I love food. I love cooking it, I love baking it, and I especially love eating it. Going to the grocery store? Notsomuch. But everything else food-related, yes.
My favorite holiday foods run the gamut. They range from turkey and gravy all the way to dessert and everything in between. And since Thanksgiving is next week, please enjoy this Thanksgiving recipe roundup of some of my all-time favorite dishes!
Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup
1. Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Swirl
My former sister-in-law used to make a divine pumpkin cheesecake every Thanksgiving. I tried to recreate it a couple of times and it was delicious, but it wasn’t nearly as pretty as hers. There’s just something about the swirl I could not get right.
source: midwestliving.com
2. Sweet Potato Crunch
I never really liked sweet potato casserole. It was okay, I guess. But I’m not a huge marshmallow person so I was never really into it that much. When I linked up with Angela a couple weeks ago and saw her recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline Topping, I realized it was very similar to the recipe my mother-in-law gave me years ago. I haven’t tried Angela’s but if it’s anything like my mother-in-law’s, you’re in for a treat.
3. Aunt Flo’s Chocolate Mousse Torte
No Thanksgiving is complete without my Auntie Flo’s Chocolate Mousse Torte. Trust me, you’ll love it.
4. “Karo-less” Pecan Pie
My husband’s favorite Thanksgiving dessert is pecan pie. After watching a couple documentaries about healthy and responsible eating, we decided to go corn syrup-free. Unfortunately for my husband, we quickly realized the main ingredient in pecan pie is — you guessed it — corn syrup. So, a few Thanksgivings ago, my sister-in-law challenged us to make a corn syrup free version of this sweet treat, and we did. It’s so amazing. It’s not gooey like the traditional version but still maintains a great texture and all the flavor. I hope you love it as much as we do.
5. Upside Down Turkey
And last, but certainly not least, is the upside down turkey. If you’ve never brined your bird and cooked your turkey upside down, I highly encourage it. It is the messiest (to cook), tastiest, and juiciest turkey — ever. My aunt first introduced us to this recipe 10 years or so ago, and it’s been a family staple ever since.
First, you must brine the bird. There are lots and lots of brine recipes on the web. Unfortunately I can’t find the exact one we use but here’s a basic recipe with instructions on how to brine. After you brine the bird for 24 hours, you cook it upside down. All the juices stay put, and it’s delicious and amazing. Here are instructions for cooking your bird upside down. Believe me, brining and upside down cooking is life changing.
I hope you get to try new recipes this Thanksgiving. We are going to my aunt and uncle’s house this year. I haven’t received my assignments yet so I’m not quite sure what I’ll be making. Hopefully I’ll find something new to try on everyone. I know it is hard to break from beloved Thanksgiving traditions but I hope to try at least one new Thanksgiving recipe this year!
Don’t forget to link up with Fairytales and Fitness and me for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup! Have a great weekend.
xo
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43 Comments
Oh, pumpkin cheesecake! I’ll have to check out that pecan pie recipe. Overall I think that pie is too sweet, but I still can’t resist a few bites!
I know, right? I have such a sweet tooth but even I sometimes can’t handle the sweetness of pie. Then again, maybe I can… 🙂
Putting marshmallows with sweet potato is a very strange concept to me!
I love pecan pie as well. I know I don’t use corn syrup as it’s not really something we have over here in the UK. I think I’ve probably used golden syrup which is from sugar cane or beet.
Corn syrup is in literally everything in the states. You have to actively seek out foods that don’t have it. It’s kind of gross.
And I agree, marshmallows with sweet potato is strange!
So many good recipes- I love thanksgiving food! Ive never heard of cooking the turkey upside down…I will have to tell my dad about that since he is always the one who makes the turkey!
Oh yes, it’s quite good! Definitely tell him. I’m sure he’ll be up to the challenge!
I[‘m really sad that I don’t get to cook Thanksgiving this year. I’m going to have to make my enchiladas at some point, though. They are a must!
I’ll have to try these enchiladas you speak of…
I am not a huge fan of grocery shopping either, my hubby does the majority of it! I am not cooking this year and will be away and am kind of already missing it 🙁 I have never heard of an upside down turkey- interesting! When we cook- we usually deep fry ours 🙂
I’ve only had deep fried turkey once. It was pretty good but after all the hubub I was kind of expecting more.
I’m not hosting this year and I’m oddly sad about it…
I am not a gravy person. So I simply don’t make it, and no one complained. In fact, I don’t even make a whole turkey — I do a breast & legs/thighs. Because that’s what most people want anyway! I do brine them. I am also testing out a karo-less pecan pie this year too..
I used to make these corn buns every year, but I stopped last year when I hosted. I’m doing enough baking/cooking as it is! My niece will bring a dessert and my husband makes the stuffing, otherwise it’s all on me (including the animal wrangling and housecleaning) and even though we’re only 8 people, it’s still a lot of work. While in my peak week of training for my next half!
Oh wow, Judy. You should just order out! Got a Whole Foods nearby??
Good luck with your peak week of training 🙂
I never had sweet potato casserole till I got married and my MIL makes it! I love it but can only have so much because it is pretty sweet! Enjoy your time cooking this holiday!
My mom makes the marshmallow version and I now make my MIL’s version with the pecans instead. They’re both super sweet but I feel like the one with pecans is a little less so.
I can’t wait to try that Karo-less pecan pie! That is RIGHT up my ally! I’m going to pull the switcharoo and not tell my family 😉
Ha! I love it. Let me know how it works out! (It’s a delicious pie!)
What about maple syrup? The pecan tassies I make call for pure 100% maple syrup. I think that’s partly why they taste so good.
Yum! What a great idea!
Wow that chocolate mousse torte looks amazing I love chocolate thanks for hosting today
It’s a chocoholic’s dream come true.
I’m not cooking but I love4 to make squash soup, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie.
Your recipes look awesome!
It’s been a while since I’ve had plain ol’ pumpkin pie. But it’s so delicious so I’m thinking I need to change that this year!
I need that chocolate mousse torte. Just saying. Feel free to drop off here.
Haha, if we lived a little closer to each other I would certainly deliver. 🙂
I’ll take a little bit of everything, please and thank you 🙂
Ha! You are very welcome. 🙂
Pumpkin cheesecake with caramel sounds amazing!! I’m saving that for Christmas for sure!
Great idea! It’s quite good.
The Chocolate Mousse Torte looks so good!
It is SO good! I can’t wait to make it this year.
I love pie around the holidays. Not big into pumpkin, but I wouldn’t ditch the cheesecake 🙂
It’s a seriously good combination. Trrrrrrry it… 🙂
Oh wow that pumpkin swirl looks good! So does everything else. The in-laws are having Thanksgiving this year and I’ve been assigned a freaking salad. Who eats salad when there’s so much other great stuff? Not me.
OMG this made me LOL. Because sometimes I get served soup. WHO SERVES SOUP AT THANKSGIVING?!
That cheesecake looks amazing …. seriously. Everyone focuses on the Turkey at Thanksgiving, but man there are some amazing dessert options out there! Thanks for hosting the linkup!!!!
Dessert is the only reason I go. ?
Interesting on the upside down bird. I always baste with a ton of wine and butter, and stuff the bird with onions, lemons, oranges, apples and herbs, and it’s always been phenomenal. I’ll have to see if I can break tradition.
Tradition is tough to break. But dang does it make the juiciest bird ever. Mmmm!
I am a sweet potato addict so going to check out the recipe.
In France, my family makes the exact same desserts every year (at Xmas because we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in France), and I don’t bake so as much as I would love to eat the cheese cake recipe, I would be outcast for altering our traditions.
And threw the link up this week I have learned you can cook a turkey upside down, but also on a BBQ.
Yep I know how that tradition goes!
[…] and early winter (with snow and all!) and we’re days away from Thanksgiving (check out my Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup here!), my interest in cooking and baking has been rekindled with a […]
Wow !!! Yay for the pumpkin cheesecake 😀 It gonna make use of my leftover pumpkin from last halloween haha
Have to try all these recipe this week !
Thanks for sharing and happy Thanksgiving Rachel !
OMG, the Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Swirl is so incredible!
Thanksgiving is over but I must try it this weekend. Thanks for the great post.