Sounds good to me! Baked potatoes sound like less work overall than rolls, if you're looking to simplify.

I think your menu sounds perfect!

And I think it is beyond rude for your guests to ignore your requests for input. I mean really, you have a host that wants to cook specifically what you want and you ignore that?

I will never understand people....

Yeah, Colleen, you're right. That was a late addition of a thought. I have potatoes. Mr. Picky isn't all that picky if you give him something off the list of what he'll eat. :) That eliminates the redundancy of bread and stuffing.

Thanks, Amylou! Given your opinions on celebrations and vegetables, I take your endorsement as a very good sign. :)

I scored some nice green beans today. I hope they last a week.

I was planning to make and freeze the pie today, but I don't have any whole wheat flour for the crust, and white crust isn't as good, and there are pumpkins in front of the grain mill and I decided I could make crumble instead. Of course, I have plenty of time to get over myself and maybe murder a pumpkin and make the pie, but now that I thought of it, I really want to eat crumble, but it's sweeter and maybe not the best thing after a big dinner, plus, it's better with ice cream. i have plenty of cream and eggs, but I hadn't planned on ice cream. Maybe I should make pear crumble just for us. Yeah. That's a good idea!

I'm just all a dither!

Why not serve simple but good crispy roast potatoes with your beef and veg? A simple starter, a delicious main and your pie for dessert. Aren't your latkes a lot of work?

Nah, IC, Andrew Zimmern's Killer Potato Latkes are a lot of work. I'm not making them! Regular ol' latkes, of which zucchini is a subset, are dead easy, especially with a good FP. Just messy. But I'm going to make them well ahead and freeze the overs. That's part of why I don't have fridge space for a turkey! The way to keep latkes nice is to put them single high on parchment in a big container box, fridge or freezer. They do very well that way, and then one can just transfer them as is, paper and all, onto the baking sheet. If anything, they're better rewarmed than fresh out of the oil. :) Of course, they're good still frozen, and cold from the fridge and tepid left on the plate and any other temperature you might think of. If it were the mobs, I'd make 10 lbs. potatoes Killer latkes, and about half that of sweet potato and red onion, plus a pound or two's worth of zucchini.

I can't imagine anyone eating more than two each, given that this is a sit down dinner, not a roaming latke party, so if I have three per person, it'll be more than plenty, and if there's more in the batch, I'll freeze them. I might put some potato in, especially if I need an extender, but I'm just doing the Cranberry Jezebel, rather than the apple sauce, pear sauce and sour cream. I think it'll go well with the zucchini.

For sure I could make a simpler meal, but this is for me, to make me feel happy and like it's an event, rather than just putting dinner on the table. That's why I didn't just dump the uncommunicative ones. Cancelling, wouldn't make me happy.

And they're family. One must take a deep breath and get over it. I can't tell y'all how much it helped to hear your supportive opinions on the matter. The sympathy really helped me get to letting it go. Thank-you!

So, Annie, that all is why. It'll be fun in the end. Tomorrow will be a better day, and minions will move the pumpkins. Advil is doing a bang-up job on the aches and pains, and it will be fun in the end. I'm thinking sous vide finished under the broiler for the meat. Or maybe vice versa, oven first. Yeah. That's a good idea.

I really appreciate all your reinforcement on the menu! I'll stop stressing over that, at least!

Stuffing and tritip don't go together to me....make the tritip a bird or bird parts and you are good. A little heavy on fried appies... Fried shrimp for Chanukka?? Really? Latkes and fried shrimp? Hamballs too? LOL!

Aah...never mind about the stuffing casserole, I see the turkey croquettes.

Sounds like a lot of mincing and chopping to me...croquettes are delicious but a roasted breast lots easier!

Linda, I very much appreciate your critical eye! Your points are on target. I think it's all good, though. The shrimp is for Mr. Picky. We love him and want him to have some protein, and that's the closest I can deal with. Agreed on the fried front end—fried food is traditional for Chanukah. I often have to provide kosher, or ”as if” kosher meals, but for this group I just don't, so Mr. Picky can have his fried shrimp. ;) The croquettes are for me. From boneless breast meat. It's only a little more chopping than for turkey salad. It tickles my fancy in the holiday mashup department. I have a hunk of a lovely loaf of bread nice and dry for the breadcrumbs and will use the FP to grate them.

It sounds like you've made up your mind already.

I would skip both the rolls and the bakes potato, since you have roasted parsnips and baby turnips. No need for any more root vegetables or starches.

I've never roasted spinach or kale - I would rather have those sautéed or in a salad. I would add those to the green salad rather than roast them. Personally, I find menus like these tend to skimp on the green salads, and that is one of the things I like best, after the zucchini latkes.

Anyway, that is my preference, and I realize that I do not have popular taste!

(I'm coming over! ) It sounds great. (It sounds like a lot of work.) Its great that you want to do all of it. I would honor at least some of the choices that the one person who responded requested. The rest should be happy that you're going through all the effort.

I put out an email with "what do you want to bring?" also. I got responses for several things, which is great.

BUT there were things not covered that, either hubby and I don't like and don't want as unused leftovers, such as sweet potatoes/yams and cranberry "sauce"

I offered to cook one yam for those who like them and buy a can of the cranberry stuff (I usually make it from scratch) and all negated.

I really want to go back to lasagna or crab for a holiday dinner! Hopefully Xmas!

Lars, not totally mind made up, but fairly well reassured by the first several responses that it'll be okay. It's definitely not a composed bill of fare. More scattershot some of everything good. The rolls or potato and brownies, like the shrimp, are things Mr. Picky will eat, and the others can if they want to. The tritip is for the red meat lovers and comes from the farm, so easy. The roasted vegetables were from the one respondent (I don't count Mr. Picky since everybody knows what he will and won't eat).

I love roasted greens, especially when they get charred and crunchy, so thanks for pointing out that maybe not everyone will. It's not something I make for a bigger group. I can definitely put the spinach, at least, in the salad. I make good salads. :)

Booberry, it's really not all that much work, but a lot of checking off lists. :) Thanks for the endorsement. I wish I could invite you. :) What's real work is sit down for three dozen, especially when one is minion deficient. Some are better kitchen help than others. :) But I have one trained to think it's his job to set the tables and put away (and count lest something fell behind the furniture) the clean dishes. Another who monitors the buffet and makes sure that refills keep coming. And that's when the turkey comes out. A 22 lb. turkey and a whole brisket are practically no work and always are enough. Sometimes, I change it up, however, because I get bored...

Nancyjane, I don't blame you! I remember that you said that about the lasagna and crab in another thread. :) I'm sure your people love when you nix the turkey and give them crab! What I learned in organizations, is it's best to plan what you want to serve and have people sign up for the items than leave it open ended. When the mob comes, I have one cousin who insists on bringing something, so I often ask for the after dinner cut fruit, and have some strawberries stashed in case something happens and they can't make it.