Playing Recipe Catch-Up with Thanksgiving

I know I could totally go back six months to play catch-up. I’m awful, awful, awful. Three times! I have many valid excuses as to why I haven’t been posting, but I won’t bore you with any of them. I will simply back up to Thanksgiving and post some highlights of the meal.

I am not so gung-ho on Thanksgiving to begin with. It never rung true as my holiday. Aside from a day off from work, I don’t get anything out of this. I have fond memories of the family we used to share Thanksgiving with each year as a kid, but once I moved out and moved on, I was never sure how to include Thanksgiving in my family’s life.

From a food standpoint, I am the total anti-Thanksgiving. I really dislike turkey. Aside from the smoked turkey that comes sliced at a deli counter – I stay away from the big behemoth of a bird. I have never liked the taste of the cooked bird. Don’t get me started on the look of the raw turkey as it sits in my kitchen. The bird, at twice the size of my daughter when she was born, scares the living daylights out of me. To make things worse, I am supposed to stick my arm up it’s ass to stuff herbs and stuff into just to make it taste better.

That being said, I promised to host Thanksgiving this year. After a 7-year hiatus, I also promised that the feast would include a big honkin’ turkey and all the proper customary Thanksgiving fixings.

I came up with a traditional menu, with flavor added (of course):

Herbed Roasted Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Big Green Salad
Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Sweet Potato Dumplings
Rutabagas
Rice Pilaf
Roasted Asparagus
Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

What am I missing? Will be posting the recipes to the stars of the feast.