Thanksgiving Menu

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I thought I’d share my Thanksgiving menu with you this year, maybe to help you menu plan for yourself.

I cook the whole Thanksgiving meal every other year. On the years I don’t cook we go to the extended family’s place & I bring a dish or two.

themes

Some years I go with a theme for my Thanksgiving dinner. One year I did a Mexican theme (based on Turkey Mole, and then all the sides had a little Mexican twist, like Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Corn Pudding with Roasted Poblanos). Last time I cooked I did a Pacific Northwest theme.

This year I decided to go traditional. All (or mostly all) dishes I’ve made before. I don’t think I’d say simple, but certainly traditional. Here’s the full menu for T-Day 2012!

appetizers

Baked Brie with Homemade Onion Jam — Baked Brie with Homemade Balsamic Onion Jam

Baked Brie topped with Homemade Balsamic Onion Jam and served with crackers (I’ll post the Onion Jam recipe in a separate post, but it was great!)

pecans — A pile of Crisp Pecans ready for snacking!

Crisp Pecans
Fresh Veggies and Ranch
Sliced Cheese and Crackers

mains & sides

Above: deboned, stuffed, and rolled turkey ready to be baked

Photo above: Roasted Rolled Turkey, ready to be carved, served, and devoured. If you make 2 rolls like this, the turkey takes very little roasting time. Check the temperature after 45 minutes. And, you may need to cover with foil as well.

Rolled Turkey: each slice has white meat, dark meat, and stuffing in it

Rolled Turkey: each slice has some skin (which some people like), white meat, dark meat, and stuffing in it

Rolled Stuffed Turkey (kinda like this one, (and here’s the video) only I used the same stuffing that I served for dinner)
— We’ve done the rolled turkey a few times before. It stays a bit more moist than roasting a whole bird. It’s also nice because you don’t have to spend all that time carving the bird while the guests wait. Just give yourself some time to debone the bird, and understand it may not be that easy, but it’s really cool in the end. We decided to do two rolls, and with 2 rolls it takes very little roasting time. Check the temperature with an instant read thermometer after 45 minutes. Also, you may need to cover the turkey with foil to keep it from browning too much. And, I glazed the rolls with 1/4 cup of maple syrup, which gave the turkey a nice sweet skin, kinda like a Honeybaked Ham.
Vegetarian Gravy (made with homemade veggie broth)
Vegetarian Stuffing with chestnuts, water chestnuts, and mushrooms

light, fluffy, creamy, with a toasty complex flavor, my favorite mashed potatoes with skins left in

Rustic Mashed Potatoes
Garlic Herb Bread (from the bread machine) with salted butter
Baked Barley with carrots (instead of mushrooms)
Green Bean Casserole (yep, the old-school one, but updated so there’s no canned soup. Ding Dang it! I didn’t take a picture of this. But it was good. I’ll have to make it again.)

When I went to the store they had purple Sweet Potatoes, so I got one for these Roasted Veggies.

Roasted Veggies

Desserts

My Favorite Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Homemade Whipped Cream

conclusion

That’s it! (hee hee). Honestly, the one thing I missed was the cukes and onions. But, I promised my husband that he wouldn’t have to smell it (it’s pretty pungent!). Otherwise, the night was great. I was happy to have all dishes I’d made before. No stress!