daydreaming of turkey

i don't know about you, but somedays i feel a little more grown up than others. i'm not sure what it is, but there are just certain days when i wake up feeling like i have my shit together and i'm more prepared to face the world with a smile than other days. on such days, i might even wake up a little earlier so i can have a cup of coffee and i might even wear pumps on such a day. I might even shower and wash my hair on one of these mornings (am i the only one who has come to hate doing this? it's not the being clean that i despise, it's all the grooming and drying and curling and lotioning bleh! i can't believe that i used to get up at 5am in high school to shower and wash my hair everyday...wth?) anyway, i digress. it just so happened, that on one of these crazy, put together kind of days that i said the unthinkable to my mom, "i think i'd like to be in charge of thanksgiving dinner this year." whaaaaatttttt?!!!!!i have to say that despite all the panic (what if i mess it up, what if i suck at cooking, what if i don't time things right) i am a still pretty excited about this. of course when we first we discussing said dinner, the plan was that we would have approximately 5-7 people. not bad right? slowly that number grew to 9, then 11 and now we are up to about 13, last i checked. i absolutely love holidays surrounded by a boatload of family and friends, everyone sitting around laughing, playing games, eating and relaxing, of course listening to some bing crosby. so, i was thrilled to find out that there would be more people, but this definitely means that a slight change of plans will be in order. we will need a few more dishes and i probably won't be wearing sweatpants all day.  oh also, we'll need to up the quantities so that we are sure that we, not only have enough food for the dinner, but have plenty enough for leftovers later and turkey pot pies the next day.knowing the women who will be attending, i will be shocked if this menu doesn't grow generously by the day of, but here's what we are thinking so far:

signature drink: mulled wine

appetizers - provided by my mama

smoked salmon - smoked by my amazing dad

menu

roasted beet and field greens salad w/candied walnuts, gorgonzola and balsamic maple vinaigrette

additional delicious salad - provided by auntie donna

turkey roulade 3 ways

1. stuffed with traditional cornbread stuffing

2. stuffed with wild rice and cranberries and pecans

3. stuffed with prosciutto, pine nuts, basil and fontina

 sweet potato casserole w/praline topping

 brown butter and sage bread stuffing

scalloped corn pudding

whipped red potatoes with mascarpone

delicious green veggie - provided by emily haasl

turkey gravy

cranberry sauce

lefse

several kinds of pie - provided by my mama & colleen haasl (my other mama)

it has to be said, that the "making the menu" part is the easy part. it's not hard for me to sit at my cubicle and daydream about all the delicious dishes that you can make for one of the best food holidays of the year. so, that being said, planning and timing will be crucial. the nice thing about this menu is that i could essentially mix everything up and prepare a lot of it the day before so that on the day of, i can literally just pop things into the oven when i need to. i'm saying this, like i know what i'm doing. ha! i have never done a holiday meal (almost) by myself before, so this thanksgiving promises to be either a very well intended mess or the best impression of an experienced homemaker that i've ever pulled off! :) either way, i'll let you know how it all goes and will post pics and recipes if everything turns out a-ok.