(To eat at Thanksgiving Dinner)

Other than the fact that Thanksgiving stresses me out because my food touches on my plate, it might be my favorite holiday. We get the nice family togetherness (and I’m not being sarcastic, I like my family) without all the decorating and gift buying. And oh yeah, the food. Oh, the food.

I like turkey and dressing just fine, but it does not bother me one bit if we break tradition and have something else as a main dish (one year we had lasagna, last year we had a spiral sliced ham that was excellent). But I better have a piece of pumpkin pie, and there are several other staple side dishes that I also expect. So, here are my favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is my absolute favorite Thanksgiving food, and it’s probably my favorite pie. But I’m really picky about it. I hate it when people load it up with clove and ginger or some other weird spice 🥴 And store bought or frozen pumpkin pie just doesn’t cut it. It simply does not taste good. Please don’t interpret this as me saying all bought/frozen pies are bad!

I don’t have some snooty recipe. Simply turn the Libby’s can around, get out your reading glasses (seriously! I think they use seven point font!), and follow the recipe. If you want to jazz it up a little, throw in some extra pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, but cut down on the amount of clove. A quarter teaspoon is too much for my taste.

Here’s the recipe, straight from the back of the can. Ignore the nonsense about “new fashioning” your pie or adding chai spice. That’s too weird. Stick with what works.

Another thing that will make your pie so much better: MAKE YOUR OWN CRUST! It’s super easy. More pontificating and snobbery about homemade pie crusts in the next section.

To kick your pie up a notch, whip your own cream. Also not hard, and tastier than CoolWhip.

Homemade Whipped Cream

1 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla (or more if you want)

2, 3, 4, 5, or however many tablespoons of powdered sugar you want. It’s a personal preference thing.

Pour everything into a bowl with tall sides. Use a mixer or immersion blender and beat the dickens out of it until it’s thick and creamy.

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Homemade Pie Crust

Thanksgiving pies deserve homemade pie crusts. Really, all pies deserve a homemade crust. Because if you’re going to the trouble of making a pie, take the extra 10 (or fewer) minutes to make the crust. I just don’t like the taste of a store bought crust, they taste like shortening to me. Yes, I’m snobby, but to me, you really can taste the difference. Also, homemade pie crusts have a reputation for being a lot of work, but really, they’re not. The hardest part is rolling out the dough, which isn’t all that hard. I have trouble crimping the edges, but guess what: they still taste good, even if they’re ugly.

The pie crust recipe I use comes from Pioneer Woman’s second cookbook, p. 37. I like this recipe because it doesn’t have shortening; I just prefer the taste of a butter-based pie crust. I don’t know who Pam is but God bless you, Pam!

Pam’s Piecrust (makes two crusts).

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

2 sticks cold butter, cut into chunks

1/4 cold water

Put 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the sugar in a food processor. Give them a quick whirl to mix them.

Then start throwing the chunks of butter into the food processor. It will get kind crumbly and chunky. My food processor make a gawd-awful noise at this point.

Gradually pour in the water.

Take a look at the dough. If it’s too sticky (and it probably will be) add more flour. If it’s too dry, add water.

Shape into two discs and refrigerate 20 minutes, longer if needed. You can even freeze the crusts for a few months.

This makes enough for two pumpkin pies, a pumpkin and a pecan, a double-decker apple, a pumpkin and an apple crumble, two pecans, or…….

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Cranberry Salad/Relish

This is my favorite cranberry recipe. It’s from my brother-in-law’s grandma, LaVonn McKnight. LaVonn was such a sweet lady, and a wonderful cook. She was one of those people that you felt comfortable telling your life story. My little niece, Vonn is named after her. This is the recipe she typed up and sent to my sister.

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Rolls

My mom is the best cook I know, and breads are her thing. It’s kind of an unwritten expectation that she’ll make rolls for any family gathering. This is her base recipe for nearly every kind of bread she makes. She wanted to make sure I inform you that this recipe does not work well for loaves of bread, just rolls.

I have a batch rising right now, and it’s not going well. Either my yeast is too old, or my water was too hot and I killed the yeast, so be careful with that.

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Sweet Potatoes

Once again, @ThePioneerWoman for the win! This comes from her holiday cookbook, p. 272. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, this is my desperate attempt to get Ree Drummond’s attention, and then she’ll invite me to her ranch, and I’ll bring a pumpkin pie that’ll be the best she’s ever tasted, and we’ll hang out, and mix cocktails, and then we’ll be best friends.

Even if I never meet her, I can pretend that I’m part of her family’s Thanksgiving each time I make these sweet potatoes.

Soul Sweet ‘Taters

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 c. milk

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. all purpose flour

3/4 stick butter, cut in pieces

1 c. chopped pecans

I don’t want to type out the instructions because I’m feeling lazy, so here is a picture of the cookbook.

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Brussels Sprouts

For a girl that doesn’t have much use for vegetables, I really like brussels sprouts, and I LOVE this recipe that I made up last Christmas. It’s inspired by the side dish at Saltgrass Steakhouse that mysteriously went away “””due to COVID.””” Apparently the sprouts went to the same place as the McDonald’s Southwest Salad (also yummy) when COVID happened.

Warning: This dish is kind of a hassle to make. The veggies take a lot of tending when they’re in the oven, but they’re so tasty! If you can get the pre-shaved brussels sprouts, do: It’s a huge time saver. They’re more expensive, but it saves the steps of washing, trimming tough ends, and shredding.

1 bag of brussels sprouts (I think they come in 1 lb. bags)

3-4 slices of bacon, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Wash and trim sprouts, then shave in a food processor. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Set aside.

Cook the bacon until the fat renders, then add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Pour the bacon/grease/onion mixture all over the veggies. Add a little olive oil (it kind of depends on how oily you like your veggies), season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat. I say gently because I end up slinging veggies and bacon fat all over my countertops every time I make this.

Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, check on the veggies and add more olive oil if they seem too dry.

Repeat as often as needed until the veggies are cooked to your liking. I like mine pretty done, which means dark brown in places.

While the veggies cook, make the sauce:

2 tbsp. mayo

1-2 tbsp Sriracha mayo

1/4 c. sour cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

salt & pepper

Throw everything in a bowl and mix well.

I’ll be honest. I eyeball this stuff until it tastes right. All those measurements are a good guess.

If I want a good presentation on these, I’ll put the sauce in a squirt bottle and drizzle it over the top. If it’s just us at home, I do “generous dollops.” 😃

I don’t have a picture of these; they’re not very photogenic. But trust me, they’re soooo good.

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I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.