvest festival to thank GOD[1] and neighbors for providing enough food to last through the winter. Today, it is more of a celebration of abundance: whether of food, friends, or other 'blessings'.\n\nYou can have Thanksgiving at someone's house by cooking a large meal there on the fourth Thursday in November (US) and inviting friends and family to share in it. Different families have traditional meals, though a typical modern dinner might include Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, a vegetable dish, a jello dish, and Pumpkin Pie.\n\n\n[1] Since Thanksgiving (as such) was a Colonial American celebration, this would be the Christian God as followed by the majority of the settlers at the time. As Thanksgiving is analogous to harvest festivals occuring in many other religions, this designation is not necessarily exclusive
786705
My husband is making the dinner. He has since we have been married. For a long time, the rest of my family lived out of state. Now some are back in the area, but we still prefer to eat at home by ourselves. \n\nLast year, my mom was very ill. My husband made the dinner and packed it up and we took it to her. She didn't eat very much but was very happy for the company. It was her last Thanksgiving and we didn't want her to be alone or to just have Cup-a-Soup.\n\nThere will lots left over- so we will be eating Turkey and leftovers for about a week! (fine with us!)\n\nHappy Thanksgiving!
906337
One of the most beautiful centerpieces of all is to just display the gifts of nature... part of what Thanksgiving is all about, right?  I try very hard not to ever put anything toxic or artificial... glue, glitter, paints, styrofoam... on my dinner table.  \n\nUse a pretty low, flat basket as your base - for example I have a beautiful two inch high big oval bread basket in warm brown tones made by a Cowichan Indian woman.  Then fill it with a variety of colorful winter squash, dried corn, persimmons or pomegranites, whole nuts in the shell.  Then you can make it glow by putting a ring of votive candles in soft autumn colors around it, and coordinate your linens and napkins to the natural color theme too.  Then after turkey day you can actually use the squash and nuts in your cooking, so it is economical too.
857690
Don't stress over this!  I once went to a party where 6 people sat in the kitchen, 8 at 2 card tables in the living room, and 2 bedrooms had a card table in each.  There  were 22 people in this apartment!  We all had someone to talk to, and there were 3 different kinds of dishes and silverware.  The food was set out on the counter, and everyone helped themself and went to sit and eat.\n\nAfter dinner was over, the tables were cleared from the living room, and everyone sat around in there, bringing some of the chairs from the other rooms.  We all had a good time, and no one thought a thing that we weren't all sitting together to eat.\n\nIt's the getting together that matters the most.  Don't do the plastic silverware and paper plates!  Borrow what you need from someone.  Just try to relax and have a good time.  \n\nMy daughter had a large party a couple of times.  She borrowed two card tables and some sat in the living room.  \n\nI know it's disappointing when you planned it to be rather fancy, but believe me, no one is going to mind that you do it another way.  \n\n\nHave a great Thanksgiving!
796087
I just finished our menu last night and besides every food you mentioned (which we will have) our family also requires:  pan gravy; sage dressing; a pineapple dressing that is more like a souffle; a butternut squash casserole made with sour cream, butter and onions; a fruit salad that is combined with a base of marshmallows, sour cream and coconut that has previously set for 24 hours so that they combine into a thick and stable sweet cream that won't turn into a liquid; pickles (dill and sweet); olives (black and green);  both pumpkin AND pecan pie plus a required cherry pie and pumpkin cake roll.  I will also have a tray of crudities and dip that guests can nibble on if they can't wait until dinner (which is usually around 1pm to accommodate those that must watch football.)\n\nI know it sounds like a lot (and it is) but then we ususally have a gathering of from 13 to 24.  Even with a 20-27 pound turkey we rarely have many leftovers which is rather upsetting because isn't the whole reason we have turkey on Thanksgiving is for the sandwiches we get to have the rest of the week?
855745
This is what I do every year. I start by brushing butter all over the turkey and placing the turkey on a roasting rack in a roasting pan upside down(breastside down). Roast for 3/4 of the total cooking time and then carefully turn over with the help of others. Continue roasting until finished and please, please let your turkey rest for at least 20 mins. before carving so that the juices redistribute throuout the meat. If you cut into it right away, all the juices come out and you will have a tasteless dry turkey. Roasting it upside down lets all the juices from the dark meat fall into the white meat. It works every time and you will not roast your turkey any other way. Good Luck!!!   BTW.....you can do this with two smaller turkeys also.