Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and quite possibly your Thanksgiving Dinner menu plan is scribbled on the back of a coupon stuffed in the side pocket of your purse.
It’s not? Well, you are a much better woman than I am.
It’s that week where we dig out our most beloved recipes, scan for new dinner ideas, and decide what bounty will be served on our Thanksgiving table. Our traditional meal is actually done with family on Saturday, since we eat at an out of town restaurant on Thanksgiving day (gasp), so I have a few extra days to get it together.
I thought we could brainstorm ideas and share what our Thanksgiving dinner menu looks like.
Every year, we have to make the same family favorites. The traditional fare yields Cider Baked Turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, gourmet Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes (that you can make ahead and freeze, if you need to), Butterhorn Rolls, broccoli and cheese casserole, cauliflower, and a cranberry salad that my precious mother makes for my older brother…because it’s tradition, I tell ya, and he’s the only one who ask. 
Desserts entail various apple and pumpkin pies with some new creative endeavors including some kind of cheesecake thrown in along the way.
Do you stick to traditional recipes or are there some fun, creative ones that you include every year?
Are there favorite recipes that grace your table every year or it’s just not quite Thanksgiving (besides the typical turkey and pumpkin pie)?
Here is just a peak at a few of the treats that will be a part of our bounty next week.
Cider Baked Turkey (wonderful for whole turkey or just a turkey breast)
Gourmet Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Cauliflower (great alternative to mashed potatoes for those on low carb diet)
Easy Pumpkin Bar Recipe with an Easy Cream Cheese Frosting
Don’t forget to submit your Simple Holiday Recipes to be featured here.
I know you all will have wonderful ideas featured in Tasty Tuesday, and I can’t wait to see them.
Please limit your links, no other carnivals, and make sure you link to your direct recipe post and not your blog home page.
As much as I love cooking and preparing the Thanksgiving meal – I must admit it feels really nice to let my mother-in-law do the cooking this year! My contribution will be heating up a couple packages of homegrown sweet corn. 🙂
I linked up a recipe for mini meatloaf that contains brown rice & diced vegetables. The tangy & sweet sauce is sure to please. This recipe is a definite winner!
Thanks for hosting!
I live in England so Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, however I was born in Canada so my family and I celebrate Thanksgiving in October. We love to have traditional dishes and celebrate our heritage as well as being thankful on that day. I like your Gratitude Rolls! There are some great links in your post – wonderful seasonal food. Thank you so much for sharing and for hosting.
We tend to do the same foods every year b/c we LOVE them and only make them at Thanksgiving. The only exception to that would be the sweet potatoes — that’s the one that we mix up a bit from year to year. Here’s our thanksgiving menu for this year:
http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-2011-menu-plan.html
I linked up our Turkey recipe today — bacon wrapped! Which means it is self-basting. We love it.
I can’t wait to try some of these recipes. It’s 8 am and my stomach is growling wanting mashed potatoes and turkey. YUM! Can’t wait for Thanksgiving.
Thanks for hosting the tasty parade of foods party-I linked up my Seriously Delectable Split Pea Soup recipe. Hope you enjoy!
So funny, I posted a mashed cauliflower recipe today too! The grateful rolls are adorable and we’ll have to try them!
I don’t host Thanksgiving, but my mother does and she has a huge crowd this year. I’m taking 2 pies, the sweet potatoes, and a garden salad.
thanks for hosting. I linked up a great fall soup: http://www.familybalancesheet.org/2011/11/italian-sausage-white-bean-and-kale.html
My aunt hosts Thanksgiving so she does the turkey and dressing and a few sides, and then the rest of us bring sides, rolls, and dessert. I’m bringing rolls and either my pumpkin cobbler (linked above!) or new apple bundt cake recipe I found in Southern Living this year. I can’t decide!
Other things that are always on the table are mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn casserole, and my aunt’s cherry salad, which sounds a lot like the dish your mother makes for your brother! Not that many people partake in eating that one…But it’s still a tradition!
Thanks for hosting, as always you have some great recipes here 🙂
For turkey day, there are things I always make — homemade cranberry relish and candied sweet potatoes. Both easy, but essential as far as I’m concerned 🙂 I get more adventurous with stuffings. I can’t remember making the same one two years in a row, at least not for a long time. There are so many possibilities with stuffing, and I only seem to experiment once a year! My mother in law will probably make their family-favorite jello salad, with walnuts and cream cheese. Their whole family eats and loves it, so it’s definitely part of our tradition, though I never make it 😉
I was just this morning working on my Thanksgiving menu…I’m off to check out those “make-ahead mashed potatoes” and your gratitude rolls! Thanks for hosting and for the inspiration! ~Lisa
I love the part about the menu scribbled on a coupon, yup, that’s me, many many times. I’m not as organized as I look, but I DO at least have a plan. Like right now, I have a plan to wait until Wed ads to see what holiday items are on sale before heading to Ingles this week. All the recipe links look divine. I LOVE the gratitude idea for rolls. The papers don’t get soggy and tear? Wow, ur rolls look prettier than pillsbury! Blessings!
We all have the friends who love to throw a good dinner party. They love the idea of getting together over food and sharing a wonderful time with all their friends. Some people enjoy throwing a dinner party just because it’s a great excuse to get everyone together, while others only throw them for special occasions. Whatever the reason, it’s always a wonderful gesture to bring your host a gift.