Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Here's my menu

As I write this I'm thinking of all the millions of Canadians cooking their turkeys and getting ready to have their family and friends over for dinner. I cooked and celebrated with my family and friends last night and had as usual the most divine time.

The appetizers:

Cream cheese with walnuts and honey crostini: Slice a baguette into 1/4 inch slices, rub with olive oil and coast in the oven until it's just toasted. Take out of the oven and cool. Smear a healthy tablespoon of cream cheese on all the little toasts, top with a couple of walnuts each, put onto a platter then pour a little honey over the toast. Very yummy.

Devils on Horseback: 2-3 cups of pitted dates, pecans split in half length-wise, small slices of bacon to wrap dates. Put 1/2 pecan into date and wrap with 1 inch long bacon slice. Repeat and put onto a baking sheet. Cook in a 350 degree oven until bacon is crisp or how you like it, 20-25 minutes. Drain on a paper towel andd serve.

The turkey: We had it deboned again, like we did last year. It's so much easier to carve. I simply massaged a little olive oil into the turkey with some Kosher salt and paprika. I usually pour a 1:1 ratio of milk to brandy over the turkey to soften up the meat, but I found this simple rub just as lovely.

Sausage Stuffing: My mom made our family favourite sausage stuffing and tucked it underneath the bird. We lined the pan with parchment paper first. The stuffing gets a little greasy, so next time I'm going to put the stuffing into a small casserole underneath the turkey that would fit into the pan.

Gravy: A little flour, cream, and red wine.

Corn Casserole: 2 cans of corn, 2 cans of cream corn, one bag of shredded Tex Mex Cheese, 4 eggs, 1/2 tsp. of dried mustard, 1 tsp. smoked paprika, 1 cup of flour, salt and pepper. Grease up a casserole, mix up all of the above and pour into the prepared casserole. Top with buttered Panko breadcrumbs and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. This is always a hit with all my guests.

Creamed Onions: Boil 14 Spanish onions (do one per person) in a hot pot of water until the centre pops out. Drain. In a slow cooker add the onions, three jars of Alfredo sauce and 1 package of Philly cream cheese. Put on low and let cook until dinner time, stirring occassionally.

Yams stuffed into hollowed out oranges: Cook up two big yams in the oven, cut in half and mash the flesh. Add two eggs, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 2 tbsp. of sugar or artificial sweetener, 1/4 cup of orange juice (that you can get from the oranges you scoop) salt and pepper. Cut oranges into half and scoop out the orange flesh. I first squeeze out the juice into a cup. Once the hollowed out orange halves are scooped, fill with yams and top with a couple of pecans. Cook for 1/2 hour at 350 degrees in the oven.

For dessert my family made a gorgeous variety, but I'll have to get their recipes at another time. I also served store bought pumpkin pie to save me some time.