Karen AKA KajiKit wrote:
> Help! It's my first thanksgiving in the USA and I have no idea
> whatsoever about what's required. I'd hoped that we'd be invited to a
> 'proper' thanksgiving someplace else but none of his family came up to
> bat, so I have to do it for us. We bought a 4-1/2 pound fresh turkey
> breast (the smallest they had in the store), some potatoes and a sweet
> potato to roast. What else do we need? In Australia turkey is a
> christmas dish, but I've never been the one to do the cooking - my
> uncle or my mother has! How do I roast the beast without ruining it?
>
> What else do I need to buy at the market tonight to make this a
> 'proper' thanksgiving dinner?
>
> BTW, there are only two of us, so we don't want to overload... we'll
> be eating turkey for at least a week as it is!


To make it a proper Thanksgiving dinner, I'm afraid you'll have to go
out and get yourself a bunch of irritating or argumentative relatives.
A truly traditional Thanksgiving consists of at least one participant
who goes overboard with cleaning, cooking and other preparations, then
ruins everything by complaining about how unappreciated she feels.
You'll also need a bunch of guys watching football on t.v. and some
energetic children making noise, running around and (bonus points)
breaking things.


But back to your question. There are tons of variations, but the basic
Thanksgiving dinner consists of turkey (though a smaller fowl may be
substituted), some sort of stuffing or dressing (many variations on the
recipe), a roasted orange vegetable (you chose sweet potato, but I think
a winter squash is more appropriate), another vegetable (again, usually
cooked in the oven though stove top is possible-- maybe green beans,
spinach or brussels sprouts), and pie for dessert (apple, pumpkin or pecan).


If you want to get fancy, try to incorporate these ingredients into the
menu somewhe apple, corn, cranberry, pecan, pumpkin, winter squash.
So you might have a corn bread stuffing, pecan muffins and apple pie
or corn as a side dish, apples in the stuffing and pumpkin pie.


--Lia