Traditional Thanksgiving Menu and Recipes

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Are you having a traditional Thanksgiving menu and recipes? With less than one week to Thanksgiving, are you ready?  Do you know who’s coming to dinner? Do you have your menu planned?   Have you bought the turkey?  If you were not stressed before, are you now? Don’t worry!  If you have not started yet, here are some helpful tips for getting everything done in time for the big day.

1) How many guests will you have? This will determine how much food you need to cook, how many place settings you will need.  Do you have enough seating, glasses, plates, silverware, napkins, etc?  Take an inventory of tables, chairs, plates, glasses, silverware, etc. If you are short, see if some of your family or close friends can help you out by bringing items that you need.

2) All about the turkey.  Valerie From Valerie’s Kitchen blog has an excellent post on how to choose, prep, and roast, your turkey.   Read this article TODAY in order to have bought the turkey early enough to have time for the turkey to thaw before Thanksgiving.  Another excellent article regarding selecting and brining a turkey is by Baking Nana’s Kitchen.

3) What are the traditional Thanksgiving dishes does your family have each year?  Contact family members for those recipes, or if you don’t have access to those, below are some excellent tried and true recipes from me and my fellow AllRecipes Allstar Bloggers for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Appetizers / Salads

Heavenly Deviled Eggs by Renee’s Kitchen Adventures

Waldorf Salad From Valerie’s Kitchen

Mom’s Cheese Log (Ball) from the Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

Turkey That is Not Brined

Herb Roasted Turkey by From Valerie’s Kitchen

Brined Turkey

Brine For Turkey and Pork by Baking Nana 

Perfect Turkey recipe from AllRecipes.com

Vegetables

Balsamic Bacon Green Beans by Flavor Mosaic 

Homemade Green Bean Casserole by Flavor Mosaic

Spinach Gratin by Ina Garten, Food Network

Corn Casserole with Sausage by Flavor Mosaic

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows by Flavor Mosaic

Gourmet Sweet Potato Classic from AllRecipes.com

Mashed Potatoes

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes by Flavor Mosaic

Bacon Onion Horseradish Mashed Potatoes by Flavor Mosaic

Gravy

 Giblet Gravy II from AllRecipes

Stuffing / Dressing

Turkey Herb Dressing / Stuffing by Baking Nana’s Kitchen

Tip’s Turkey Herb Dressing from Baking Nana & Marianne

Bacon Cornbread Stuffing by House of Frolic and Mirth

Bread / Rolls

Savory Herb Monkey Bread Rolls by Flavor Mosaic

 Sweet Dinner Rolls from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

Cranberry Sauce

 Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce by Life Tastes Good

Desserts

Apple Slab Pie from Sunny Days with My Loves

Pumpkin Praline Bread Pudding by Flavor Mosaic

The Best Pecan Pie Bars by Life Tastes Good

Tiramisu by Kim’s Cooking Now

 4) Select the recipes you want to make and create a shopping list for the ingredients you don’t have.  I recommend doing it this weekend so you can get started right away.  You can make desserts a few days ahead of time.  Bake the sweet potatoes the day before.  To reduce stress on the big day I like to use slow cookers for the side dishes because it frees up oven space and it does not matter if dinner runs a little late.  Keep the slow cookers on warm and they will be ready when you are.

 I would like to thank all the bloggers and web sites who contributed to this post:

• Renee’s Kitchen Adventures
• From Valerie’s Kitchen
• The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Baking Nana’s Kitchen
• House of Frolic and Mirth
• Life Tastes Good
• Sunny Days With My Loves
• Kim’s Cooking Now
• AllRecipes.com
• Food Network

Photo Credits (From top left clockwise):  Renee’s Kitchen Adventures, House of Frolic and Mirth, Life Tastes Good, Flavor Mosaic, Kim’s Cooking Now, Flavor Mosaic, Sunny Days with My Loves, From Valerie’s Kitchen, Center Turkey – Baking Nana’s Kitchen.