Over the river and through the woods...

Actually, I don't have to go over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house or to anywhere else. I'll be staying RIGHT HERE for Thanksgiving, thank you very much. This will be our seventh year hosting Thanksgiving. We'll be 14 for dinner, and then my sister-in-law, her husband, and our nieces will join us for dessert.

The menu will have a couple of additions to it this year. My brother's girlfriend is vegan, so she's offered to bring a vegan-friendly soup and salad. In turn, I'm making sure that some of the veggies I'm making are dairy-free so she can have them, and I think I'll make my quick chocolate cake, which is dairy-free as well.

My experiment this year is going to be with the mashed potatoes. I usually boil them, then mash them - technically, I guess, I whip them - in my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer. However, I bought a potato ricer a few weeks ago, after having some fantastic mashed potatoes at Lompoc Cafe in Bar Harbor, Maine. I loved the texture of them, so I'm going to give this a whirl. I thought it best, however, not to give it a whirl for the first time ON Thanksgiving, so mashed potatoes are on tonight's dinner menu.

So, the menu is currently looking like this:

Cheese and crackers
Veggies and dip
Shrimp cocktail (and yes, I already have the cocktail sauce on hand)

Vegetable-Rice Soup
Salad
Turkey (we ordered a 25-pounder from Raymond's Turkey Farm)
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Butternut squash puree (made today - it's in the freezer)
Green beans
Maybe another veggie - baked carrots or steamed broccoli? Not sure we need it.
Cranberry sauce - homemade and canned
Dinner rolls

Assorted pies (at least four, at last count)
Chocolate cake
Pumpkin whoopie pies (recipe coming soon)
Ice cream

I feel like I've got a good handle on things. I'll post later about the mashed potatoes!