November what???

Wow. Have you checked the calendar lately? Thanksgiving is fast approaching.

It is not that I am not thankful. I am. But, since I have kind of given up meat Thanksgiving is not holding any charm for me this year. Before I kind of stopped eating meat I really never liked turkey. In fact, I pretty much disliked it. I ate the obligatory piece on Thanksgiving and pretended (or not) to enjoy it. But, this year I don't even think I can manage that. So, I would love to have you all tell me what you will be having this Thanksgiving and I hope that somehow this will work out the remaining menu kinks that I am having.

Here's my menu, a few side notes, and one major discrepancy. See what you can do to help me out. ;o)

Sweet Potato Casserole

My family loves sweet potatoes, so we especially love them in any kind of a casserole. And Thanksgiving is such a great excuse to eat them. Lots of them. And I am not talking about those canned sweet potatoes (what are those anyway?). I am talking some real out-of-the-ground potatoes. Yummy!

Mashed Potatoes

Now my husband is the master of mashed potatoes. He can cook some mashed potatoes that taste just like heaven. I am sure they have about 8000 calories per serving, but we rarely have them, so WHO CARES?

Some kind of Green Vegetable

And this is for my mom. Yes, she's dead, but I know she will be looking down on us on Thanksgiving and smiling because we will have one green thing on the table.

Stuffing of some sort

Stuffing is my absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving (besides that whole being Thankful part). Serve me up a whole plate of stuffing and frankly I don't need anything else. But, my family tends to be traditional when it comes to this. I like to try different things in stuffing - oysters, seafood of any kind, spinach, nuts, fruits. My family pretty much just likes bread cut up into cubes. Yuck. So, I am still up in the air on this one. Feel free to give me some ideas.

Some sort of cranberry sauce

I also love me some cranberry sauce. But, cranberries not so much. So, this kind of requires me to get that way fake stuff that comes straight out of the can. I am hoping to alter tradition this year on this one. If you have an amazing cranberry sauce that everyone loves (and doesn't require a trip to any specialty store or take longer than an hour to make) - please share.

Some sort of healthy rolls

Yeah. I said healthy. My husband LOVES Brown and Serve. Which are what? Lots of preservatives cooked for 8 to 10 minutes, loaded with fake butter and consumed? Hmm. We may have to veer from tradition again on this one. I can NOT bake rolls and I have no desire to learn how. So, there will be no MAKING healthy rolls. There will be finding some healthy rolls and buying them.

Some sort of dessert

See I am not a huge fan of pumpkin. And "pecan", well....................let's just say - it's not chocolate. So, every Thanksgiving I try to work some chocolate in there somehow. My husband is a huge fan of pumpkin and pecan, so I am usually vetoed on this matter. This year may be the year for chocolate. If you have some awesome Thanksgiving desserts that satisfy the traditionalists and the non-traditionalists - let me know!!!

Well, that's about it so far. Anything missing? Well, yeah as a matter of fact.................THE TURKEY. Still haven't figured that one out. I don't think I can break down and buy a turkey, but I am not sure I can break down and NOT buy a turkey either. My family thinks we are having exactly what we had for Thanksgiving last year, so I am kind of out on a limb right now. I am hoping to have this all figured out by....................Thanksgiving. So again, if you have any ideas that will solve my problems - let me know. I'll check in again soon with a menu update. Or, if not you can find me at a different address after Thanksgiving. ;o)