Thanksgiving Menu & Recipes

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Do you love turkey? I don’t, I just don’t. I do love Thanksgiving, because I love all that it represents and I love holidays in general (excuse to have extra fun with my family). I still cook a turkey for the other people who eat with me, but all the sides and pies are what excite me, so I make sure those are really extra yummy.

We have lots of side dishes that have become traditions, so I went ahead and made out a Thanksgiving menu and just stick it in my cookbook to re-use every year. I even have a shopping list prepared of all the groceries for this menu. Anything extra I want to make, I just add the ingredients to the pre-made grocery list and I’m set. And as an extra tip, I also come up with a baking schedule in advance to take the guess-work out of when everything needs to be prepped and cooked. The first year I came up with this took a lot of work, and now I just reap the benefits of that work every year since. Easy Peasy.

Our Menu

• Turkey
• Stuffing
• Cranberry Fluff (see recipe below)
• Green Bean Casserole
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• Crock-pot Creamed Corn (see recipe below)
• Rolls
• Cranberry Infused Sprite
• Sparkling Grape Juice
• Water with Lemon and Lime
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pecan Pie (see recipe below)

Here are some of our favorite recipes!

Cranberry Fluff
(a Johanson family tradition … as in the family I married into) 

2 c. raw cranberries (ground)
2 ½ c. mini-marshmallows
¾ c. sugar

Mix and soak overnight in the fridge.

1-2 cups diced, unpeeled granny apples
½ c. seedless grapes
1 can drained crushed pineapple
½ tsp. Salt
Whip 1 c. cream and fold in. Chill and serve.

Note: Depending on your blender, it might be easier to grind ½ c. portions of cranberries at a time instead of all at once.

Crock-pot Creamed Corn
(our family tradition … picked up from a friend since we were married)

1 large pkg (~2 lb.) frozen corn
8 oz. cream cheese
½ c. butter
¼ c. sugar
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Add all ingredients to crock pot and stir together as they melt.
2. Cook on high for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours, stirring often.

3 eggs
½ c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
¼ c. butter, melted
~1+ c. pecans, chopped
9 inch unbaked pie crust

1. Pre-heat oven to350 F.
2. Beat eggs well.
3. Add other ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour into pie crust.
5. Bake for about 45-55 minutes or until golden brown, depending on oven heat. Do the jiggle test to make sure it is set!

{ All these pictures are from last Thanksgiving, when lots of my family traveled to our house.}

I hope you can get your grocery shopping done before the week of Thanksgiving. I may need to buy a few produce items last-minute, but most of these things I buy and stock in the pantry. I try my hardest to avoid stores in general that close to Thanksgiving … pure chaos!!  Unless of course you like that kind of thing. I won’t judge.

Please have a blessed Thanksgiving! I am truly thankful for my readers. You make this whole blogging thing lots and lots of fun. I hope we all feel too blessed to measure, not that we shouldn’t try.