All Things Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is pretty literally around the corner. Three days away in fact. Which is just enough time left to add a new dish to your menu, or tweak an old favorite for a fresh take. Now, I personally have been reading Thanksgiving recipe related posts for a few weeks now and there are some seriously good looking dishes out there. Plus, I have a few favorites right here that I certainly suggest you add to the menu at your house. So, clearly a collection of all awesome things Thanksgiving was necessary to share with you! 

Ok, first things first. We should talk about the big bird. Not Big Bird, friend of Elmo. The big bird as in the turkey. I’m going to be honest here and throw this out there, Thanksgiving sacrilege though it might be. For many years I never much liked the Thanksgiving turkey. Turkey can honestly be… rather dry and flavorless. Then I discovered the way of the smoked turkey. And then I discovered brining. And then there was deep fried turkey… Suddenly I knew the wonders of turkey! So, I don’t care which of the three methods you choose to employ but selecting at least one is, in my humble opinion an absolute necessity to serving up a great Thanksgiving bird. (FYI My turkey will be injected with whisky and a killer seasoning mix and then smoked. Most A-M-A-Z-I-N-G turkey ever.) I should also mention that apparently turkey confit is also awesome. I’ve never tried it, so can’t vouch, buuuut I have good feelings for it’s potential. (Please let me know if you do try!)

Obvi mashed potatoes are a must for Thanksgiving. I am currently rather partial to my sneaky healthy mashed potatoes. I like healthy-ing things up without anybody realizing what I’ve done. Insert evil laughter here. Or, there are these if you don’t want to go the healthy route. OMG- Alex Guarnaschelli I love you. Seriously having a fan-girl moment here my friends.

However, if you’re not dead set on mashing your potatoes extra crispy herb roasted new potatoes could be seriously amazing. Maybe we could do the roasted potatoes and mash something else? Here is a list of every vegetable you can mash, besides potatoes so we can at least consider. I’m actually kinda feeling those parsnips.

I’m going to mention that it is very cool to serve mac & cheese alongside all the other starches you have already planned for; because mac & cheese is always awesome. And you can’t have too much starch on Thanksgiving. I’m probably going to serve this no boil mac and cheese from Half Baked Harvest myself. Everything she makes is amazing, so, yeah. 

Stuffing. OH STUFFING, you complete me. Ok. Dirty food secret/laundry time. I use Pepridge farms stuffing mix and plain jane chicken broth every year. Then I add diced up spicy Italian sausage. It is stupid, STUPID, good. I know, I know, so not food bloggy. Since that may not be foodie enough for you (Its cool I’m not insulted. Though, I swear you haven’t lived till you’ve tried this stuffing.) here is a scratch made version that is actually rather similar. Or apparently you can also make stuffing from whatever you have floating around.

You know what? I am now seriously craving stuffing right this moment. Hurry up Thanksgiving. 

And… moving on to vegetables. First rule: Every vegetable totally tastes better in gratin form. Yum. Second rule: traditional green bean casserole = gross. Though my husband likes it, so it will get made at our house too… Fortunately there are many alternatives Personally, I would way rather eat these amazing lemony green beans with almond bread crumbs. <—BTW this is a veggie recipe that does not suck! )

Also orange recipes, as in the color orange, to round things out (as you can imagine they involve sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots). I’m also super psyched about Pinch of Yum’s bacon and brussels sprout salad. I love the idea of wispy little sprout pieces. Plus bacon. Come on! 

Because its Thanksgiving clearly there must be some random cranberry factoids. More importantly here is how to make homemade cranberry sauce. Or you could skip the sauce and make cranberry apple muffins. IDK, it all works for me.

You can never heave enough bread at the Thanksgiving table. Everything from sweet potato muffins, to really good rolls, to cheddar and garlic potato bread, to croissants is perfectly appropriate in my book.

And… finally the most important dish of all. Pie. Yes pie. Start with my absolute favorite pie dough ever (bonus, its insanely easy to roll out). You also may want to know these secrets to achieving the perfect pie crust courtesy of Erin at the Shutter Oven. Let me tell you, this lady knows her pie. Or, you may totally need a gluten free pie crust, fortunately that can be done too! Let’s talk fillings. We all know that pecan pie is the best ever, so here are seven recipe. Again I say: PECAN PIE! I’m also quite partial to my vanilla crumble pumpkin pie.

We also won’t forget sweet potato pie, because I know some people have a thing about sweet potatoes. Though I personally would rather make apple my third slice. There are so many numerous (delicious) variations and fun things one can do to an apple pie. Or you could be wild crazy and make a pumpkin cake. But just sayn’ that would be crazy. 

Don’t forget the wine. My favorite is currently Durigutti 2012 Malbec, a very versatile choice. I find it compliments almost anything, and it certainly can handle all that rich Thanksgiving fair. 

And we’re done. 

Happy Thanksgiving.