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Maybe I'll e-mail the link to my mom and my husband. There is always Christmas. :D

Gator Pam you are awesome but, now I have to buy a crock pot instead of just borrowing one from my parenits. That means I have to find a home for one in my cabinet :(

Late to the party on this one, but here goes... about six years ago, my mom's new boyfriend came to our family Thanksgiving for the first time with his nine-year-old son. My family is fairly uptight, so this guy had everyone's eyebrows raised with his motorcycle-ridin', rock'n'rollin' ways. We're at the feast, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are tolerating him, and our quietly formal Thanksgiving meal is proceeding, when all of a sudden during a lull in conversation the nine-year-old goes "Hey, Daddy, remember when I found cocaine on your dresser?" Completely out of the blue. Ensue awkward silence. The boyfriend finally musters a halfhearted, "I don't know what you're talking about, son," to which the kid responds, "Yes, you do! It was in a little baggie and you said it was Uncle Dave's." The boyfriend was speechless. The entire table cracked up, and someone changed the subject, but it was never forgotten.

That was not the last Thanksgiving we had with them, but unfortunately, nobody ever told any more drug stories.

Thanks for all of the great ideas! I know the meal isn't traditional but we're having the standard turkey, gravy, etc at the BF's parents and my parents aren't huge on the traditional foods - we like to change things up. Last year was Cuban food and the year before my mom made corned beef and cabbage! I'll have to decide what I'm going to add (the creamed onions sound fantastic and I can't believe I didn't think about pre-meal snacks) and don't worry, wine is a given!

@erinlovestoeat
Thanks for the recipe!
Uncooked pasta, huh? I do that with oven baked lasagna, but not pasta in the crockpot.

@hmw0029
Not all that big. I set a folding table out in the carport when I use them all at one time. Storage can be a problem, but we thankfully have a large laundry/extra room for things like that.

@Italiancupcake
Thanks. A member here did keep me updated as to the requests for me to return. I was just too embarrassed at not learning forum protocol and causing a bit of a raucous within only a few weeks of joining that I needed to get past my own feeling of humiliation. It's only been a day or two; I'm really trying to not repeat my previous posting mistakes. 8)

Please, please, please...
Keep in mind the Vanilla Glazed Sweet Potatoes have *not* been tried in the crockpot yet. I can post the original oven recipe, if you would prefer to have the tried and true...

you need something fresh...

a salad is not lackluster. It all depends how simple or how ellaborate you want to make it. I like a sort of Nicoise salad... I make it without the tuna, but I include everything else - lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, roasted peppers, carrots, onions, radishes, boiled potatoes, etc.

In keeping a bit with your Mediterranean flavors of the rosemary chicken, you could have a version of caprese salad adding romaine lettuce to it or even a fancier version of a Ceasar salad with a citrus ceasar dressing.

I assure you, something fresh will be very welcome and balancing to all the starchy sides you'll be having. Bon Appetit...

I think some people misunderstood the question since she did not ask what she should remove from her menu, rather what she should add.

I think onions as their own side would be a nice addition. You could go the creamed onion route, or something lighter. I recently made onions that are slowly braised in sugar, seasonings and vinegar. It was particularly good-- if you want me to post the recipe let me know.

The wine and gravy is missing! Another side wouldn't hurt. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes and maybe cornbread are typical for the savory starches.

Stay seasonal with Autumn flavors. No lemon. And unless you're of Latin heritage, I don't know why you decided on black beans and rice. It's not a traditional Thanksgiving side. I'm only saying this because rice and beans and mashed potatoes on the same plate doesn't really pair well.

The night before Thanksgiving a few years ago, my husband and I went to visit his best friend and brother, who had come down from New York to visit their family for the holidays. The BF's brother had recently entered a culinary school, so he had been tagged as primary chef during the visit. Amidst numerous drinks, my husband and I went scrounging through the fridge to find munchies; we found a large container of what we were told was french onion soup, so we heated it up. Much to our disappointment, the soup was fairly tasteless, so we threw it out.

The next night, we received a rather irate call from said brother, which was when we found out we'd thrown out his duck stock for the dinner. I'm still partially mortified when he brings up the story.

I once (mis-)made a turkey that when pierced with a carving knife the bird literally fell apart. A cloud of gray smoke rose as the halves of the turkey fell exhausted to each side. Only the bare-boned, over-cooked carcass was left standing. I'd only ever seen a turkey do that in the movies. But I had filled it with a deliciously-spicy, Laotian, herbed stuffing. Here's the recipe. http://ow.ly/DsOt

A properly steamed, uncleaned, whole, female lobster.

YESSSSS! When I buy lobsters I ask for females and my shopping trip usually turns out to be a lobster anatomy lesson.

Traditionally, my extended family, 20-25 ppl, come to my home every Thanksgiving for a home-cooked turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I usually prepare ten to 12 dishes, all from scratch, including desserts.

Last year, as we all sat down at the dinner table to share the meal, my nephew's wife (who's own expertise at preparing a meal is pretty much limited to calling for takeout pizza), reached into her handbag, pulled out an Oscar Meyer bologna sandwich on Wonder Bread, and handed it to her 6-year-old son, as his Thanksgiving dinner.
I was a little insulted at the time, but now I laugh about it.

My funniest Thansgiving moment was the first Thanksgiving that my parents went away to visit family and my brother, his girlfriend and I had to make dinner ourselves. The girlfriend was determined to make her dad's famous stuffing and misread the recipe, adding many tablespoons of Bell's seasoning instead of a couple of teaspoons. Yikes!!!!!
Fortunately for all of us by the time the entire meal was finally cooked we were all too tired to eat so we put it all away and went back to bed.