Thanksgiving at Our House

This is one of our special editions of Molly's Lunch Box.  We are having Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year so I decided to share our menu and some recipes with all of you.

This has to be one of, if not the favorite meals of the year in our house.  Yes, this American tradition of stuffing ourselves with turkey and fixings until we are ready to burst, plus watching football and yelling at the television may be a bit odd, but it's a ton of fun.

We, at our house, don't forget the true meaning of Thanksgiving and the reason why we celebrate.  We are thankful for the pilgrims that came across the pond so many years ago and helped to found this great country.  We are also thankful for a plethora of things happening in our lives right now.  God is so good and for that, we are forever in his debt.

Now on to dinner.

We are cooking the traditional turkey.  Our bird is just barely under 20 pounds this year.  We are going to make a compound butter by softening a stick of butter and adding fresh chopped sage to it.  We will rub the whole bird with this butter just before baking.  The house is going to smell SO good!

This recipe is similar to what we do.

We will use the turkey drippings to make a yummy gravy that we will serve with our turkey.  We also serve canned cranberry sauce with our turkey.  Our kids alone could go through an entire can of it themselves.  It's not the most attractive condiment but it sure is scrumptious.

My husband is making his Mother's stuffing.  This is the most incredible stuffing, but it's a family secret so I cannot share. (sorry)  I can tell you that one of the secrets is using a little bit of the giblets and liver from the turkey, but that's all I can say.  It is amazing!  I used to be a Stove Top Stuffing girl, but now I look forward to this stuffing more than the turkey itself.

Now, Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without creamy, buttery, mouthwatering mashed potatoes.  We found an incredible recipe that is tried and true.  There is a woman named Ree Drummond and she is called The Pioneer Woman.  She has some of the most delicious recipes out there and this is one of them.

Our nephew loves corn so that will be one of our vegetable dishes.  We love brussels sprouts in our family.  We grow them in our garden.  If you've never seen a brussels sprout growing, it's pretty amazing.  They grow on a stem and it looks almost like a studded stick.  We found the most delicious recipe for them a few years ago.  Now, we usually just steam them but this recipe is our "special occasion" recipe.  Plus, bacon makes everything taste better.

As a tradition, we always serve salad because there has to be something healthy on the table.  My Mom is bringing a spinach salad with a bacon dressing.  Healthy?  Probably not, but tasty, definitely.  E for effort!

Every big meal needs to have bread and butter so my Mother-in-Law is bringing crescent rolls.  Definitely a holiday tradition.  These buttery little goodies are so yummy that there are never any left overs.

Now on to dessert.  The best part!  (In my opinion)

Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream is the traditional Thanksgiving dessert and a must on the menu.  My Mom is bringing a pumpkin pie that she bought from the store.  I have to say, I'm right with her because it is much easier and usually much less expensive to buy the pie from the store.

The girls and I are making a Caramel Apple Pie.  This is a new recipe for us.  It looks so good.  I can't wait to taste it.  And yes, I bought some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Now, the kids like pie...sometimes.  So, I found this recipe and I have to try it.  My kids may say no to pie, but they have never turned down a cookie. 

Finally, we'll have wine, beer (provided by my brother-in-law), milk, soda, juice and coffee available to drink.  

This is going to be a great holiday!

ps - Molly and her sister are making a whole bunch of decorations for our house.  We are very excited and incredibly thankful!

*All photos were borrowed from the recipe link sites.