Thanksgiving Is Coming!

Now that Halloween is over, and we have turned the page over on the calendar to November, it is time to start thinking about that all important Thanksgiving Menu. I’m having company for dinner again this year, and can hardly wait for them to get here. We’ll be cooking together again, too, since I can’t do the bending and lifting that it takes to cook those yummy dishes. I have gathered up some delicious looking recipes from my own blog, and from some of my friends’ blogs, too, to help you as you plan your dinner.

At my house, besides the turkey or a big fat chicken, the second most important is the dressing. And of course, because I am from the south, I always make Cornbread Dressing. A seriously good savory bread pudding, it is the basis of any good southern holiday meal.

After you get things going for the bird and the dressing, most cooks want an army’s worth of side dishes. My mother always made potato salad, green beans, macaroni and cheese, creamed corn, rutabaga, squash casserole, and sweet potato casserole. And that was not the end of the meal!  Here is my version of Home Made Potato Salad:

After making a ton of side dishes, Mama always made at least four desserts. There was a chocolate cake, a coconut cake, a lemon meringue pie, and a pumpkin pie. Sometimes there were more, and we feasted on sweets for weeks after the holiday.  This is the recipe my mother always used to make her Lemon Meringue Pie:

As time went by and my brothers, my sister and I all got married and left home, we started bringing our own dishes to add to the table. There were Pig Lickin Cake, red velvet cake, banana split cake, death by chocolate, and more. Here is my banana split cake recipe:

We are still adding new recipes and dishes to our Thanksgiving meal. My friend Emily from Baby Dickey gave me this recipe for pumpkin cream cheese muffins. This recipe is not gluten free but just by changing a few ingredients it can be:

She also shared a Chunky Pumpkin Spice Cookie recipe:

My friend, Lynda from Southern Kissed also makes a cornbread dressing, but hers is a different version that has shredded chicken cooked right in it:

 Alison from Being Alison, who is from New York  sent me her recipe for cooking Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Onions:

My Canadian friends and family celebrate Thanksgiving in October, so theirs is already over with. Sheri from Kidsumers, shared her Candied Yam recipe:

Here is an Italian twist on the bread stuffing for the turkey from Lisa at Life With Lisa:

She also offered me this yummy jello salad recipe. What holiday event is complete without one?

 

And last, Lisa from Between The Kids celebrates with a different kind of food altogether, her Braided Spaghetti Bread:

What is your family tradition for holiday meals? Do you have recipes handed down for generations, or do you come up with your own?