My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

I like Thanksgiving. A lot.

It’s partly because some of my absolute all time favorite foods are always on the menu. Like mashed potatoes. When I was a kid, there were two things I swore that as a grownup, I would eat every day if I wanted to. Dill pickles & mashed potatoes. I guess I felt deprived growing up. There were a bunch of us, and apparently, I never felt there were enough mashed potatoes in my life.

For the record, we don’t eat them every day, or even every week, but they are still a favorite. Ditto on the dill pickles, which we do eat nearly every day. And look at the graphic I made for this post – dill pickles and mashed potatoes are right at the very top. I didn’t plan that, I promise.

Anyway, though we do love the food, what I really love about Thanksgiving is that it’s a holiday devoted to the practice of being thankful. We should all be thankful and lot more than we are, or at least more than we bother to express it.

On Thanksgiving, most of us take a step back for at least a few minutes, and count the blessings that we enjoy. I really like the idea of families all over the country, together and contemplating the things in their lives that make it worth living.

We are feeling especially blessed this year, with Larry’s retirement, becoming completely debt free, Lauren and Steve moving so much closer to us, and the birth of our much prayed for third grandchild. We have been able to spend more time with both of the girls and their families. It has been a really good year. I hope, as you are reading this, you are feeling that you have a lot for which to be thankful as well.

Still, we have this bunch of people to feed, right? I can help you with ideas for great Thanksgiving recipes, so check out some of our favorites.

Lots of kinds of veggies:

Chili Roasted Butternut Squash
Lemon Garlic Roasted Cauliflower
Carrots with Rosemary and Thyme
Brussels Sprouts with Peppered Bacon
Green Beans with Crispy Leeks
Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes
Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

A couple must haves:

Southwest Cornbread Dressing
The Best Turkey Gravy

You still have time to make some quick pickles:

Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles
Bread and Butter Pickles
Refrigerator Pickled Hot Peppers

Some super easy breads:

Anadama Bread
Pumpkin Raisin Yeast Bread
Winter Squash Sandwich Bread
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

A few lovely desserts:

S’more Chocolate PieChocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Bourbon Pecan Pie
And here is my collection from last year too – a few repeats on this list, but lots of other ideas too, some from my food blogger friends. 2013 Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes
Happy Thanksgiving!