53 replies to this topic

[Luckylies]

So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

BBQ Beef Brisket
BBQ pork shoulder
Deep fried Turkey
Bourbon glazed ham
Mashed potatoes
Seared brussel sprouts
Roasted beets w/ goat cheese
American style baked beans w/ lardo
coleslaw
Gravy
my bbq sauce
Stuffing; NOT APPLE, NOT CHESTNUT.
Sweet potato pie
Challah as sweet onion rolls.
Cannned cranberry jelly.

easy peasy pie.

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

[JanMcBaker]

So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

BBQ Beef Brisket
BBQ pork shoulder
Deep fried Turkey
Bourbon glazed ham
Mashed potatoes
Seared brussel sprouts
Roasted beets w/ goat cheese
American style baked beans w/ lardo
coleslaw
Gravy
my bbq sauce
Stuffing; NOT APPLE, NOT CHESTNUT.
Sweet potato pie
Challah as sweet onion rolls.
Cannned cranberry jelly.

easy peasy pie.

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

Hell, with that menu I might be prone to stealing, period!

[Toliver]

A previous discussion:
"Thanksgiving Menus - The Topic, (merged topic)"

And, a little too late for Canadians:
"Canadian Thanksgiving, What's everyone cooking?"

edited to add:
For newer members, I can't recommend highly enough to go back and read the last three eGullet Thanksgiving blogs:
"Food Blog: GG Mora, Thanksgiving Week Follies in Vermont" - A New England Turkey Day

"Foodblog: slkinsey's Thanksgiving Week Diary" Spectacular - prepare to be blown away

"Foodblog: bleudauvergne" - Thanksgiving in France - wonderful photos from Lucy

Edited by Toliver, 24 October 2006 - 05:27 PM.

[BryanZ]

Part of me wants to do a hypermodern Thanksgiving. But then part of me says I want to do what I usually do and go over the top with well-prepared classic dishes.

We shall see what pans out.

Needless to say Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

[suzilightning]

i'm sending up to poughkeepsie this year:

turkey breast in gravy
green beans with garlic
the inevitable portugese sweet bread and oatmeal bread
black forest mousse pie

my mil will provide
country crock potatoes
bruces yams with brown sugar and butter
country crock macaroni and cheese
sara lee raspberry cheese cake
edward's key lime pie

i will eat whatever i feel like after i finish my hawk count
probably a nice burger with some salad

i have found since i am so busy at this time of year doing other things the food really isn't that important to me. it's in late december/ early january when the nesting - food thing is most important to me. when i have time to even think of anything other than a cheese sandwich for lunch -if that- and more importantly the time to spend on thinking about and creating the food for someone i love and want to share with

[laurelm]

This will be my first Thanksgiving doing the cooking and I am still playing around with recipes and menus. Needless to say, I am VERY excited and a little nervous about cooking a turkey.

The newest Bon appetit has a stuffing with goat cheese, dried cranberries etc that I am making (i am a sucker for anything with goat cheese)

Peas with mint

That is about as far as I have gotten, still playing around with other ideas.

[cakewalk]

I go to good friends in Philadelphia every Thanksgiving, so I don't cook dinner but I always make some things and bring them with me. Last year I (finally) made the recipe for Cranberry Ketchup I found somewhere quite a while ago (I think on Epicurious.) It surprised us all, it was so good. I also usually make a dessert. I'm not quite sure yet what to make, but I'm pretty sure I will be making lemon bars in addition to a "real" dessert.

[racheld]

Chris will smoke a turkey, completely carve it (breast lobes removed intact, then sliced ACROSS the grain), garnishing the platter with the removed, polished wishbone.

Cornbread dressing, two kinds of gravy---with and without giblets, but both with chopped softboiled eggs, for extra richness, and because every cook in our family has, for about five generations.

A big black skillet of oven-baked corn, tail-gate cut at our back door a couple of months ago, and waiting in the freezer. Sweet potatoes in some form.

Green bean salad with roasted peppers, Vidalias and water chestnuts. Bread shaped like a turkey---shiny and beautiful.

Lots of desserts, mostly Southen in origin---chess pie, blackberry pie, chocolate pie by my Mom's recipe, lemon pie filling served in a pretty dish with whipped cream and leaf-shaped shortbreads.

Much more, I'm sure. Don't know yet how many will be here. Having mashed potatoes depends on if we have company that's actually FROM here. We never had them for Thanksgiving down South. But Northern folks expect them.

[Lan4Dawg]

Chris will smoke a turkey, completely carve it (breast lobes removed intact, then sliced ACROSS the grain), garnishing the platter with the removed, polished wishbone.

Cornbread dressing, two kinds of gravy---with and without giblets, but both with chopped softboiled eggs, for extra richness, and because every cook in our family has, for about five generations.

A big black skillet of oven-baked corn, tail-gate cut at our back door a couple of months ago, and waiting in the freezer.  Sweet potatoes in some form. 

Green bean salad with roasted peppers, Vidalias and water chestnuts.  Bread shaped like a turkey---shiny and beautiful.

Lots of desserts, mostly Southen in origin---chess pie, blackberry pie, chocolate pie by my Mom's recipe, lemon pie filling served in a pretty dish with whipped cream and leaf-shaped shortbreads.

Much more, I'm sure.  Don't know yet how many will be here.  Having mashed potatoes depends on if we have company that's actually FROM here.  We never had them for Thanksgiving down South.  But Northern folks expect them.

I am smoking a turkey as well. My mother called a couple of weeks ago and strongly hinted that since we would not be at any other relative's house and the only ones in town would be the Rev, Mrs. Rev, Fuss & Me then we should invite them to our house. Some how it has grown fr/ us four to about twelve.
So far the menu looks like this:

Before Dinner:
Sea food Salad w/ toast points
Antipasto on a stick
Prosecco

Dinner:
Smoked Turkey
Traditional Southern Dressing--the kind w/ corn bread and crushed saltine crackers
I use Paula Dean's receipt as Fuss says it is the closest to her grand mother's
Green Bean and Shiitake Mushroom Casserole
Mashed Potatoes laced w/ Butternut Squash
Giblet Gravy--w/ hard-boiled eggs of course
"Golden Coin" Carrots
Succotash
Baked Apples w/ Walnuts
Assorted Breads
still playing w/ wine but I keep returning to a Chateauneuf du Pape or may be a
Syrah

Desserts:
Aunt Dell's Caramel Cake
Fuss' Pecan Pie

Coffee & Cigars and some of that Black Maple Hill Bourbon I have been saving.

HDHD

[mizducky]

On Thanksgiving Day itself, I will be participating in a free community dinner at my church. While this is an incredibly cool event in terms of all that good warm-fuzzy community stuff, I can't say that I find it satisfying from a food-geekery standpoint--the cooking is all done by a caterer who is donating his services, and while it's pretty nice for what it is, he does tend to take shortcuts (*cough* commercial pre-packaged turkey breast *cough*). So I'm contemplating doing a smaller dinner for friends a little later in the Thanksgiving weekend, so I can at least get my full-fledged roast bird skin fix.

Depending on the size of the gathering I wind up with, I might either roast a turkey or else some other smaller bird. Other sentimental must-haves on my list:
--stuffing--and the stuffing's going ***inside*** the turkey, dagnabbit! The fact that it'll get drenched in fatty turkey juices is IMO not a defect but the whole point of the exercise! My family recipe is a basic sausage/mushroom combo, based on an assortment of wholegrain breads.
--giblet gravy, made from the pan drippings.
--brussels sprouts--I have a recipe for sprouts in a maple/mustard vinaigrette--so simple and sooooooo good!
--winter squash, in a decidedly ***not*** sweet preparation; I might even try to re-create the incredibly yummy stuffed kabocha served by my favorite Szechuan restaurant.
--cranberry/orange relish, ground through one of those hand-cranked meat grinders (I found the box where I stashed my grinder! Hurrah!)

Other dishes will probably show up too, depending on whim--mine and that of my guests. For instance, I'm really not much of a fan of the standard pumpkin pie, but if one of my guests brought one I wouldn't mind a bit. For my own dessert offering, I'm thinking of maybe doing some kind of poached pears dish--I've been really getting into pears recently. And I think I need one more vegetable--thinking about some roasted fennel or cauliflower or something along those lines. Plus I know somebody's going to want mashed potatoes. Oy--this dinner is already growing like topsy and I haven't even started inviting people yet!

[Graystone]

Turkey, I'm either going to brine and roast in the oven. Or deep fry it.
Mashed sweet potatoes.
Greens
green beans
homemade biscuits
cornbread.

I'm not sure what else. To be honest the only two things that are for sure is the Turkey, and sweet potatoes.

[Jim Charles]

Thanksgiving will be quite different for us this year. We will be at sea, somewhere between Haiti and Aruba on our way to the Panama Canal. This is one of our favorite family holidays and they will all be sorely missed, but we do what we have to do.

[racheld]

Giblet Gravy--w/ hard-boiled eggs of course

Inclination of head, with gentle lowering of Jessica Rabbit eyelashes

[Lan4Dawg]

Giblet Gravy--w/ hard-boiled eggs of course

Inclination of head, with gentle lowering of Jessica Rabbit eyelashes

I know you are not bad.....you are just drawn that way. ":^)

If memory serves you & I were taken to task at some point a while back for actually putting hard-boiled eggs in our giblet gravy.

[C. sapidus]

I know you are not bad.....you are just drawn that way.          ":^)

. . . one of the greatest movie lines, ever.

Two years ago we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Mom had hosted for the past 40 years, so we were uncertain how she would respond to the idea of changing family tradition. When we gently broached the subject, Mom threw her arms in the air and shouted, “Yay!” Pretty demonstrative for a reserved daughter of Britain.

I can’t remember everything we served, but roast capon, Bourbon sweet potatoes with Bourbon-spiked orange sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, curried butternut squash soup, pistachio shortbread, and mulled wine linger in memory. Last Thanksgiving our kitchen was gutted for renovation, so my brother and his wife gracefully hosted. This year we will take a road trip to honor my mother-in-law’s last Thanksgiving in Wisconsin before she comes to live with us.

In Wisconsin, I usually make two batches of the Bourbon sweet potatoes: one with walnuts and one without for a nut-allergic nephew. The Wisconsin relatives have their traditional holiday spread, so I am happy to fill in with side dishes or desserts. In various years I have made quiche, baklava, flan, or grilled salmon with basil cream sauce.

I usually cook an after-Thanksgiving meal in Wisconsin. One year I made dum aloo and sookha keema for a visiting Indian physician. In other years I have made Mexican bricklayer’s eggs or Thai red curry. Fortunately, the relations are quite tolerant of my culinary whims. This year we will drive to Wisconsin in a rented van packed with the boys, our two old dogs, a granite mortar and pestle, and a cooler full of Thai chilies, fish sauce, shrimp paste, lemongrass, and palm sugar. I haven’t decided whether to make a Vietnamese or Thai meal.

Next year, we will host Thanksgiving again. The house addition should be finished so out-of-town guests will have room to sleep off a big meal. We hope to begin establishing family traditions that the boys will treasure, or perhaps complain about on eGullet in 2026.

[racheld]

Unh-Hunh, that was us. I'm gonna take pictures on Thanksgiving and post them on the Dinner thread. The two gravy boats have definite gold flecks in them, but one is a little darker cause it has the giblets.

And I got PM's back then from several people telling WHY they thought it was a joke/travesty/blasphemy, or they just didn't like eggs anyway. They turned out to be some of my best correspondents, and I made new friends.

And now---the great homemade or "snock" it out of the can Cranberry Debate. I make one bowl, with orange juice and sugar, and supremed orange segments folded in after the cooking and cooling. Chris prefers the Ocean Spray, and will do the open-both-ends thing, slicing it neatly and putting out the fancy silver tomato slice thingie. I like to at least glop spoonsful of it into a nice glass compote, just for appearances.

Every Thanksgiving, I am reminded of the infamous video taken in one of the first years of our marriage. We were at his parents' house, and I was bustling around the kitchen amongst about twenty other people who WEREN'T. I asked his Dad to find the can opener and open the two cans of cranberry sauce. When I looked for them later to put them into the bowl, they were nowhere to be found.

But I did, later, when I went into the already-set dining room to light the candles. Neatly spaced on either side of the centerpiece sat a perfectly-opened can of Ocean Spray; they were both even FACING the same way. I can be heard on the soundtrack, in my most SUTHUN drawl, exaggerated greatly by the film, "What were ya gonna dooo, Sweeeetpeeea, just put a spoooooon innum?"

[deltadoc]

So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

Turkey Roulade

Debone a fresh turkey. Double butterfly the breasts and pound them flat under waxed paper. (The rest of the carcass, legs, wings, etc. go into a roaster and I brown them good. The wife takes all the meat off, and then I use the carcass and remaining bones and stuff, and make turkey stock and can that for later use).

The stuffing is mushroom (portabella and crimini), bacon, shallots, and prosciutto) Panko bread crumbs and last years canned turkey stock.

Layer the stuffing on the pounded out breasts and roll them up and tie with strings or use fowl clips (or even a sharp stick for kabobs).

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Mashed Baked potatoes

Corn on the cob

Cauliflower Soup

Cranberry Sauce

Fresh baked Dinner rolls


and thats about it!~

doc

[annecros]

Thanksgiving Eve:

Baked Ham
Collards
Sweet Potatoes
Cornbread

Thanksgiving Day:

Breakfast - Pigs in a Blanket

Munchies - Cheese and Relish Plate of some sort (Refrigerator Dill and Sweet Pickles already started this week)

Thanksgiving Dinner:

Smoked Turkey
Roast Turkey
Leftover Ham
Cornbread Dressing (leftover cornbread and biscuits accumulating in the freezer, turkey stock prepared Tuesday before)
Giblet Gravey w/boiled egg - of course
Leftover Collards
Rhutabagas
Brocolli w/Butter-Pecan Sauce
Smothered Squash
Deviled Eggs
Creamed Corn?
Sliced Can of Cranberry
Homemade whole cranberry congealed salad
Sweet Tea

Desserts:
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Mincemeat Pie with a fresh Granny Smith sliced in

[apronstrings]

I cook for 75 people- a family dinner on Thanksgiving, and then friends for a left overs open house on Friday. Everone gets a dessert goody bag of their choice when they leave. Been doing this for 35 years. Here's my list, many recipes thanks to E-Gullet!!



Thanksgiving 2006


Dill Dip in a Pumpernickel Bowl
Assorted baked pita crisps
Walnut baked goat cheese with mango salsa
Texas Pecans
Sweet Wasabi Cashews
Curry Fired Cashews
Stuffed Baked Wontons
Jumbo Bollitas
Fleur de Sel Caramels
Chocolate Covered Caramel Squares
Fresh seasonal vegetables
Cocoa Dusted Chocolate Almonds
Sugar Dusted Chocolate Almonds
Halvah with Pistachio Nuts
White Chocolate Bark with Caramelized Cocoa Nibs

Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Cream Drizzle
Flaky cream biscuits
Salad of Mixed Greens
Orange Vinaigrette


Roast Turkey with Sherry Gravy
Slow braised brisket
Roasted onion gravy
Fresh cranberry relish
Cranberry sauce
Corn pudding
Vegetarian Kofte rolls
Roasted asparagus
Sauteed Button Mushrooms
Spinach Balls
Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic
Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce
Boursin Smashed Potatoes with Scallions
Slow Cooked String Beans, Greek Style



Apple Cake
Strawberry Marshmallows
Mocha Marshmallows
Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake
Mexican Brownies
Alfajores
Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach
Korova Cookies
Key Lime Coconut Cheesecake Points
Nutella Pie
Chestnut Chocolate Pave
Cherry Cheese Strudel
Banana Chocolate Strudel, Russian Style
Dutch Almond Paste Cookies
Chocolate Malted Tartlets
Lemon Cream Tartlets
Mini High Hat Cupcakes
Italian Sesame Cookies
Macadamia Praline Truffles
Strawberry Marshmallows
Mocha Marshmallows



Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Kona Coffee
Tea

[nessa]

The only thing set in stone is that the turkey will be smoked. I've become addicted to smoked giblet gravy. It looks like it will be just me, the SO and the critters so I doubt I'll do much more than mashed sweet potatos with chipotle, something green and something sweet. Oh yeah, and "stuffing" which I guess will really be dressing. Cornbread and biscuit, of course. I will prolly make chocolate mousse pie or maybe a pumpkin mousse. Christmas is when I'll go all out this year.

[ErinB]

My tentative menu:

Simple Turkey (brined using a recipe from Alice Waters)
Mashed Potatoes (either using a recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques or Creamy Mashed potatoes with goat cheese Sage
Sage Cornbread Stuffing
Green Beans/Squash with a sherry soy butter

Maple Pumpkin Pots de Creme
possibly Pear and Hazelnut Crumb Pie

[birder53]

Dinner for 12. Deep fried turkey. Sister-in-law is bringing the stuffing because "she knows what they like." Her husband, who I adore, has to be the fussiest eater ever. He doesn't eat turkey and he sniffs at food like a dog before deciding if he will eat it or not. (We no longer to to restaurants with them.) I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up with more food for him, just in case.

I'm still working on the rest of the menu and love this thread for ideas!

[007bond-jb]

Tired of turkey so I anit cookin one, here's what we eatin
shrimp, corn and bacon chowder
chicken n dumplins
stuffed roasted pork lion wit pan gravy
(cranberry, apple, garlic, onion & mushroom)
white rice for above gravy
Steens syrup glazed ham
smothered cabbage with tasso
crowder peas with salt pork
Cajun style sweet peas
fried carrots
mac & cheese
sweet potatoe crunch
cracklin cornbread
yall been talkin about brussel sprouts so I'll pan roast em
REAL lemon pie (condensed milk lemons ect...)

Edited by 007bond-jb, 31 October 2006 - 11:32 AM.

[Kris]

I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year for a crowd of 8 adults and 2 children (niece & nephew).

This year I'm adding a few new twists to the classic Thanksgiving dinner (twists as far as my family and I are concerned):

Starters:
Spiced nuts
Deviled eggs
Pumpkin cranberry bread (I'll add dried cranberries to my usual pumpkin bread recipe for a nice contrast of sweet and tart tastes).

Soup:
Butternut squash soup. I tried this out for the first time today since I don't like to spring an untested recipe on guests. It is absolutely scrumptious. My family likes the pumpkin soup recipe I usually make, but I think they're going to like this one even better.

Main course & sides:

-Fried turkey! - I've been dying to make a fried turkey and now that I have a 28 quart electric fryer in my possession, I'm going to give it a shot. Next weekend I'm planning to do a test run.

-Roast turkey breast baked with the stuffing underneath (since you can't stuff a fried turkey). This one is for those who love the breast meat and who may want something a little more traditional. It's also for those (meaning ME!) who like the stuffing baked in (or under) the bird. This will be a regular bread stuffing without superfluous additions like sausage, apples, chestnuts or oysters. I'll make gravy to go with it.

-Baked, glazed ham - This one is for hubby and his mom, since they're big pork fans. I keep the glaze simple with pineapple juice, brown sugar & honey and I decorate the ham with pineapple slices, cloves and cherries.

-Baked macaroni & cheese

-Candied sweet potatoes (I'm still thinking of a way I can add a twist to this one)

-Collard greens - two versions, one simmered with hamhocks, one simmered with smoked turkey parts

-Creamed spinach and Horseradish mashed potatoes

- Some type of corn dish. I haven't decided on this one yet. But I believe you HAVE to have corn represented on Thanksigivng. Maybe I'll just make mini corn muffins or something...

-Cranberry sauce - In the past I've tried making homemade cranberry sauces and relishes but the group consistently prefers the jellied Ocean Spray stuff in the can. So I must comply.

-Baked beans - this one is for hubby. I've NEVER, EVER heard of any family having baked beans for Thanksgiving, with the exception of hubby's family. So I'll incorporate it just for him.

Desserts:
-Apple pie
-Bourbon pecan pie
-Sweet potato cheesecake (for my almost brother-in-law)
-Coconut custard pie
All of the desserts will be made with scratch crusts & homemade fillings.

Beverages:
Wine
Sparkling apple cider

[racheld]

Where you from, Hon? Our DEEP-South family always had a pan of macaroni and cheese (Heavy almost-orange Hoop cheese, grated over hot macaroni, with a stick of butter and some Pet milk poured in, top replaced, then stirred into a creamy, cheese-stringing mass sprinkled with several grinds from the peppermill). Even better baked a while as the turkey rests.

And Baked Beans!!! My Mother had two of the little steam-table pans, and they were the only utilitarian items allowed on her sumptuous buffet---one held the above cheese and macaroni, and the other, a pan of Showboat beans, begun by sauteing a couple of big chopped onions and a chopped bell pepper or two, then some barbecue sauce and a big handful of brown sugar stirred in. Two tall cans of Showboats drained, the pesky little tallowy bit of keep-it-legal "pork" fished out, and the whole pan stirred for a moment, poured into the baking pan, and topped with enough bacon to completely cloak the top. As it baked, the slices shrank and crisped, with little sags becoming sauce-saturated and redly transparent.

There were enough carbs on that table to fuel an NFL franchise. Plenty of salads, green vegetables for nibbling, and ambrosia with forty RDA's of Vitamin C, but the carbs carried the day.

Edited by racheld, 04 November 2006 - 06:14 PM.

[kevinAspork]

For the last 6 or so years I do a different menu for thanksgiving
this year is soul food/southern

Smoked Turkey
Bacon braised collards
Cornbread stuffing
Fried rabbit and waffles
candied yams (actual yams)
Blackeye pea and brussel sprout succatash
mashed potatoes
green salad
Pecan Pie with Bourbon ice cream
Apple pie
Cranberry punch

Im definatly excited

[annecros]

Bumping this back up - because it's time to start planning.

I am seriously considering a capon this year. We usually do turkey two ways (smoked and roasted) and I was thinking a roast capon instead of roast turkey and keeping the smoked turkey in there. Concerned that the family might be disappointed.

Mince Pie, Cornbread Dressing and Giblet gravy, turnips and mustard instead of rutabaga, stepdaughter has the pumpkin pies under control, the rest is still up in the air.

Can you believe my stepdaughter has requested a Green Bean Casserole?

I've have never made or eaten one, but I guess I'm going to this year. She remembers it the way her mother used to make it - Campbell's Soup and French's Onion Rings. I don't know if I can bring myself to do it.

[Cleo]

I am hosting for the first time this year. Right now, it's 6 adults and 4 children, which is a pretty small crowd for us.

Here's what I have so far:

Turkey

Stuffing made outside the turkey -- I've been wanting to try this Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Raffy's Turkey Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing. Has anyone ever made it or tried it?

Some kind of cranberry sauce -- maybe this one

Carrot Ring -- my mother-in-law insists on making and bringing this...it's actually the one thing that she can make that is good.

Potato of some sort -- maybe a potato gratin for a change. Does anyone have any good and easy recipes for a good potato gratin?

Vegetable -- maybe brussels sprouts, maybe green beans.

I can't seem to zero in on what I want to make for some reason. The carrot ring is very sweet, so that's why I'm not making sweet potatoes. Also, I was going to make a corn pudding, but again, don't want too many sweet dishes.

I keep thinking that I need more food, but with only 6 adults, I'm trying to not get carried away.

My sister will bring desserts -- she is an excellent baker.

[LindaJ]

I think I'm beginning to panic. I stupidly volunteered to do Thanksgiving because my husband's family has done the following in the past 1) deli sliced turkey breast with canned gravy and/or 2) turkey loaf in those frozen pans. I mean, really. A girl originally from Massachusetts just can't handle that without being appalled. They are the sweetest people in the world, but their idea of gourmet cooking is throwing a jar of queso cheese over a chicken breast.

Can you old pros help me out? How big a turkey to feed 10 adults and 7 children (ages 7 and under)? I'm thinking about 18 lbs? Should I do 2 10 pounders instead so there are more turkey legs?

To top it off, I probably have to make White Castle style hamburgers for my father in law who only eats ground beef as a protein.

[zeffer81]

Can you believe my stepdaughter has requested a Green Bean Casserole?

I've have never made or eaten one, but I guess I'm going to this year. She remembers it the way her mother used to make it - Campbell's Soup and French's Onion Rings. I don't know if I can bring myself to do it.

My boyfriend's mom cooks this every year, and even though I shun it in theory, I have to admit it's pretty good. I'm hosting Thanksgiving at my mom's this year and the bf and I had the following exchange:

Me: Here's my menu for Thanksgiving this year? Any requests? (not giving him time to respond) And I'm not doing green bean casserole. We don't cook things like that at our house (having been raised by a food snob, I've turned out quite delightful!)

Him: Fine, I only want my mom's anyway

Me: (starting to feel bad) I can make it if you really want.

Him: How about scalloped potatoes?

Me: AND mashed potatoes? I don't want to do both

Him: Instead of mashed potatoes

Me: You can't have Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes.

At this point, we both began to wonder why I bothered asking him. To please my darling BF, I might make the scalloped potatoes and ask a friend to bring the mashed. Otherwise, I've gotten most of my menu from this month's Gourmet and Bon Appetit. They've got some great looking sides--which, as a vegatarian, are the most important part of Thanksgiving.

My Menu
Haven't thought about appetizers yet. Probably something very light

Turkey
Cornbread stuffing (not dressing!) cooked outside of the bird
Grandmom's coleslaw (prepared by Grandmom hersself, if she's up to it!)
Sauteed brussels sprouts with caramelized shallots
Mashed bourbon sweet potatoes with hazelnuts
Mashed potatoes
Scalloped potatoes (jury's still out, but I think I'll go ahead)
Cranberry sauce (cooked and canned)
Creamed pearl onions in mustard sauce
A simple vegetable for my pop pop maybe peas and carrots

Mom and I aren't big bakers so dessert will probably be pretty straightforward. If she's recovered from her hip surgery, I may be able to convince her to make an apple tart. I'll do pumpkin pie