Giving Thanks

This year, we'll be hosting a small group of friends and family at home, and I am sharing cooking duties with my friend Laura, (lucky us, she makes amazing pumpkin pie!) so as to make everything easier.  I am responsible for the turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and a vegetable.  The veggie was going to be green beans, but on The Husband's request, has been converted to sweet corn pudding.  I will also be making a cheesecake as that is traditional for The Husband and his sister.  Laura is bringing mashed potatoes, a sweet potato thing that sounds amazing, the aforementioned pumpkin pie, and corn muffins.  Yummm!  We'll also have a crab plate, which is a traditional thing for The Husband's family, for folks to munch on in the hours before dinner as they watch football or assist the cook or whatever they are doing.

I will do my Uncle George's patented paper bag turkey cooking method, my own bread-based celery, shallot, apple, pecan and thyme stuffing, both cranberry sauce and cranberry relish, and the cheesy corn pudding bake that evokes my grandmother's homemade midwestern creamed corn.  I'll make gravy from the drippings   as well.  So looking forward to it!