Cassie’s Ruminations

Thanksgiving Menu

Well, turkey day is almost here, and Shaun and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. We’ve been in our own home for over a year now, I’ve got a great job with Boeing, we have Emma to brighten our lives and crack us up on a regular basis, Shaun did great on the LSAT and is working on law school applications, and all seems to be going well. We’ve worked hard for our success, and we look forward to another great year as we forge ahead with our lives and our dreams.

It looks like it will just be the two of us for Thanksgiving dinner this year, but we both love the meal and the meaning, so we’re still going all out and cooking a feast. We’ll be up to our eyes in tasty leftovers 😛

Here’s the menu:

Veggie tray to snack on (carrots, pickles, cucumber, olives)

Maple brined turkey with pan gravy
Sourdough dressing
Roasted potatoes with garlic
Chipotle smashed sweet potatoes
Roasted brussels sprouts
Homemade fresh cranberry sauce
Homemade yeast rolls

Chocolate pumpkin pie

I’m adding a bit of maple syrup to my usual turkey brine this year. We’ll see how we like it. The dressing is a family favorite from my mother. The chipotle smashed sweet potatoes are an experiment this year from an Alton Brown recipe. The roasted brussels sprouts have been posted before and are a great green side dish to complement the meal. My cranberry sauce gets a nice little kick from a splash of Cointreau. Rolls round out the meal and serve as sandwich vehicles for later in the day. Finally, we’re experimenting with the standard pumpkin pie this year – I’m not yet sure if we’re making it all chocolate or doing half chocolate and half plain pumpkin. If we go half and half, I’ll also have to decide whether to do layers or do marbling. Stay tuned to find out what we end up doing 🙂 I’ll link all the recipes as I get them posted after Thanksgiving day. If you must have a recipe before then, just let me know and I’ll send it your way.