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BurlapandLace

Thanksgiving! 

It is officially November, which means Thanksgiving for us here in the US. 

I am hosting a big “Friendsgiving” event this year and want to mix up the menu a bit. But with MS in full swing, my tasty radar is a bit askew right now. So I need some inspiration. What do you all do for food on Thanksgiving. Appetizers? Mains? Sides? Desserts? Throw it all at me.  

Maybe this can can be considered a bit of a GTKY thread and we can also talk about any special traditions of Thanksgiving in your family and/or your favorite part of the Holiday. 

I will post my normal menu below. Maybe we can all get some inspiration from this thread  

BurlapandLace

What I normally make (or things I have made in the past) 

Appetizers: 
   Deviled Eggs 
   Spinach Dip 
   Shrimp Coctails
   Bacon Wrapped Dates 
   Pork Tenderloin Crostini 

Main Meal:
   Turkey 
   Mashed Potatoes 
   Gravy 
   Sweet Potato Casserole 
   Green Bean Casserole 
   Bacon and Brown Sugar Green Beans 
   Stuffing (fresh and boxed) 
   Corn Bread 
   Rolls 
   Cranberries (fresh and canned) 

Dessert: 
   Pies and Cheesecakes 

katykat03

@BurlapandLace Bacon and Brown Sugar Green Beans?!? I’m intrigued. Could I possibly have that recipe? 

Also, I’m not too much help, we do traditional thanksgiving, but we do fry our turkey (live in the south). I’ve been craving stuffing for two weeks now, so I’m counting down the days until homemade stuffing.  

For apps in the past, I’ve made a turkey shaped cheese and crackers tray. That was a hit. I’m all about a theme (it’s the teacher in me). 

LaceyBee522

@BurlapandLace Yaaassss!! Love cooking for Thanksgiving. I don’t do anything particularly unusual except the turkey and the cranberry sauce.

I have a TINY oven in my apartment and have trouble fitting even a turkey breast in the dang thing. So, my mom always orders us a smoked turkey from Greenburg’s in Texas. It is sooo good. When it was delivered last year, our doorman accepted it and it sat behind our front desk for a few hours. Everyone who walked by was asking about it and I think multiple people (including one of our doormen) ordered them for Xmas. 

Im also obsessed with my cranberry sauce. It is a spicy Pinot Noir. It has some unusual ingredients, but totally worth the trouble. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spicy_cranberry_sauce_with_pinot_noir/

Austenista

Pretty typical southern fare at our house: 

-Turkey and gravy
-Cornbread dressing
-macaroni and cheese 
-collard greens 
-deviled eggs 
-mashed potatoes or sweet potato soufflé depending on my mood
-rolls
-green beans (fun fact: I really hate greenbean casserole and admitted this to my family who also admitted they hate it too and we stopped making it  , so now I just sauté them)  
-pecan and pumpkin pie 

Gosh, now I wish it was Thanksgiving. So hungry. 

I typically cook for the family. Last year I was on bed rest with pre-e and I dictated to my husband how to make the entire meal from the couch. He did amazing and Thanksgiving was saved, lol. 

kbrown2385

This thanksgiving we are hosting and taking in stragglers that have no where to go. I hate turkey and found out so does everyone else that is coming, so we are having a spiral ham instead. Haven’t figured out sides yet but will most likely include stuffing, green bean casserole (even though I hate it) and of course pie. 

marcus7676

We are going to a Friendsgiving about 2 hours away the weekend before Thanksgiving and I need to bring a side dish that can travel and possibly be served at room temp.  I was thinking a grain salad with squash / cranberries, but anyone have any other suggestions?!

RachelH77

Favorite appetizers at our house:
Baked Brie with cranberry chutney
“Yummy” cakes (English muffin with creamy mayo mixture on top) 

for dinner it’s usually: turkey, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, oyster dressing, and homemade rolls

dessert: apple, pumpkin, pecan pie

also...I am now STARVING

catlady1215

My favorite side dish that DH's gram makes is the most simple thing. She makes those long, flat noodles (I don't know names of different noodles lol). And just covers them with the home made gravy. Ugh! I can't wait!

kmurdock925

yaaaas to the big noodles...and stuffing.  MMM I make stuffing all winter.  It may have to happen this weekend. 

PatientlyWaiting10

Love this idea!  Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because everyone in our family gets four days off, eats the big traditional meal for lunch then we head up to my parents cabin in northern MN for the long weekend. Santa comes to some of the stores on black Friday and they end the day with a parade down Main Street.  It's just an all around great weekend.  

Our Thanksgiving meal looks very similar to everyone else's.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade sweet corn, dinner rolls, green bean casserole, cracker, meat and cheese trays, and of course several different kinds of pies for dessert.  

YAY!  I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!  <---And yes, that was totally worth "yelling".    

emjeve

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Outside of the traditional foods, I love to make sausage stuffed mushrooms and our family tradition is mashed rutabaga! So good!! DH is obsessed with pumpkin cheesecake so we usually buy one of those from an incredible bakery in Milwaukee (Simma’s for all you Wisconsin ladies)!

mytinc

This year we're traveling out of town to go to my cousin's house.  There will be a ton of family there, so we're staying at a hotel a couple miles away.  I don't want to just show up and eat their food, and I can't go grocery shopping as we arrive Wednesday night after a 7 hour drive.  If anyone has suggestions for a side dish that we can easily transport ingredients and throw together in someone else's kitchen, I'm all ears!

We actually do like green bean casserole and may just pack up the items for that, but I don't know if her oven will be free.  So I'm also open to crock pot type side dishes as we can bring ours.

krash_

@emjeve we also do mashed rutabaga (or beggie as we call it) I wonder if that is a WI thing?

Usually our Thanksgivings are pot luck style or people bring/make their same thing every year. My mom makes, turkey, beggie and mac & cheese. I always bring mashed potatoes (because I get 10 lbs of them from work). Others bring tofurky, green bean casserole, salads, rolls, pies, etc. 

On my in-laws side they don't do Thanksgiving because hunting over laps it so all the men are in the woods. I have told MH that he better be out of his tree by Wednesday because he needs to come with to my mom's because we are telling immediate family then. 

izza2

Love this thread!

We're having our Thanksgiving this weekend, actually, because my brother is up from Arkansas.

We don't traditionally do any sort of "appetizer", because we usually invite people to be there right when food is going to be done, so they don't have to wait. But, my mother chose the time this year, not us, so we'll need appetizers. And it's a lot more people than normal. It'll end up being 19 people. If my other brother ends up making it, that'll bump it to 23 people.
I was thinking deviled eggs and buffalo chicken wing dip this year for appetizers, though. Maybe cheese and crackers.

For the dinner itself:
Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (jellied and whole), gravy, green beans, corn, stuffing, broccoli cheese casserole, rolls, salad, fruit salad...
Sometimes my mum makes banana nut bread, which I love.

For dessert:
Homemade pumpkin pies, apple pies, probably pumpkin pie cheesecake. Maybe sweet potato pie.

BurlapandLace

@katykat03 ~ this is the recipe  

https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/brown-sugar-green-beans-bacon/

twelvetwosomeonenew

@BurlapandLace can I be your friend?? Your typical menu has me ready for food! Bahahah. 

We make a smallish turkey and "ham balls" -- meatballs made out of ham loaf, mixed with pineapple topped with a sweet/sour glaze. So. So. So. Good! ((We just follow the recipe on the side of the container))

Miz_Liz

Great appetizer:

ffw0617

I don't cook for thanksgiving, I don't feel old enough yet. The last couple years we do a friendsgiving at our house a couple weeks before. It was actually inspired by being late to Thanksgiving and much of the food being gone so we had scraps. I'm sure we will to it again. My menu for that is pretty short: chicken, meatballs (yeah I have never made a ham or turkey baby steps), dressing, mac & cheese, greens, red beans & rice, corn bread, banana pudding (I don't bake), additional store brought dessert. And whatever "friends" bring. If the menu is odd its bc my husband is picky mash potatoes & any vegetable he doesn't eat.

PatientlyWaiting10

@ffw0617 No mashed potatoes!?  How does he survive?  

ffw0617

@PatientlyWaiting10 I don't understand it. He doesn't even eat hamburgers/cheeseburgers. By the time I realized I already loved him.

May14th2011

We're doing two thanksgivings this year, one next week and one on the regular day, since DH will be gone for the actual day. 
Appetizers:
Deviled eggs 
Relish tray 

Main meal:
Turkey
Ham
Gravy
Mashed potatoes 
Sausage stuffing
Corn casserole
Green bean casserole 
Rolls

Deserts:
Pecan pie
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Chocolate pudding pie
Green jello with cottage cheese and pineapple

doxiemoxie212

We're vegetarian so I make miso shallot seared green beans with brown-butter roasted garlic mashed potatoes and some tofu. Maybe some vanilla sugar croutons with vanilla ice cream and red wine berry sauce. 

ambere13

We are pretty traditional with thanksgiving.
Appetizers-
Deviled Eggs
Veggie/cheese tray

Dinner-
turkey
Ham
mashed potatoes
Au Gratin potatoes-not traditional but delicious!
stuffing
fruit salad
Corn on the cob

Dessert-
Pies

sabby2

This thread is making me so hungry!

We're pretty traditional at the events we attend.  My side of the family is huge (over 30 people at the event typically).  One family provides the staples turkey, ham, potatoes, and my grandma's stuffing recipe. The rest us us sign up for the sides, appetizers, desserts, drinks like a potluck. Always so yummy and nice to get some different sides every year.  Dh's side is us, his parents and his brother. MIL makes the exact same meal every holiday down to the store bought pies and the drinks.   Still tastes good and it's nice we don't have to think about how to travel hours with food along.

abteamb

Honey ham and pumpkin cheesecake. Yum.

Amphibious22

Oh man, this thread both was amazing and terrible since a wave of nausea hit a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, I usually work Thanksgiving (animals gotta eat too) and I always feel guilty making DH stay home, so he goes to AZ with his family. I used to go too and it's amazing! My FIL has a ranch in the desert and usually between 50-100 people show up. Last year for thanksgiving, I did the most depressing thing ever and bought a "thanksgiving dinner for one" at the grocery store.. probably gonna do that again this year.

I will say if I was going to do something, my all time favorite dish is a cheesy potato casserole with corn flakes on top. YUM! I also do a broccoli and cheese casserole and love to bake, so I would bake at least 3 different pies and maybe a pumpkin or eggnog cheesecake. 

BlackAndGold09

We do thanksgiving with DH aunt, but my bil/sil come over and we do baked bbq chicken breast, crack potatoes, green beam casserole, corn casserole, stuffing, Mac n cheese, and pie

Ash9614

I’m so excited for Thanksgiving this year! We didn’t go last year because DD was only 2 weeks old and the thought of everyone breathing over my newborn was enough to keep us home and order a fab meal from a local bbq spot. 

We do a potluck style at my parents house. There’s about 20-25 of us (and growing!) every year.  And it is a southern, soul-food smorgasbord of goodness, y’all.  

Apps:
Crab salad dip with crackers
Chicken drummettes

Entrees:
Fried turkey
Ham

Sides:
Collard greens seasoned w a turkey leg
Green beans
Sausage dressing
Baked sweet potatoes
Mac-and-Cheese - the baked kind with milk and sour cream, non of that stovetop stuff
Rolls

Desserts
Pecan pie
Sweet potato pie
Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing 

I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Definitely ready to eat now. We will probably announce to extended family then since I’ll be 10.5 weeks. 

ffw0617

@Amphibious22 thanksgiving dinner for one sound like what I order on Thursdays at Cracker Barrel (that's when they have turkey & dressing on the menu) but for actually on Thanksgiving that is depressing

@Ash9614 hmmmm.... I was going to have a separate Sunday dinner to announce to extended family, but I might announce at Thanksgiving. But MH won't be there (or at most he eat first and immediately leaves) he works at an event that weekend and has to hit the road to be there by Friday morning. Last year I went with him, but being pg I don't think I should be out in the cold 3 days straight.

Dashaina

Being expats and non holiday celebrators since moving here almost 4 years ago.... I have to say the season I miss the most is the winter holiday season. My family is huge and we always come together to celebrate over a the month from Thanksgiving thru Xmas and sometimes even new years. Every year since I can remember we would all go to WI and house hop for the two holidays between the family that lives there permanently. It was fantastic! So much food. All delicious. This thread reminded me of those years. I will probably make a dinner similar to what we would have had at some point over the month of November, but probably not on the day of Thanksgiving. I loved mashed potatoes and the sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows and gravy and stuffing. I'll probably just do chicken because I have a gross and funny story about the first time I cooked a large bird (turkey) for Thanksgiving when I was 19 and it has since turned me off of turkey....but only when it looks like one... Presliced no problem. 

BurlapandLace

Our big Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving dinner is officially on Saturday and I’m getting excited. 

We decided to do sort of a pot luck style thing this year where we are doing the turkey and everyone is bringing something to share, and I am doing a few sides to fill in the gaps. This is what the menu looks like it’s shaking out to be: 

Apps: 
Deviled Eggs*
Spinach Dip & Bread 

Main Meal:
Turkey*
Mashed Potatoes* 
Gravy* 
Scalloped Potatoes 
Homemade Stuffing
Boxed Stuffing* 
Baked Beans 
Green Bean Casserole 
Roasted Carrots 
Rolls 
Salad
Cornbread
Fresh Cranberry Sauce 
Canned Cranberry Sauce*
Sweet Potato Crack* 

Desserts:
4 Later Chocolate Dessert
Pies (pumpkin, apple, pecan) 
Cheesecake 

The items with * by them are what I am in charge of. The rest is being brought by our guests.