Tell me about your Thanksgiving....

[soonermomma]

What is on your menu for Thanksgiving this year? Do you fix the same thing each year or does it change each year? What are your can't live with out, must haves? If you host, do your guests bring food, or do you prepare everything yourself? Do you set a fancy table or eat buffet style with paper plates? Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions? Anything else you want to share is great too!

[Belacqua]

It's usually just the three of us. We choose a different region every year and make a dinner based on that cuisine (last year was Greek; this year we're thinking Moroccan). It's the one time of year I use a tablecloth and my grandmother's china that I secretly think is pretty ugly but don't have the heart to get rid of.

 

I'm really looking forward to reading about everybody else's traditions, since ours are so tame.

[melissad2]

Same thing every year.

 

Smoked turkey

Fried turkey

Baked ham

Dressing

Gravy

Greenbeans

Potato salad

Macaroni and cheese pie

Sweet potato casserole

Broccoli and cheese casserole

Cranberry sauce

Rolls

Sweet potato pie

Pecan pie

Coconut cake

 

...and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

[Ali in OR]

It's usually just the 5 of us. We don't binge at Thanksgiving and we try to keep everything pretty healthy. We do use the nice china and candles, etc.

 

Menu:

-I will brine a small turkey or breast and dh will smoke it on the grill (yum!)

-mashed potatoes

-gravy for the two who want it

-green salad

-rolls

-a simple veggie like green beans (not green bean casserole!)

-canned cranberry sauce--the jellied kind

-pumpkin pie and chocolate cream pie

[Belacqua]

Macaroni and cheese pie

 

Your entire menu sounds lovely, but this? This caught my attention.

 

You wouldn't happen to have a recipe to share, would you? :)

[gingersmom]

My family and about 50 of my brothers closest friends gather at his house. Its catered every year and the food is always pretty blah.

 

We go home, stop at Dominoes Pizza and eat pizza.

 

The next day we have our Thanksgiving. It a turkey free celebration because no one likes turkey. We have mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, stuffing and more stuffing (my kids adore the stuffing I make) and apple pie for dessert.

[DusksAngel]

We keep most things the same, others can be varied:

 

Turkey (so much better now that we brine it first)

Stuffing (version may vary - I really like Rachel Ray's, only I don't make muffins)

Green Beans (I usually fix them with bacon and onion)

Potatoes (We usually do baked sweet potatoes, but if a big crowd is coming, I'll make the traditional whipped ones)

Gravy

 

Veggie #2 - varies each year, although the most requested is corn. I also like having a veggie tray for throughout the day to snack on.

Rolls (with real butter and honey, or I'll mix to make honey butter)

Pumpkin, Apple, and/or Pecan Pie with whipped cream (depends on how many and which I haven't made for awhile)

Cranberry Sauce (some years it's straight from the can and/or I'll spruce it up a little)

 

Other things we've tried:

Pumpkin Soup (another Rachel Ray - very yummy)

Cheesecakes (turtle is my favorite!)

Ham (either with the turkey (large crowd) or instead of the turkey)

[Nakia]

Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving Menu

 

I stopped cooking for Thanksgiving years ago. It's a long story. Anyway, we really like going to CB for Thanksgiving. :D

[MrsMommy]

Usually, it's just our immediate family for Thanksgiving, although, this year, my mom and her husband will be joining us.

 

I set a fancy-ish table (as fancy as it can be without having china and crystal), but the food is served from our kitchen island. I've found that with six (now seven), at our table, plus a centerpiece, there just isn't room for serving dishes, too. I think it's just something about how our table is shaped....

 

We always have:

Roast turkey

Homemade cranberry sauce

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Sausage stuffing

Rolls

Pumpkin pie

Caramel apple pie

S'mores pie

Sparkling grape juice

 

Optional dishes, based on what I feel like making:

Green beans with almonds

Roast carrots

Corn and wild rice casserole

Butterscotch pie

Pecan pie

 

Plus, anything else that strikes my fancy!

 

We always watch the Macy's Parade, and the children play parade bingo. We often watch Holiday Inn that evening, but not always. Usually we'll play Animal Crossing at some point, just to play hide and seek with the turkey. DH and I watch all of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes sometime that week (and usually the Mad About You and Gilmore Girls episodes, as well). The really fun traditions are in the days before, during school, and the days after, with leftovers and activities. But we all love the big meal!

[KatieJ]

My menu is pretty much exactly the same as my Mother's. :001_smile:

Dil's and Sil's have added a few things here or there.

 

Turkey with stuffing, potatoes and gravy.

 

Jellied can cranberries. (DH loves them, so I quit making my Mom's recipe)

 

Homemade crescent rolls

 

Wax bean salad (It's like waldorf salad, except it's wax beans instead of apples. Old old old family recipe on my Mother's side)

 

Sweet potatoes. I make them per the America's Test Ktichen recipe. Cook them slowly on top of the stove with a tad of butter and a tbls of cream. Mash when done.

 

DH is not overly fond of pumpkin, so dessert if I make it is apple pie and/or his famlily Cheese torte recipe.

 

Dil's will bring their favorite side ( corn pudding or broccoli salad) and some kind of chocolate dessert.

 

If my one Sil is here, we make a ham too

 

Bonus. I went out shopping today and picked up almost everything I will need for my dinner. DH gets a free turkey from work, and I will need a bag of potatoes. Otherwise I am all set to cook. Boy that feels great!

[RoughCollie]

Turkey

Stuffing

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Green bean casserole

Steamed broccoli, plain

Canned cranberry sauce for DH (jelled)

Rolls, if I have time and inclination to make them

Fruit salad

Pumpkin pie

Pecan pie

Apple pie

 

This year, I may make a cheesecake instead of apple pie. Maybe pumpkin soup, too.

[Alessandra]

We usually have about the same thing, maybe a change in a veggie, but we are traditionalists. Many of the recipes are from Bon Appetit, collected over the years.

 

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

 

Herb Roasted Turkey with Shiitake Mushroom Gravy

Sausage Stuffing

 

Roast Sweet Potatoes with Miso-Scallion Butter

Roast Heirloom Potatoes, Root Vegetables and Shallots

Green Beans with Tarragon Cream

Honey Glazed Onions

 

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry-Orange Relish

 

Corn Muffins

Parmesan Bread Sticks

 

Watercress, Pear and Walnut Salad

Cider Poppyseed Dressing

 

Sweet Potato Cake with Brown Sugar Icing

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Indian Pudding

Autumn Fruit Bowl

 

We have loads of Thanksgiving china -- turkey soup tureen, turkey salt & peppers, etc. I do a printed menu and also print out this prayer. It's from either Ann Landers or Dear Abby.

 

Oh, Heavenly Father,

We thank thee for food

and remember the hungry.

We thank thee for health

and remember the sick.

We thank thee for freedom

and remember the enslaved.

May these remembrances

stir us to service,

That thy gifts to us

may be used for others.

Amen.

[justLisa]

You don't mess with the THanksgiving here.

 

Every year mom and I start the hunt for the biggest turkey you could possibly find. We make the same things and usually one new thing. But the day goes exactly the same way and we watch the stupid parade.

[Alessandra]

It's usually just the three of us. We choose a different region every year and make a dinner based on that cuisine (last year was Greek; this year we're thinking Moroccan). It's the one time of year I use a tablecloth and my grandmother's china that I secretly think is pretty ugly but don't have the heart to get rid of.

 

I'm really looking forward to reading about everybody else's traditions, since ours are so tame.

 

This sounds fun. I wouldn't be allowed to change our T'day, but I would love to hear some of your ideas, so I could try them another time.

 

Some of my favorite cookbooks are the old Time Life Foods of the World series, but I confess that I have used them more for reading than for cooking....

[Belacqua]

This sounds fun. I wouldn't be allowed to change our T'day, but I would love to hear some of your ideas, so I could try them another time.

 

Some of my favorite cookbooks are the old Time Life Foods of the World series, but I confess that I have used them more for reading than for cooking....

 

I love those books! I read them all the time when I was a kid; I think I learned most of my history from them.

 

For Thanksgiving, we typically just grab a few cookbooks from the library, supplement with some from the internet (mostly Epicurious) and try stuff we have no business attempting. It usually turns out just fine, if we exclude the year we decided to cook Russian (evidently, brains and borscht are just not a big hit with 8-year-olds).

[ChristyB in TN]

I posted the recipe below for our vegan strudel we have adopted as our main Thanksgiving food! For the last few years we have walked over to a car dealership in our neighborhood and we all run the Turkey Trot 5k which benefits the animal shelter here. It is a blast and Karma the Dog runs it with us! Then we come home and get lunch on the table. We always have friends who seem to be: in the middle of a divorce and need a neutral place for the kids, alone because of family issues, new in town and want to join us, etc so we usually have a crowd of family and the friends seem to be different every year. It is fantastic.

This year, my parents have disowned me for political reasons so we are hosting a bash. We will run our Turkey Trot. My oldest two are coming in from college! We are hosting a lunch for Thanksgiving and have opened it up to some folks who may or may not be legally in our country, a couple of families without permanent homes, and a whole gaggle of friends without a Thanksgiving tradition at all. We are so excited! We are cooking turkeys and hams for the carnivores. We will have corn casseroles, green beans with mushroom soup and fried onions on top, mashed potatoes with almond milk so the vegans can have it, too, my own sweet potato casserole recipe from a crazy old Southern Living Cookbook which I have successfully transformed into a vegan recipe, vegan hummingbird cake, apple pie, pecan pie, and whatever else we can drum up. I have never been so excited and so sad. I miss my parents but am hopeful....

 

Mushroom, Cheese, and Vegetable Strudel

 

Serves 12

 

Whole-wheat phyllo dough lends a wholesome, nutty taste and golden color to the finished strudel. Veganizing this recipe is a snap too—simply substitute vegan cream cheese and vegan Cheddar cheese.

Filling

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (1½ cups)

1 medium red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)

2 tsp. dried thyme

1 lb. white mushrooms, sliced (5 cups)

2 10-oz. bags baby spinach

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 14-oz. pkg. firm tofu, drained

8 oz. Neufchâtel cheese, softened

1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (4 oz.)

Strudel

¼ cup olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 lb. whole-wheat phyllo dough, thawed

½ tsp. poppy, sesame, or fennel seeds, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 18- x 13-inch baking sheet with cooking spray.

 

2. To make Filling: Heat oil in pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, bell pepper, garlic, and thyme in oil 10 minutes. Add mushrooms, and cook 10 minutes, or until wilted. Stir in spinach and nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until spinach has wilted, stirring occasionally. Drain, and cool in bowl.

 

3. Purée tofu, Neufchâtel cheese, and Cheddar cheese in food processor until smooth. Stir into mushroom mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

 

4. To make Strudel: Heat oil, garlic, and thyme in small pot over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Cool.

 

5. Cover bottom of prepared baking pan with 2 phyllo sheets, allowing sheets to overlap each other and hang off sides. Brush with garlic oil. Place 2 more phyllo sheets on top, and brush with garlic oil. Repeat 4 times, until you have a 6-layer bottom crust.

 

6. Spread Filling in crust, leaving 3-inch edge all around. Brush edges with garlic oil. Fold sides of phyllo over filling. Cover filling with 2-sheet layer of phyllo (4 sheets total), overlapping sheets in center. Brush with garlic oil. Repeat layering 2 sheets at a time until you have 4 layers (16 sheets phyllo total), brushing every second sheet with garlic oil. Tuck under edges. Sprinkle top with seeds, if desired. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting into slices.

 

November/December 2008 p.72

[Wendi]

Pretty basic and traditional. Turkey (usually 16-20 lbs. because we love leftovers), gravy, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, crescent rolls, veggie (green beans usually). For dessert: apple pie a la mode.

 

I also buy a little premade package of sweet potatoes with maple syrup and pecans (Trader Joe's); I'm the only one who likes sweet potatoes.

 

Wendi

[BakersDozen]

Well, first I'll post what we don't do: turkey, ham, etc. In other words, no traditional foods and definitely no china, fancy tablecloths, or hours spent cooking in the kitchen.

 

One year we had mashed potatoes (still in the pot), stuffing (also still in the pot), hot chocolate and pumpkin pie (eaten first). It was awesome.

 

This year we are doing a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (followed by some more filling yummy food...lots and lots of pie! Every family member makes a different pie - YUM!).

 

No fuss, no huge cost (I refuse to spend what amounts to day's worth of grocery budget on one meal) and lots of fun. :D

[ktgrok]

We are cooking turkeys and hams for the carnivores. We will have corn casseroles, green beans with mushroom soup and fried onions on top, mashed potatoes with almond milk so the vegans can have it, too, my own sweet potato casserole recipe from a crazy old Southern Living Cookbook which I have successfully transformed into a vegan recipe, vegan hummingbird cake, apple pie, pecan pie, and whatever else we can drum up. I have never been so excited and so sad. I miss my parents but am hopeful....

 

 

 

FYI, I find almond milk to be a bit sweet, depending on the brand, for potatoes. I've used just margarine (earth balance) and the water from the potatoes before with great results. Your milage may vary.

[ktgrok]

It will me my immediate family, my sister and her family, and my parents. We will have (I imagine...it is at my sister's this year but usually she still makes me cook):

roast turkey,

stuffing (with the giblets),

sweet potatoes mashed with brown sugar and butter (sometimes some orange juice too), topped with marshmallows,

green bean casserole or some other green veggie...I started getting grossed out by green beans when pregnant for my daughter, so now it is often a spinach/mushroom casserole topped with the same fried onions

crescent rolls from a can for my husband and son

homemade cranberry sauce

corn pie (yummy family favorite)

pumpkin pie in a gingersnap crust

some other dessert

[CountitallJoy]

We have the same things every year and like it that way :) My whole family lives here and most years we all get together, but not always. When we do, everybody makes & takes whatever they make best. The parade may or not be on the TV, but the Dallas Cowboys will be for sure!

 

Turkey w/ stuffing - gravy

Creamed potatoes

Sweet potato casserole

Corn pudding

Squash casserole

Collard greens

Dixie Lee peas

Cranberry sauce - homemade

Deviled eggs

Rolls

Pumpkin pie

Apple pie

Pecan pie

[KRG]

Thanksgiving is at my mom's this year. We trade hosting every year.

 

Ham

Turkey

Dressing

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Macaroni and Cheese--I'm always asked to make this

Sweet Potatoes or Butternut Squash-depends on who is bringing it

Relish Tray--it varies every year--I'm making it this year. Deviled Eggs, Asparagus wraps, Celery & Cream Cheese, Pickles and Olives

Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pie

Buttermilk Praline Skillet Cake--going to attempt this for the 1st time

Edited November 5, 2012 by KRG

[TravelingChris]

Pretty much same thing each year, though vegetables can change. Also desserts can change. Furthermore, about 25%, due to moves or upcoming moves or like now, health, we go out.

 

Roast Turkey

Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Peas or Green Beans

Cranberry Sauce

Salad

Rolls

Apple Pie

Chocolate Cookies

[melissad2]

Your entire menu sounds lovely, but this? This caught my attention.

 

You wouldn't happen to have a recipe to share, would you? :)

 

I guess it is just a southern thing maybe but it really simple.

 

It is layers of macaroni (cooked) and shredded cheese with an egg and milk mixture poured over the top and baked in the oven til slightly browned and bubbly. I don't have exact measurements because I don't usually measure anything ;)

 

Here's one that is similar

http://www.food.com/recipe/southern-macaroni-pie-ii-197675

[PeacefulChaos]

What is on your menu for Thanksgiving this year? Do you fix the same thing each year or does it change each year? What are your can't live with out, must haves? If you host, do your guests bring food, or do you prepare everything yourself? Do you set a fancy table or eat buffet style with paper plates? Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions? Anything else you want to share is great too!

 

First off, I don't host Thanksgiving, it's at my ILs. Regarding your questions:

1. I personally will make dressing (homemade - NOT stove top!) and a dessert.

2. The menu is usually pretty much the same. I switch up the dessert I take, but that's pretty much it.

3. dressing. :) :lol: And seriously, no one else in the family likes it (well, ok, 2-3 people do), but I still make a ton and bring it home and eat it the rest of the weekend. :D

4. It's potluck style (even though I don't host, I figured I'd answer what we do)

5. fancy table at Thanksgiving (paper plates at Christmas)

[Belacqua]

I guess it is just a southern thing maybe but it really simple.

 

It is layers of macaroni (cooked) and shredded cheese with an egg and milk mixture poured over the top and baked in the oven til slightly browned and bubbly. I don't have exact measurements because I don't usually measure anything ;)

 

Here's one that is similar

http://www.food.com/recipe/southern-macaroni-pie-ii-197675

 

Oh, thank you! That looks...like something I could eat entirely by myself, actually. I'll share, though.

[HomeschoolMamaOfTwo]

We do the same thing every year, and it is just the 4 of us, no family. Sometimes it is not actually on Thanksgiving day, depending on my husband's schedule. We usually have ham instead of turkey, because all of us like ham better, and it is easier. So, here is what we normally have:

 

Ham w/ glaze

Dressing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Squash & Zucchini Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Pie

Dessert 2 varies - Dh doesn't like pumpkin, so I let him pick this one

[Mommee & Baba]

First gluten free vegan Thanksgiving. We spend it just us.

 

Still digging for recipes.

 

I know we'll be having gf vegan versions of the following...

• Cranberry sauce
  
• Mashed potatoes
  
• Gravy
  
• Dinner rolls
  
• Pumpkin pie
  
• Green bean casserole