Thanksgiving Menus

[_19disnA]

Frozen whole turkey takes about 4 days to thaw in the refrigerator so for us that is probably the item that requires the most advance planning. Other than deciding on quantity/size of side dishes based on how many will be in attendance, there really isn't anything on our menu that requires weeks of planning.

Pumpkin pie (I make it with fresh pumpkin, but I'm not sure I'll find the pie pumpkins down here).

Tried making it with roasted pie pumpkins a few years ago and no one could tell it tasted any different. Most of the flavor of pumpkin pie is from the added spice blend. It is a LOT more work to roast a pumpkin for a result that made no difference, so we are back to using canned pumpkin.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Roasted turkey (my recipe in my mom's table top roaster)
Stuffing (one of my grandmother's recipes that I grew up with)
Broccoli Casserole (my cousin's recipe that I had for the first time last year)
Deviled Eggs (recipe from my "Theatre mom" who took me under her wing when I moved to Indy in 2014)

But I don't know what else to make. I feel like I need one more side.

How nice to do so many dishes with familial significance .

I’d add sautéed string beans, with or without bacon because it’s simple to put together at the last moment. Pre cook bacon and chop, save rendered fat to sauté veggies; par boil/blanch string beans to cut back on cooking time and preserve color. Store in freezer until ready to cook. No bacon fat? Use a mix of butter and olive oil.

 

[Bethislucy]

Our menu doesn't really vary much from year to year, so I don't have a lot to plan for. I am thinking of adding creamed onions this year though....we'll see.
I don't have the final count of those attending (I'm cooking, as I do most years. Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday and I really enjoy all the cooking & whatnot that goes on for it) but so far we are at 7 for sure, with my brothers family & my in-laws maybe joining, so possibly as many as 14. I love a full house on Thanksgiving

What are creamed onions? I love onions so this has piqued my interest.

 

[Meriweather]

DS and DIL host and she leaves the day after, so no idea what is happening yet.
Something easy and probably not ThanksgivingY at all.

I have Christmas and already thinking on that. Eve dinner, Day breakfast and dinner.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I do not know the plan yet, my MIL should be doing the hosting. I know we will have turkey, dressing, and not sure what all else. Not sure what the guest list is going to look like yet. My step-daughter is a nurse, I am not sure if she has to work or not.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Frozen whole turkey takes about 4 days to thaw in the refrigerator so for us that is probably the item that requires the most advance planning. Other than deciding on quantity/size of side dishes based on how many will be in attendance, there really isn't anything on our menu that requires weeks of planning.

Tried making it with roasted pie pumpkins a few years ago and no one could tell it tasted any different. Most of the flavor of pumpkin pie is from the added spice blend. It is a LOT more work to roast a pumpkin for a result that made no difference, so we are back to using canned pumpkin.

I do a cold water bath for the turkey the day before Thanksgiving. Takes up one of my kitchen sinks for the day, but it works. I'm already in the kitchen for most of the day, so I can change out the water regularly. My mother did it for 60 years, and I've done it for over 30.

Re: roasted pie pumpkins, I don't think they take much longer/effort, and DH says he likes the flavor better. It's a lighter color and richer flavor, I think.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I will have some work that day, so we're staying home. I'll be in and out. Neither of us are big fans of a turkey dinner, and so I asked my husband what he's like.....beef stew. So, beef stew it is. We'll probably put on Christmas music and put the tree up at some point that day.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Anyone already planning their Thanksgiving menus for this November?

This is first year ever that we will not be home for Thanksgiving. We've already notified our kids we won't be here.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Another person working with food allergies - mine.

So, we have a dairy and tree nut free Thanksgiving.

Breakfast is cinnamon rolls or cherry turnovers (haven't decided yet) and coffee

Lunch/snacking is proscuitto, cheese (for the kids - the one dairy for the day), crackers, homemade pumpkin pie dip (coco whip, jello vanilla pudding, and pumpkin pie filling with some more spices) with dippers of baked cinnamon sugared pie crusts, apple slices, pear slices, and usually one more fruit.

Dinner is:
Citrus and herb roasted turkey
Homemade giblet gravy (made ahead and then warmed with the day's drippings, too)
Mashed Potatoes (always homemade)
Stovetop Stuffing - this is the best, hand's down, for my gravy
Roasted fresh green beans, mushrooms, and onions with french fried onions on top (aka the best part of the glop recipe with no dairy)
Homemade cranberry sauce - every year, it comboes with a different fruit based on sales and what we're feeling
And if my kid decides to make it, we'll have homemade sourdough bread or pumpkin bread

Dessert is a tradition of pumpkin pie "ice cream" pie and coffee - it used to be dairy-filled ice cream, but now it's dairy and nut free vanilla "ice cream" mixed with pumpkin pie filling and coconut caramel swirled in and put in a graham cracker crust and served with more coconut caramel and coconut whipped cream - it's perfect for the holiday.

I do make a really good pumpkin pie (and butternut squash pie), but those aren't tradition, and this is, so we have those the next day when I make the homemade roasted sweet potatoes (sometimes casserole with banana, sometimes casserole with brown sugar and peanuts, sometimes just roasted or mashed) and apple crisp to have with leftovers. Day 2 becomes another amazing dinner meal when you split your sides and do a few fresh the 1st day and a few fresh on the 2nd one, and enough gravy for both...

 

[neverlandsky]

Not crazy and definitely not too early. We were told just the other day 3 more paydays until Christmas . Kind of stinks there isn’t 30+ days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

Just 4 of us. Decided we always had way too much food over the years. Hated the food waste afterwards. This year made a minimalist and simpler menu of no appetizers, no desserts, no bread, and 3 sides got the ax.

Our Menu: - Dairy Free
Lemon Pepper Roasted Chicken
Lemon Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Mushroom Gravy
Veggie & Herb Stuffing
Skillet Green Bean Casserole

ETA: Adding a crockpot ham, it was requested.

 

[NotUrsula]

I do a cold water bath for the turkey the day before Thanksgiving. Takes up one of my kitchen sinks for the day, but it works. I'm already in the kitchen for most of the day, so I can change out the water regularly. My mother did it for 60 years, and I've done it for over 30.

Re: roasted pie pumpkins, I don't think they take much longer/effort, and DH says he likes the flavor better. It's a lighter color and richer flavor, I think.

We do our cold-water bath over 2 days in an ice chest that has a drain. I put the bird and the brine ingredients in a sealed supersize ziploc bag, then sink the entire thing in ice water that is regularly refreshed and stays just a few degrees above freezing. Simultaneously brine and defrost in a portable container; total win-win as long as you stay on top of the water temp.

We buy the turkey on Tuesday and put it directly into the ice chest; no taking up space in the fridge or a sink.

PS: I don't have any issues with dairy, but I think the roasted green beans option is great. I tend not to like most of the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes because I have texture issues, and so many of the traditional sides are just mush. I'll do mashed potatoes (though mine are the actual Irish type, Champ, with scallion tops mixed in and lumps as they happen. No electric mixer has ever touched a potato in my house. Turns them into glue.)

We don't live near extended family any more, so we do sort of a parade of special sides from Thu-Sun while we do various meal variations with the turkey or other meat. That way everyone gets their favorite side, but we don't have a ridiculous number of them on the table at once. (The exception is Black Friday; that's strictly a soup day with Turkey/Andouille gumbo in the crock pot to dive into whenever you want.)

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Roasted fresh green beans, mushrooms, and onions with french fried onions on top (aka the best part of the glop recipe with no dairy)

This sounds amazing. Do you roast everything together and add the fried onions just before serving? Do you have a recipe?

 

[TwoMisfits]

This sounds amazing. Do you roast everything together and add the fried onions just before serving? Do you have a recipe?

I don't really do recipes and made this up myself - it's more technique than recipe...
Oven at 350
Veg quantity is roughly 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, but you can have more or less of whatever is your favorite (my fam LOVES mushrooms and onions, so we really increase those, but you can also do 1/2 green bean and 1/4 of each of the others if you like beans more - and I tend to use 2 types of mushrooms)
Prep the green bean (snap the ends) - toss on the parchment lined pan
Prep the mushrooms by cleaning and slicing (dice ends and thinly slice caps) - toss on the pan
Prep the onions with a dice (about size of mushroom or a little smaller - both much smaller than green bean) - toss on the pan
Drizzle with olive oil (your amount choice) and s&p and hand toss
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes - see if you like your veg cook (some folks like veg more or less cooked and some folks have more or less veg on the pan)
If you do, add a handful of fried onions on top (your choice on amount) - bake 5-10 more minutes, depending how crispy you like your topping
Serve

It's great - my kids ask for this as the main veg every year now. Everyone always wants the crisp onion topping on veg and this delivers - no sog on the fried onions...

 

[MamaMermaid]

No menu for us this year -- we are going to Disney's Vero Beach Resort!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

But usually that's mac 'n cheese and a pea casserole (like the green bean one, only DH likes it better.)

I'm intrigued. How is it with the sweetness of the peas? My family is anti-green bean casserole and I have a really hard time with them and peas in general. Still, I'm curious.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Frozen whole turkey takes about 4 days to thaw in the refrigerator so for us that is probably the item that requires the most advance planning. Other than deciding on quantity/size of side dishes based on how many will be in attendance, there really isn't anything on our menu that requires weeks of planning.

4-5 days is also usually our window for thawing. Our roaster claims it can safely cook a frozen turkey, but I have a hard time trusting it.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

It's great - my kids ask for this as the main veg every year now. Everyone always wants the crisp onion topping on veg and this delivers - no sog on the fried onions...

Thank you, I will try this out very soon!

 

[LilyWDW]

For me, your menu was missing mashed potatoes. I use a "make ahead" recipe that calls for cream cheese (I cut the amount in half) and it reheats beautifully. Oh, you need rolls/bread too. Thanksgiving for us is pretty much a festival of carbs.

Don't come at me, but I am not a huge fan of mashed potatoes. It's not that I don't like them, just that there are so many other options that I always skip them.

I like your menu. Maybe some glazed carrots for the other side dish?

I do have a bourbon and brown sugar glazed carrots recipe from the same cousin that gave me the broccoli casserole recipe. If I can find the bourbon and it is not crazy expensive I may do that.

How nice to do so many dishes with familial significance .

I’d add sautéed string beans, with or without bacon because it’s simple to put together at the last moment. Pre cook bacon and chop, save rendered fat to sauté veggies; par boil/blanch string beans to cut back on cooking time and preserve color. Store in freezer until ready to cook. No bacon fat? Use a mix of butter and olive oil.

Oooo... that string bean recipe sounds really good. And easy which is also important.

Oh, and I am adding crescent rolls. I could get fancy rolls, but crescent rolls are peak nostalgia.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

DH and I are going to my brother and SIL's house (as we do every year). There will definitely be:

Turkey with homemade gravy
Stuffing (in the turkey plus the extra baked in the oven on the side)
Cranberry (homemade and jelly from the can)
Corn
Mashed turnip
Mashed potatoes
Roasted vegetables
Homemade bread (whatever my brother decides to make)
Whatever else he decides to add but the above are the usual suspects

We always bring the sweet potato casserole (brown sugar/pecan topping, no marshmallows in sight) and some kind of dessert.

 

[NYCgrrl]

The easy to remember basics I follow for thawing a turkey:

For every 4 pounds you need a day in the fridge. Therefore a 20 pounder would take 5 days to defrost. Generally speaking if you take a bird out of the freezer on the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) before T Day, you’ll be fine no matter the size of the bird.

HTH and have fun!