Hosting my First Thanksgiving

It's official. I'm a grown-up. I have offered to host Thanksgiving for the first time ever!

This is a huge step for Mike and I. We usually spend Thanksgiving at my parent's house with a minimum of 18 people (including various members of my extended family.) To christen our 1st home Thanksgiving (and finally break in all that fancy China from the wedding) we will host a total of 6 people in our 2-bedroom apartment: my parents, my brother, my father-in-law, Mike and myself. I am both nervous, excited, antsy and exhilarated!!!!

So here's where I need your help, people! I need your tips on cooking Thanksgiving dinner in a small kitchen with only one oven. I've already delegated some dishes to our guests: My parents will bring the pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes, my bro will provide the dinner rolls and all-important beer, and my father-in-law will bring a simple appetizer of cheese and crackers. That leaves the turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and green beans up to us. I am strongly considering cooking at least one of the items in a crock pot. I have 2 crock pots, so I could definitely use both for this. Also, my toaster is a toaster OVEN, and while I've never used it as an actual oven, this might be an option. Not sure if it's big enough to cook anything substantial though. I've also considered buying one of those oven racks, which allows you to stack multiple dishes on one side of the oven --- though I'm not sure if that would fit in the oven along with the turkey, or if it would just make a crowded mess. I think I'll have to take some measurements before my trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond this weekend...

What I'd really like from you, dear readers, are tips on defrosting/brining the turkey when you have zero freezer/fridge space. I have a couple of ideas. I can either buy a frozen turkey 3 - 4 days prior to the feast and defrost it in a cooler with ice on my back porch for a few days. Or I could buy the turkey fresh a day or two prior, and just keep it chilled in the cooler on the porch. Thoughts? I really want to try brining the turkey (which is basically soaking the turkey in a salt-water bath (brine) for about a day, which I hear keeps the meat nice and moist) but I'm not sure the best way to go about this. I guess I could dunk the turkey in a garbage bag of the salt-water and plop it in the cooler for a day or two. But how much brining is too much brining? :-/

If you stop by my place over the next 2 weeks, I can almost guarantee you will find me on the couch watching Food Network, ready with a pad and pen. They just started running their annual Thanksgiving specials and I hope to pick up lots of tips. I'm the kind of gal who feels a lot more confident after I've done my research. Even though I will probably not use 95% of the tips/techniques/recipes I'll see over the next two weeks, I will at least feel confident that I COULD use them if I wanted to. Knowledge is power. (You should have seen my DVR in the months prior to my wedding.... nothing but "Who's Wedding Is It Anyway"and "Bridezilla"...what to do, and what NOT to do... insanity, I know...)

Wish me luck!