It’s been a few days, but I had so much fun hearing about everyone’s Thanksgiving, and I wanted to share ours. Like so many of our friends and fam, we were solo for Thanksgiving. We went back and forth about what to do, but in the end decided to embrace the gluttony and each other.
We started off with apple cider donuts, using this recipe from the Kitchn. They were so delicious. We snacked on them all day and skipped lunch. Then, we feasted!
Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday, and it was sad to miss celebrating it with family this year. But the silver lining was a traffic-free, stress-free day centered around food we thought would be yummy. Our menu, clockwise from the top:
—Roasted Carrots with Turmeric and Cumin. Yum! Different. Also from NY Times. These were slightly underdone and they made a yummy crunchy snack the next day.
— Brussels Sprouts with Pickled Shallots, Labneh and Date Molasses. There’s a paywall for the recipe because it’s From NY Times, but I finally got me an NY Times Cooking subscription, and I went heavy on it for Thanksgiving. This was my first time making these brussels sprouts, and while it wasn’t my very favorite way ever, it was interesting and special enough to make the Thanksgiving table.
— Classic Cranberry Sauce. Man was this easy and simple and yummy. We made it the night before.
— Pickles! These are from our local fancy grocery store, and their sort of crisp saltiness added a nice element to the table. There are some briny green olives in that dish too, and they were also super-yummy.
— Cornbread. I’m not going to link to the recipe I made, because it was actually a fail! It had too many eggs and not enough sugar, even when I added more than the recipe called for. I guess we like our cornbread sweet. In any event, it wasn’t good, but I often use this simple recipe for weeknight chili accompaniment.
— Mashed potatoes. Bret picked me up this little box of mashed potatoes because I really wanted some, but I’m the only one who eats them and they’re kind of a pain to make. I wish I had made gravy for them, but that didn’t really sink in until I was wrapping everything up.
— Stuffing!!! This is Mark Bittman’s recipe and I followed it to the letter. Dear Lord, it was the best stuffing ever. It was so delicious and crispy and flavorful…just perfect. Of course, I didn’t stuff a bird with it, but I baked enough to fill three of my mini yellow casserole dishes. Bret and I downed two of those on Thanksgiving and one the next day. Seriously, try this stuffing.
— Pecan Pie Cheesecake! I made the cheesecake in my Instant Pot using this recipe. I really appreciate all the work these women put into their recipe testing, and I followed the perfectionist instructions. (They have a good enough version, too). Then, I sort of eyeballed a pecan pie topping and, well, topped it. Bret declared it’s the best cheesecake he’s ever had and we ate it with our Turkey Sammies for three days.
— Apple Cobbler! Gotta have two desserts. This apple cobbler was delicious. The topping is cinnamon-y biscuits. If I make it again, I may reduce the buttermilk for more of a streusel like topping, but the biscuits were new and interesting. Vanilla ice cream on the side. Obviously.
— Celebration Roast. I feel like this needs some exclamation points too. This is by Field Roast and it’s our favorite. The kids demolished it.
The next day, we did have some leftovers. If your’re vegetarian and jonesing for a leftover turkey sandwich, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: classic Quorn is just like leftover turkey. I got a pack of it and did it up right.
Maybe that’snot the best shot. But it was good. Always put arugula on your leftover turkey sandwiches.
I call the day a success. What did you do? What did you make? What will you keep from this year when next year rolls around?