Classic Thanksgiving Menu

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Thanksgiving is coming soon and I have put together classic Thanksgiving menu for you, starting with some tasty nibbles, bringing you through the main course, and then finishing off with some of my favorite desserts!

Nibbles and Cocktails

Any great holiday meal starts with appetizers and drinks. For this Thanksgiving menu, I chose my Cranberry Margaritas as the drink since how can you go wrong with cranberry this time of year? The margaritas are sweet and tart and you can make the syrup up to 1 week ahead.

For the nibbles, I went with small bite-sized foods, all of which you can make before the big day – Spanish Spiced Almonds, Italian Marinated Olives, and Three Cheese Broccoli Bites. A week before Thanksgiving, when you are making the cranberry syrup, get the olives started and make the almonds. Then, on Wednesday, make the broccoli bites and put them in the fridge to reheat as the guests arrive.

Add some cheeses and cured meats, like salami, to round things out.

All sorts of tasty food and no last minute prep here!

: Fresh Cranberry Margarita

: Spanish Spiced Almonds

: Italian Marinated Olives

: Three Cheese Broccoli Bites

The Main Event

For the main course on my Thanksgiving menu, I started with my Turkey Breast Roulades. Not only are they impressive, but you can do all the prep ahead of time and have them ready to put in the oven on the day. (And they cook so quick! No need to get up early for this turkey recipe.) And the recipe includes both stuffing and gravy. One click and you’ll have three of everyone’s favorite parts of the dinner. (Not enough stuffing in my recipe? Double it and bake it covered next to the turkey!)

Next up are the Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, since I think it’s illegal to have Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes. I could be wrong, but it’s probably better to be safe and just make them. 🙂

Or maybe it’s cranberry sauce which is illegal to forget? My Cranberry Sauce with Port and Oranges takes the classic fresh sauce and gives it a makeover with everything you love about the standard version only better.

To round out the meal, I chose a Brussels Sprout Gratin and my Apple Celery Salad. The gratin is so simple and cooks in a snap! While the salad is full of crunchy, creamy fall flavors.

: Turkey Roulades with Gravy

: Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

: Cranberry Sauce with Port and Oranges

: Brussels Sprout Gratin

: Apple Celery Salad

Dessert – The Part Everyone is Waiting For

You know it. People love the rest of the meal, but they really love the desserts.

And with this trio of Chocolate Mousse Pie, Deep Dish Apple Pie, and Cranberry Orange Cupcakes, you will have dessert worth waiting for. As with the appetizers, all the desserts here can be make ahead. The chocolate mousse and the cupcakes you can make on Tuesday as well as cooking down the apples and prepping the crust for the apple pie (using my super easy and awesome Pie Crust recipe!). That leaves making the apple pie for Wednesday and adding whipped cream to the chocolate pie on Thursday.