Thanksgiving favorites/ must haves

[Planogirl]

Pecan pie

Good stuffing and gravy

Cranberry sauce (yes the canned kind)

 

[luvsJack]

Cornbread dressing, giblet gravy and homemade cranberry sauce and sweet potato pie.

For dh its dumplings, dd its pecan pie, younger ds its sweet potato casserole (topped with a mix of butter, brown sugar and pecans) and older ds its broccoli casserole.

 

[TaylorEar]

we're weird (I'm lazy/scared?) and don't make Turkey... instead I roast a small chicken. I've never made Turkey before and I feel like it's way more work than it's worth for just 2 people...

Have to have classic green bean casserole with the little non-food crispy onions and my grandma's broccoli-cheese casserole. We usually also have some form of mashed potatoes.

And of course Costco pumpkin pie.

 

[ronandannette]

Thanksgiving here was 3 weeks ago and I can still smell that turkey (mmm)! We have the exact same thing every year; this is no time to think out of the box!

Bread-based onion & sage stuffing cooked in the bird. Whipped potatoes w/pan gravy. Whole-berry cranberry sauce. Rutabaga mashed with butter and brown sugar (probably similar to the way a lot of you eat your sweet potatoes). Sweet potatoes boiled and then pan-caramelized in butter and brown sugar. Brussel sprouts. Devilled eggs. Lime-pineapple-cream cheese jellied salad. Relish tray including assorted sliced cheese. Soft, fresh white dinner buns. Wine. Lots and lots of wine.

For dessert - 5 kinds of pie, all of equal importance: pumpkin, apple, raisin, lemon meringue and banana cream.

 

[Bluestars]

these! Green bean bundles, yum!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/green-bean-bundles-with-bacon-and-brown-sugar.html

scalloped potatoes, no real recipe. Just make a cheese sauce mixed with some cream of mushroom and pour over the semi cooked potatoes and bake for a while

The green bean bundles look delicious!

Along with turkey, we always have mashed potatoes, gravy, ambrosia, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, and definitely pumpkin pie. Until last year, my youngest son would never even try the sweet potato casserole. He finally tried it last year and loved it.

The only time we have some of these items is at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it's a treat.

 

[WorldWacky]

We always go to my SIL's house. She serves jarred, "brown"(beef) gravy with the turkey. Don't know why if she's going to buy gravy, she doesn't just get jarred TURKEY gravy.
I grew up with the homemade stuff, so every year I ask her to save the pan drippings so I can make turkey gravy to go along with the stuff she serves.
I also always bring a sweet potato casserole and usually a couple of pies. My DH always requests cherry since he knows she'll have pumpkin and apple.
I tried to bring a relish tray one year with all sorts of pickles, olives, cheese, etc. No one in her family even looked at it and she set out her own olives and pickles instead. We had some "regular" olives and pickles on the tray incidentally.
Gotta love family.

 

[worm761]

It is different for all of us. I need green bean casserole, dinner rolls, and homemade gravy. DH needs corn souffle and apple crisp. DS needs this nasty marshmallow fluff stuff. My Dad needs mincemeat pie. And DD is only 4 so doesn't have a favorite yet.

Anyone care to share their sweet potato casserole and/or broccoli and cheese casserole with me? Vegetarian if at all possible. I am trying to make as many of the sides vegetarian as possible as I have one guest that is vegetarian.

 

[carrie1626]

[QUOTE=ronandannette;52563174]Thanksgiving here was 3 weeks ago and I can still smell that turkey (mmm)! We have the exact same thing every year; this is no time to think out of the box!

Bread-based onion & sage stuffing cooked in the bird. Whipped potatoes w/pan gravy. Whole-berry cranberry sauce. Rutabaga mashed with butter and brown sugar (probably similar to the way a lot of you eat your sweet potatoes). Sweet potatoes boiled and then pan-caramelized in butter and brown sugar. Brussel sprouts. Devilled eggs. Lime-pineapple-cream cheese jellied salad. Relish tray including assorted sliced cheese. Soft, fresh white dinner buns. Wine. Lots and lots of wine.

For dessert - 5 kinds of pie, all of equal importance: pumpkin, apple, raisin, lemon meringue and banana cream.[/QUOTE]

This conjures up very memory I have of Holidays family meals

 

[MIGrandma]

It has only been the last 2 years (this year will be the 3rd) that we have gone to our DS and DDIL's home for Thanksgiving. Before that my Mom (and my Dad when he was still alive) always took the whole family to a restaurant for dinner on Thanksgiving.

I really can't think of any specific must-have items, whatever DS and DDIL want to have is fine with us. We just appreciate being invited over. They always have turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes too but the rest can be a variety of things, and everyone coming over brings 1-2 things as well. I do like pumpkin pie with whipped topping for dessert, but if that's not offered it really doesn't matter. It's being with family that's important.

 

[crz4mm2]

That used to be my must have too!! I wish I could find a GOOD cream of mushroom soup that did not have gluten!!

Make your own. There are some great recipes and it's not hard to make.

 

[Katy Belle]

I can live without turkey. I love stuffing, potatoes and gravy. Pie. Really any kind of pie.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Wow, I always seemed to get the impression that I was the only person in the world who actually liked cranberry sauce. I think it is great!

 

[firegurl]

DH and I are both from huge Italian families so our Thanksgivings have a ridiculous amount of food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, succotash, carrots, oyster stuffing, sauerkraut & kielbasa, homemade hot applesauce, DH's homemade greenbean casserole, corn pudding, cranberry jelly, roasted sweet potatoes, giblet gravy, pumpkin roll, cannoli dip, cheesecake, pumpkin pie. I am stuffed thinking about it.

 

[firegurl]

Wow, I always seemed to get the impression that I was the only person in the world who actually liked cranberry sauce. I think it is great!

No way, my sister, my dad and I will fight over cranberry sauce. Seriously. My mom has started stashing a second can.

 

[ronandannette]

[QUOTE=ronandannette;52563174]Thanksgiving here was 3 weeks ago and I can still smell that turkey (mmm)! We have the exact same thing every year; this is no time to think out of the box!

Bread-based onion & sage stuffing cooked in the bird. Whipped potatoes w/pan gravy. Whole-berry cranberry sauce. Rutabaga mashed with butter and brown sugar (probably similar to the way a lot of you eat your sweet potatoes). Sweet potatoes boiled and then pan-caramelized in butter and brown sugar. Brussel sprouts. Devilled eggs. Lime-pineapple-cream cheese jellied salad. Relish tray including assorted sliced cheese. Soft, fresh white dinner buns. Wine. Lots and lots of wine.

For dessert - 5 kinds of pie, all of equal importance: pumpkin, apple, raisin, lemon meringue and banana cream.

This conjures up very memory I have of Holidays family meals[/QUOTE]

Did you have those Kraft commercials (circa late 60's) where the "disembodied hands" made things while a man's voice narrated? That's where my DMom picked up that recipe. I truly have never had one.single.festive.meal without it. Ever. Funny thing is, nobody ever has more that an tiny taste of it but would howl to high heaven if we tried to skip it.

 

[minkydog]

I make the same basic Thanksgiving every year, at my family's request. They are all about the tradition--and if we ever did it once, it's a tradition

My family would say it's not Thanksgiving until Mom makes the cranberry sauce--interestingly, this was the first item I learned to make. I was 16 and my dad put me in charge of cranberry sauce. I put cranberries and sugar into the pan, turned it on high and walked off. About 10 min later the stove was on fire.

I guess the most unusual thing that my kids ask for every year is devilled eggs. I don't know if it really goes with turkey and dressing, but devilled eggs are always on the table. I even have a special devilled egg plate!

For ME, it's not Thanksgiving until I make my grandmother's coconut custard pie. I do not like traditional pies, like pumpkin, pecan, or apple. My grandmother used to come stay with us for about 6 weeks, between Thanksgiving and New Years and she spent most of that time baking pies. She always made sure that I had one pie, a coconut pie, all my own. She even made a little flag with my name on it and would stick the flag in my pie to ward off everyone else.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, I always seemed to get the impression that I was the only person in the world who actually liked cranberry sauce. I think it is great!

We always a can of jellied for a friend who will only eat that, and we always make home made whole berry cranberry sauce for the rest of us. Soooo tough to make. 2 cups of sugar in 2 cups bowling water, 1 bag cranberries, boil for 10 minutes, cool.

Otherwise, the only other constant on Thanksgiving is it is always on the Saturday afterwards. Thanksgiving is never a day off work for DW and I, hasn't been for 35 years.

The entree varies. DD is vegetarian, and DS's girlfriend is allergic to turkey, so we always have a Tofurky roast. So the other entree may be turkey, prime rib, crab or ham for the rest of us. Not sure yet this year.

DW's goal is to make each Thanksgiving a little different, so that is our tradition.

 

[low-key]

give me pies and lots of them

 

[Holly Quinlan]

cranberry sauce, yeast rolls and butter all homemade and something we call roadside potatoes. its just a mixture of diced hash browns, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, shredded cheese and topped with potato chips. and I guess the obvious would be the turkey, I never thought anyone could do thanksgiving without a turkey but my DH asks me every year if we can have something else instead hasn't happened yet

 

[ronandannette]

We always a can of jellied for a friend who will only eat that, and we always make home made whole berry cranberry sauce for the rest of us. Soooo tough to make. 2 cups of sugar in 2 cups bowling water, 1 bag cranberries, boil for 10 minutes, cool.

Otherwise, the only other constant on Thanksgiving is it is always on the Saturday afterwards. Thanksgiving is never a day off work for DW and I, hasn't been for 35 years.

The entree varies. DD is vegetarian, and DS's girlfriend is allergic to turkey, so we always have a Tofurky roast. So the other entree may be turkey, prime rib, crab or ham for the rest of us. Not sure yet this year.

DW's goal is to make each Thanksgiving a little different, so that is our tradition.

I never in a million years would have come up with this myself, but it's actually a neat idea!