Thanksgiving meal ideas

Check out LivingWithout.com for Thanksgiving ideas. Sometime I'm going to try out their pumpkin-coconut pie, or make my own variation. Sounds good to me!

For my Thanksgiving meal, I plan to make it nice and basic- Turkey, just rubbed with spices from home and baked. The gravy for the turkey I will make with dairy for those of us who can have, because my girls just haven't been interested in gravy anyway, even when I make it so they can have it. They'd rather just have season-all, or soy sauce or barbecue or ketchup. : ) In addition to turkey, I'll fix mashed potatoes, with either oil and salt added or maybe a bit of coconut cream. Green beans. A baked sweet potato for the girls(baked in the microwave - I like simple baked sweet potatoes much better than sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar). I'm doing an experiment to see if it's worth having stuffing this year- my husband and daughters aren't stuffing fans anyway, just me). I have crumbs from a gluten-free bread I made and didn't like very well, and I'm soaking just a few crumbs in some seasoned meat juice from cooking chicken thighs. I'll try a couple bites and see how flavors mesh. I have a chocolate coconut pie recipe on this blog, which I'll make again this year. I might try making some oat-rice rolls from my favorite yeast bread recipe. I think I'll either have fresh apple slices or a simple juice mixed from concentrate. Wouldn't cranberry-raspberry go well with the meal? So that's my Thanksgiving meal! And maybe one pumpkin-coconut pie as well. I really like simplicity. Especially so I can enjoy more time with my family. And have less stress so I can feel more grateful for my family and my other blessings!

Now I'm reading through the list, and it doesn't sound so simple if I do all of it! : ) Hmmm...
I know there are a lot of things I can do ahead of time. And I really don't need to mess with the stuffing, or the rolls, or the pumpkin pie if I don't think it's worth the stress and time away from my family...(my husband and kids aren't pumpkin pie fans anyway, and chocolate really can suit everyone just fine- the pumpkin pie is more for me if I make it). And who says you need stuffing and rolls in a meal where you already have potatoes and sweet potatoes? Talk about duplication of complex carbs! : ) I do want the meal to be special in some way, though.