Thanksgiving Menu… (Need any last minute ideas?)

While trying to come up with some uber creative post, I have failed.  The only thing on my mind right now (& probably yours too) is cleaning house, prepping for our family & the FOOD!  So I figured I’d share a few of the recipes the Hub’s & I will be preparing for tomorrow’s all important dinner.  Just in case you are still looking for an idea or two…
The Bird:
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We live in the south, & no we don’t fry everything, but when it comes to our Turkey there is no other option. The hub’s has perfected this technique over the past 6 years & it is oh so delicious.  I don’t know all of the specifics on this bad boy as I am usually inside baking while the boys are outside playing over hot oil & fire, but I do know the day before our Turkeys get injected with Italian dressing & then before he goes in for a spa, seasoned flour is added the skin by tossing it in a garbage bag.  So tender & juicy with two birds don in less than an hour and a half.  On the safety note, the Hub’s sets up a whole frying station away from the house & usually has more than one fire extinguisher present.  
We saw this recipe a few nights ago while planning our menu & decided to give this a try.  Our dressings the past few years have been kinda meh.  We made a batch to see if it fit the bill & folks we have a winner!  filled with mushrooms (my favorite) this stuffing is moist & delicious even before it goes into the oven.  Our neighbor can testify to that as he took a bowl full home as he was leaving last night.  However, we can’t leave a recipe well enough alone.  We did add some celery & carrots when cooking the onions.  Dressing isn’t dressing without celery, carrots & onions.  Also we added more chicken stock to make sure it was super moist. 
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I absolutely HATE that can jelly shaped thing & swore I didn’t like Cranberry Sauce.  Wrong!!!  After making this last year I could have eaten the whole bowl by myself.  Plus, it couldn’t be easier to make.  You simply add 2 bags of whole cranberries, the juice & the zest of an orange, 1/3 cup of sugar & 1/4 cup of Grand Marnier into a sauce pan & let cook over Medium High for about 20 minutes.  The cranberries pop open while cooking & create this thick delicious sauce.  I recommend cooking this a day in advance (or a few hours at least) as this is just one of those recipes that just gets better the longer it sits.
Some new recipes we are trying this year are:
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes instead of our classic Sweet Potato Mash.
Desserts:
The standard Pumpkin Pie will be present as well as a new favorite the Caramel Apple Pie that I am going to attempt a herringbone crust like on Style me Pretty’s pie…
Hot off the Press: SMP Thanksgiving. A guide to a flawless Thanksgiving chock full of recipes, shopping guides, timelines and tips galore. Read it right here: http://www.stylemepretty.com/magazine/2012-thanksgiving/  Photography by http://www.whiteloftstudio.com/
Click the image to see some amazing ideas from the ever stylish Style Me Pretty.
I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving full of family, friends & amazing food!  Safe travels to all of your destinations near or far.  And to those of you hosting, relax.  Everything will turn out just fine (even if something does get burned!)
xo-