What's on Your Thanksgiving Menu?

These menus are all lovely -- thanks to everyone for posting in the comments! Update: We'll be posting a roundup of 5 of our favorite menus this coming Wednesday, so they're all in one neat place. Stay tuned!

Every year Thanksgiving is a balance between traditionalists & novelty seekers. This menu brings peace to both camps.
Spatchcocked roast turkey, mashed potatoes, challah & chestnut stuffing cooked separately, candied yam & sweet potato maple gratin, green beans with orange, rosemary, and pomegranate gremolata, turkey & apple cider gravy, cranberry orange, ginger sauce, potato dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, and this year we are introducing macaroni & cheese for our recent vegetarian convert.

Living in Canada, we find lots of opportunities in the fall to feast on turkey. Canadian Thanksgiving arrives here early (in mid-October). Sometimes we do turkey then; other times we wserve halibut or salmon or lamb or some other local Pacific Northwestern delicacy. Being an American expat, we almost always celebrate American Thanksgiving too -- although usually later on Thanksgiving weekend since Thanksgiving Day here is usually a regular work and school day. On Christmas Day in Canada a turkey is pretty much de rigueur, at least in my husband's family, so we'll do a traditional turkey dinner then as well.

This year for our American Thanksgiving feast, it will be just my immediate family, so I am opting not to do a whole bird with all of the trimmings, but instead I will prepare and serve a celebratory turkey breast dish. I have decided to do an Italian-themed dinner that is decidedly kid friendly. The menu has some traditional components as well as some modern twists. I am very excited to cook this menu! http://food52.com/collections/296414-thanksgiving-2013-dinner-menu

Here's my dream menu, meaning, what I would plan and serve if I did not have to take into account the wishes of the other people at the table. http://food52.com/collections/293492-2013-thanksgiving-dream-edition
I almost said, "and if I were to spend most of Thanksgiving Day at home." On reflection, I see no reason why this menu could not also accommodate a long hike on Thanksgiving, assuming I could muster the troops early enough to go up to the mountain, and perhaps leave the office a bit earlier than usual on Tuesday and Wednesday, that week. Of course, I'd tweak some of these a bit to suit my tastes.

Wow, that was fun! ;o)

P.S. I'm going to send this link to my sons, to see what they think. This "dream" could well be a reality next year. (They're as, if not more, adventurous than I am in many respects.)

Here's my dream menu for the day when I make the entire Thanksgiving dinner here in my own home. http://food52.com/collections/1-thanksgiving-2013

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is that I never have to create the menu, I just replicate the one I have eaten my entire life passed down from my grandmother, to my mom, to me. It is typically my favorite meal of the year to both prepare and eat: simple and delicious. Brined and roasted turkey, oyster dressing bake desperately from the bird (I use pork stock in addition to chicken broth), mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, whole cranberry sauce with cinnamon stick and orange zest, steamed broccoli and cauliflower drizzled with a simple cheddar cheese sauce, a simple frozen fruit salad, and fresh baked dinner rolls. Homemade pies include pumpkin, chocolate cream, and Apple (Jonathans only).

Here's mine http://food52.com/collections/264447-2013-thanksgiving Not included are the many pickles -- most from Paul Virant's excellent "Preservation Kitchen" -- that will be on my table, and the cranberry, dried cherry and Zante raisin mostarda curing in my fridge. (The Pennsylvania Dutch, I'm told, always served 7 sweet and 7 sour. I'll probably have about 7 all told.)
The salad will be a pear salad inspired by the Not-too-Virtuous apple one included in the collection. I'll use boulangere's focaccia http://food52.com/recipes/12903-focaccia instead of ciabatta in the stuffing; also, I'll probably add some chopped thyme and marjoram (both fresh off the bushes on the landing outside) to the butternut squash. I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone else's menus! ;o)

Thanks all! Can't wait to see them.

Reporting in from London. My roommate and I have decided to go non-traditional and import a tradition in a more local way. We're going to bake a ham instead of a turkey (ham actually has more tryptophan than turkey!). We might get crafty with cloves and bourbon for the glaze on the ham and will actually be pairing our brie with a homemade chutney made from apples picked from nearby Kent!

Anyways, you get the idea, with a Canadian/American collaboration in a flat in London, the only way up is creative.

http://food52.com/collections/289574-thanksgiving-in-london-2013

Fun! It's a work in progress, but here's mine: http://food52.com/collections/289542-thanksgiving-2013

What a great idea! I was just about to ask via the Hotline, as I do every year, what people are doing. This will be so interesting. I've loaded my Thanksgiving 2013 menu with a variety of items that I'll be serving during the days before and afterwards (and on Thanksgiving morning), so I'll split it into 2 collections and post the Just-The-Big-Meal link here within the next few days. ;o)