Turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans (fresh but cooked a little longer), fresh whole berry cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie.

Starters include guacamole (homemade), salsa (homemade) and chips (bought by the chip cousin who is clueless about cooking), and some kind of croquettes or similar. Turkey and bread stuffing, cranberry sauce or relish, the canned gel that one of the gang craves, gravy, squash (sometimes a casserole), green beans (not casserole), carrots, green salad, mashed potatoes. Someone usually brings inedible sweet potato casserole, and one person brings good sweet potato casserole (there are always at least two, sometimes three, as people put forward the ones they like best and sometimes you have to take some of all three to find the good one). Parkerhouse rolls in case there isn't already enough starch. :) Pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate pumpkin marble cake, and other sweets, that don't always get eaten but people like bringing.

We like spicy sides with our turkey breast. Usually includes Chipotle Sweet Potato Gratin, Cranberry Jezebel, and Spinach Madeleine.

Saw frozen pearl onions the other day at Trader Joe's. I'm thinking about trying something new with them ... maybe balsamic glazed.

Mashed potatoes, both homemade and canned/jellied cranberry sauce. Outside of that, everything else is up for grabs. We're a family of rabid cooks and every year there's a variety of different dishes.

Oh, one other thing I forgot that is usual. I generally make the effort to do a sushi platter. Personally I could care less about the stuff - when I was growing up in the JA community, it was picnic food, like potato salad and hot dogs, LOL. But my family and spouse LOVE the stuff, so that's usually my big contribution.

Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. Most of the time we have a cherry pie! Most of the time we have another cooked vegetable, like asparagus or carrots.

Roast turkey, giblet gravy, dressing (homemade) with LOTS of sage, brussels sprouts with pancetta, sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows!), whole cranberry sauce with orange, Sister Schubert dinner rolls, pumpkin pie and whatever other pie my ex-husband makes and brings. Sometimes, DD also makes a pecan pie.

I had to Google Sister Schubert's rolls....so they are a bought packaged roll? Or do you have a copy cat recipe?

LindaC, my sister in law in Tennessee also always buys frozen Sister Schubert's rolls, swears they are just like homemade. They aren't, of course, but they are far, far better than those "brown and serve" things my Mother used to buy!

My Thanksgiving always includes homemade dinner rolls, either Grandma's white rolls or Honey Wheat or those Butternut Squash rolls that the kids like so well. Turkey stuffed with the onion/celery/sage/white bread stuffing and then some cornbread stuffing on the side for my husband and my celiac daughter. Mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie always, but vegetables are "negotiable". The kids love green bean casserole, I cannot stand the stuff and won't make it. I made some homemade once but it was awful and no one would eat it, so green beans are usually cooked then finished with a saute in hot bacon grease and a sprinkle of crumbled crisp bacon. There's always a salad although few of us eat it, and the kids like fruit of some kind. My daughter likes the very sweet and marshmallow topped sweet potatoes and I'd rather have mine plain/baked, so there's usually a combination of those two applications. Desserts other than pumpkin pie range from cheesecake to pumpkin roll to chocolate cake, no one really ever knows what it will be until I decide which new recipe I want to try, LOL.

Annie

I never put marshmallows on either sweet potato casserole or my candied sweet potatoes, my late Mother in law did. We ate it. The main thing for your meal is to enjoy and be glad you have family and friends to come to it or as I usually do any more some one to have it. At my age it is a bit harder to do it all. Everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Sue

We begin the day with a cranberry, orange and apple bread, some like it with cream cheese. Appetizer is local bay scallops, some with bacon, some not. Dinner is turkey, bread and cranberry stuffing (we used also have chestnut stuffing, no longer due to one guest's nut allergy), gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade whole berry cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes baked with cranberry/maple glaze, baked onions, broccoli, cheese sauce and homemade rolls in crescent and fan tan shapes. Desert is homemade French vanilla ice cream, apple pie, pumpkin pie and Indian pudding. Can't wait!

MJ

The must-haves in my family are the pies. There is always a custard pie, Dutch apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cream cheese pie. There is a good likelihood there will be some type of pecan pie and often a chocolate meringue pie. Part of doing this allows me to say I make pie at Thanksgiving and not at Christmas when I would like to make something else. My mom would ask for custard pie at every holiday and I get bored doing it too often.

Other than pie, if people have other must haves, they are welcome to contribute it themselves. There has to be meat, and normally potatoes or cornbread dressing, if the group is large enough both. I am not a fan of the green bean casserole so someone can bring it if they want it. DH keeps making noise about mashed turnips. We'll see.

I always make pumpkin chiffon pie. Yum!

This year, we have so many apples, I might make an apple pie too.

Perennials musts are turkey, bread stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower salad and pecan pie. That's all that the boyz want. DH has to have candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows; I like plain baked sweet potatoes. Canned jellied cranberry sauce for me. Oh & Mom's cherry salad for both DH & I. I have to have homemade rolls but that's changing since I've discovered that seriously limiting my gluten intake cured a lot of ills. Vegetables change...asparagus or broccoli or sauteed green beans. I usually make a token pumpkin pie, just because it's Thanksgiving and ya' gotta' have pumpkin pie. It gets eaten after the pecan pies are gone.

Lars, my mom always made ambrosia for the holidays. It was one of my favorites. She made it with oranges, bananas & coconut and sweetened it lightly w/ powdered sugar. I don't recall that she ever used marshmallows in it but it would be good with.

Oh, geez, I forgot, we have to have cranberry sauce. My girls like the canned Ocean Spray stuff, jellied with no berries. I make LindaC's cranberry Jezebel for me and Elery likes that too.

Annie

Sister Schubert rolls come in a round pan and are frozen unbaked yeast dinner rolls. When baked (no need to thaw) they are delicious. Unless one regularly makes yeast dinner rolls, one can do no better. They really are very, very good - nothing like canned rolls at all.

Anglo, I just searched for stores that carry those rolls and found one nearby. I'm going to try them for Tday!

There would be a family revolution if I changed up our Thanksgiving Day menu much. Sometimes I add a twist but generally it's same old, same old.

Turkey, sage , onion, celery and bread stuffing (in the bird) , cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce on the side, peas and pearl onions , mashed potatoes, gravy, Linda C's Cranberry Jezebel, baked ham, Katie C's Caramelized Onion and Sweet Potato casserole,homemade dinner rolls , cheater baked beans, pickle dish, David's Heart of Dixie Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie.

Best part is the turkey and stuffing, mayo salt and pepper sandwiches next day...on white squishy bread !

We never forget sauerkraut cooked with apples and ham hock. It's a Maryland/Pennsylvania thing.

Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy. Plus, wildrice pilaf, glazed pearl onions, butterhorns, roasted brussel sprouts, and cranberry sauce. Sometimes another green vegetable. People sometimes bring some kind of squash or sweet potato concoction, but I never make one. It's carbohydrate overload already. Way too much wine. 3 or 4 different kinds of pies for dessert.

I agree about the carbs :-) I am more than willing to forgo the mashed potatoes in favor of the yams or sweets and the dressing, which seem to me much more 'special' for T'day - you can have mashed pots with anything!! But the rest of the family would never agree. And skip any dinner rolls - completely unnecessary. Also desserts play a very minor role in our family's T'day dinner - no one is the slightest bit interested in dessert after that heavy and rich meal and they often go untouched. Nice to have for next day, tho :-))

Too much wine is a staple of ANY dinner for our family :-) Everyone brings a bottle and most get consumed by the end of the meal!

I usually enjoy everything that is there and hope there are leftovers for the next day or two! We do not have wine at our meals.

Sue

I'm usually a guest, but if not ... whole turkey, sweet potatoes (NEVER EVER CANDIED or Marshmallowed.. BLEAH), dressing/stuffing, and a drippings based gravy. Brussels sprouts roasted. Perhaps scalloped potatoes with cheese and onions, and definitely a good leafy salad. I'm also fond of having a squash-based soup or side. Desserts are not a priority, but I'll have something available.

Everything I always have has already been listed. Sometimes though, I have scalloped oysters. Yum.

That gave me a little giggle, scalloped oysters. :) But I'm guessing it's the shape, like a scalloped potato, rather than the shell creature. Beth, what is a scalloped oyster?

Our menu has changed a little bit over the years; currently it always consists of turkey, stuffing (which may or may not have apples and cranberries, depends on if I put them in another dish -- which means that apples and cranberries are always part of the menu somehow!), sweet potatoes (often roasted in a casserole with apples, or mashed); crescent rolls which my daughter would never forego; roasted brussels sprouts, leeks and fennel; and pumpkin pie. Will usually make a small amount of cooked cranberries.

We usually do a second vegetable also but it varies. Some years I want the standard green bean casserole that Mom made, sometimes the onion, bacon and green beans that Grandma made, and other times green beans roasted with a Dijon mustard glaze that I started making in the 70's. And, some years not green beans but something else. My Grandma made the best mashed potatoes but I never acquired the knack so I skip those. I never make gravy either, but make stock with the giblets/neck for soup.

When my daughter was little I would make cornmeal mush for breakfast, as a reminder that the first colonists had much plainer food than we are used to.

Pillog - I grew up with scalloped oysters and oyster stuffing in the farmlands of Ohio. My father was a fan. The came shucked in a vacuumed sealed container you could see through the top of...the scalloped oysters were not unlike scalloped corn with a lots of butter and crushed saltines.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/222401/chef-johns-scalloped-oysters/

The usuals plus one of two additional stuffings: sourdough artichoke (Sunset recipe) or Andouille sausage and banana squash stuffing. Then there is the infamous "Pink Stuff" which is an old school frozen cranberry salad thing that one daughter insists upon. Mom is 87 and still makes the pies. I have to work this year so will be missing all the goodies :(

plllog, it's a recipe. :) And it's delicious, IF you like oysters in the first place. This is close to my recipe, minus the Worcestershire sauce. However, I may just try this recipe this year.

Thanks for posting the recipes. That's way different from anything I've ever seen IRL. Does anyone know why it's called "scalloped"?

Turkey with cornbread oyster dressing. Giblet gravy. English peas. Candied sweet potatoes(no marshmallows). Whole berry cranberries. Homemade yeast rolls. Ambrosia or Five cup fruit salad. Pumpkin pie. Chocolate Fudge pie. Apple pie.

Depending on who's here, I have to make dairy free-nut free-fish free (oldest grandson is allergic). So I will have an extra dressing with coconut or soy milk and no oysters and a different fruit salad. The rest I can adapt by using dairy-free margarine instead of butter and one of the dairy free milks.

Sometimes I make the Sweet potato casserole my husband likes. It has WAY too much sugar for me! Cooked mashed sweet potatoes with sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Topped with brown sugar, butter, flour, and pecans. Browned in oven.

Pillog, any casserole with some form of binder (bread-cracker-ect) with a sauce with or without cheese is usually called scalloped around here. Scalloped potatoes comes to mind.

I'm going to have to try the oyster casseroles. My grandmother used to make them, but I never learned how she did it.

Pillog, any casserole with some form of binder (bread-cracker-ect) with a sauce with or without cheese is usually called scalloped around here.

Thanks for 'splainin! Let me know if you try/like the casserole Sherry.

In looking again at this recipe I posted, it calls for draining the oyster juice/liquor and just using all whipping cream. In my recipe it calls for 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/2 cup reserved liquor. You could do it either way and it would be good, but you will have a bit more oyster flavor using reserved liquor.

Thanks, note made on recipe.You haven't been using Worcestershire sauce, correct?

PS: Y'all know I got to try both Beth's and Seagrass's recipe. Just for quality control. lol

I never see creamed red cabbage mentioned - my dad always had to have it - his family tradition - he was Italian - any other Italians serve it? Also a side of sauteed mushrooms. Always same menu since childhood. Along with the above - turkey with "regular" stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams yes with the mini marshmallows ha ha, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls, pumpkin & apple pie. My sister hosts now & my dad died a few months ago - wonder if she'll still do the cabbage and mushrooms since it was always mainly for him, although I enjoyed them as well. My sister married into a Greek family so there are also Greek meatballs with tzatziki sauce, chunks of feta, a large Greek salad and fruit salad. My husband is Irish - he's in charge of the mashed potatoes, my kids make the pies, and it's my freebie for the year.

I've done braised red cabbage for a Thanksgiving vegetable, but not creamed. It's actually a great vegetable for that meal because it's just fine (maybe better) done a day ahead and reheated.

You haven't been using Worcestershire sauce, correct?

Correct!

Marymd, you reminded me that a red cabbage dish was always part of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at my grandmother's, but it was brought by her best friend/next door neighbor. I really liked it but my mother and grandmother never served anything similar. I actually can't remember what it was like -- sweet/sour, or pickled, or cooked with apples? I just remember that this was the only time I ever had it, and I liked it. Folks in my hometown were mostly of either German or Appalachian roots so it was likely from one of the two's traditions.

Re the origins of scalloped: I seem to think that it is connected to the French coquilles, something to do with baking on or in the shell with sauce and toppings.

Thank-you, Sherry and Raee! All the scalloped dishes I'm familiar with are made in a scallop shingle pattern and I always assumed that was the origin of the name. So with these two leads, I looked it up and found a whole long article on Cook's Info about it. It includes this:

It's a trickier matter trying to deduce how scalloped come to be applied
to potatoes in the first place. One way might have been a transference
of ideas from "scalloped oysters." Scalloped oysters were first cooked
in scallop shells, sprinkled with bread crumbs. This may have come
about because oyster shells are actually pretty grubby looking, whereas
scallop shells clean up very presentably, far more suitable for putting
on someone's plate to impress. At some point, a variation arose that had
a cream sauce being applied to them as well, and at a later point, the
scallop shells were dropped altogether and the oysters were simply
arranged in a baking dish, then covered with sauce and crumbs.

...

At the same time, there was linguistic confusion between "scollop" and "collop" [slices of meat]-- with "escalope" no doubt stirred into the mix by anyone who knew French cooking terms. Hannah Glasse (1708-1770) in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) lists a recipe for "Collups of Oysters", which is oysters cooked in scallop shells. This may show the start of the confusion between the word "scollops" (as it was then
spelt) and "collops."

Fascinating!

Thanks, Pillog. That is interesting. I need to research cabbage dishes. My husband doesn't like cabbage, but my grandkids do. I'm not sure about creamed, because one can't have dairy, but something else might be good. (Although the creamed is probably the best.)

Elba, how do you make your creamed cabbage?

Thanks plllog!

I know most people abhore the dreaded bean casserole. I thought I might try this version instead.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/green-bean-and-mushroom-casserole-with-crispy-fried-onions

I forgot scalloped turnips. Our area of the Cape is famous for it's sweet, large turnips. Not sharp or purple topped. More along the size of rutabagas but not thick skinned. They don't grow anywhere else. We peel, dice them, boil in salted water until just tender, drain and put into a buttered casserole - pour over a cheddar cheese bechemel sauce seasoned with a tiny pinch of nutmeg and some tabasco. Top with browned buttered Panko crumbs. Bake at 350 until bubbly and browned.

I eat them cold for breakfast...

Sherry, I just copied the recipe down from our family cookbook and am sharing it below - my Grandma Rose dictated her recipes to my cousin who wrote them down & shared them with us, so it is her wording. I haven't actually made it myself as I've never hosted Thanksgiving. My mom always did, then my sister took over when she got married; the menu has remained unchanged, and it is the only time of year we have it!

Creamed Red Cabbage:

1 med. size cabbage – wash cabbage well, then cut in
quarters, remove core then cook in salted boiled water. When cooked, drain
cabbage, add to cream sauce.

Cream Sauce: (This would be good for 4-5 people. This sauce
can be used for any other vegetable.)

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Make cream sauce in a pan large enough so you can add the
cabbage to it. Melt butter in pan, add flour slowly, blend thoroughly. Add milk
& cook over low flame stirring constantly until thick, add salt &
pepper, then add your cabbage.

Scalloped potatoes are always on my Thanksgiving menu.

Seagrass, those turnips sound amazingly good. I think I may have to try to make that dish with plain old Northern California turnips :-)

Elba, Thanks! I looked some recipes up online, but they were calling for all sorts of things, onions mostly,. Not that I don't like onions, but they give a different taste to the dish and there are already onions in the dressing.

Elba, thank you. We have decided to add the Creamed Red Cabbage to our Thanksgiving dinner. Also, when I advised my family of what was on the menu, I was told that I had to make my green bean casserole. This is not the one with the canned soup. I will post it here in case any are interested. It really is very, very good.

My Fabulous Green Bean Casserole

This is the only one my family loves
to eat. I have to make it every Thanksgiving. AS

3 cans Blue Lake cut green beans, drained (I use whole green beans)
1 10-oz jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 pound shredded cheddar cheese (I use 3 large handfuls)
1 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon MSG, optional (I use Accent)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I use about 4-5 shakes out of the bottle)
1 8-oz can water chestnuts, drained and chopped (I use 4-oz)

Put drained beans in a baking dish. Place chopped water chestnuts on top of beans.
Sauté mushrooms and onion in 1/2 cup butter. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Add
black pepper and MSG. Measure milk and cream into 2 cup measuring cup; add soy
sauce, MSG, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce to milk; stir. Pour milk
into flour mixture and stir thoroughly. Add cheese and stir to distribute. Pour
over green beans in baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. You can actually
cook at a lower temperature for a longer period of time or vice versa; just
watch and do not let get real brown.

You can also top with a mixture of bread or cracker crumbs and butter before
baking. I just don't particularly care for it that way, because the gold from
the cheese is so pretty. This is one of those dishes you can also prepare the
day before, then just stick in oven before serving. I think it is actually
better the second day.

WalnutCreek, that's great - hope you like it!

Well, we are having smoked turkey and smoked ham from one of the local BQ places for Thanksgiving this year. It will be a first. Oldest grandson is on the high school wrestling team and they are selling them to raise money. Evidently, there is a "quota" (that hasn't been met yet). lol. I do have plenty of turkey stock in the freezer from this summer's turkey. I will use that for the dressing and the gravy.

I am still picking up some Butterballs from Target. They have them again this year for $.99 a pound.

What recipes do we always have at Thanksgiving? None! Decades ago we started alternating hosting T'day with some friends. It's host's choice for food and drinks. We've never had a traditional T'day meal. We did themes (Chinese, Italian, German, Tex-Mex, etc.) for a number of years but that stopped. Now it's just "whatever". The food is always good but it's more about the company of good friends. Even more so this year since an out of state friend to all of is dying. Toasts will be offered up and life will be celebrated and remembered. Some tears will probably be shed. Our Thanksgivings are about friendship and love. That's our tradition.