You can kind of see my spread in this picture. For appetizers, we had shrimp cocktail, cheeseball, and fruit.
The table being set. I don't know what we would have done without Jaci's decorations. It was gorgeous. I had nothing to do with the decorating. My job is in the kitchen. Steve and his mom did it all and his sister, Kristin, set the table.
He was sleepy. : )
As people were sitting down.
This is the only picture of the food, and it is not that good of a picture. Boo. Oh well, next year I will put someone else in charge of the camera.
Now for the recipes:
Appetizers:
Cheeseball w/ crackers (prepared Friday)
Cheeseball:
8 oz. softened cream cheese
1 lb bacon, cooked crispy, crumbled
2 T sweet relish, drained
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T finely chopped onion or dried minced onion
Garlic salt to taste
Combine all ingredients. Form into a ball and roll in cheddar cheese.
Shrimp Cocktail
Summer Sausage, Cheese, and Crackers
Dinner:
Good Eats Roast Turkey
1 Turkey
For the brine (Friday):
1 C kosher salt
½ C light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock (I used chicken broth)
1 T black peppercorns
½ T allspice berries
½ T candied ginger (I used crystallized ginger)
1 gallon iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
½ onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 C water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
(Friday Morning) Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
6-8 hours before roasting: Combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket or cooler. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
(Saturday) A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird with canola oil. We just rinsed the turkey inside and out, rubbed it with butter, stuffed it with the aromatics, and then we used a turkey bag for cooking. It was a lot easier and cooked a lot faster.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double later of foil and return to oven, reducing temp to 350 degrees. Cook until done. Let rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving. We followed the directions for how long to cook it in the bag.
Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes (Friday)
5 lbs Russet Potatoes
1 ½ sticks butter
1 8 oz. pkg (softened) cream cheese
½ to ¾ C Half & Half
Salt & Pepper
Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Boil the potatoes for 30-35 minutes until tender.
Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing the steam to escape. I used my potato ricer I got as a wedding present. I "riced" the potatoes into a large bowl.
Turn off the stove and add 1 ½ sticks of butter, 1 8 oz package cream cheese and about ½ C Half & Half. Mash together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir well and place in a medium sized baking dish and top it off with a few pats of butter. Cover with foil and refrigerate.
Remove from refrigerator several hours before heating in order for it to take off some of the chill. Heat in a 350 degree oven until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.
Gravy – Grandma Barb (Saturday)
Dressing – Jaci (Saturday)
“Spanish” Green Beans (Saturday) Also from The Pioneer Woman
4 cans whole green beans
2 cans whole tomatoes
1 medium onion
1/3 package (5 slices) bacon
Cayenne Pepper
Slice the bacon up into 1 inch pieces and start cooking them in a large skillet or Dutch oven on medium low heat. Keep cooking until bacon turns brown. Meanwhile, dice 1 medium onion. When the bacon is beginning to turn brown, drain some of the fat and then add the onion. Cook, stirring now and then, until bacon and onion are both turning a nice golden.
Drain the green beans and add them right into the pan with the bacon and onion. Next, throw in the 2 cans of whole tomatoes with their juices. Stir around gently and then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 45 minutes.
When they are finished cooking, add Cayenne pepper to taste, up to about ¼ of a teaspoon for a hotter dish. Stir gently and serve.
Fresh Corn and Wild Rice – Adrienne - Again, from The Pioneer Woman
2 C cooked wild rice (Friday)
3-4 C fresh corn kernels (scraped off the cob) (Friday)
2 eggs, beaten
1 C heavy cream
1-2 t. kosher salt
Cayenne pepper to taste (~ ¼ t.)
6 T. butter
½ to 1 C milk, for thinning
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook wild rice in chicken broth until almost done. Rice should still have a firm (but not crunchy) bite. Drain rice and allow to cool. I did this on Friday and stored it in the fridge over night.
Scrape corn kernels into a large mixing bowl (I also did this on Friday). Add in cream, butter, beaten eggs, salt, and cayenne pepper. Stir together.
Add in cooled wild rice, stirring gently. Splash in milk so that mixture is stirrable, but not overly juicy.
Taste for seasonings, adding more salt or cayenne pepper if needed.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until just turning golden brown on top and mixture is somewhat set. I didn't cover it with foil and I regret that since the top layer of rice got pretty crunchy, so next time I will cover it.
Glazed Mini Carrots – Adrienne (Saturday) I doubled this recipe.
1 lbs. mini carrots
1/3 C. water
1 T honey
2 t. butter
Salt
1 T lemon juice
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Combine carrots, water, honey, butter, and salt in a large skillet. Bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Cover and cook until tender, 5-7 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring often, until the liquid is a syrupy glaze, 1-2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Deviled Eggs - Jane
12 oz. cranberries
1 C white sugar (I used ½ white sugar and ½ brown sugar)
¾ C-1C Orange Juice
In a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries and cook until the cranberries start to pop (10-20 minutes). For the last couple of minutes I stirred in a little cornstarch mixed with a little orange juice to insure that it would thicken up. Remove from heat and mash it a little. Place sauce in bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
7 Layer Salad - Jane
Sweet Potatoes - Jane
Rolls - Jaci
Dessert:
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Sour Cream Raisin Bars (I think is what they are called)
My other Mother in Law, Teresa, brought dessert which made my life so much easier since I am not yet a baker.
Thanks everyone for helping out!! I really appreciated it!!
I had a lot of stuffing left over or that I couldn't fit in the chicken. 
