While I’m bummed that Ryan and I won’t get to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year due to our upcoming move, Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday.
I mean, putting aside this holiday’s problematic origins for just a moment, modern Thanksgiving is an entire holiday centered around both food AND the Detroit Lions.
What’s not to love?
Last year was the first year I cooked pretty much a full (vegetarian) Thanksgiving meal by myself.
In the past — if I wasn’t celebrating with family — I’ve done Thanksgiving and/or Friendsgiving potluck-style. (See: Peace Corps Thanksgiving, my first Flagstaff Friendsgiving.)
But, last year, we didn’t hold a Friendsgiving because Ryan and I were in Texas for a wedding on the traditional Friendsgiving weekend.
And, because we were tired of traveling once Thanksgiving came around, we decided to have dinner at our apartment in Flagstaff: Just the two of us.
We did end up inviting over two couples who found themselves without plans last-minute.
I’d made enough food for a dozen people, even though I was planning on just me and Ryan, because I love Thanksgiving leftovers, so it ended up working out perfectly!
Ryan and I don’t eat meat, so we obviously don’t make turkey (we do sautéed mushrooms instead), which honestly takes a whole lot of the stress off of the day, and cuts the prep and planning down by a LOT.
Plus, we all know Thanksgiving is all about the sides anyway!
Last year, I started cooking at 8 a.m. and had all the food ready by 3 p.m. I didn’t have to do too much prep, either — just the grocery shopping and a little bit of baking the days before for the stuffing.
Almost everything listed below is from scratch. There’s no Stove Top or King’s Hawaiian here.
Make sure you have at least six sticks of butter at the ready!
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Vegetarian stuffing/dressing: A friend sent me this recipe for simple classic stuffing from Epicurious and it’s my favorite. I make the bread from scratch using King Arthur’s no-knead crusty white bread recipe. I make the bread Monday or Tuesday and let it sit in our breadbox for a day or two, and then prep the stuffing according to the recipe instructions the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and then give it its final bake the day-of. We use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (of course), which we make from scratch as well.
Sautéed mushrooms: This is our turkey replacement. We use this mushrooms with a soy sauce glaze recipe.
Rolls: This recipe (1-hour soft and buttery dinner rolls) from Gimme Some Oven is a winner. We heat the milk on the stovetop instead of the microwave and use our KitchenAid for the kneading.
Dessert: Apple pie cookies! I’m not the biggest fan of pumpkin OR pie, so I make these cookies. They’re made with canned apple pie filling and pre-made refrigerated pie crust. They look really impressive, which is great because they’re incredibly easy. (If you are a pumpkin pie fan, I have made my grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe in the past. It’s well-loved… just not by me.)
Gravy: We make ours from scratch. This recipe from Kitchen Treaty is SO easy and is by far the BEST onion gravy recipe I’ve tried.
Sweet potato casserole: This Pillsbury recipe is made in the slow cooker, which frees up oven and stovetop space.
Corn casserole: This is my aunt’s recipe, so it isn’t listed online. You’ll need 5 eggs (room temperature), 1/3 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup whole milk, 4 tbsp cornstarch, 1 can (15.25 ounces) of whole kernel corn and 2 cans (14.75 ounces) of creamed corn. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, slightly beat the eggs. Add the melted butter (slightly cooled, so as not to cook the eggs), sugar and milk. Whisk in cornstarch. Stir in corn (drained) and creamed corn. If you used a low sodium canned corn, add a pinch of salt. Blend well, then pour into a greased 2-quart casserole dish. Bake for one hour.
Mashed potatoes: We use this Gimme Some Oven recipe. I peel my potatoes and do a light mashing because I like some texture in my potatoes.
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And that’s it! We did cheat a bit last year- I used canned cranberry sauce (whole cranberry, not jellied) because the store was out of frozen, fresh and canned cranberries, so I just bought a can of sauce.
But otherwise, I had a blast cooking all kinds of traditional recipes by myself for the first time last year. I can’t wait for Friendsgiving this year (even if we aren’t hosting), and I hope Ryan and I can still find time for Thanksgiving food, despite the move.
