Our Thanksgiving Menu, with little ideas, recipes and tips

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In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. ~Khalil Gibran

While cooking: Beaujolais nouveaux, fatayar nibble (made ahead). Before and with dinner: Bubbly, Pinot Noir, and Sancerre.

Roasted Turkey, all natural and organic, from Peggy’s foraging in Chicago. Going to try it Jacques Pepin-style: steamed, then roasted. Who knew?

Are you a vegetarian kitchen? Check out all of this.

Parker House rolls. Soft and golden, and here’s how.

Ham, also brought home by Peggy from Paulina Market in Chicago. Eaten mostly as a prequel and a leftover, sliced thin, with the rolls.

Romaine salad with Lebanese-style lemon vinaigrette.

Mashed potatoes. Don’t forget to salt the cooking water and then to remove all moisture before mashing (pan with potatoes back on the heat very briefly takes care of any residual liquid). We add peeled garlic cloves to cook with the potatoes, then mash them right into the mix.

Turkey gravy. Try this recipe. It’s from scratch, and takes time that is worth every minute.

Candied sweet potatoes. Mom’s glaze is a syrup of brown sugar, corn syrup and butter. Pour syrup over cut rounds of boiled sweet potato, then bake. Seems like dessert but it isn’t.

Stuffing with mushrooms, onion, celery and apple. Baked in a copper gratin.

Cranberry sauce, made with mandarin oranges, pineapple, and walnuts cooked with 2 bags fresh cranberries, 2 cup sugar, 2 cup water.

Green beans, simply cooked, seasoned with dill. For the traditional casserole, from scratch, try this. Also, a bowl of peas with butter.

Brussels sprouts, sliced thin and sauteed with onion. Salt, pepper and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts over top.

Pumpkin Pie. Apple Pie. Chocolate-Caramel Pecan Tart. Banana Cream Pie. Spice cake with cream cheese icing for Tom’s birthday. Plus birthday presents, extra Thanksgiving fun.

Coffee. Tea. Box of chocolates for closure. Because it is always best to save room for one chocolate.

Leftovers for day two of the bird: turkey hushwe. Just use your turkey meat instead of the traditional chicken. You can use also ground turkey instead of ground beef if you like, plus purchased chicken stock to make it all easy.

May your feast be full of small pleasures, joy and love…all of which you give to me every week. Thank you, dear friends, and many blessings on you and yours always.

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7 Comments

  1. The qoute from Gibran brought back memories, my dad had some of his books, which i have now. Beautiful writing. I also wish i was having dinner with the Abood’s. Happy Thanksgiving cousin’s.

  2. Yes, the wooden silverware case-my Mother had one–and Thanksgiving was her holiday for the whole Nassir clan and it was my early task to get the case out, wash and dry well all of the silverware before the day! Oh my goodness, the memories you precipitate for me! Blessings, and Happy Thanksgiving Day–and I am the sole vegetarian in the family, and I LOVE your brussel sprout recipes–

  3. Tried the chocolate caramel tart recipe – unusual recipe – that is coming from a cooker (not a baker) specially the sugar/whipping cream process – was not sure we did it correctly – but we hung in there, and it turned out perfectly! I am just glad we made this for a large group and they loved it. There were no leftovers to tempt us. Fantastic!!