What’s on Your Thanksgiving Menu?

This is a different Thanksgiving for our family. All of our relatives and friends in the area either haven’t moved down for the winter yet (they’re known as “snowbirds” here in AZ), or they have other plans. Our family of eight is going it solo for Turkey Day this year. My husband suggested going out to eat for Thanksgiving, as we have in the past, but my preference is to cook at home as opposed to braving a crowded restaurant with my five-year-old with autism and his toddler tornado sister.

I’ve been planning the menu for the past week, picked up my groceries yesterday (I looooooooove Fry’s ClickList), and I started cooking today. I’m going to make a few things each day so that I won’t have quite so much to do on Thanksgiving Day itself, and we can have a fun, relaxing, low-key day playing board games and watching movies.

Here’s what’s on my menu this year (here is a link to my Pinterest board with all of the below recipes):

• Roast Turkey (it’ll be my first attempt at spatchcocking) and gravy from the drippings
• Sausage and Mushroom Cornbread Dressing (I’m using chorizo to give it an extra kick)
• Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce (already made and in the refrigerator!)
• Seasoned Green Beans (I’m going to steam the beans in my Instant Pot)
• Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
• Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole
• Buttery Bread Machine Rolls with Homemade Spreadable Butter
• Pumpkin Cheesecake (in the oven now!)
• Bourbon Pecan Pie
• Apple Cider Bourbon Sangria
• Salted Caramel Apple Martinis

The two alcoholic beverages (for adults only, of course) may be overkill, but I simply could not decide between them. I finally determined that we’d have the sangria with the main course and I’d make the martinis with dessert, or maybe as a late evening cocktail. The kids get regular apple cider to drink.

I made the cranberry sauce and cheesecake today. I’ll make the potato dishes tomorrow (except for cooking them, of course), and likely the butter as well, and I’ll prep the dressing and the turkey on Wednesday. That will leave the rolls, green beans, and pie for Thanksgiving Day, as well as cooking all the dishes that require cooking. It’ll still be a somewhat hectic morning, but I’m assigning clean-up to the older kids while I kick back with some sangria.

How about you? What’s on your menu for Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments!