Soooo as I mentioned in my last post, I wasn’t able to share with you Thanksgiving recipes (besides BreakingFall, the best cocktail ever) before the holiday.
Working a new full-time job and moving on top of trying to have a life and take some time for myself won over stressing out. So alas, this will turn into a Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup… a recap of this year’s menu, and the best Thanksgiving Menu Plan for years to come!!
I’m telling you.. next year so many of these will be repeated, so I’m just going to boast that I’m SO on top of preparing you for next year’s Thanksgiving. Heck, you don’t need a holiday as an excuse to make a lot of these recipes too!! I know I’ll be making SEVERAL of them again, stat!
I will add the links to all the recipes as I post them but for now, here’s a look at the Thanksgiving menu from our house this year.
THANKSGIVING MENU
(Pin your heart out!)
DRINKS
I offered sparking water, wine, beer, and one cocktail…
BreakingFall – Bourbon Cocktail Recipe – well received by bourbon AND NON-BOURBON LOVERS alike!!
APPETIZERS
One light app…
Lemon Roasted Shrimp Cocktail – (Pin it for later!) – I even had two guests tell me they generally don’t like cocktail sauce and they loved this one!
…and one melt-in-your-mouth decadent app:
Bacon Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese and Sage
THE TURKEY
Rosemary, Orange, Cider Brined Holiday Turkey (recipe coming soon!) – I brined the turkey in apple cider, oranges, rosemary, and salt for about 5 days, then smoked it in The Big Green Egg. I made an orange/cider/rosemary scented gravy to go along with. Big. Hit!!
STARCHES
Homemade Stuffing with Apple and Sausage (recipe coming soon!)
Candied Yams and Plantains – I can’t wait for another holiday to make this one… so I won’t! This dish will be gracing my table again very soon. It was my favorite of the whole meal!!
Not your traditional candied yams. (They’re paleo if you sub coconut aminos for soy, and vegan if you use coconut or another oil instead of butter.)
I was inspired by a recipe from Marcus Samuelsson where you take all the ingredients below and simmer them in some clarified butter or ghee to make this fragrant spiced butter.
Then you roast the yams and plantains in that spiced butter. In the back half of the roasting process you add a mixture of orange juice, soy sauce, honey, ginger, and cumin that gives the dish that nice glaze. YUM.
NON-STARCHY VEGGIES
Shredded Brussels Sprout and Kale Salad – I thought it would be nice to have one raw, fresh veggie dish. The dressing is so simple: orange juice, olive oil, shallot, and mustard.
Rotkohl – German Red Cabbage – My mother-in-law, one of our honored Thanksgiving guests this year, is German so I made this traditional German dish which can be found on her Thanksgiving table every year. It’s red cabbage, onion, and apple, simmered with cloves, juniper berries, and red wine vinegar.
DESSERT
So I had to keep with tradition…. and I made a Pumpkin Pie (recipe coming soon!)
I also broke tradition and made one of my favorite desserts…. Tiramisu (Pin it for later!)
THE TABLE
As far as decorations go, I’m pretty simple.
A table runner, some candles, some ilex berries (those red berry branches you see), and some woven plate chargers. I found the ilex berries at Trader Joe’s, but saw them in Whole Foods too. The chargers and table runner are from Williams Sonoma (amazing wedding gifts we received actually!).
The candle holder is from a wine barrel and my husband picked that up during his days working in the California wine country. You could use any candles in single row down the middle of the table, interspersed among the ilex berries.
Let’s be real, I’m no Food Network’s Sandra Lee. I don’t have a pantry or separate house just to hold all of my tablescapes by any means. I keep it REAL simple when it comes to decorations. I don’t like to accumulate “stuff”. I find candles and flowers go a long way.
Happy Thanksgiving/ holiday menu planning to you!!!
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