Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, second only to Christmas. I mean, DUH, I’m obsessed with cooking and eating, and I love to spend time around a dinner table with family and friends. Thanksgiving and I were meant to be homies. We’ve been testing and eating a lot of Thanksgiving at my house for the past couple of months. Since I started the blog, I’ve been planning for a Thanksgiving shoot, and I’m so f*cking jazzed to be bringing it to you guys today!

I’m so excited for everyone to check out my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. Some are my family’s favorites that have been on our table for decades. Others were the winners from my own recipe tests of countless different options.

Together, these recipes make for a beautiful, well-balanced and f*cking delicious Thanksgiving table!

This year’s Thanksgiving menu will include (click to go to recipe):

• Herb Butter Turkey
• Sweet Potato Casserole 3 Ways
• Boursin Butter Potato Stacks
• Green Bean Casserole
• Mom’s Southern Cornbread Dressing
• Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Butternut Squash
• Homemade Yeast Rolls
• Sidbury House Salad
• Bev’s Deviled Eggs
• Celery stuffed with The Best Pimento Cheese Ever
• Cranberry Sauce (the good ole’ canned stuff)

We’ve covered all the bases here including some appetizers like the Deviled Eggs and Celery & Pimento for early grazing, but you’ll notice that I don’t have a dessert option listed above. That’s because I really believe the best dessert option is a traditional pecan or pumpkin pie.

My mom uses the recipe on the Karo bottle for our Pecan Pie every year (and the pie crust recipe that I’ve previously provided in the Shepherd’s Hand Pies post), and it’s the shit! Use a family recipe or find a simple classic. I usually am so full of sides by the end of dinner anyway, I can’t even think about pie for a few hours.

Thanksgiving is a much less stressful occasion if you can properly plan and prepare for the event.

Thanksgiving is a much less stressful occasion if you can properly plan and prep for the event. I recommend making your grocery list the Friday or Saturday before the holiday so you can get groceries before the weekend is over. Below is the schedule I followed to have Thanksgiving ready for my big photo shoot! Be sure to store anything you make in advance in the fridge to ensure peak freshness for the big day!

Monday
• Make Cornbread for Dressings
• Trim Celery for Pimento Cheese
• Select bakeware and serving platters for all dishes

Tuesday
• Bake Sweet Potatoes
• Prepare Sweet Potato Crumb Topping(s)
• Blanch Green Beans
• Clean and quarter Mushrooms for Green Bean Casserole
• Boil Butternut Squash
• Make Pimento Cheese
• Make Sidbury House Salad Dressing (less cottage cheese)

Wednesday
• Hard-boil Eggs
• Make Sweet Potato Filling
• Make Herb Butter for Turkey
• Make Boursin Butter for Potato Stacks
• Make Green Bean Casserole Filling
• Prepare both Dressings, cook and cool (reheat on Thursday)
• Cook bacon for Sidbury House Salad
• Make Rolls (reheat)

Thursday
• Butter your Turkey and Bake
• Make Deviled Eggs
• Stuff Celery with Pimento Cheese
• Bake Sweet Potatoes with Topping
• Bake Green Bean Casserole
• Reheat Dressings and Rolls
• Assemble and Bake Potato Stacks
• Assemble Sidbury House Salad

It may seem like a lot of steps, and it sort of is, but it’s controlled chaos with the work evenly split throughout the days. Hearing how amazing your food is from all your friends and family makes all the work and prep totally worth it! Please check out this awesome collection of recipes and let me know if you have any questions or feedback. I would love to hear from everyone in the comments section below!

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with joy, laughter, and gratitude for all of life’s many blessings. Enjoy your loved ones and, of course, all the amazing food!

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Hailey

Hey-ooo! I'm Hailey, and I'm a number cruncher by day and cussing cook by night. I created this site to share my love for delicious food that feeds the soul as well as the belly. I hope my recipes have you running to the kitchen to cook some damn good grub!

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