Thanksgiving

You've got this, you really do! Just take a deep breath, we'll figure it out this holiday meal or contribution together. Here you'll find my entire collection of Thanksgiving menus and recipes, from cooking a whole turkey in the oven or a turkey breast in the slow cooker to the famous World's Best Green Bean Casserole to the last sweet bites of Thanksgiving pie! Plus everything in between!

PS I'm living proof, Thanksgiving can change your life. See? Happy Thanksgiving from the Green Bean Casserole Lady: A Love Story

Hand-Selected Recipes Just for Thanksgiving. Super-Organized for Easy Browsing & Targeted Searches. How to Get It All Done: My Cooking Timeline.

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~ Now. About Those Leftovers. ~

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Thanksgiving Timeline

Aghast at the angst, that’s me about Thanksgiving.

Take a deep breath. It really can be as simple as inviting a few people for dinner, cooking a turkey and a few sides, popping a pie in the oven. The magazines, the food network, even we food bloggers, we get so breathless over Thanksgiving, making it all seem like a huge undertaking.

But Thanksgiving isn’t hard, at least it needn’t be with a little preparation. List makers, this is your holiday!

Here are my own tips for an angst-free Thanksgiving. (And not that I haven't had some super-angsty Thanksgivings, but did cook Thanksgiving dinner for the first time when I was just 16, my mom hovering nearby, no doubt.)

• GIVE THANKS What are you thankful for? I love this idea from Young House Love for creating a ""Jar of Thanks" throughout the week or even the month. Just a jar or a basket with slips of paper would be wonderful. Kids with Thanksgiving stickers? Go crazy. It’s the thought – the thanks – that counts. This year, I'm even coordinating multi-family gratitude jars, we're apart now but will be together for Thanksgiving.


• THE WEEKEND BEFORE Finalize the menu, print out the recipes, make the grocery list.
• Shop! before the onslaught.


• MONDAY Set the table.
• Pull out all the serving dishes onto the table or sideboard with serving utensils alongside. For hot dishes, put trivets or silicone pads underneath. Use yellow sticky pads to mark what food goes in which dish. If guests are bringing a dish, allow space for these too.


• TUESDAY If you haven't yet, put a turkey breast in the slow cooker for dinner (or for post-Thanksgiving sandwiches), you'll end up with enough stock to make excellent turkey gravy on Thursday.
• Make a big pot of soup for Wednesday night. (Huh? Cook on Tuesday for Wednesday? You bet. After cooking all day Wednesday, you don’t want to end up with nothing to eat!)
• Empty the dishwasher, remove clutter from the counters, wash the dish towels.


• TAKE WEDNESDAY OFF WORK Make Wednesday your primary cooking day, cooking all the sides, making the pie crusts, everything that can be done ahead of time. Even dishes that can’t be finished until Thursday can often have multiple steps done ahead of time. (All my Thanksgiving recipes have make-ahead tips. Now you know why!)
• Make Thursday's to-do list, working backwards from the "Sit Down to Dinner" time. Pay special attention to the turkey timing and oven access, thinking through when to bring prepped dishes out of the fridge to warm up a bit, time and oven temp for each one.
• Sit down to that hot soup you cooked on Tuesday, grateful to be fed and off your feet.
• Get a good night’s sleep!


• THURSDAY Eat breakfast. (Maybe you'll join us in a new Thanksgiving tradition? Pie for breakfast! We've learned that a less-sweet pie works best, we usually go for pumpkin, usually Honey Pumpkin Pie. It's totally f-u-n and it feels a little bit like cheating and kids think it's hilarious and ... )
• Review your lists and get to work. Ask for help! Clean up as you go along! Add to your lists as you go along!

SO. Take a deep breath and have a little fun today. It’ll get done. The turkey will be moist. Potatoes are better with a few lumps! It’ll all get to the table at roughly the same time.

And if it doesn’t? NO BIG DEAL.

Thanksgiving dinner is just one meal out of a thousand during the year.

And there's that collection of gratitude notes ...

You can do this!
~ Alanna

PS Pro Tip. Some time soon after the holiday (definitely before you're invested in Christmas), invest time to make detailed notes about the menu, guests, tableware and more. What worked and what didn't. What people ate and what they skipped. Who showed up 2 hours late (don't count on them for appetizers, ever). Whether that new pie crust worked out or not. Whether you'd like to try doing the potatoes in the slow cooker. These notes will be sooooo useful the next time you cook Thanksgiving dinner, whether it's next year or every few years!

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Thanksgiving & Canadian Thanksgiving

Recipe Collections & Resources
CANADIAN THANKSGIVING (the second Monday in October), NOT JUST FOR CANADIANS
This Year, Celebrate Thanksgiving Twice

THANKSGIVING MENU IDEAS
Seven Thanksgiving Menus
Thanksgiving Leftovers

THE REAL STARS of THANKSGIVING? THE VEGETABLES!
A Veggie Venture
My Very Best Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes
Vegetarian Entrées for Thanksgiving

BRAND-NEW THANKSGIVING-FRIENDLY RECIPES
SAVORY
Easy-Easy Triscuit with Cheddar & Basil
Easy Brussels Sprouts Bites
Festive Kale Salad with Apple & Pomegranate
Homemade & Semi-Homemade Pub Cheese
Simple Roasted Mushrooms

SWEET
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Thanksgiving Cake

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Recipe Ideas, Just for Thanksgiving

LET'S TALK TURKEY
How to Roast a Whole Turkey (dry-brine method)
Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast
How to Cook a Turkey the Day Before

Turkey Gravy
Turkey Stock
How to Cook Turkey Giblets

VEGETARIANS AT THE TABLE
Celebration Salad (Maple-Roasted Carrots with Arugula, Dill, Cranberry Vinaigrette, Pomegranate and Glazed Pecans)
Fall Stew Baked in a Whole Pumpkin
Pumpkin-Stuffed Lasagna Rolls
Roasted Veggie Enchilada Casserole
Tourlou Tourlou (Greek Baked Vegetables)

A Veggie Venture
Caramelized Onion Tart
Savory Bread Pudding with Butternut Squash, Chard & Cheddar
More Favorite Vegetarian Entrées for Thanksgiving

TREATS FOR THE BUSY COOKS!
DIY Power Balls
Pumpkin Spice Lattes

FIRST SIPS
Mulled Apple Cider
Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

FIRST BITES
Black Pepper Almonds
Cheddar-Olive Spread
Cheese Puffs
Easy Brussels Sprouts Bites
Easy-Easy Triscuit with Cheddar & Basil
Herbed Goat Cheese
Herbed Saltines
Homemade & Semi-Homemade Pub Cheese
Mini Crab Bites
Potato Bites with Smoked Salmon
Smoked Salmon Spread
Smoked Whitefish Spread on Cucumber
Stuffed Mushrooms with Cauliflower & Smoked Gouda

A Veggie Venture
Thanksgiving Turkey Vegetable Platter

THE STUFFING / DRESSING
Sausage Stuffing (Turkey Dressing)
Spring Stuffing with Leeks & Mushrooms

THE POTATO COURSE
Mashed Cauliflower (Low-Carb Mashed "Potatoes")
Mashed Potatoes & Carrots
Perfect Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes (Party Potatoes)
Scalloped Potatoes & Beets ("Those Pink Potatoes")

A Veggie Venture
Three Secrets for Rich & Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Slow Cooker Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Simple Scalloped Potatoes

THE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE COURSE
Make-Ahead Fresh Green Bean Casserole

A Veggie Venture
World's Best Green Bean Casserole It's famous! The first and only original!
Pioneer Woman's Green Bean Casserole

THE SWEET POTATO COURSE
Rustic Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato (or Pumpkin or Butternut Squash) Grits
Sweet Potato Salad with Roasted Poblano, Roasted Corn & Chipotle

A Veggie Venture
BBQ Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry & Orange
Sweet Potato Casserole
Simple "Sweet Potato" Potato Salad with Hardly Any Mayonnaise

A CORNUCOPIA OF THANKSGIVING VEGETABLES
Acorn Squash with Quinoa & Cherries
Bodacious Brussels Sprouts
Moroccan Onions
Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple
Simple Roasted Mushrooms
Rustic Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots
Squash Puff
Tourlou Tourlou (Greek Baked Vegetables)
Turnip Puff or Rutabaga Puff

A Veggie Venture
My Very Best Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes (so many ideas for every single course)
Butternut Mac 'n' Cheese
Cauliflower Cream
Creamy Brussels Sprouts Gratin
Creamy Carrot Purée
Pioneer Woman's Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole
Roasted Green Beans with Rosemary & Walnuts
Silky Smooth Corn Pudding

MORE SIDE DISHES
Calico Beans aka "Alanna's Famous Cowboy Beans"
Julia Child's Soubise (Onion & Rice Casserole)
Oven-Baked Brown Rice
Simple Roasted Mushrooms
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato (or Pumpkin or Butternut Squash) Grits

THE CRANBERRY COURSE
Cranberry Applesauce
Cranberry Chutney
Cranberry Orange Relish with Fresh Ginger
Cranberry Salsa
Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce for the Slow Cooker
Fresh Jellied Cranberry Sauce with Apple

THE SALAD COURSE
Festive Holiday Salad
Festive Kale Salad with Apple & Pomegranate
Roasted Pear Salad
Wild Rice Salad

THE BREADS of LIFE
Homemade Butterhorns (Thanksgiving Crescent Rolls)
Homemade Yeast Rolls
Light & Fluffy Homemade Whole-Grain Bread & Buns

THE PIE COURSE
Flaky Tender Pie Crust
How to Make Flaky Tender Pie Crust (with tips and step-by-step photo illustrations)
Homemade Kabocha Squash "Pumpkin" Purée (for pumpkin pie)

American Apple Pie
Apple-Butter Pumpkin Pie
Cranberry Apple Pie
Cranberry Linzer Tart
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Pumpkin Pecan Pie

A Veggie Venture
Honey Pumpkin Pie
No-Bake Pumpkin Cream Pie
Sweet Potato-Chocolate Swirl Pie

MORE SWEET ENDINGS
Apple Cake with Warm Cinnamon-Butter Sauce
Apple Cider Indian Pudding
Autumn Pumpkin Bread
Big Fat Chewy Molasses Cookies
Cinnamon Apples
Cranberry Apple Crisp
Cut-Out Spice Cookies (in Thanksgiving shapes)
Easy-Easy Jam Tart
Fresh Cranberry Cake
Fresh Cranberry Drop Cookies
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Spiced Honey Cake
Sweet Pumpkin Seed Crumbles
Thanksgiving Cake

Thanksgiving Leftovers

LEFTOVER TURKEY
See cooked turkey

LEFTOVER MASHED POTATOES
Smashed Potatoes & Broccoli Casserole Casserole
More cooked potato recipes

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