what the heck to make for Thanksgiving.
Let’s do it!
Oooh I almost didn’t share this but then I started thinking of all the Thanksgiving things I want to eat. Christmas and Thanksgiving are a close tie for my favorite holidays, and you KNOW Thanksgiving is only in there because of the food. That’s what it’s all about! It tastes like home, childhood, nostalgia and warm and fuzzy feelings. I like to eat warm and fuzzy feelings.
Would you think I’m insane if I asked you to list your ENTIRE Thanksgiving menu below in the comments? I’m sort of obsessed with menus in general. You should totally tell me yours. I’m a creep and want to know. Below are some of my favorite ideas – and you can find some tried and true reviews in the posts since they’ve been staples for a few years. I don’t host a full Thanksgiving myself yet… but I can’t wait for the day that I do. Really.
Cocktails, or as they should be called, necessities. My favorite is probably this apple cider sangria. My second favorite is an awesome pomegranate margarita. But you also can’t go wrong with these apple cider margaritas, an apple cider amaretto kiss, these cranberry vanilla ginger margaritas OR this pomegranate vanilla sangria. That last one is so, so good. And can be made ahead of time, woohoo!
Later this week, I’m going to share to DELICIOUS non-alcoholic punch recipe for your Turkey Day! Don’t worry. You can add booze if you’d like. I would like an IV of it right about now.
When it comes to appetizers and snacks, I’m pretty darn partial to a cheese plate. I have my favorite cheese plate design in Seriously Delish, but sometimes I also like to add some typical baked brie and crackers. If you want to do other dips, you can make the honey and fig gorgonzola dip I shared last week or these adorable little goat cheese truffles from a few years ago. One of my FAVES is this pomegranate jeweled cheeseball because not only does it taste ridiculous, it’s just so pretty. You can also go old school and stuff some mushrooms with spinach, bacon and artichokes.
I’m pretty sure that if you’re in doubt, just go with cheese.
Do you eat salad on Thanksgiving? I do not. Like I really want to ruin my plate that is swimming in gravy with SALAD. No thank you. Plus, I want all of the room for the traditional dishes and who knows how much space lettuce takes up. I mean, really man.
If you’re not a jerk like me though, and you like salad or want to serve an awesome salad, this autumn arugula salad can’t be beat. Except it maaaaaybe kind of can by this maple bacon brussels, pear and blue cheese salad. Both are pretty simple and you can arrange parts ahead of time and throw them together at the last minute. Eat your greens.
(Do as I say, not as I do.)
Soup? Another thing that I rarely have room for on Thanksgiving, but if you want to serve it in a shot glass, you and I are kindred spirits. You can do a smoky gruyere butternut soup or a sweet potato bisque with cinnamon sugar croutons. Another awesome recipe in Seriously Delish is the one for my amaretto butternut soup. GAH. It’s so good.
Bready things that can be doused in gravy because it’s the day to eat all the carbs? I’ve got you covered. We have sage butter biscuits or these too cute mini cream cheese and chive biscuits! Or blue cheese biscuits with pinot noir butter if you want to be fancy. Cranberry whole wheat biscuits are weird but good. You can make sweet potato honey dinner rolls or buttery cloverleaf rolls. My only issue with homemade rolls is that I reeeeeeeally feel strongly about them being best when made the day of. This is just me. It can take a good bit of work. Enlist the help of a friend and start the cocktails early. !!!!
I only have one turkey recipe, but if you have a smoker it’s the only one you need! This applewood smoked turkey with cider bourbon gravy is real life. You can do it with chicken too! I realize I’m getting out of control with the exclamation points.
And this is how you make the best darn gravy in the world.
This is how you make the best darn caramelized shallot and bacon gravy in the world.
This is how you drink the gravy. Just kidding. Kind of.
I talked a lot about potatoes on Monday. If I could only give you two choices for potatoes, I’d say make this lightened up sweet potato casserole or these cinnamon sugar hasselback sweet potatoes with an oatmeal cookie crumble. Other than that, visit here for potato central. Oh! Except these. Apple bacon stuffed sweet potatoes. People may be down.
Do you call it stuffing or dressing? I realize there are two different meanings, but I always call it stuffing. Do you prefer in the bird or out of the bird? I prefer in the bird, which freaks the majority of people out. It’s just… so.much.flavor. And moistness. There is no other word to describe it.
If you want to be super trendy, you can make a soft pretzel quinoa stuffing. Or you can make a double bread stuffing with bacon and sage! Or you can buy those pre-cubed stale bread bags at the grocery store like my mom does and make some of the best regular old stuffing ever. It’s true. It works.
GREEN THINGS. It’s still crazy that I like brussels sprouts, right? It’s crazy to me. If you have all the time in the world, you can fry them and serve with a smoky aioli. You can toast them with brown butter and pecans!
Lightened up green bean casserole always is huge. Add all the crispy onions in the world. How about adorable green bean bacon bundles? Why are they so cute? And since the world makes it’s possible for asparagus to be available all year round, this caramelized sesame bacon wrapped asparagus is TOPS.
Other non-traditional but delicious things include this sweet potato risotto and this butternut squash lasagna. Full disclosure: that lasagna is good but my version in the book is better. A pan is already waiting in my freezer! This year’s parmesan crusted butternut galette is making the rounds too. As is this spicy roasted squash with feta and herbs. I love ’em!
This might be one of the only holidays where I don’t consider dessert the most important decision. It’s still significant though, so we can’t pass it up. Are you a pie maker? I wish I was. I’m trying! I did make this cider bourbon apple pie with an oatmeal cookie crumble. I like crumbles on top. This pumpkin chocolate chip cookie pie is so good too. If you want to keep it simple: amaretto apple crisp or bourbon baked apples. If you’re a cookie monster: fudge striped peanut butter pumpkin cookies. They aren’t as weird as they sound, I swear.
This pumpkin s’mores tart is almost too pretty to eat.
Cake mood? Pumpkin s’mores cupcakes! I LOVE THESE. If you want to go super rich in mini portions, these sweet potato pie or bourbon pecan pie no-bake cheesecakes win win win.
Okay, now that I’ve officially overwhelmed myself, I think that is it. Can somebody make me one of each of these for Thanksgiving? I think that’s the only way to go.
78 Comments on “what the heck to make for Thanksgiving.”
Oh my gosh, this post is amazing. i’m overwhelmed too!! And hungry.
This post makes me want to jazz up our Thanksgiving dinner. But alas, our menu is pretty much set in stone – like 10 Commandments type stone. To deviate means my kids would boycott the holiday. We have all the standards -strait up mashed potatoes(no cheese or anything) green bean casserole (right from the French’s Fried Onion recipe) squash, peas, yeast rolls (family recipe) and all the standard pies: apple blueberry, custard and chocolate cream.Spoiler alert – there is no pumpkin pie. We don’t do pumpkin at our house, evah. We also always have a big dish of m&ms on hand (plain and peanut). I’m not sure how that tradition started but it is just as important as the turkey!
I as well am obsessed with people’s menus so thank you for sharing yours! Just in case you were wondering, we are totally friends in my head. Apparently the fact that the only interaction you and I have is me reading your blog means nothing in my brain.. oh well! This year, some crazy pregnant lady (aka me) had a maternal wave wash over me and I decided to feed the world for thanksgiving. Realistically, this will be my hubby and I and only like 2-3 extras, but I am making enough food for the world. Ps… I too am a jerk and refuse to serve salad on thanksgiving. Here goes!
Appetizers:
Sausage and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms (already made and in the freezer and Oh.My.Goodness. so good!
Various cheese and pickles and olives
Entrees and sides:
Roasted turkey
Stuffing (in the slow cooker)
Roasted Garlic mashed potatoes
Cheesy broccoli casserole
Ambrosia salad (I refuse to use fruit cocktail so I will be making this up on the fly)
My mother in laws rolls (a full batch will be necessary because we just eat that many)
Dessert: (If there is anything in this world I can cook and cook well, it’s pie!)
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Maple whiskey whipped cream
Somehow, all of this will be accomplished by my giant pregnant self in the span of… next week. Wish me luck!
And end the longest blog comment ever…
Love this post – I too have a mini obsession with knowing other people’s menu. I have never hosted thanksgiving dinner, but I always attend some kind of potluck. This year I signed up to make gravy, mashed “potato” and pie – so here goes I am making
Blackberry cornbread
Jalapeño and goat cheese cauliflower mashed “potato”
Mushroom and Pancetta gravy
Brown butter apple pie
I tried the first three out at friends giving over the weekend – it was a hit. As far as the pie goes — fingers crossed that my idea on paper translates well – will be testing recipe this weekend
Maple whiskey whipped cream whaaaat?!
My perfect Thanksgiving involves:
A traditional turkey – cooked in the oven.
Mashed potatoes (I make mine with yukon gold potatoes, cream cheese and garlic in the crock pot)
Stuffing
Gravy
Green bean casserole (yup, with the french fried onions)
Canned cranberry sauce. One year my Grandmother made fresh cranberry sauce with orange peel and I wanted to cry.
Rolls with real butter.
A cheese and pickle/olive tray
Some sort of sweet potato casserole
At least 3 different kinds of pies and can we please have cool whip not reddiwhip?
Sparkling grape juice
This was the menu for all my childhood Thanksgiving dinners and if those items or deviations of are not on the menu…I’m pretty sad. I’ve been to my inlaws for Thanksgiving the past 2 years and it’s amazingly good but just not the same. I understand what Lorri means when she says her kids will boycott Thanksgiving if those items aren’t on the menu. :)
I’ll be spending Thanksgiving alone with a chicken breast, stuffing and MAYBE a vegetable. Oh..and bourbon. I’ll live vicariously through you with all of this amazing food! :)
I have been making your “Lightened up Sweet Potato Casserole” for the past three years for Thanksgiving and love it! A few years ago I made the pumpkin s’mores cupcakes for dessert and your “Lightened up Green Bean Casserole.”
Last night we did a small “Friendsgiving” consisting of just four people where I made your Sweet Potato Casserole, Gimme Some Oven’s Green Bean Casserole, Two Peas and Their Pod’s Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake with Chocolate chips and we had ham, bread with dipping oil and a strawberry pecan salad!
This is a great roundup of recipes! You make it even harder too choose my menu.
Oh and Jessica I had a question! Speaking of inlaws, they never let us bring anything so this year I wanted to bring a jalapeno cranberry relish in a nice jar for them to spread on leftover turkey sandwiches after the holiday. I love your quick jalapeno jam from the book but wanted to add cranberries to it…what do you think?
Those goat cheese truffles! The pumpkin s’mores cupcakes! ALL of it! Wonderful!
Not sure yet what we’re having for Thx, but at my in-laws last week for early Thx, some stand outs were curried squash soup, candied sweet potatoes, garlic mashed cauliflower, marsala pearled onions, and marinated grilled mushrooms. They’re phenomenal cooks. Along with manicotti, because they are Italian and that’s just what you do, I guess!
Thanks for sharing this awesome round up!
Apps: Raw veggies & dill dip, cinnamon nuts, and homemade chex mix. Dinner: Grilled (brined) turkey, plain mashed potatoes, noodles, green bean casserole, corn, sage sausage stuffing, butter horn rolls, and cranberry orange sauce. Dessert: pumpkin pie. Nothing crazy at all, but it makes everyone happy, and ensures the rest of the day is spent in a carb coma!
Yummmmmmmy! Give me all the food! I’ve spent the last year losing over 70 pounds but come Thanksgiving everyone better watch out! Here’s our menu:
Drinks-your Apple Cider Sangria ( so excited to try this) and some Cranberry Bourbon cocktails
Appetizers (more like breakfast and lunch) White Cheddar with honey, walnuts, dried cherries with rosemary crackers and apples
Cranberry Glazed Meatballs
Rosemary Popcorn
Spiced Pecans
Main Event-Herb Butter Roasted Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Perfect Gravy, Traditional Herb Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, Harvest Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Tartlets, Spinach and Pink Lady Apple Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette, Pioneer Woman Rosemary Rolls (have you tried these? So, so good)
Dessert-Pumpkin Trifle
So excited! Cannot wait! Love your blog, your book and your spirit! Thank you for sharing all your dreamy food and humor. Happy holidays!
Mmmm .. everything looks so good. We celebrated Thansgiving in October ( wooo ohhh-Canada !! ) And we had the usual ;
Home made cranberry sace
Home made gravy
Roasted Turkey
Roasted Potatoes
Stuffing ( my mom’s recipe, which is more like savory mashed potatoes than traditional stuffing)
Maple Glazed carrotts with goat cheese
Home made pretzel buns
Bussles and Bacon
and we washed it down with white wine <3
I’ve hosted my own Thanksgiving for 2 years now, and this year my menu consists of:
Cran-bernet Sauce
Crispy Brussels Sprout Leaves with Bacon & Hazelnuts
Perfectly Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Thyme Butter
Borccolini Au Gratin
Rye, Kale, Mushroom, & Chorizo Stuffing
Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits
Orange & Anise Dry Brined Turkey Breast
Orange Scented Mini Cheesecakes with Gingerbread Crusts
Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to you and Eddie! The last holiday as a family of two! xoxo
http://hotdogfoodblog.blogspot.com/
I’ve thrown the word ‘traditional’ out of my vocabulary, so my Thanksgiving Day menu goes a bit outside the box.
Apps: Baked Brie with Blackberry Jam, Curried Cauliflower Soup, and Cheeseball
Dinner: Turkey [duh, can’t break that], Roasted Garlic Marscarpone Whipped Potatoes, Bacon Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing, Baked Sweet Potatoes with Praline Pecans, and Bourbon Vanilla Cranberry Sauce.
Dessert: Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Vanilla Whipped Cream + then some sort of wild card dessert that changes every year. 2014 = TBD!
There are only 5 of us for Thanksgiving this year, so we are cutting back on how many different sides this year, so no sweet potatoes or green bean casseole this year. But our menu is basically:
An Amish Turkey (roasted some fancy way my dad does it)
Mashed Potatoes with too much milk and butter
Rolls (usually frozen then baked to yummy goldness)
Sour cream and brown sugar roasted onions (TO DIE FOR)
GRAVY
Cheesy carrot casserole
Possibly sauteed green beans and mushrooms in cream
And a dessert or two ranging from pumpkin cheesecake to chocolate chip pie and/or oreo salad.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for sure.
This year I’m planning on making:
Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip via JamieCooksItUp
Tom Colicchio’s Herb Butter Turkey via Bon Appetit
Paula Dean’s Corn Casserole
Sage Popovers
Emeril Lagasse’s Wild Rice & Cornbread Dressing
Martha Stewart’s Rutabaga & Apple Mash
Pioneer Woman’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Your Bourbon Bacon Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Classic Green Bean Casserole with blatant disregard to the recipe in terms of fried onions. I’m going to load that sucker up.
Turkey
Sausage stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Real cranberry sauce
Macaroni and cheese
Asparagus Salad
Green bean casserole
Death Corn 5
Broccoli casserole
Throwed rolls
Plain rice for my nephews
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Something chocolate
http://www.greenmountaincottage.blogspot.com
Sausage stuffing??? I need to know more!!! that sounds delicious. Also, Death Corn 5…. yes.
I make a sausage stuffing also. You just take 1 pound of ground sausage (or use the rolled sausage), cubed stale bread (I use about a full loaf, set it out the night before with a slit down the middle of the bag so it gets hard and then cube in the morning), salt, pepper, onion, celery, sage. You mixed this all together and add chicken broth to moisten (use as needed as to how moist you want the stuffing, I usually make it pretty moist), then stuff it in the bird. Usually there is leftover stuffing, which I put in a buttered pyrex dish and cover and bake separately. Always get rave compliments on this stuffing, everyone loves it (it was my mothers recipe). Don’t really have exact measurements on the onion or celery, you just kind of eye-ball it (sorry).
turkey + gravy
yukon gold mashes potatoes
stuffing with sausage and cranberries
green beans with slivered almonds
sweet potato cloverleaf rolls
cranberry sauce
pumpkin cheesecake pie
apple pie
Im not in charge of the menu but usually theres always
Turkey and Gravy
mashed potatoes
yams
stuffing
rolls
cranberry sauce
pumpkin and apple pies
veggie trays
smoked salmon dip and crackers.
and I plan on breaking all tradition and making your beer mac and cheese to bring
Love menu sharing!! I am still feeling indecisive about some things, which is stressful because it’s going to be here so soon and lists need to be made!
First: Cranberry and/or pomegranate margaritas, cheese platter with roasted garlic and tomato jam and a fancy cheese ball
Second: Alton Brown’s turkey + red wine gravy, brussel sprout salad, stuffing, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole + marshmallows (duh), and Mom’s jello
Best for last: Sweet potato cupcakes, pumpkin caramel bars, double chocolate tart, and a pumpkin pecan pie
Pingback: Thanksgiving Planning 2014 | Wicked Healthy Washingtonian
I’m making Thanksgiving dinner for my husband (and a few others who we’ve invited to share in the feast) on Monday the 24th as he has to work on T-day.
Menu:
WINE
Herb Roasted Turkey
Apple Cider Gravy
Mashed Yukon Golds
Sweet Potato Souffle (yup, with marshmellows : )
Apple, Onion and sage stuffing
Green bean casserole
Brussel Sprouts with Bacon & Cranberries
Homemade cranberry sauce
Apple & Pear Galette
MORE WINE!
Enjoy everyone!
It’s definitely not traditional Thanksgiving food, but last year I made your Brussels sprout and bacon mac and cheese as my contribution for dinner. So good! It was a huge hit!
super traditional! my grandma makes the majority of it and it’s turkey (in the oven), sweet potato casserole (MY FAVORITE – no marshmallows, just caramelly sweet potatoes), green beans, corn, rolls, mashed potatoes (my sister made these last year and after we ate she admitted she put three sticks of butter in them), and, obviously, cranberry sauce. and a very sad bowl of salad that nobody ever touches. apps are cheese, crackers, a veggie platter, and “ring bologna,” and desserts are various pies and breads. i actually can’t wait until i have a family of my own and can make wackier spins on the traditional dishes! nostalgia is great, but cheese is better.
love this this! i make the sides and desserts and my mom is in charge of the turkey. our menu this year has….
-Your pomegranate vanilla sangria (made it last year & we all loved it)
-my mom’s turkey
-my mom’s in-turkey stuffing
-Your double bread stuffing (made it the past couple years, we love it!)
-half-baked harvest’s brie mac and cheese
-your brown butter mashed potatoes or the version from bon apetit (still undecided)
-(my grandma normally does sweet potatoes but it’s my turn this year so i’m thinking your lightened casserole)
-brussels sprouts
-maybe another vegetable, i prefer none though….
-my baking addiction’s chocolate cake
-ina garten’s apple tart
thanks for all the recipes :) we love them!
I have no pinterested (is that a word?) new thanksgiving meals for the rest of time. Thank you!
Our meal is pretty traditional with just a little southern mixed in.
Turkey (which I think we only have so we can make gravy)
Ham (because we don’t actually like to eat the turkey)
Mashed potatoes
Turkey gravy
Green beans (cooked down in bacon grease for most of the day prior)
Cranberry salad
Store bought rolls but oh so tasty
Cornbread dressing (out of the bird) (This recipe is about 100 years old or so. And it’s amazing)
For dessert there is
Cranberry Torte
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
And enough homemade whipped cream to smother them all
LOTS and LOTS of wine :)
We fry our turkey (once you go fired you can never go back!), so we cant stuff it.
I’m with you on salads, NO NO NO!
Love this post! I’m not entirely sure what my cousins will be making.. but the standbys:
Brined turkey
mashed potatoes
bruleed sweet potatoes
cranberry sauce (jarred and fresh)
gravy
green beans
probably 3 different kinds of stuffing that I don’t care about because I just don’t like it
broccoli casserole
brussel sprouts gratin
corn pudding
pumpkin pie
Two years ago I made a chocolate cream pie that was insanely good. Last year I made a salted caramel apple pie and it was good too, but I found myself craving chocolate so probably going to go back to the choc pie this year!
Sometimes we do salads, sometimes not.. a lot of times people don’t eat it. But! if my vegan cousin comes, she always makes a crazy delicious salad with just all kinds of interesting STUFF in it that I love.
Made the pomegranate sage cheeseball last year- totally delicious! Think I’m doing your lightened up sweet potato dish this year-can’t wait!
Im not totally set yet but I think i’m doing
Alton Brown version of Brined Roasted Turkey
Gravy (maybe shallot gravy)
Stuffing (I’m gluten free so this is aways fun. i think i will use sausage and apples this year.)
Salad w pears & blue cheese & some kind of apple cider vinegarette
Scaolloped potatoes (having mashed/sweet at another house)
veggie – probably green beans
Fresh cran/blueberry sauce
Indiviudual apple crisps for dessert (guests can take home and bake later or next day if they wish)
Fro my moms i’m making sweet pot casserole (cooking light version), more cranberry sauce, cheese tray, and carrot cake cupckes with cream cheese frosting and pumpkin pie individual triffles where i will layer pumpkin pudding, gf gingersnaps, whipped cream, candied pecans.
This list is insane! Insane and awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Im in love with menus! For Thanksgiving we do a breakfast, this year it’s pumpkin pie filled cinnamon rolls, fruit, pumpkin spice hot chocolate and a scrambled egg bar (with cheese, salsa, peppers & onions, sour cream, diced tomatoes) then as far as appetizers, im not sure yet but it will involve a dip with veggies. We do a traditional-ish dinner, minus the potatos (no one really loves them), of turkey, stuffing, cranberry butter, white gravy, and a cheddar green bean casserole. For pie, I like it a little weird. This year we are doing German chocolate pie and strawberry poptart bites. Someone always brings a pumpkin and pecan pie anyways so I like to make an oddball pie flavor every year
Please, please tell us what pumpkin pie filled cinnamon rolls are !!!!!!!!
Basically instead of the normal cinnamon and sugar you spread pumpkin butter on the dough with a little butter!
Turkey(brined in herbs and fruit)
Stuffing (traditional herb, moist and not in the bird)
Alton Browns homemade Green Bean casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Spiced warm cranberry sauce
creamed corn w bacon and cream cheese
Sweet Potatoes
Gravy (of course)
Roasted Brussel sprouts
No salad…i don’t think it belongs
Plenty of wine…usually whites, but also Beaujolais Nouveau which is good this time of year
I don’t eat meat and really don’t like stuffing, but am making the entire feast for my family like I do every year. They love it and I love seeing them happy.
Turkey, gravy, stuffing, roasted carrots and potatoes, homemade cabernet cranberry blueberry sauce (my best idea EVER for cranberry sauce, omg that’s all I eat on the whole table, and I eat it like crazy), homemade pumpkin pie (the recipe I put in my 2nd cookbook) and I’m sure other random stuff. I plan to get up in the morning, do a 10 mile run, come in, shower, crack the champagne and start cooking :)
Happy Thanksgiving, Jessica!! I wish I was coming to your house! I love all your sides!
I love reading menus too :-). I’m really glad my family’s hosting Thanksgiving this year! I get to be a mashup between traditional and newfangled.
Baked Brie with Apple Butter
Spinach Greek Yogurt Dip
Pumpkin Corn Muffins with Honey Butter (http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2013/09/pumpkin-corn-muffins-honey-sage-butter/)
French Bread Rolls
Mashed Potatoes (From The Pioneer Woman-love cream cheese)
Cranberry -Pecan Stuffing
Herb & Onion Stuffing
Pumpkin Nanaimo Bars (http://www.cakespy.com/blog/2014/10/13/fall-canadian-style-pumpkin-nanaimo-bars.html)
And Pumpkin Cheesecake.
And my mom’s in charge of the turkey. Thank goodness!
Ooh. Thanksgiving…. I’ve been thinking about it.
Turkey (I hope my sister goes for Turkey saltimbocca. I’m picturing sage leaves and prosciutto under the skin to impart flavor as it cooks.)
Bread–I’ll probably make either Challah or crescent rolls.
Pumpkin pie (KISS method. I have homemade pumpkin in the freezer but the recipe will be the same as Libby’s canned pumpkin on the back of the jar.)
Roast Apple and Yam instead of stuffing
Steamed green beans with almonds
Cranberry jelly (canned)
Olives (large)
Martinelli’s or possibly hard apple cider.
We might have two celebration dinners. Mom is gone right now to go to a memorial for our grandfather and she’ll miss Thanksgiving proper with us.
My menu is this:
Sweet potato crescent rolls
3 lb boneless turkey breast, roasted with spices
Vegetarian mushroom gravy
Cauliflower and parsnip puree
Cranberry sauce
Apple streusel cake
Something alcoholic
pomegranate margaritas
wine
STUFFING
green bean casserole
mashed potatoes
cranberry sauce – fresh and canned
rolls
turkey and gravy
roasted root vegetables
pumpkin pie
triple berry pie
What a great bunch of recipes. I pinned several of them. Very nice variety.
I’ll take one of each as well please! We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving last month and it was a small celebration with just my mum and I, but I still made sure all my faves were present! This was our menu:
Appetizers: Shrimp cocktails
Dinner:
Mixed greens salad with pears, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and maple balsamic vinaigrette
Turkey (duh!)
Stuffing (for my mum – I’m really not a fan)
Herb roasted veggies (sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, beets, carrots and leeks) –> I ate TONS
Homemade cranberry ginger chutney
Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie for my mum, and a hughjass honeycrisp apple with cinnamon for me. (I know how you feel about fruit for dessert, but I never turn down a honeycrisp!
Fried turkey
store bought gravy (but from the best place ever so it’s alright)
cranberry sauce (canned for me, homemade for everyone else!)
grammie’s famous squash (with more half in half than anyone in my family is willing to admit)
grandma’s rolls
my sister’s “every year new and improved” stuffing
mashed potatoes
salad, but who cares about that!
and your green bean bundles! but we are too lazy to wrap them up so we just cut the bacon in pieces and toss the beans with a browned butter garlic brown sugar delicious sauce.
of course pecan pie and various other desserts!!
Girl, this post looks amazing. I wish Thanksgiving lasted months instead of just one day! I just posted our menu with far too much detail: http://nickanddeena.com/2014/11/19/our-thanksgiving-plan/
Hope you have a wonderful holiday :)
That arugula salad looks amazing! Every year I pour over recipe after recipe, and then wind up making the same crap I make every year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh man… everything sounds so good! Our Thanksgiving menu this year…
turkey
gravy
homemade cranberry sauce
sourdough stuffing with sausage and apples
mashed potatoes
buttered peas
carrots and green beans with warm vinaigrette
sweet corn pudding
fluffy yeast rolls
hazelnut chocolate pie
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
Oh my gosh – I cannot wait!
wow so many amazing things… i can’t wait I can’t wait I can’t wait!!
Val
I’m completely obsessed with menus, too! And food in general. So far, we are having:
-Turkey
-Honey-glazed ham
-Stuffing
-Pumpkin spice casserole
-Roasted green beans with pine nuts
-Carrot & raisin salad
-Cranberry & apple casserole
-Sweet potato casserole
-Dinner rolls
-Derby pie
-Lots of wine
Turkey, probably smoked
Cornbread dressing
Sweet potato casserole
Brussels sprouts
Homemade rolls
Pecan pie
I LOVE COOKING FOR THIS HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!
Appetizers: Buffalo Chex mix (homemade in the oven, so good), Greek cheeseball, blue cheese fig cheeseball, veggies and dip, mushrooms stuffed with Stilton and green onions and baked in Marsala, baked brie with caramelized onions and craisens on top. Mulled apple juice (cider gives me migraines.)
Main course: Turkey roasted with a garlic herb butter shoved under the skin and lemons and wine for basting, creamed kale with crouton topping, green bean casserole, caramelized onion asiago stuffing, cheesey potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry fruit salad (leftovers of this are great on a bagel with cream cheese the next day), Amish biscuts.
Dessert: Apple crisp, pumpkin pie, pecan pie bars, sugar cookies.
Wow! No wonder I gained 3 pounds in 1 DAY last year!!! But so good. All the food!
You were born to write this post! Loved all the links