Thanksgiving plans were a bit elusive this year, and due to some complications at the last minute I decided that, contrary to our initial plans, I would just make Thanksgiving dinner myself.

This is not something I normally ever do. I have a mother and a mother-in-law who are both very good at planning and executing large family meals, and we always benefit from their Thanksgiving expertise. My expertise lies more along the lines of casseroles, pancakes, and desserts. Which I suppose could be served on Thanksgiving, but I was itching to try to something more traditional.

Like, you know, a turkey.

(Oh, and by the way. I had only made one turkey in my entire life before this Thanksgiving.)

So I jotted down some ideas and got to work.

Step one in my dinner-planning was to gather recipes.

I don’t know about you, but I have about a million hundred cookbooks. Seriously, cookbooks abound in my house. But did I open any of them in my search for Thanksgiving recipes?

No. I turned to the Internet. I don’t really know why I turned to the Internet first, but it could be because:

• My laptop is practically attached to my fingers, so the Internet was just handy
• Recipe sites usually include reviews by “real people,” so I can weed through recipes, find advice, and learn about others’ results before I try something new
• It’s much faster to type some words into Google than to go searching through book index after book index or paging through cookbook after cookbook

Whatever the reason, it didn’t take long before I had my list of recipes. I hit the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients, and spread out my prep work over the two days leading up to Thanksgiving. Since all the dishes went over well with my family, I thought I’d share them with you (along with my thoughts and reactions). Just in case you suddenly find yourself in charge of Thanksgiving dinner one year.

The Turkey

We are big fans of the Food Network show, Good Eats. So I couldn’t pass up the chance to try Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe (initially shown in the Romancing the Bird episode). This recipe involved brining (something I’d never done) and ignoring the pop-up timer on the bird (something that made me a bit nervous).

Preparing the brine was easy. The hard part was fitting the giant tub-o-brine, complete with soaking turkey, in my refrigerator. With a little creative arrangement, though, I did it, and I have to say that it was worth it.

This turkey was possibly the juiciest turkey I’ve ever had (with no basting required!). The only problem we ran into was that the very bottom of the turkey was not quite as done as I would have liked. I followed Alton’s recipe to the letter, except that I placed the rack on a stoneware sheet pan, rather than a metal one, since that’s all I had. And I think not having that reflective surface caused the bottom of the bird to not keep up with the rest of it. Just to be safe, we tossed that part of the turkey, and enjoyed the rest. Next time, I’ll get a metal sheet pan, because this recipe is one I’ll want to use again. Very yummy.

The Stuffing

My goal was to keep Thanksgiving dinner fairly simple and not overwhelming. So the idea of preparing stuffing in the crockpot definitely appealed to me. I decided to go with a Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. My husband loves cornbread, and the whole thing looked easy.

I made the cornbread two days before Thanksgiving and then wrapped it very loosely in plastic wrap, to allow it to get stale. I chopped my veggies Wednesday night, so on Thanksgiving, all I had to do was assemble everything in the crockpot after I got the turkey in the oven. Incredibly easy. And everyone seemed to enjoy it. The only thing I did differently was to make 2 batches of cornbread. I ended up using about 1 1/2 of them in the stuffing.

The Potatoes

I knew what I was looking for in a potato recipe: marshmallows. Personally, I don’t mind marshmallows, but all three of the guys I live with absolutely love marshmallows, so I wanted to indulge them. I used a very basic recipe — Sweet Potato Casserole II from AllRecipes.com — and it was a big hit.  I left out the orange juice, but we didn’t miss it. I think they tasted great without.

Though I didn’t do anything in advance for this recipe, it would be easy to make ahead. Just cook the sweet potatoes, and blend them with the sugar, butter, etc. the day before. Then on Thanksgiving, just spoon them into a casserole dish, top with marshmallows, and bake.

Fruit

I happen to have a 3-year-old who is a picky eater. Fortunately, though, he loves fruit and most vegetables. So when I was planning our dinner, I wanted to make sure I had something else for him to enjoy, since I was pretty sure he’d be ignoring the turkey and stuffing.  I found this recipe for Winter Fruit Medley and decided it looked like the perfect choice. It was easy, tasty, and L. gobbled up lots of it.

Other Sides

I went with store-bought rolls and steamed veggies to round out our meal — nothing fancy or complicated. And my mom brought her homemade Cranberry Applesauce — one of her holiday traditions, and something we all look forward to devouring every year. (Thanks, Mom!)

The Dessert

Though I don’t usually cook Thanksgiving dinner, I do usually make some kind of dessert. I’ve been making this Pumpkin Cheesecake for several years now. Yes, I know, it’s not the traditional Pumpkin Pie, but I happen to love it, and so far, I haven’t heard any complaints from others. I serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream, and Thanksgiving evening usually finds us seeking out seconds of this yummy dessert.

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Yes, I know I’m a very inexperienced Thanksgiving cook. So I was very happy to have the handy Internet available to provide recipes for my attempt at putting together an actual holiday dinner. I hope there’s something here that you can enjoy, too!