The Grateful Table

What plans do you have for your Thanksgiving meal this year?  I've been squirreling away recipes for a month — and I'm about to make a final trip to the grocery store, so it's time to finalize the menu.

The Pre-Meal Snack: Bacon-wrapped apricots and Greek olives. (I'm not sure Greek olives are all that Thanksgivingy, but I like them and I'm the cook, so I'm going with it.)

The Main Event: Orange-rosemary roasted turkey (all 14 lbs. of it, which, now that I think about it, does seem like a lot for two people).

The Gravy: The usual recipe: pan juices and a little flour, stock and water.

The Other Stuff on the Table: Unfussy Fare's cranberry chutney,  Closet Cooking's glazed carrots, sausage stuffing (at Ben's request), something green (can you tell this isn't my favorite part?), my mom's mashed potatoes (no lumps, lots of butter) and maybe a loaf of bread baked in the Dutch oven.

The Best Part: A take on Smitten Kitchen's take on the Lee Brothers' take on sweet potato buttermilk pie.  Confession: I don't like pie crust that much.  So I'm thinking of baking the filling, which sounds lovely, in small ramekins and calling it crustless pie.  Or something like that.

The Next Day: I love a good turkey sandwich, but I'm also thinking about Monday Morning Potato Bread (made with leftover mashed potatoes), turkey samosas and maybe a little turkey soup (made with stock made from the carcass — uh, and the turkey neck).  Yes, I've decided I'm using that darn turkey neck this year.  I'm feeling a little weird about it, but I'm determined.

And for Breakfast: Apple cider donuts.  My first donut making attempt.  It seems like overkill to make donuts on Thanksgiving, but I'm throwing caution to the wind.

Here's my only concern.  Christopher Kimball insists that I need a V-rack for roasting my turkey, and I usually trust what C.K. says.  However, I don't have a V-rack.  Since I only make a turkey once a year, it seems a little silly to buy one.  And if I did buy one, there's not an inch of space to store it in the kitchen.  We'd be putting it under the bed or in the water heater closet.  I was planning on just plopping the turkey down on some onions and carrots.  Think that's okay?  Don't tell Christopher.