Feasting!

As usual, one of the weekends near my birthday, I have a dinner party for some of my girlfriends - this year was no exception, although I did alter the menu slightly to go with a Thanksgiving theme. Usually, I cook a vegetarian feast, as one of my good friends is a vegetarian. This year, she was unable to make it (and I knew that in advance), so I decided to go with a Thanksgiving theme, as I'd been thinking about Thanksgiving anyway - it's always a bit after my birthday, but still fairly close. In the end, I invited a different vegetarian friend, kind of at the last minute, so perhaps I should have gone with a veggie theme anyway, but it was too late by then...

Here's a photo of the whole table, above, and a breakdown of the food below:

Obviously, there was a turkey. I did a crown (basically just the breast; wings and legs have been removed - much smaller and cooks much faster, so more practical in many ways) - I wrapped it in bacon to keep it moist while cooking...

Also did chantenay carrots, sweet potatoes (just baked in their skins, nothing fancy), 

a green bean casserole, some cornbread, 

and my mother's sage & onion bread stuffing - some in the end of the turkey, and some in a dish. There's no real recipe for the stuffing - it's just bread, celery and onion finely blitzed, sage, melted butter, egg, salt and pepper. Basic stuffing, but extremely yummy. I really must make it from time to time when I e.g. roast a chicken and not just at Christmas/other special occasions.

I also made my take on my mom's cranberry & orange relish (which turned out really well, though not really exactly like hers - mine was more jelled) - this has chopped cranberries, pineapple and apples and orange juice, with orange jelly (jello) - it worked well - nice and tart and fruity.  There was also some regular cranberry sauce from a jar. 

And of course, you've already seen what was for dessert!