Thanksgiving Meal Ideas

There's only ten days left until Thanksgiving, have you purchased your turkey yet? For me the answer to that question is no! I really need to get in gear and get one purchased before all the good ones are taken. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I look so forward to all that food I don't get to eat all year long.

I know the turkey is the star of the show, but I love all those thanksgiving side dishes the best. Have you decided on what dishes you will be serving at your Thanksgiving feast? I pretty much have all my favorites on the list, but I will probably end up changing my mind before the big day arrives. There are just to many yummy things to choose from.

Since Thanksgiving is next week I thought I would list some of my of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes here at Mommy's Kitchen. Maybe you're still looking for a few recipes or you want to try something new this year. Either way I hope you get a little meal inspirations from a few of these dishes.

Sweet Potato Casserole is one of my favorite side dishes. This casserole has creamy sweet potatoes on the bottom and a crispy crunchy topping made with pecans, brown sugar, butter and rice krispies.

Cheesy Hash brown Casserole is another favorite in our house. This dish is made with frozen hash browns, cheese, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and butter. For Thanksgiving I serve these potatoes plain without the ham. But after Christmas when you have all that leftover ham keep this recipe in mind.

Cheesy Au gratin Potatoes is just a like the title says. Potatoes mixed with a creamy basic white sauce and cheese. The topping is a crispy buttery bread crumb topping. This is nice change from your ordinary potato dishes.

Then comes the star of the show the turkey. I wont go too much into turkey talk because I know everyone has there own favorite way to prepare a turkey. But if you are still up in the air about how you want to cook your turkey the Brown Bag Turkey method is quite tasty.


Dressing is just about as important as the turkey itself. Stuffing VS Dressing I still don't really know the difference. I am guessing stuffing is more bread like and dressing uses cornbread. In our house it's Cornbread Dressing all the way. My Ma Maw has the best and it's the only one I will make. I can literally eat this stuff until I POP!

This year I will be serving a traditional Green Bean Casserole. But if you're tired of the same old green beans why not try Sweet & Sour Green Beans W/Bacon. These beans have a sweet and sour flavor not to mention the addition of bacon. This dish is super yummy and super easy to make.

Buttery Crisp Sauteed Green Beans are just your basic fresh green beans sauteed in a butter sauce seasoned with kosher salt and pepper. Very basic but so good.

If green beans are not your thing how about some Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots. These carrots are really easy to prepare. Just steam fresh carrots and add them to a sweet buttery brown sugar glaze.


Cranberry Sauce is a very important dish at Thanksgiving. My favorite cranberry sauce recipe is a simple Cranberry Orange Sauce. This recipes uses fresh cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest, that's it. Homemade Cranberry Sauce is so much better that the stuff you buy in the can. For the longest time that's the only cranberry sauce I knew of. So glad I know how to make the real deal now.

Holiday Cranberry Salad is another way to serve cranberries in a fruit salad form. Cranberry salad consists of fresh cranberries, pecans, mini marshmallows, crushed pineapple, sugar and fresh whipping cream. This is another one of my favorites.

Maybe you just want a simple Easy Fruit Salad this Thanksgiving. This fruit salad recipe has strawberries, grapes, bananas, pineapple chunks and mandarin oranges. Mix it all together and blend in one can of peach or apricot pie filling. Anytime I make this salad someone always asks for the recipe.

Ummm piping hot yeast rolls are the best. Thanksgivng just wouldn't be the same without some yummy rolls. I like to make my easy Cake Mix Dinner Rolls. Yes you heard right "cake mix". A basic yellow cake mix gives these rolls a slightly sweet taste. Trust me in the end no one will be able to detect that a cake mix was even used in this recipe.

Maybe you want to go with a fancy roll this Thaksgiving. If that's the case these Lion House Rolls are perfect. Light, fluffy and cotton soft on the inside with a yummy buttery filling. These are the rolls you want to bake if you are trying to impress someone. By far this is the best yeast roll recipe I have on my site.

Now on to desserts. Oh goodness desserts are my favorite. I don't know about you but I hover around the dessert table at Thanksgiving. All those choice!!! To me dessert is such a big decision. Why not surprise everyone with a Dulce De Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake.

This cheesecake is a nice change from your ordinary pumpkin pie. I usually make this cheesecake a week before Thanksgiving. That way I can store it in the freezer until I am ready for the big day. This cheesecake scored very high marks last year.

Sweet Potato Pie is another nice alternative to traditional pumpkin pie. My son Carson thinks he is eating his favorite pumpkin pie anytime I serve him a slice of this pie. That's because this sweet potato pie recipe is that good!!!!

I don't know about you but I love a good diner style Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie . This pie is just like the pie your mother and grandmother used to make. Chocolate pie is my absolute favorite pie's so I never need an excuse to bake one of these. Cream style and meringue pies are best baked a day before you want to serve them. That way they have plenty of time for the pie to set up.

What can I say about a Southern Pecan Pie!!!!! Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same if there wasn't a pecan pie sitting on the dessert table. So dont disappoint this year make this yummy pie.

Apple Pie is another great pie to serve on Thanksgiving. Who doesn't love a good Old Fashoined Apple Pie. This recipe is the best apple pie I have ever made.


I made this Pumpkin Cake W/Caramel Cider Sauce for the first time last week. This cake is so moist and yummy it just screams FALL! This cake travels very well, so If you need to bring a dessert to Thanksgiving everyone would love cake.

The only way to describe Pumpkin Crunch is it's just like eating pumpkin pie without the crust. This yummy little dessert has been around for quite some time. It is very similar to a pumpkin dump cake with a crispy, buttery pecan topping. You cant go wrong with pumpkin crunch.

All the recipes above are just a few that I have listed here at Mommy's Kitchen. I am sure I forgot something, so feel free to browse through my Recipe Index for more yummy recipes.