healthy, kid-friendly, not too weird thanksgiving day menu?

[umami_mommy]

i have been elected to host thanksgiving this year. usually we go to my MIL's. she brines a turkey and i make the sides and dessert.

this year my mom is not traveling out of town. (he sister died last year and my cousin's husband is very ill) so she is coming here. along with my bro and my MIL and her BF.

i need some ideas for sides that aren't things like canned yams with corn flakes and marshmallows. (my bro is making and bringing the turkey)

but they can't be "too" weird or my bro and MIL's BF won't touch them. and i want my kids to not be intimidated.

suggestions? TIA!

[SeekingJoy]

Green beans with slivered almonds.

Whole wheat or pumpkin rolls.

Broccoli casserole.

Roasted butternut squash.

Salad of baby spinach greens, a citrus fruit (mandarin oranges are yummy), craisins, walnuts and goat cheese.

What do you normally make when you make the sides for dinner at MIL's house?

[umami_mommy]

last year i made squash and pear soup (really easy). mashed potatoes (with yogurt and butter), sesame broccoli, maple carrots and dessert. which i believe was an apple-pecan cheesecake. MIL made the stuffing and gravy.

i was thinking a salad of mixed greens (local), pears or apples, walnuts and sheeps milk feta. broccoli something, cauliflower something, and roasted root veggies. my bro or MIL can do the mashed 'tatoes and stuffing. my mom can do the soup.

i like to focus on the veggies, not the carbs.

[katiesk]

dp makes amazing green bean casserole every year - which is healthy, delicious and what many people are expecting at thanksgiving dinner. he makes it all himself - so he spends a bit of time making cream of mushroom soup, making crispy onions, steaming green beans, roasting garlic...but it's easy and not really that time consuming...

i sometimes steam and then mash sweet potatoes, but we sometimes have mashed white potatoes instead.

roasted veggies sounds nice!

[tngirl11]

I've made this recipe for Thanksgiving:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/cau.../r/r81030e.htm
With grassfed butter, fresh-ground sprouted flour, and my own homemade bread crumbs, it's definitely healthy, but everyone (including all of my relatives who think I'm a little crazy with my TF ideas) loved it!

[cristeen]

To avoid having 2 potato dishes, i started making Epicurious' mashed white potatoes and yams w parmesan. They dont go so well w gravy, but they are amazing.

Until last year, i had no idea how unhealthy the average Holiday meal was. I've always madw WF for it.

Something i've always liked doing is picking a flavor associated w the holiday and seeing what new and interesting dish i could find using that flavor. The above mashed is an example of one of the dishes that was a huge hit. Some others are Cranberry fritters (deep fried, so not really healthy), pumpkin custard profiteroles, chestnut soup, roasted corn chowder, pumpkin bread pudding, green salad w nuts and cheese w a cranberry vinaigrette, cranberry salsa, curried cranberry sauce, etc. Every year is a mix of old faves and new dishes around here. I dont remake a dish that didnt wow us. And it had to be really special to make it to the table 2 yrs in a row.

[Lilcrunchie]

Scalloped turnips with carmelized onions has been on our Thanksgiving and Easter menu for a few years now.  Pioneer woman has a version of this, and then I found the version I make on the lowcarbfriends website.  Yummo.

You boil the turnips w/ a little cream first and that cuts the bitterness.  Really yummy baked in a cast iron pan. 

[weliveintheforest]

Is the recipe online somewhere?  sounds great!
 

Originally Posted by katiesk 

dp makes amazing green bean casserole every year - which is healthy, delicious and what many people are expecting at thanksgiving dinner. he makes it all himself - so he spends a bit of time making cream of mushroom soup, making crispy onions, steaming green beans, roasting garlic...but it's easy and not really that time consuming...
 

[dauphinette]

Originally Posted by Lilcrunchie 

Scalloped turnips with carmelized onions has been on our Thanksgiving and Easter menu for a few years now.  Pioneer woman has a version of this, and then I found the version I make on the lowcarbfriends website.  Yummo.

You boil the turnips w/ a little cream first and that cuts the bitterness.  Really yummy baked in a cast iron pan. 

This sounds perfect, you got a link, I don't still have a link for pioneer woman......
 

[Smokering]

As a non-American, I'm wondering how you could possibly find a recipe that's weirder than yams with cornflakes and marshmallows! Crazy colony.

So, not really a side dish, but pumpkin cheesecake could be pretty TF and is a bit of a change from pumpkin pie. And if you don't think it's weird to eat pumpkin in a savoury context, it's delicious roasted with garlic and rosemary and rock salt... and bacon fat or chicken or duck fat, if you have it. You could do a mixed roast veggie "salad" (served hot) with pumpkin, carrots, potatoes and so on.

[velcromom]

I think the basic Thanksgiving menu is pretty easily converted to TF - a pastured bird, sourdough stuffing moistened with bone broth, organic veggies & fruits, gravy made from bone broth along with the turkey drippings, bread items made from sprouted flour, lf pickles, pasture butter, sea salt, etc.... and it would all be completely familiar to most people.

[waikukumama]

Hey mommas,

So happy to find this thread.

We'll be hosting a "salute to thanksgiving" for other Kiwi American families in New Zealand.  It's springtime here, so feels rather presumptuous to celebrate the harvest, but what the heck.

We will roast our own (free range!) turkey, and roast some potatoes (an abundance of yummy organics at my local), and I plan to make a big ol' green salad (love the feta/walnut idea) and a wild rice salad. I thought I'd try the crock pot stuffing from the Hillbilly  Housewife (http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/crockpot-stuffing-recipe.htm)  even though it has a fairly shocking amount of butter in it.  I like the idea of cranking the crockpot.  I will make a broccoli cornbread and I need to think of something to do that will involve cranberries.  But what?  Biff some in the salads, maybe?  Is green bean casserole kind of compulsory?

Guests are bringing pumpkin pie, wonder if I need to do anything else desserty?  Do you serve icecream with pumpkin pie?

And just how does one make that sweet potato/marshmallow thing?  My American born husband would really love it, and I never understood how it was part of the savoury course?  Can anyone explain that?  I wonder what to use for it: our version of a sweet potato is different, but similar enough, especially if I can find some butternut squash and chuck that in too, perhaps???

I know, I shouldn't get too obsessive.  It's really about being together and I think it's super important to nurture these traditions ... my daughter is nearly 7 and fostering an emerging awareness of her American-ness.  It's cool.

PS: I plan to print these placemats which I think are lush: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/FF0111MGI_Placemat.pdf

[serenbat]

So happy to find this thread.

We'll be hosting a "salute to thanksgiving" for other Kiwi American families in New Zealand.  It's springtime here, so feels rather presumptuous to celebrate the harvest, but what the heck.

We will roast our own (free range!) turkey, and roast some potatoes (an abundance of yummy organics at my local), and I plan to make a big ol' green salad (love the feta/walnut idea) and a wild rice salad. I thought I'd try the crock pot stuffing from the Hillbilly  Housewife (http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/crockpot-stuffing-recipe.htm)  even though it has a fairly shocking amount of butter in it.  I like the idea of cranking the crockpot.  I will make a broccoli cornbread and I need to think of something to do that will involve cranberries.  But what?  Biff some in the salads, maybe?  Is green bean casserole kind of compulsory?

Guests are bringing pumpkin pie, wonder if I need to do anything else desserty?  Do you serve icecream with pumpkin pie?

And just how does one make that sweet potato/marshmallow thing?  My American born husband would really love it, and I never understood how it was part of the savoury course?  Can anyone explain that?  I wonder what to use for it: our version of a sweet potato is different, but similar enough, especially if I can find some butternut squash and chuck that in too, perhaps???

I know, I shouldn't get too obsessive.  It's really about being together and I think it's super important to nurture these traditions ... my daughter is nearly 7 and fostering an emerging awareness of her American-ness.  It's cool.

PS: I plan to print these placemats which I think are lush: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/FF0111MGI_Placemat.pdf

You are lacking a BIGGIE---where is your cranberry dish? a MUST!!!!

Plymouth=Cranberries (dried-they would have had that- also just stewed with maple syrup)

and a corn item besides bread (also native to the true Thanksgiving)--we do "pop" corn also native to the true Thanksgiving

also you are missing---SEAFOOD another true biggie  (salted cod, lobster, clams, etc) New England coastal 

we don't to the marshmellowy thing--YUCK here so no help with that

we do pumpkin pie with "maple" whip cream (maple also would have been native) and they did bring over a cow

[PatienceAndLove]

IDK what recipe the OP's hubby uses, but this is the one i use:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/best-ever-green-bean-casserole-recipe/index.html

[PatienceAndLove]

Candied Yams

- juice from canned yams (1.5 cups needed.  add water to make that amount) , add 1/3 tbsp brown sugar and 1-2 tbsp butter. bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 20 minutes (stirring occasionally) until it thickens.

- pour yams (cutting large pieces into smaller bites) into baking pan, and then pour hot liquid over yams.

- stir in 1 can crushed pineapples and 1 cup pecans

- bake in oven at 350 for 45 minutes

- top with mini marshmellows and cook until they are "brown" and melty.

As for explaining it... it's a southern american thing, so it doesn't have to make sense.
 

Originally Posted by serenbat 

So happy to find this thread.

We'll be hosting a "salute to thanksgiving" for other Kiwi American families in New Zealand.  It's springtime here, so feels rather presumptuous to celebrate the harvest, but what the heck.

We will roast our own (free range!) turkey, and roast some potatoes (an abundance of yummy organics at my local), and I plan to make a big ol' green salad (love the feta/walnut idea) and a wild rice salad. I thought I'd try the crock pot stuffing from the Hillbilly  Housewife (http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/crockpot-stuffing-recipe.htm)  even though it has a fairly shocking amount of butter in it.  I like the idea of cranking the crockpot.  I will make a broccoli cornbread and I need to think of something to do that will involve cranberries.  But what?  Biff some in the salads, maybe?  Is green bean casserole kind of compulsory?

Guests are bringing pumpkin pie, wonder if I need to do anything else desserty?  Do you serve icecream with pumpkin pie?

And just how does one make that sweet potato/marshmallow thing?  My American born husband would really love it, and I never understood how it was part of the savoury course?  Can anyone explain that?  I wonder what to use for it: our version of a sweet potato is different, but similar enough, especially if I can find some butternut squash and chuck that in too, perhaps???

I know, I shouldn't get too obsessive.  It's really about being together and I think it's super important to nurture these traditions ... my daughter is nearly 7 and fostering an emerging awareness of her American-ness.  It's cool.

PS: I plan to print these placemats which I think are lush: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/FF0111MGI_Placemat.pdf

You are lacking a BIGGIE---where is your cranberry dish? a MUST!!!!

Plymouth=Cranberries (dried-they would have had that- also just stewed with maple syrup)

and a corn item besides bread (also native to the true Thanksgiving)--we do "pop" corn also native to the true Thanksgiving

also you are missing---SEAFOOD another true biggie  (salted cod, lobster, clams, etc) New England coastal 

we don't to the marshmellowy thing--YUCK here so no help with that

we do pumpkin pie with "maple" whip cream (maple also would have been native) and they did bring over a cow

[PatienceAndLove]

I prefer this recipe for sweet potato casserole. 

I replaced the corn flakes with ginger snaps (homemade, i love ginger snaps, but store bought would be ok, too).  I also replaced the white sugar with agave syrup and the brown sugar with coconut crystals.  I also do half butter half coconut oil.  I put dried apricots into last thanksgiving, and did half sweet potato/half squash at christmas.  i also prefer pecans over walnuts, but that's me.