I can’t believe next week is Thanksgiving. Can you? We got snow this morning. To the right you can see the view from the barn during morning milking. It lasted for an hour or so and it didn’t stick — typical for our area of Oregon.
Our heritage breed pastured turkey is coming from our friends Beth and Kerry Olson of B&K Natural Farm. We’ll pick it up next Wednesday. They say most of their flock turned out to be toms this year — meaning bigger birds in general. We’ll either get a small one that fits in my roasting pan, or a larger one they’ll cut in half to fit in my roasting pan. I’m okay with either. Having an extra half a turkey in the freezer for whenever is very nice!
What are you planning for your Thanksgiving menu? We’ll do the usual — turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, cranberry relish and pumpkin pie. I might do stuffing. We don’t usually because there’s already so much food. 
Are you looking for last-minute inspiration for your menu? I’ve got some great ideas for you!
Real Food Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
These recipes are from past posts here — with years and years of posts, it is nice every once and awhile to dig for the gems!
- Perfectly Moist Turkey Every Time — learn how to bake a heritage bird to perfection
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Fermented Cranberry-Apple-Orange Relish
- Pumpkin Pie — this happens to be dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free, but its main selling point with me (now that we don’t have food allergies) is that it tastes better than any pumpkin pie I’ve ever had
- EggNog — enough said
Whole Foods for the Holidays
Remember what I and some other bloggers did last year? We hosted a real food holiday progressive dinner in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. It was great! Real food bloggers from all over participated, sharing family favorite holiday dishes made with real foods. We included:
- Soups with me at GNOWFGLINS
- Appetizers with Katie at Kitchen Stewardship
- Salads with Donielle from Naturally Knocked Up
- Bread dishes with Diana at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
- Main dishes with Stephanie at Keeper of the Home
- Extra side dishes with Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet
- Desserts with Kate at Modern Alternative MamaÂ
- Drinks with Michele at Frugal Granola
Please do visit the host blogs — you’ll find recipe upon recipe to round out your Thanksgiving menu!
More Sweet Ideas
35% off through midnight tonight (Fri)! Smart Sweets is the newest (and 4th) eBook from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship. Just in time for the holidays! Many recipes are grain-free or gluten-free. Click here to purchase and use the coupon code 2DAY35OFF — you’ll also get a free copy of MadeOn’s My Buttered Life: Gift-Giving Edition. (You can download a free PDF of Katie’s apple crisp recipe here.)
More Real Food Recipes
Visit eatnourishing.com, too (a free real food recipe sharing site). New recipes are added daily and they look really good! And last but not least, you can browse my extensive recipe archives for more ideas.
Happy Thanksgiving menu planning! Use the comments to share what what’s on your menu — talking menus is always fun for me.
About Wardee Harmon
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Hi, Wardee. Nice snow photo. none of that here,
though we are supposed to have rain on TDay which is too bad as lots of people plan picnics on the beach! I am going to a potluck and am bringing apple pie, sweetened with honey and in an almond crust,fig tart (with a walnut coconut flour crust), a couple of different compound butters( one with sage and cranberry, one with orange and rosemary), probably a bottle of wine. It will be a fun afternoon with friends and their families so any drama that occurs will NOT be mine. Yay!
Charity — Yumm, yumm, and yumm! The apple pie and tart sound heavenly. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I clicked on your link and it didn’t work…
Strange. Just worked for me. Here it is: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/11/18/thanksgiving-recipe-round-up/ I hope it works for you!
That recently posted item is on my menu page for my site, http://healthalchemykitchen.com. Wardee, maybe you could edit that out.
charity dasenbrock recently posted… From the farmers’ market to infinity and beyond!
Charity — No problem!
Hi Wardee! I recently subscribed to your site and am enjoying it. I just wanted to say thanks for the post w/links to Thanksgiving recipes. I love how the Mind of Christ works! I have been contemplating a Cranberry/Orange/Apple relish for Thanksgiving but just didn’t feel like it was “finished” the way I had planned to make it. I had the thought tonight to try adding water kefir to it and ferment it for a few days before refrigerating (instead of the cooking method) but was wondering if the ingredients could handle the process texture-wise or if it would just turn to mush…then I came in to find your post and right there were the words “Fermented Cranberry-Apple-Orange Relish”!!! It was as if the Lord said, “Yes, it will work – and go ahead and make it because it will add a little healthy cultured goodness to the meal!” I am thankful for His faithfulness to answer the simplest of our thoughts/prayers and thankful for your faithfulness to post!
Egg nog – yes yes yes!! And Wardee – you should totally update your picture now that your hair is shorter
Meagan recently posted… Grain-free Unsweetened Primal Pumpkin Bread
Oh these all look so great. Thanks for the recipe love!
And I’m looking forward to the progressive dinner like you did last year. I remember how fun it was
Thanks for the links, I will surely make that Pumpkin Pie, seems delicious !
I’d love to bake some of these recipes this coming weekend…
Thanks for sharing the recipes…The photos look so yummy..Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
The recipes are all awesome and I think I have to try this too…Thank you!!
I love the recipes…Looks really interesting!!Anyway, I am really glad I have found this post here…