I have ordered a heritage turkey for this Thanksgiving. It's a smaller bird with more flavor. The sad part is that you are not supposed to stuff it because it throws off the relatively short/hot bake time.

There is nothing wrong with the classic Thanksgiving foods, but it's nice to stretch a bit and throw in some new stuff.

I love the combination of chocolate and pumpkin. But I love anything with pumpkin in it. Do you share your pumpkin pound cake recipe?

We love the traditional recipes and so we stick with them. Turkey with Oyster Stuffing (our Virginia friends got us hooked on that many years ago); baked yams with a bit of ginger; mashed potatoes & gravy; Waldorf salad; veggie tray with ranch dip and hummus (our only "exotic" addition ~ LOL); cheese tray; fresh fruit tray; pumpkin and pecan pies; wines, coffee, eggnog, and mulled cider.
Aaaaah, Thanksgiving . . . my most favorite meal of the year!
Lynn
Forgot to add, my fresh Cranberry Orange Compote.

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by lynninnewmexico on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 17:39

I can't imagine changing our traditional Thanksgiving meal and neither could my kids! They would probably think there was seriouly something wrong with me. Turkey(I get a hen), sausage/bread stuffing(in the bird and OUT of the bird!), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes/gravy, green bean casserole, fresh cauliflower/broccoli w/cheese sauce, cornbread/honey butter, rolls/ butter, fruit salad, pecan/pumpkin pies, lots of wine, and maybe an alka seltzer on the side! Like Lynn, my favorite meal of the year.

Hmm... I guess we maybe do a mix: trio of spreads for pita or chips (red pepperwhite bean dip, hummus and baba ganoosh, crudités with a lentil dip, pumpkin soup with chipotle pepitas and soy crema drizzle or a roasted celeriac and wild rice soup, stuffed acorn squash with a chickpea gravy, roasted cauliflower, honey glazed carrots, and maple glazed brussel sprouts with a balsamic dijon sauce, garlicky kale, orange infused cranberries. Desserts we have a good variety: sweet potato pie, a rustic jalepeno pumpkin tart or rustic pear galette, or cinnamon cake, pumpkin icecream with chocolate chips, vanilla icecream, usually some guests bring cookies We do change up cocktails and tend to do trendy cocktails, an assortment of micro brewery pumpkin or winter beers and our wine options vary on whatever my husband reads about the week leading up to our dinner.

We go to my brother's and it's the usual feast...the only exceptions being a Southwestern chili cheese dip with nachos as one of the appetizers (me) and Sally Lunn bread and Pumpkin Cake made by my brother from a favorite cookbook. We laugh every year because I am the designated appetizer bringer...and I bring a few and enough for the group but my SIL always puts out a few more...then complains about how everyone is stuffed by the time we sit down to eat! It's my favorite holiday--just all about being with family--no hype--and the only pressure is figuring out what to make and getting it done.

There would be mutiny if we veered away from our traditional turkey day menu:
roast turkey
stuffing
cranberry sauce
creamed pearl onions
sweet potatoes and marshmallows
mashed potatoes and gravy
green beans
green and black olives
rolls/ butter
pumpkin pie
mince pie
If it is at my house we never have appetizers on Thanksgiving.

This year we are eating with my DDs future in laws, and I am bringing a few dishes.
That being said- any other holiday meal is fair game to new and exciting recipes, my family is pretty adventurous.

We change a good portion of the dishes every year. We always have some type of hummus (regular, feta, pumpkin, beet) and butternut squash apple soup. Some new things are keepers and some are never repeated.

Every year we consider skipping the turkey, very few of us care one way or another, but as long as someone wants it we do a small one.

We also keep a very funny log book, for Thx and Xmas, recording what we served, a rating of the dish, attendees, entertainment, suggestions for next year, and awards, like best dressed. Part of our entertainment is reviewing the log book.

Last year, my 82 yo Mum's comment was: a lovely meal but my mother wouldn't recognize anything but the turkey. (She probably meant the hummus, a quinoa-cranberry-sweet potato-squash dish, and the Brussels sprout hash.)

The Brussels sprout hash and roasted spiced carrots are probably becoming regular items. At least for a few years, until we get bored or find something new to try.

I have pretty much the traditional things that most people have, but I'm open to trying something new. But not things that are just different for the sake of being trendy. Like the sweet potatoes with feta cheese- is that real or were you just making up an example- that sounds awful!

We have a traditional Thanksgiving meal but sometimes try out new recipes - like the stuffing often changes. One year it had sausage and apple, another year it had chestnuts, etc. But we have the basics - turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, gravy, two vegetables, cranberry sauce. Other things come and go, but this is what we MUST have to make it THanksgiving.

Funny story about Thanksgiving. Years and years ago, dh (who is from San Francisco) and I (from MD) were invited to Atlanta to his aunt's house for Thanksgiving. MIL and this aunt are originally from New York City, from an Irish family. So prior to our arrival, the aunt called and asked if there was anything in particular/traditional that we always had for Thanksgiving so that she could ensure that we enjoyed the meal. Being a gracious guest, I said something like, "Oh, we're easy....the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes, etc is fine with us!" So on Thanksgiving the meal is all laid out on a buffet and she has a huge spread with all kinds of other stuff which were not typical to us (aspic, for one). After we all sat down, one of dh's cousins remarked on the huge spread and said, "I couldn't figure out what was different this year then realized we have mashed potatoes! I'm just used to rice." I almost fell over...they don't have mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving??? I would never have mentioned it had I known it wasn't typical, not wanting her to go out of her way (though secretly, I would have been disappointed had there not been potatoes!). When I joked about how I never would have said anything, dh's aunt said that it's traditional in the South to have rice, not mashed potatoes. I've NEVER heard this before from any other southerner I've met. Anyone else (southerner) celebrate with rice instead of potatoes? If their family just didn't like potatoes, that would have been different, but they did, it just wasn't something they typically had on Thanksgiving. Dh's uncle is a true Southerner and his aunt, though not raised there, has taken on the Southern traditions, having lived there more than 50 years. Anyway, just thought it was interesting!

I always have core traditional dishes that I prepare--traditional to us, though perhaps not to everyone--and I also always try new cocktails, side dishes and stuffings, and new desserts. Sometimes a new dish will supplant one of the old, "traditional" dishes. My son's list of required dishes includes what he calls "party potatoes," James Beard's sweet potato rolls, and pumpkin creme brûlée, for example. Old-fashioned molasses cake is one dessert that my husband must have. My daughter must have minced Brussels sprouts with carrots and bacon. I used to make a corn pudding (a soufflé) that we all enjoyed, but that has fallen out of favor for a simpler sauté of spinach with garlic. I enjoy the changes over time, and keep a notebook of all the recipes I have ever tried, with the different menus we have had every year. I enjoy experimenting and my family never complains.

NO Nancybee I got all those things I posted from the BHG newsletter. We do all the same old traditional things for our Thanksgiving-turkey, my variation of stuffing that changes from year to year, but is still cornbread and veggies basically, apple pie, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish, etc. But I try to find a different side dish and, or salad recipe to try every year. I do most of the make ahead dishes, all the shopping and planning as everyone else has to work except DH and I are retired so this works for us. Everyone expects the traditional stuff and world be disappointed if I changed any of that. So the only variation I do is a side dish or salad.
I too find some of these combinations, as my kids would say, ucky. Am wondering who actually eats this stuff. Maybe the models who wear or design trendy (you know the ones that are 6ft tall and weigh 90 lbs). also make trendy food so they don't have to eat it.

I was never terribly interested in making THE thanksgiving dinner, because, in my family, people wanted the old standbys the way Mom always made them. And, frankly, I don't disagree. If you only have, say, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, 2 times a year, why would you want to change it up?

After the logistics got complex, we have started our own tradition. We go to our lakehouse, go skiing, and have our own little dinner. Since they were toddlers when we started, a huge turkey dinner would make no sense ... it would be DH and I gorging alone for days.

Ours is pared down:

Roasted turkey breast

Homemade gravy from homemade turkey and veg stock

Carrot stuffing made with our own bread cubes; cooked in a muffin tin to get crusty

Haricots verts

Homemade no cook cranberry orange relish

crudites

Pumpkin custard in ramekins with homemade unsweetened whipped cream

WOW, I am getting hungry. We do it simple but fresh and good.

PS my cooking club is having a salute to Thanksgiving side dishes. Ideas????

ms thrifty, I agree, who actually eats that stuff and how do they come up with those ideas?

My daughter last year made someone who's a bacon lover chocolate chip bacon cookies. I think everyone thought the bacon ruined the cookies, though no one said so. Or the cookies ruined the bacon!

Fourkids.....you said the magic Thanksgiving word.......ASPIC! Tomato...in a jello mold...with cotttage cheese.

Now that is Thanksgiving!!!!

I think the best food is food, no matter what it is, prepared and presented beautifully.
Our Thanksgiving is going to be small this year but the Turkey will be carved hot at the table ( gravy made the day ahead from turkey parts) and all the food will be the very best it can be even if it means hot from the oven gross green bean casserole and no, not New green bean casserole, the old kind, with canned soup and canned green beans.
My Dad and brother love it, so I will make it for them.
The rolls, homemade. The pies made that morning from homemade crust and fresh apples.
That sort of thing.

I despise getting up early, but for some reason getting up at 5 on Thanksgiving makes me happy and energetic.

Fannie Farmer cookbook for me!

I host every year, partly because it is my #1 holiday and I am good at it, and partly so that no one will jack with the menu.

Truth be told, of the major holidays, it is the only one of which my kids like the food and they are now 21 and 24 and help out a lot.

Turkey-Fresh-the biggest one they have.
Extra giblets for lots of gravy
Stuffing with bakery bread, onions, celery, fresh herbs, butter, and chicken broth
Mashed Potatoes-and in case you don't know -that means mashed (not riced or whipped) yukon gold or russet potatoes with ONLY butter, sea salt, and half and half. THERE IS NO SOUR CREAM, CREAM CHEESE, GARLIC, OR MELTED CHEESE. (did I mention that my kids don't like what we have at Christmas and Easter? Guess what they don't like?)
Homemade cranberry sauce
Homemade giblet gravy (Fannie Farmer Cookbook)
Niblets corn in butter sauce
Green bean casserole
Spinach salad with little mandarin oranges and almonds
Cranberry jello with nuts and whipped cream
Relish tray with huge olives
Cherry Pie
Apple Pie
Chocolate Cheesecake
Pumpkin Pie
And lots of fun stuff to drink.

I start about a month ahead planning and getting ready.

This weekend I reviewed my table settings, and washed the bar ware.

It's usually just our immediate family, and sometimes just my husband and I maybe with one of our adult children. So I don't make tons of side dishes, and no appetizers. We have to have the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (which can change from year to year), homemade gravy, broccoli (which I now roast instead of steam) and hollandaise sauce, which we call "holiday" sauce since that's what my now 25 year old son thought we were saying when he was three. And Pillsbury crescent rolls. Some years I will make a delicious butternut squash soup with marsala and bacon. And of course we always have pumpkin pie, which I don't care for, so I usually also make an apple pie.

We're going to my cousin's this year, so I'm not sure what we're having, though her son cooked for us a couple of t'givings ago and it was fabulous!

I'm bringing the pumpkin pie, which for us is traditional. Mom made pumpkin pie for all the family gatherings...it's a pumpkin chiffon which is so much lighter than the regular wet squashy-tasting traditional pie that turns greenish. Great after such a large and filling meal.

But I've made turkey dinners for company as everyone seems to want to eat lean these days and it comes out good. I use just the turkey breast and make it a la pierre franey and I brine it. Very moist and pretty quick. And au jus instead of the heavier gravy.

Of course mashed potatoes, and mashed rutabega were required along with stuffing and gravy. Usually green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. The rest was up for grabs.

Terriks - I don't like pumpkin pie either. I like pumpkin things but don't care for the pie.

We are very traditional with our Thanksgiving dinner. We don't have a huge family and it's gotten smaller the last few years. I usually host now and it will probably be only 6 or 8 of us this year. My sister and her husband have started going to their vacation home for Thanksgiving.

We don't do appetizers either. Such a big meal as it is.

tina

Hhireno, would you mind sharing the recipe for pumpkin humus? Sounds delicious.

Ellendi, it's from Cooking Light. It received a high score the years we made it. It's been a few years since we've had it, it might be time to repeat it. Thanks for having me look it up!

pumpkin hummus

Bumble, is there a *new* green bean casserole? Just last night my grandson said it's what he's looking forward to the most~I couldn't believe it! It's been a 'staple' dish since I can't remember and it wouldn't be a real Thanksgiving dinner w/o it. GS is 19.

hhireno---thanks for the pumpkin hummus recipe...something new for me to bring since I am in charge of appetizers. Yes, I wouldnt mind foregoing appetizers since everyone pigs out and is stuffed by dinner time, but we ususally get to my brother's around 1 or 2 and dont eat dinner til 5 or 6, hence the munchies.

My SIL does green bean casserole, a new thing for us, in honor of her newish son-in-law. I guess his mom did it every Thanksgiving, but his parents now go to their beach house for Thanksgiving...rumour has it he was heartbroken his first Thanksgiving with us and no green bean casserole....so funny what sticks with kids!

Hhireno, thanks :)

Cooperbailey's menu is exactly what I grew up with and continue to cook every year. There are only three of us (now two, but DS still comes home) and we used to invite lots of folks. We usually had 10-12. The last two years we have been back to three, but still do a 25 pound turkey with all the fixings (see Cooper's list). I love the leftovers.

Patty, there are all kinds of recipes in gourmet cyber space for the enlightened cooks; ones that use fresh green beans, homemade sauce and homemade crunchy toppings.
But for most people, the Campbells soup, canned green beans and canned fried onions are the real deal. So why bother with the new kind?!

I'd just as well have crispy green beans with a squirt of lemon and some butter anyway but I will make the original for others who like it.

I never had the green bean casserole until I got married and had a Thx meal with my husband's family. I've only eaten it once.

We also never had sweet potatoes with marshmallow. We had plain, mashed sweet potatoes. The first time I saw it with marshmallow, again at the in-laws, I thought "what in the world have they done to the sweet potatoes?"

The first year I made Thx dinner for my in-laws, I made butternut squash. I served bufffet style and explained each dish but my FIL wasn't listening. Imagine my FIL's surprise when he took a mouthful of squash expecting sweet potatoes. To his credit, he didn't spit it out in shock, but he did look surprised. Hmmm, come to think of it, they don't come here for Thx any more. Since we stick to their same exact menu (yawn) every Easter (that we always host), he hasn't had any food surprises.

My Mum was never much of a cook, she didn't enjoy it. Everything was very basic with little variation. It might we why we like to mix it up. All 5 of us like to cook and try new things.

It's all good, sticking to traditions or trying new things, whatever your family enjoys. I have my chance for variety at Thx and Xmas with my family but stick to their traditional stuff for Easter.

I don't care for the green bean casserole, but I don't like my green beans crispy with lemon either. LOL But who cares as my father says "that's why they make chocolate and vanilla"!!

I love fresh green beans. White-half runners are my favorite.

HH - I love roasted sweet potatoes and am thinking I may do that for our Thanksgiving dinner. That or the petite sweet potatoes (baked). My brother will probably have a cow if I don't fix sweet potato casserole but my dad's sugar is high so we don't need that. None of us do with dessert! I think dad would rather have his "sweet treat" as dessert and not the sweet potatoes.

We have a Thanksgiving dinner at my workplace too! There are some good cooks. I usually forgo the meat and concentrate on the side dishes - and I will sample a few desserts. There will be some healthy options there also. I think I will do a broccoli salad and some other dish.

tina

I admit, I like to play. I did not grow up with set meals at the holidays (I actually only vaguely remember having big holiday meals) so our meals often vary. My mom generally requests a custard pie and there will be a some incarnation of pumpkin pie. There generally is a roasted meat of some sort but will it be turkey, duck or ham? No telling yet. My overall hope is for good food, generally what is in season and enough pie left over for breakfast on Black Friday (you know, to fuel my body for cleaning and decorating).

Has anyone ever made 'southern' green beans? I had a couple of young men as neighbors for a few years and since they had no family in the area, were always invited for holidays. One of them always brought what he called 'southern' green beans. They were made with bacon, brown sugar, a little vinegar, and were baked in the oven for a couple of hours~absolutely delicious! Anyone familiar with this recipe?

Patty- I grew up on southern beans but my family made them in a pressure cooker. As an adult I make them from time to time but leave out the bacon and substitute a generous pinch of smoked paprika and a few dashes of vegan Worcestershire sauce. Cooking for so long essentially means all the nutrients are gone, but they are sort of a comfort food for our family along with cornbread and mashed potatoes made with Yukon holds and flavored with parsley and garlic. Some things I guess you never fully outgrow?

I am generally not a fan of traditional green bean casserole, but I found this Guy Fieri recipe that I now make every year. Not low-fat but really good.

This Thanksgiving is going to be a bit sad. We lost our little kitty who was absolutely bonkers for turkey, and this is our first TG without him. He would follow us around all day. It was HIS day! So, I've debated even making turkey this year, but we don't really want to go out, so we will probably order one. A local BBQ place used to do smoked whole turkeys for TG, but it seems they don't do that anymore. I get a natural turkey from a local organic supermarket. Since it's only MIL and us, we get about 12 lbs. I checked with them the other day, and I have a little while to decide.

My stuffing comes out like Mom's, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guy Fieri green beans with mushroom gravy

This green bean casserole is a winner! When I put it on the table last year raving about it, my son was silent and didn't take any with his first plateful. He sampled them with his refill and took another helping saying I thought this was going to be that same old mushroom soup recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern Living Green Bean Goat Cheese Gratin

Do you think the Guy Fieri recipe could be made the day before?

You could probably do most of it the day before besides the final bake in the oven.

I usually do the final bake after the turkey comes out and rests.

I have made this turkey for the past several years and it is a big hit. Something about the salty pancetta and sage. Yum!

We have about ten people. Most of us are continually watching our weight. We don't usually do appetizers or many desserts. My kids are weird, don't have favorites. I will make something special for my niece, she usually wants chocolate mousse. We have butternut squash, baked creamed spinach and celery, some sort of stuffing (that's where I experiment), and we alternate the potatoes. Not sure what we'll do this year. Sometimes I just love plain old mashed the best.

This year we are having a family Christmas Ornament swap on November 23. Because of other commitments and stuff, I have to start decorating for Christmas this week. It is going to be weird having Thanksgiving with Santa.

Beth P.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pancetta Sage Turkey

Bethpen,
Santa will be thrilled with turkey, he only ever get cookies for him and carrots for the reindeer.

Does anyone make their own cranberry sauce? I'm thinking of doing it this year.

Just made a test batch of cranberry sauce. Why have I been buying cranberry sauce all these years when it is ridiculously easy to make???

We always make our own cranberry sauce. Much better than store bought and as graywings said, it's ridiculously easy to make. And can be made in advance. For those who who thought sweet potato and goat cheese sounded terrible, I recently made this dish from Bon Appetit magazine. It was delicious and will be on our Thanksgiving table this year. While I am all for tradition, we have four family holiday dinners most years, so we like to change things up. Besides which, my in-laws are happy with the same Pillsbury Grands biscuits, limp over microwaved canned green bean, and over microwaved canned corn for most meals, so I need something a bit more tasty and interesting. (I like to cook from scratch.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet potatoes with Stilton and walnuts

Kimberlyrkb, I was one who thought feta cheese sounded terrible with sweet potatoes, but that recipe with stilton looks delicious. For some reason my mind went straight to the sweet potato casserole we have, which is very sweet and almost like a dessert (no marshmallows though) and I thought of adding feta cheese to that, which would be terrible!

Oh, boy, Nancy, I agree, adding feta to that kind of sweet potato recipe doesn't sound very tasty. ;)

Schnauzer, yes, Worchestershire sauce also. And I think they used a pressure cooker too, not the oven. Soooo delish!

Have you made southern creamed corn? I think it has Philadelphia cream cheese and maybe another cheese. High calorie but yummy.