What was on your Thanksgiving table?

Food:
turkey
ham
sweet potatoes
mashed potatoes and gravy
stuffing
veggie plate
green bean casserole
rolls with butter and jam
cranberry relish
cranberry from a can
pumpkin pie
coconut cream pie
lemon meringue pie
blueberry pie
cherry pie
fresh whip cream

table:
my mom had turkey name cards
each setting had a cornucopia made from candy
salt and pepper shakers were turkeys and pilgrims
we used my grandparents gold plated china and etched glassware

It was lovely!

goat cheese cranberry roll and crackers

Turkey (my dd made it - turned out perfect)
homemade cranberry sauce (again by dd, she added cinnamon and cloves - so good)
mashed potatoes
gravy
raw vegetables tray with two different veggie dips
homemade wheat bread (made by my best friend)
Steamed green beans
Stuffing (I make a huge amount as my son-in-law loves it and I like sending leftovers home)
black olives
butter/salt/pepper
apples
wine
punch, non-alcohol
pumpkin pie with Cool Whip
My birthday cake! Made by dd (chocolate with cream cheese frosting and tons of sprinkles!)

Best thing for me was having my loved ones here - my husband, my daughter, my son-in-law, my best friend and my father-in-law. My FIL recently moved here and this is the first holiday dinner we've had with him in over 30 years due to living so far away. I know FIL has not done much of anything for holidays after his wife died years ago. He seemed so incredibly happy and this brought a huge amount of pleasure for all of us.

My SIL was diagnosed with diabetes last summer. She has completely changed the way she eats and has lost 50 lbs. her doctor is about to take her off the meds she was on.

Anyway...we decided to lighten things up this year. We still had turkey...but only white meat. We still had mashed potatoes...because that’s the ONE thing my brother really wanted. But instead of doing our traditional sweet potatoes with butter and sugar and marshmallows, we did roasted sweet potatoes with olive oil and, cinnamon and salt/pepper. Instead of green bean casserole, we did roasted brussel sprouts with olive oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar. We replaced 1/2 the sugar in the cranberry sauce with stevia. And for dessert, we had pumpkin spice pavlova made completely with stevia. The whipped cream had pumpkin folded in. It was SOOOO yummy!

If I could hire my SIL as my personal chef, I could lose 50 lbs. too!

Oh yeah...we did have stuffing.

No decor other than a table runner. Food was turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted sweet potatoes, sautéed green beans, sugar cream pie and Christmas crack (toffee stuff made with crackers).

Turkey
Mac and cheese
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes (Bob Evans bc I didn’t want to mash them)
Cranberry relish
Stuffing
Broccoli salad
Rolls

Nothing on the table but our plates (Chinet).

Food:
Turkey (used a fresh turkey, it was yummy and moist)
Mashed potatoes (mashed with a handheld mixer)
Stuffing (separate, not inside the bird, I bake it in a bundt pan so we have lots of crispy edges)
Cranberry sauce (from a can)
creamed corn (slice corn off the cob, add salt, pepper, sugar, cream)
salad (greens and veggies)
rolls
pumpkin pie for dessert

Drink:
red wine, water, unsweetened iced tea, La Croix

Decor:
Grandma's china
Thanksgiving linens

I love to cook, so this is a fun holiday for me!
It was just myself, DBF, and my parents this year.

16 lb turkey
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Green Bean casserole
Corn
Cornbread dressing
Stovetop dressing
Rolls
Deviled eggs
Ham/scallion roll ups
Sliced cheeses
Mixed nuts
Snack crackers
2 dips
Pecan pie
Peach cobbler
Pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes

Last night I also made turkey stock with the turkey.

We went to my parents house for the first time in 7 years!

Table: covered with a green table cloth that was my great grandmothers, complete with a cigarette burn in the middle of it! 😂. Mom put a yellow plastic table cloth over it. Dishes were square and white. Drinks were in beer bottles, wine glasses, champagne glasses or water glasses. Silverware was daily silver. Napkins were folded paper towels. Pack of baby wipes. No frills.

Food:
Snacks- crackers, rondelle cheese, peanut butter filled pretzels, Chex mix, hummus, tangerines off my parents tree, avocado off my parents tree..
Dinner- cracked crab, cocktail sauce for the crab, bread, butter, lemons from my parents tree, roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, mayo for the asparagus, carrots, kraft Mac and cheese for the littles, wine, beer, water, milk.
Dessert: carrot cake, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, lemoncello, coffee, port, tea, milk.

It was my dad’s 73rd birthday so he picked what we had. No one argued. 😁 Probably my favorite thanksgiving dinner EVER!

Very small and simple this year which is really how we prefer it.

Turkey
Gravy
Mashed potatoes
garlic biscuits
roasted green beans
stuffing

The table decor was a few glass pumpkins and fall leaves. We didn't eat there though. We made plates and ate in front of the tv watching a movie.

Food:
Snacks - carrots, celery, cauliflower, cukes, gr. pepper & dips; mixed nuts; cheese ball & crackers; cheese dip and corn chips; salsa & chips; cheese slices, rolled ham & turkey slices
Dinner - roast turkey, glazed ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, corn, mac & cheese, dinner rolls
Dessert - pecan pie, chocolate cake with vanilla cream frosting, brownies. keto pumpkin cheesecake cups
Drink - white wine, sparkling cider

Decor:
festive table cloth, matching colored napkins, centerpiece of metal tray w/spiling cornucopia, 2 decorative platters, and leafy garland intertwined in overhead hanging light

It was dh and I, son, ddil, 2 grown grandsons, ddil's parents, and grandson-in-law with great-grandaughter; grandaughter and great-grandson couuldn't come due to strep throat and bronchitis. We missed them but it was still a good day with good food, good company and football!

turkey, one smoked and one roasted 
honey baked ham
dressing
rice and gravy
sweet potato casserole
green bean casserole 
mac & cheese
french green bean salad
waldorf salad 
roasted Brussels sprouts 
rolls
apple pie
pecan pie
pumpkin pie
fudge

It was a lot of food, but I think there ended up being about 18 people there. The only things I prepared were the pumpkin and pecan pies. 

We went to my brother-in-law's home, along with my in-laws.
Turkey
Ham
stuffing (in and out of the turkey)
gravy
sweet potato casserole
rolls
jellied cranberry sauce
whole cranberry sauce
apple pie
pecan pie
some other cream pie

WE BROUGHT:
mashed potatoes (twice as much as we needed for 12 adults )
steamed brussels sprouts with olive oil and garlic salt
roasted brussels sprouts and grapes, with walnuts and balsamic vinegar
Key Lime pie
rice crispy treats

I completely f'd up the Thanksgiving meal, but we still had fun.

It's my mom, my DD, our grand-dog, DH, and me. We have these health issues to keep in mind when we plan our T-day meal
Mom - high blood pressure
DH - high blood pressure, diabetes, and CKD that requires a low protein, low sodium, low potassium and low phosphate diet
DD - highly allergic to pumpkin and gourds (includes squash), now has to follow almost vegan diet with heavy limitations on meat and diary
Cherry, the grand dog - high blood pressure, enlarged heart, has to eat low sodium and low calorie diet

So, you get that it was a LOT of fun trying to feed this group? LOL

We did suspend a lot of dietary requirements for this weekend, but we still tried to avoid any unnecessary broken rules.

I mis-read the time for my sous vide turkey, so we had Italian Wedding soup for Thanksgiving day and did our Thanksgiving meal on Friday. My family was more than chill about this - Wedding soup os one of their favorite meals and I no longer make it frequently due to the food restrictions. Cherry loved the leftover orzo, so everyone enjoyed their meal.

For our Thanksgiving meal, we had:

Turkey breast that was sous vide with saltless Herbes de Provenance - soaked to remove any brine or preservatives
Cornbread dressing - made without cream of anything soup, using homemade broth from turkey bones
Mashed potatoes - potatoes peeled and soaked to remove as much phosphate or potassium as possible
Sweet Potato casserole - made with roasted sweet potatoes, no eggs, oj concentrate as the only sugar, and coconut
Roasted Brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar
Roasted green beans
Canned cranberry jelly - what can I say - they love it!
Gravy made from turkey broth and cornstarch
Apple Galette - DD made this using a vegan crust and low sugar everything - it was awesome!


The turkey was so moist and tender but as ugly as homemade sin. I chose not to sear it since I was serving it cut up already. I only served the breast meat - the legs, thighs and wings were cooked and some will be frozen for Cherry's meals (she eats only homemade dog food right now, until her hear condition improves.)

In the past, DD has not eaten dressing or sweet potato casserole, but I changed my recipes for both this year and she happily scarfed down both. She learned to appreciate savory sweet potatoes when she was in China and with this years casserole being so much less sweet, she really enjoyed the taste.

Cherry loves green beans, so I did a quick blanche for the ones I was roasting, but I let hers stay in the boiling water for a few minutes more. She has been letting me know I can get her some more green beans from the fridge every time I go in the kitchen. LOL

I hope everyone had as much fun making and eating their holiday meals as we did.

Marcy

Tonight we are going to eat hot pot to celebrate DD's 25th birthday, but tomorrow we'll polish off any leftovers.