Farmhouse Thanksgiving 2011

It’s become my job over the years to come up with a menu for Thanksgiving, and then provide the recipes. For some reason this year, I really had difficulty deciding what we’re going to have for dinner. I usually start planning our menu sometime in October (so I can get everything done and mail out copies), but this year, I had no idea for a theme. I was soon convinced by some of my family members that I needed to come up with something. Off the top of my head, I thought “farmhouse”… and it seemed to stick. I’ve had a lot of different themes over the years, and I probably should have really thought things through a bit beforehand, but oh well! Farmhouse Thanksgiving it is!

This year’s menu only has a couple of new things, but one thing I knew for sure was that we would have to have a relish tray. Homemade corn relish and spiced pickled figs needed to have a place at the table. As well, other pickles, olives and vegetables would add a nice touch. As a kid, we always had a relish tray – it’s a nice tradition to bring back.

And since I’m part of an online cooking project french fridays with dorie, and one of our recent challenges was baking a whole pumpkin with a filling (see mine here), I thought that that would be fun to do. My brothers are getting really great at cooking turkeys outside (with a large family, one turkey is not enough!). One of them wanted to do one in his smoker this year – so it seemed like a perfect time to send all of the birds and the boys outside to come up with some delicious turkeys. I may miss making my boneless turkey this year, but I’ll just have to take one for the team! 🙂

So for 2011, here’s our menu. I’ve attached the “official” menu here, that has most of these recipes. We’ll have a lot of fun making all of these delicious things (and a few others, I’m sure!) together

• Relish Tray
• Smoked, Grilled & Deep Fried Turkeys
• Baked Pumpkins, Stuffed Two Ways
• Cornflake, Pecan & Marshmallow-Topped Sweet Potato Casserole
• Classic Green Bean Casserole
• Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce with Port & Cinnamon
• Grandma’s Rolls
• Bourbon Walnut Pie
• Yambilee Pie (Sweet Potato Pecan Pie)

(If there’s a recipe you’d like, and it’s not included, let me know – I’ll be happy to provide it)

I hope that you and the people you love have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, with some good food, lots of laughter and some time together creating new memories and sharing gratitude for all things wonderful in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!