Thanksgiving Round Up

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday because I spend it the same every year but our traditions are different than most of my friends. Most of the people I know go home to spend a big family dinner with aunts, uncles, cousins and everyone in between. I always hear about turkey feasts covered in cranberry sauce, stuffed with stuffing, and sweet potatoes with marshmallow toasted perfectly golden brown on top. I also have a pretty large subset of friends who don’t have a traditional “American Thanksgiving” and will be getting together with their families at a local Chinese restaurant as Chinese places are always open on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas (I mean where else will people go when all the other restaurants are closed?) I’m part of one of those families that a) doesn’t have much immediate family in the country and b) doesn’t like turkey! So our Thanksgiving is always filled with friends, whoever they’re dating at the time and prime rib. I’m grateful that my mom and dad are in the same boat as me because someone is going to have to explain cranberry sauce to me. I like cranberries, I like fruit sauces, but I feel strong about fruit being spread all over my poultry. Also, what are marshmallows doing on sweet potatoes? I feel very confused by traditional American Thanksgiving food but it seems like the rest of the country is on board so it must just be me. If there’s someone out there that’s a huge fan of this food, leave me a comment and let me know your favorite Thanksgiving food and why!

This year before heading home we threw a small last minute Friendsgiving where we had mostly homemade items, except for the Costco rotisseries chicken (did I mention it was last minute and we don’t like turkey?) and the brisket brought back from Rudy’s from a friend who was flying in from Austin (I’m thankful for friends who travel and bring us back Texas brisket!) Who says everything has to be 100% homemade, sometimes you just have to accept that when short on time you don’t have time to stuff, tie, and make your own rotisserie chicken and that is OK.

For this post I tried to incorporate a lot of the recipes you can find on the blog and a couple new ones. Everything is relatively easy to make and bring to any sort of potluck or Friendsgiving – with the exception of the pecan pie, but in a rush you can always just buy store bought dough!

There aren’t as many prep or details photos in this post as we scrambled to make sure that everyone got to heat up their food a bit before starting dinner and by that point I think everyone wanted me to stop taking photos of the food so they could start eating.

1. Turkey Meatballs – Okay so I don’t like turkey all that much unless it’s deli turkey in a sandwich or ground turkey so these meatballs are a perfect moist and juicy alternative to the traditional cuts of turkey breast if that’s not your thing.
2. Yorkshire Pudding (Popovers) – Popovers are a great item with a lot of flexibility, you can pair them with a sweet jam, or in the case of Thanksgiving dinner, they go great with gravy! Just tear them open and use the pockets of air as little gravy boats!
3. Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes – While I typically have rice as my carb of choice, for occasions like the holidays… or really any other time I’m feeding a large group, I usually opt for potatoes and nothing beats this crowd favorite!
4. Honey Dinner Rolls – Our friend, Alex, came and he’s recently picked up bread making. These dinner rolls were to die for. Remember how I said rice was my carb of choice? My house was never really a dinner rolls kind of house, these were a game changer. I’ll have to see if he’s willing to part ways with his recipe for a guest nomday post.
5. Butternut Squash – I just recently realized that the gourds that we use to decorate around the holidays can actually be eaten after and roasted into a delicious veggie option. 2 birds with 1 stone, heck yeah!
6. Gouda Mac and Cheese – My best friend, Nicole, brought this and it was just as delicious as cheese puns are gouda. It proba-brie wasn’t the best idea to go for seconds but I couldn’t help myself. All right, I’m sure you’re all feta up with the puns, I’ll stop.
7. Pecan Pie – This pie is part of my Thanksgiving tradition, when I was younger I got the recipe for this pie from a friend who always brought it to our house for dinner. Now that she lives in NY, I’ve continued on the tradition! It’s super mapley and my favorite part about the holiday!
8. Moist brisket from Rudy’s BBQ – Hands down my favorite brisket in all of Texas! And our friend Joel brought it straight over by plane. What a time to be alive!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!