The 8 Most Helpful Thanksgiving Links

Is Thanksgiving really this week? For me, this has been the fastest November in history and I keep thinking I still have weeks to go.

This year for Thanksgiving, my sister Jordan, her husband Paul, and their three kids, will be joining us here in France. They’re four months in on a year long trip around the world and we’re so excited to see them!

We’ll also be modifying our usual menu a bit because we’re in France. We ordered mini-croissants and a Tarte Normande from our nearby bakery — they will replace our dinner rolls and apple pie. And we’re skipping cranberry sauce and corn. Why? Because we can’t find them here. : )

Are you hosting this year? Thinking about what dishes you’ll prepare? Here are 8 super helpful links to get you started:

Everything you need to know about cooking a Turkey.

How to Garnish a Turkey.

Don’t want to cook a Turkey? Try this Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken. (Everyone ADORES this recipe.)

Awesome Thanksgiving side dish #1: Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Parmesan.

Awesome Thanksgiving side dish #2: Stuffing with Fennel and Dried Cherries.

Ready for dessert? Here’s How to Make the Perfect Pie Crust.

And here’s a recipe plus discussion of the differences between Cobblers, Crisps and Crumbles.

Now it’s time to set the table! Here’s the easiest, prettiest centerpiece. Anyone can put it together successfully.

What are your Thanksgiving plans this year? Will you be traveling? Staying home? Hosting? Being a guest? Do you have a particular favorite dish that you love the most on Thanksgiving? I’d love to hear.

P.S. — More Thanksgiving posts, including how to prep your holiday pantry.

12 thoughts on “The 8 Most Helpful Thanksgiving Links”

  1. Pamela Balabuszko-Reay

    The smallest Thanksgiving I’ve hosted was with three of us. The largest must be in the twenties? I find it harder to cook for a smaller group. This year our house is under construction so someone else is hosting. It always feels strange not to host. One of my favorite traditions? Listening to Turkey Confidential on MPR’s The Splendid Table (Minnesota Public Radio). A call in show on Thanksgiving! So fun. My must have? Sage and onion stuffing. I don’t even need the turkey. The stuffing is Thanksgiving to me.

  2. My husband cooked for around 25 people each year when he first moved to Australia. It was such a novelty for Aussies – a great lead into Christmas with a practice turkey and an introduction to pumpkin pie which is not a staple here!
    Since having children, we have found the huge dinner comes at the wrong time of year for us – I study and it’s right in exam time (also, Thursday!) – but we usually have a little something as a family of 4 on the Friday. And pie!

  3. Thanksgiving has improved markedly for my family since we stopped preparing a turkey that nobody really wanted anyway. The only thing that suffers for it is the gravy. The meal turns into a bit of a carb-fest but there’s sausage in the stuffing. We make so. much. stuffing.

  4. This year we’re going to the beach in Mexico! But my husband is Canadian, and Canadian Thanksgiving already happened several weeks ago. We live th the States now, so I did a surprise thanksgiving dinner for him. I was surprised, myself, how quickly everything came together. Mashed potatoes, rolls, apple pie, I can’t remember what else I threw together but it was so fun!

  5. When I was in college and grad school I was distant enough from my relatives that Thanksgiving was always a low key, solo or a few friends, affair. I love to cook, and so could do as little or as much, as traditional or not, as I wanted. Now I’m living close to family, and my husband has a tradition-rich gathering with friends that happens every year, and so I have at least two thanksgivings, but rich with other people’s traditions. I love them all, but definitely miss being able to just do my own thing on my own schedule. Some years I’ll cook up a solo Thanksgiving a few weeks early (Canadian Thanksgiving), or sometime in January just because I miss being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want…and having all the turkey leftovers!

  6. Had to smile at no cranberries and corn! When we lived in Spain we started packing a can or two of cranberry sauce in our suitcases when we were in the states to have for thanksgiving.

  7. Bonjour, fellow American in Evreux, Normandy here. I too found cranberry sauce hard to come by and turkeys are expensive as they are are not ready yet. They’re all getting fattened up for Christmas. So, I found this Turkey Wellington recipe by Jaime Oliver and I’ve been making it every year and love it. I make the one where he rehydrates dried cranberries and stuffs the turkey breast with it. Here’s the online link if you’d like to see:
    http://inspiringgastronomy.net/cook-with-jamie-three-wise-moves-shredded-brussels-spicy-ham-hocks-turkey-wellington-why-not-try-something-out-of-the-ordinary-this-christmas/
    Happy French Thanksgiving and welcome back to Normandy!

  8. I imagine you can find a few nice options to substitute for cranberry sauce, IKEA’s lingonberry sauce/sylt for one. However, corn, no sub.

    Happy Thanksgiving and love, love, love!

  9. That shaved brussel sprout dish, which I describe as a hot brussel sprout salad, is one of my husband’s favorite things the whole world over. It will definitely be on our table tomorrow!

  10. My 12 year old daughter and I made your centerpieces this year. They looked quite different from yours, because we used what we had in our yard, but they were still gorgeous. We got tons of compliments! I’m planning on doing the same thing again on our Christmas tables, but with holly, rosemary, pine cones, and Christmas ornaments! Thanks for your awesome step by step tutorial!

  11. I usually host a big Thanksgiving for friends since I live far from where my parents live (I’m currently on assignment in Africa), but this year my friends invited me first. I was a bit disappointed about not pulling together a big meal because I do really love all of it (planning, cooking, even cleaning), but by Thursday morning, I was grateful to only make a side dish and cookies. About 50 attended the Thanksgiving feast which was deliciously chaotic. As I ate, I marveled at how much I love to have all the flavors mixing and melding on my plate. I also remembered how much I love turkey, which is hard to get here. As a pleasant surprise, another friend wanted to cook up a turkey over the weekend and I was kindly included. Two turkey dinners in one week… what a treat!

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