Topic: Thanksgiving

[barleychown]

What are your "must have" side dishes for Thanksgiving? Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions in your family?

[Wrennie]

We usually have mashed taters, jellied cranberry sauce, (Marton likes the whole berry kind but I never took a liking to it),mashed rutabaga,(I think we're having mashed pumpkin this year instead), & Stuffing.
Theres just the 2 of us so we try to keep it down.
Growing up we had sweet potatoes/yams with marshmallows on top. I still don't get why in the world people put Sugar on the sweetest root crop I know of.
The traditional green bean casserole with mushroom soup and the toasted canned greasy onions on top. I also like creamed pearl onions.
Oh, and definitely the little toasted dinner rolls.

[Tonya]

I always have mashed potatoes, green beans, corn(sometimes), devilled eggs, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed sweet potatoes with a crumbly sugar topping( I hate marshmallows ). Geesh, that sounds like a LOT of food for 4 people, but we eat on it until we are fit to bust

I bought my turkey, eggs, and stuffing basics today, already have cranberry sauce and green beans. My neighbor is giving us a bunch of sweet potatoes, so we are pretty much set! I am getting excited now! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Plenty of food and no worries about gifts(or money for gifts, I should say), and I have an excuse to take a nap!

[patches]

Besides, all the traditional dishes, I feel there are two that are "must haves" for me!  One is Waldorf salad and the other is broccoli and rice casserole. 

[MassMama]

We make it a small meal..  roasted potatoes ,corn ,stuffing& gravy.. some kind of pie for dessert and thats about it...
we usually have shrimp for an appitizer

[Patty S]

All I want is the turkey skin, taters & gravy.
BG & I like the olives... one for each finger!

[landofoz]

What has become a tradition for me is making chocolate covered cherries.  They are requested for every family gathering around the Holidays and flat out demanded at my husband's work. 

We like to try lots of different variations for thanksgiving instead of making the exact same dishes.  For instance, one year I made twice baked potatoes instead of smashed tators and gravy and I've found a great recipe for green bean casserole that takes bacon and cheddar cheez whiz. 

[patches]

Actually, Sarah/loz, we tend to stick with our traditional Thanksgiving menu, which is a pretty extensive, and I really like doing it that way.  Geesh, it only comes once a year so it's not like we're eating the same thing every week.  Many times, one of us will introduce something new and if everyone likes it then we just add it to the menu for next year.  I guess that's why we have such a large variety of foods.  The broccoli & rice casserole was added about 15 years ago and I'm thrilled it stayed!!! 

[Bonnie]

Last year I started a new tradition for Thanksgiving. I quit cooking and made a vow to eat with someone else. It worked out pretty good last year.

[Dianna]

Our Thanksgiving meal will be served on Friday this year, due to one of the kids working and the others not coming. We will be having ham, instead of turkey. A "must have" for any holiday meal around here is potato salad.

Aunt Bonnie, you know that you are invited to eat with us on Friday.

[landofoz]

Since we're still a young couple, we're still developing what we do and don't like.  I hate those marshmallowed yams but I did find a good recipe for homemade yams, mashed with sugar, and then topped with a struesel and pecan topping.  It's delicious.  So we have 1 regular dish and are looking for more regulars.  Eventually, I'm sure we'll have every dish a "regular" at the holiday table.

[patches]

Well, Sarah, although I love marshmellows, I don't like them on my sweet potatoes.    I've always just used some brown sugar and butter, but your recipe sure does sounds interesting and very delicious with the streusel and pecans.  I wish you would post it!  Pleazzzze!!!      

[landofoz]

I posted the recipe, Patches.  I hope you like it. 

[patches]

Yes, I already saw it and can't wait to try it, Sarah!     I got it copied and saved with my recipes, but may not fix it for a week or two.  I've still got some sweet potatoes left over from Thanksgiving, so I'll have to eat those up first.    Thanks for posting it!    There are cetain tastes I associate with special holidays and I don't like to change them, but sometimes it's great when you can use the same vegetable with a different twist on it.  This should do it!