Not precisely sure what's happening with my family this year - some will be out of town and others will be with inlaws - so the exact dinner menu (and who will be hosting and attending) is still up in the air :-) Turkey and its usual accompaniments (dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce) will of course be present but other sides and desserts are up for grabs.

My new favorite side is mashed yams with goat cheese. A very elegant and savory alternative to the usual overly sugary sweet potato casserole. And my family is very anti-green bean casserole, so probably spinach souffle or brussel sprouts in some form for a green. I can take or leave pumpkin pie, so typically some sort of fruit pie will be available as well. I lean heavily towards a rustic pear and cranberry tart.

Not serving Thanksgiving this year, but when I do it's turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, creamed peas and onions, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie, also a mincemeat if a particular family member is coming.

Our family is generally pretty determined that everything should be the way my mom did Thanksgiving dinner. My nephews for some reason like the cheap version of green bean casserole (has to be made with canned beans and canned soup), but I avoid that by pointing out that nobody in our family nor their mother's family ever served it for Thanksgiving, although we did have cousins who made it for Easter.

Turkey & dressing, mashed/whipped/creamed (?) sweet potatoes with pecans and maple butter, broccoli casserole, cranberry/banana salad, my MIL's wonderful slaw, chocolate pecan pie and my MIL will also bring a dessert of some sort. That is what I have on the list at this point!

Pomegranate sangria sounds yummy! Would you share your recipe?

Thanks for the comments and ideas! smhinnb, the sangria was a big hit at a party we hosted earlier this year. The only problem was that the pomegranate seeds tended to sink to the bottom and stay there, so you have to give a vigorous stir before every pour or set some aside to put into each serving. If you have a Costco membership, that is the most effective place to purchase the pomegranate juice.

http://www.simplebites.net/winter-sangria-with-citrus-pomegranate/

We're just a small family of 4 but I do the turkey, a traditional stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a home made bread of some sort. My DD & DSIL are making home made cranberry sauce, a mix of fresh veggies roasted (butternut squash, cauliflower, string beans and Brussels sprouts) or a casserole type veggie dish and salad. Pomegranite Sangria! That sounds wonderful!

We had our Thanksgiving meal in October (Candian eh!). Cooked the turkey on the bbq along with brussel sprouts and grilled cauliflower. Also had mashed potatoes with gravy.

The pomegranate sangria looks good! This is my current go to recipe for sangria (omit the sugar and cherries)

Sangria! Sangria!

Make sure you let it sit overnight in the refrigerator before serving

At least 22 for dinner at my DIL's sister's house. Two deep fried turkeys with different rubs and 2 deep fried ducks with all the usual sides. There usually is an assortment of Middle Eastern dishes (including the best tabbouleh) and (store bought - meh) pies. I'll bring a pineapple stuffing and homemade biscotti.

Thank you Bluebell! I will definitely be trying that - I might wait for next summer.... it's cold, damp fall where I live now & I'm thinking more about warm winter drinks. I'm thinking about trying a warm mulled wine (kinda like warm Sangria, haha) and hot buttered rum for Christmas this year.

The recipe Kristi posted is also my go-to for Sangria (minus the extra sugar). Sometime I'll substitute various berry juices instead of the lemon/orange, especially if my sister is around. She likes her Sangria quite sweet.

That pomegranate sangria is quite sweet. Mulled wine would be good! Or, if you have access to apple cider, "apple pie moonshine" is really delicious! I found my recipe for it on Pinterest last year. It's not really moonshine, of course, but it is ramped up cider. It is pretty sweet, too, and I like to put a splash of diet 7-up or soda in it when I drink it to cut the alcohol and sweetness. But most people drink it straight. It's good warm, too, just don't add the splash of soda.

I think my sister-in-law said they are serving mac/cheese, sloppy joes, this and that. Oh well at least the family will be together. First TG without Mom.

I'll be going to a church meal with a friend this Sunday evening that will have all the traditional foods for an early Thanksgiving Day meal. Neighbors always invite me to their dinners and also another relative, so I have no need to complain or feel left out. Sometimes I like to have a quiet day to myself on holidays anyway.

Thanksgiving dinner is my very favorite meal of the year. I love it! Our longtime best friends always host it, and we have Christmas Day at our home. For us, Thanksgiving dinner is a big sit-down, fun affair for at least 12 of us. We always have a roasted turkey with oyster stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, various appetizers including a fresh veggie tray with hummus, a gourmet olive and cheese tray, yams in one form or another, Waldorf salad, fresh cooked peas, wines, mulled cider, homemade crescent rolls that are TDF, homemade pumpkin and pecan pies, and coffee.

I'm celebrating TD with friends on the day of, and again the subsequent Saturday. To the second one, I'm bringing a squash casserole, don't yet know about for the first celebration. There will be turkey and fixin's at both.

Yes, oyster dressing!

My MIL is hosting this year, but I also prepare a Thanksgiving meal for my family and our dear friends either the weekend before or after. I love having my own leftovers. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted veggies, a spinach salad with walnuts and cranberries, and usually another new side dish that I find by poking around the internet. Pie from a local apple farm. I don't do pies.

Oh, and my husband detests the texture of traditional stuffing, so I take a cornbread sausage stuffing recipe I found in one of those Williams Sonoma mailers several years ago, cut the bread in half (and only use cornbread), doubled the sausage, and he likes it! I've made it about a dozen years now.

Regarding the traditional green bean casserole, my niece used to pine over it and was disappointed one year when it wasn't on the menu. She was in college and I leaned over and whispered "it's the recipe on the back of the green bean can. So easy. You can make it in your dorm kitchen." And she did!

We're having my in-laws for Thanksgiving. They've been doing Thanksgiving brunches at restaurants with friends for years, and are SO excited to 1) not eat at noon and 2) have leftovers.

Here's the menu that I put together. It's got more components than I need, but everything is pretty easy and I'll do some stuff ahead. I don't want to overreach and be bogged down with any one thing on the day of.

Menu

Turkey

Gravy (make ahead)

Stuffing

Sweet Potato Pecan Crisp (assemble day before)

Broccoli Casserole (assemble day before)

Cranberry Sauce

Rolls (store bought)

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Maple Syrup

Thomas Keller Ad Hoc Corn with Cream and Lime

Pie-TBD (store bought)

Everything sounds so delicious. I have picked up many good ideas for Thanksgiving and otherwise. Thanks, all!

I'm having surgery exactly one week before thanksgiving, so we are up in the air about what to do. Either DH and kids, plus my dad, will go to SIL for the day (our usual)...I will join them if I'm up to it...or DH says he will make a thanksgiving dinner for just us at home. Keep in mind that DH has never cooked anything more complicated than steak on the grill. I'm thinking it might work best if they all go to SIL and bring home a plate for me! All I really care about is stuffing and pumpkin pie. The usual menu there is pretty typical -- turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, a couple of veggies, rolls, etc., for about 15 people.

Sueb20, if my DH attempted Thanksgiving dinner it would send me right back to the hospital. Send them to SIL and bring a plate back for you. Good luck with the surgery and recovering!

Yeah, Sueb, now is not the time for him to experiment with cooking a meal. If he wants to do that some time when you're feeling GREAT and can be his coach and sous chef, that would be sensible. But a day when even an experienced cook might have trouble with timing and oven usage, that doesn't seem like the best idea.

The thought of a grill steak, instead of turkey, thrills me. My husband doesn't even grill.

I lean heavily towards a rustic pear and cranberry tart

If you eat too much of that kind of stuff you are going to end up leaning heavily in all directions.

We're having turkey, how can you not?

I LOVE turkey with cranberries!

For the first gathering, I'll bring roasted Brussels sprouts with onion and cheese.

sueb - some places around here do take-home thanksgiving dinners as well!

Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago but husband and I contributed a ham to each of our families.

Robo, same here, we could order something, but we'd have to do it way ahead of time and we probably aren't going to decide what we're doing until early next week. I will be pushing them to go to SIL's house!

I'm going to cousin's for tgiving and I'll be bringing my pumpkin chiffon pie. I'd like to bring a side dish, but the chef says the oven will be full, so don't bring anything requiring the oven. It's a ways away and we eat much later than we arrive, so I can't really bring something hot and just serve it. I'm open to suggestions. Pumpkin bread? Biscuits? Room temp side dish?

A very traditional New England Thanksgiving at my house this year, and every year. My family knows I love to cook and experiment with new recipes but they insist I don't do that on turkey day, and I am ok with that. Our menu is always the same, Turkey, stuffing (on the side, not in the bird), sweet potatoes, turnip, squash, peas, boiled onions, mash potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls, coleslaw, olives, pickles, pumpkin pie, chocolate cream pie & apple pie. There are always a ton of leftovers & we really enjoy the turkey pie I make the next day. Most make it with just turkey & gravy. I layer, in a pie crust, turkey, peas, boiled onions, squash, gravy & top with stuffing, served with extra gravy....oh my, I cant wait!!!

Annie, perhaps offer to bring cranberry relish. That might be an additional detail your cousin would like off his/her plate.

WalnutCreek, what is the raspberry cranberry sauce? Is there a recipe?

I recently had cherry-cranberry at a work function and it was delicious. The raspberry sounds good too.

I hate cranberry sauce, but I made a cranberry orange relish/sauce thing years ago that people were crazy about. I don't know where the recipe is now but it might be out there on the internets somewhere...

We do a fairly traditional Thanksgiving here. This year we are just hosting my parents as well as MIL, who is flying in from West Coast. We are looking forward to having her as she usually spends the holidays with dh's siblings. For the last couple of years, dh has smoked our turkey but he is going to London on Sunday and won't be back in time to do the prep work, so we will just roast in oven as we used to (my preference actually as I don't like the smoky flavor but don't have heart to tell him!). We will also have make ahead mashed potato casserole, homemade gravy, sweet potato casserole with pecans, chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce from a can (I'd rather have homemade but I don't eat it and kids/dh/my parents like canned so I won't bother unless MIL doesn't like it), roasted vegetables. Possibly rolls for kids, adults won't eat with all other food.. For dessert, pumpkin chiffon pie, traditional pumpkin pie, my mother's chocolate pie b/c my kids love it. We may have apple pie too, but save it for another night when we have leftovers.

Sueb-I hope your surgery goes well!

We are having a small gathering this year-just our immediate family. We are going to see my parents the day after Thanksgiving. My menu is easy this year, and most of it can be made ahead.

Appetizer tray-olives, pickles, cheese, crackers, summer sausage (made by DH)

Greenberg smoked turkey

Cornbread dressing

Jalapeno pecan dressing (made by a local grocery store and SO good)

Potato casserole that the kids request every year

Green beans

Salad-haven't decided which one yet

Cranberry sauce

Rolls

Pecan pie

Meyer lemon pie (lemons from our tree)

Whipped cream