My Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

777

Looking for what to serve for your Thanksgiving meal, then look no further. This is the menu that I serve for my family.

For this year, I decided to put together my Thanksgiving dinner menu to share with all of you. I have a good collection of delicious Thanksgiving recipe. However, I have my go to recipes that I use for my Thanksgiving dinner. These are recipes that I have found over the years. Now that 2 of my 3 kids are married, I have started having my own Thanksgiving dinner.

For the turkey, I usually just buy a Butterball turkey when they go on sale for 99 cents a pound. Then I just season it with salt and pepper and cook according to package directions. However, the brown bag method is my second favorite way to cook a turkey.

For my gravy, I don’t have a specific recipe. The method I use is how my mom makes it. I use the turkey drippings along with the potato water from cooking my potatoes in for mashed potatoes. Then, I season the water with Better Than Bouillon and salt. I thicken the gravy with a slurry on water and flour that I mix in a blender bottle. I also add in some Kitchen Bouquet browning and seasoning sauce. It adds flavor and color to the gravy.

Now on to the side dishes.

This are the side dishes I have now decided to make and include with my traditional meal! There may be a few others that I add in that are new and different, but these are the must haves for my Thanksgiving.

• Cranberry sauce – homemade sauce is the only way to go in my book. This can be made a day or 2 in advance and is not hard to do at all. The link provided is the one I like to post. It includes the flavor of orange. However, I do occasionally give a new recipe a try. This is one place my family doesn’t mind if I change up the recipe.
• My mom’s sage dressing – this is the only recipe for dressing on Thanksgiving in my opinion. It’s the same recipe my grandmother and mom made for Thanksgiving. It’s just not Thanksgiving without the smell of this cooking on the big day. I prep this the day before and cook it in the oven on Thanksgiving day.

• Mashed potatoes – for my go to mashed potatoes, I don’t have a formal recipe. I boil them on the stove top because I use the water that they cook in for my gravy. Then when I mash them I use some cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and milk. If I want to be really decadent, I use whip cream instead of milk. However, if I don’t have to do the turkey I love to make the potatoes in the slow cooker.
• Green bean casserole – the good old classic green bean casserole is my family’s favorite. It is what they expect for Thanksgiving. If you have my cookbook. the recipe in there for cheesy broccoli casserole is the second favorite veggie side. I prep this the day before also and bake the day of.

Sweet potatoes – I am not a fan of the traditional sweet potatoes that are sweet and sugary or topped with marshmallows. I prefer a more savory version. The link is to my favorite sweet potato gratin. It includes goat cheese, half and half, dried thyme, and Parmesan cheese.

Salad – For the salad, I like to rotate between my make ahead cranberry salad or my pomegranate salad. Both are creamy and delicious and include fruit. I love that the cranberry one can be made in advance. The pomegranate salad has to be assembled the day you serve it.

• Rolls – this is one I do change depending on my mood. I have so many rolls recipes that I love. However, there are two that I go to the most of all. First up is Molly’s rolls. This roll is like my recipe for Lion House dinner rolls, but faster to make. I do like to change up how I shape them too. The other roll recipe I like to use is the recipe I have for orange rolls. It’s what my grandmother would make and my mom would also frequently make. It is a sweet version as opposed to the basic version. However, it’s another smell that I associate with Thanksgiving.

Last of all is dessert! It’s pie all the way at our house.

This is something that we have each person contribute to. Everyone coming brings a pie. I’m not a pumpkin pie fan, but my family is. I must admit that often this is a Costco Pumpkin Pie! My family loves it and not sure you could make it for much less.

However, as far and the other pies go, this is the fun part when the favors we have can change. I have many good pie recipes but the ones belove are family favorites! I have a lot that I like but I included my top ten pie recipes here for you. If the pie is made with a traditional pie crust, I use my perfect pie crust recipe!

• Chocolate Pretzel Pecan Pie – I do like to have some kind of pecan pie as a part of the feast. I love that this one include chocolate!
• Coconut Cream Pie – This is my go to recipe when I want a homemade coconut cream pie. It does use instant pudding mix to help make it easier to make.

• Black Forest Cheesecake – This cheesecake is easy to make and it topped with cherry pie filling. It’s perfect for the chocolate lovers.
• Maple Pecan Pie – If you like a traditional pecan pie, this maple version is my go to. Maple syrup is used instead of the traditional corn syrup.

• Banana Cream Pie – This pie is another one of my family’s favorite! It is also an easy version to make using instant pudding mix. It also uses a Nilla wafer crust, but you can swap that for a traditional one if you prefer.
• Pina Colada Pie – This pie is creamy, flavorful and decadent! Your coconut cream pie lovers will love this pina colada version.
• Raspberry Cream Pie – This pie is a nice cross between a creamy pie and a fruit pie. It is made with a graham cracker crust but you can always swap it for a traditional one.

• Lemon Supreme Pie -I’m not a fan of lemon meringue. So this pie is the lemon version I prefer. It has a sweet creamy cream cheese layer.
• French Silk Pie – This French silk pie is smooth, creamy, chocolate, satin goodness. It is made with an Oreo cookie crust.