Thanksgiving Sides and ideas...

I looked at the calendar the other day and went YIKES!!!
Turkey day is minus 14 days and counting...

I'm going to be cooking for a crowd this Thanksgiving.   I love it when that happens.
Really, I do.

I have such wonderful friends who also happen to be wonderful cooks as well, so they'll be bringing the side dishes.

All I'm doing is the Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.

Well, maybe some homemade rolls as well.

We have a rule here, we ask people to bring that 'One' dish that means Thanksgiving to them. 

It's so much fun seeing what dishes are brought. 

I've done this before and we've always had a wonderful variety of side dishes, some duplicates, but none of them are the same so we all get to sample.

Over the years I've also been invited to Thanksgiving dinners and I get to make a side dish and bring it.

And as you can see, there's always lots of food.

You have your basics, Turkey and mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole and lots and lots of food.










Here are a few dishes that I've made and brought in the past to Thanksgiving dinners.

I love making a Green Bean Casserole, I got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website.   This is not your standard Green Bean dish.  No mushroom soup here, but there is bacon included and cheese and onions.  And you could leave out the bacon if serving to a bunch of vegetarians, I guess.   

I also love my Vegetarian Wild Rice Stuffing , which can also be made gluten free.  It goes so well with turkey and chicken and even fish.   I love a multi-purpose dish.

I've been known to make it, just because.

It freezes well too. 

I do have some cranberries in the fridge, and I will be making some Boozy Cranberry Sauce sometime during the holidays.

Maybe not for Thanksgiving, but soon.

Mostly so I can make some of these, Cranberry Cream Cheese Tarts.  I made a few last year and the bird and I finished them off together.  The little bit of booze in the tarts was cooked off long before First got her beak into them, so don't worry.   But I want to make more so I can share them, and maybe I won't have to eat the majority of them myself.






Let me leave you with a couple of pictures of Thanksgiving centerpieces, I love making something pretty for the table, apart from the food that is.