Thanksgiving

This is my family's traditional holiday dinner (typically for Thanksgiving & Christmas), with some updates for my allergies, stuff my wife likes, and cooking for not-a-crowd. Note: I substitute fake butter anywhere a recipe says "butter", and it works perfectly - the leftovers even keep better, especially for mashed potatoes & stuffing. Also, according to my dad, real butter is getting worse & fake butter tastes better than comparably priced real butter now (this was not the case 5 years ago).

Dish assignments 2025

Dishes

1. Crockpot turkey breast
2. Gravy
3. Stuffing
4. Mashed potatoes
5. Green bean casserole
6. Sweet potato casserole
7. Cranberry sauce
8. Crescent rolls
9. Vegetables
10. Applesauce
11. Pie

Recipes/tips

Crockpot turkey breast

This recipe is based on my mother-in-law's, but jazzed up a bit. The idea is to be dead-easy, free up the oven for the casseroles, and let me forget about the turkey all day instead of babysitting it.

Ingredients

• turkey breast or tenderloins - 1.5-3 lbs
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 onion
• 2 packs dry french onion soup mix
• 1 cup water or broth
• other seasoning to taste - I like extra garlic powder, thyme & rosemary

Directions

• Create a bed on the bottom of a slow cooker with the onion & celery
• Place the turkey on top of that bed
• Sprinkle the turkey with the onion soup packets
  • Optional: add the extra seasoning
• Add the water/broth
• Cover & cook on low for 3-4 hours until the turkey reaches a safe temperature
• Turn to warm until you're ready to serve

Gravy

Homemade gravy is so much better than store bought and it's actually not too hard! You should make this right before eating, but it actually keeps quite well for leftovers.

Ingredients

• turkey drippings (the crockpot recipe above makes some! not as much as a full turkey but enough that the gravy has a distinct turkey flavor)
• a tablespoon or so of flour
• salt & pepper
• extra broth (if needed)
• extra fat (I use rendered duck fat) (if needed)

Directions

• Make a slurry with the flour & water, and season it with some salt & pepper
• Add the turkey drippings to a pan over medium-low heat. Add some broth if the volume is too low.
• Once the drippings/broth are simmering, add the flour slurry slowly while whisking
• Continue whisking as the gravy cooks & thickens
• Taste the gravy
• Add extra flour slurry, broth, fat, or seasoning as needed for your ideal taste/texture. Make sure you cook the flour thoroughly.

Stuffing

I use the pepperidge farm stuffing recipe. It works with any boxed stuffing; I just get what's available.

• Moist & Savory Stuffing

Mashed potatoes

I prefer simple, no-frills mashed potatoes. I use a mashed potato recipe I found online. I sub the heavy cream with a vegan heavy cream (country crock or trader joe's - they're the same)

• Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Green bean casserole

I use the campbell's green bean casserole recipe. I replace the total liquid volume (condensed soup + milk) with an equivalent volume of a vegan mushroom or celery soup, whatever I can find.

• Green Bean Casserole

Sweet potato casserole

This is my mom's recipe. It is the best sweet potato casserole recipe ever. You can prep it a couple days in advance & just pop it in the oven the day of.

The liquid should add up to about a cup, and I use half oj / half spiced rum. It tastes good with only orange juice, but not with only rum.

The ingredients without amounts are to taste / how you like it.

I make a half batch, and it fits perfectly in my large rectangular pyrex with room for marshmallows.

Recipe

• boil sweet potatoes (6 big) & then skin
• food processor
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • brown sugar 1/4-1/2 c
  • salt
  • orange juice
  • rum
  • chopped pecans/walnuts
• By hand mix raisins
• Marshmallows on top @ end
• 1 hr @ 350F

Cranberry sauce

This is my mom's recipe. I really expanded the directions because once I figured out what I was doing, I didn't want to forget the things I did to make it work. I also had to adjust it for shrinkflation - the original recipe was for 16 oz of cranberries and a standard bag is now 12 oz.

Compared to canned cranberry sauce, this is sweeter, just as smooth, and has a much brighter color.

If you are doubling the batch, you will have to cook the cranberries (step 2) longer - I had to decrease the cooking time compared to the original recipe. For reference, the original recipe with 16 oz of cranberries was 20 minutes instead of 15.

If it doesn't gel properly, it's still really yummy & is really good in holiday cocktails & mocktails!

Ingredients

• 12 oz cranberries
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 cups sugar

Directions

1. Boil the water in a medium saucepan
2. Add the cranberries, turn the heat to low, and cover. Let them cook for 15 minutes. Every time the cranberries bubble to the top of the saucepan, remove the lid, stir the cranberries, and replce the lid. (Notes for this step: This is how you cook the cranberries for long enough without burning them or losing too much liquid. The cranberries should pop pretty quickly - it sounds kind of like popcorn. Once the cranberries pop, the pulp will mix into the water.)
3. Use a mesh strainer to strain the cranberry skins/seeds (what you discard) from the pulp (what you keep). Do this just a little at a time, discarding the skins as you go to keep the strainer from clogging. Use a spoon to push the mixture through the strainer since it should be quite viscous.
4. Return the strained pulp to the saucepan & add the sugar.
5. Bring the mixture up to a boil. It will be a pretty gentle boil because of how thick it is.
6. Pour the sauce into the container you want to serve / store it in.
7. Let it cool to room temperature. The sauce should already be starting to gel.
8. Cover the sauce & place it in the fridge to finish gelling. Overnight works best.

Crescent rolls

Remember to note the cooking temp/time before opening the package because it is annoyingly hard to find that information on the internet. They generally cook at the same temperature as the casseroles, so you can stick them in at the same time if there's room.

Vegetables

I include 2-3 vegetables that are easy to prepare. As an adult, I ended up actively wanting something green on my plate to contrast all the casseroles.

• Creamed corn - just heat up a can in the microwave (in a bowl. obv)
• Brussels sprouts - roast in the toaster oven as they require a higher temp than all the casseroles
• Asparagus - roast in the toaster oven since these also require a higher temp
• Salad - choose a bagged salad for ease preparing

Applesauce

My wife really likes applesauce so we serve it. It ends being similar to the vegetables in that it provides a nice contrast to all of the casseroles. I'll forget to make sure we have some if I don't list it.

Pie

I have really cut back on pie baking because I was making way too much pie for a house with just 2 people. I'll typically make 2 of the following now.

• Apple pie - just a marie callender's dutch apple
• Pecan pie - Karo pecan pie recipe
• Mincemeat pie - Pillsbury mincemeat pie recipe (I use a granny smith apple instead of gala)
• Pumpkin pie - I use the filling from this dairy free pumpkin pie recipe and a frozen pie shell.