Monday, November 22, 2010

The Thanksgiving Menu!

 Photo from MondayMorningMuse.com

Cue the Superbowl music, the theme to Rocky, or Lady Gaga (whatever gets you fired up).  Thanksgiving week is here, and for home cooks, there is no greater day than the 4th Thursday in November.  On Wednesday I'll be scooting out of the office early and heading to San Diego, where I'll be cooking all day and night with my future sister-in-law Nicole.

 Photo from FoodNetworkHumor.com

While this is a holiday steeped in tradition for many, I have to say that my favorite part of Thanksgiving cooking is discovering all of the different delicious variations that can be made on a classic set of flavors.  Obviously you have an abundance of cinnamon, pumpkin, nuts, cranberry, and turkey, but when you add in a host of herbs, veggies, and cooking techniques, the possibilities are endless.



Martha Stewart will turn her nose up at me for saying this, but I haven't practiced most of these recipes.  Half the fun will be making little flavor adjustments and figuring it out as we go.  That said, I don't have any photos for you, but here is the menu as it exists in our brains.  Are we being overly ambitious?  Or playing it safe?  What are you cooking this year?  And how many glasses of wine can I reasonably knock back while executing this menu?

Food coma photo courtesy of winniewong.typepad.com

2010 Thanksgiving Menu!
Compiled by Nicole Nestojko and Mary Crowe.  I put the links to recipes in where I could, and (V) means vegetarian (hooray!).

Thursday Morning Breakfast
Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Baked:  New Frontiers in Baking
Thursday Afternoon Munchies
Brie en croute with crackers (V)

Thanksgiving Dinner 
Baby Greens with Goat Cheese, Cranberries and Candied Pecans (V)
Roast Turkey with Gravy (dry brined)
Pomegranate Cranberry Relish (V)
Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes (V)
Sausage and Green Apple Stuffing
Cheesy Popovers(V)

Dessert
Mama Nestojko's Pumpkin Pie
Mama Nestojko's Apple Pie
Cinnamon Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop

3 comments:

  1. Oh my word! That's a ton of food! I hope you have a lot of guests to feed and can I be one of them? This menu sounds absolutely incredible! Good luck and take lots of pictures! And don't forget your stretchy pants! Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that's a lot of food! I only have to cook for my parents, so we're only going to have one main thing, two sides, and one dessert.

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  3. Yum!! I'm taking on the cooking too, along with my dad and grandma. Dad and Grams are in charge of the turkey, the stuffing and my great grandma's pumpkin pie recipe. I'm handling the homemade cranberry sauce, smashed red potatoes, bacon braised green beans, pear, toasted pecan and gorgonzola salad, and Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Marshmallows. And I'm making some quickbread for Thursday morning, and bringing homemade ginger cookies for dessert, too.

    Is it Thursday yet???

    ReplyDelete

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