Thanksgiving dinner

[Frostycarrot]

I quite fancy making it just for fun. We were planning on having some sort of roast and homemade dessert anyway so it’d be nice to change it up slightly.

What would you include? And to the British palette, is pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie with marshmallow just too disgusting? There has to be a reason you can’t buy it here right?

Is thanksgiving about turkeys? Pumpkin pie sounds good, but I've never actually eaten it.

Green bean casserole
we’re having pumpkin pie this year

I’m ordering it from a local restaurant $120 including tip, much cheaper, less stress and less waste than making it myself.

Turkey
Mash
Gravy
Bread stuffing
Green bean casserole
Creamed corn
Sweet potato with marshmallow

Pecan pie
Pumpkin pie
Chocolate pie

And yes the sweet potato is 🤮

American in the UK here. I make, turkey with cranberry sauce, mash (though if you must roast potatoes, but mash is traditional), stuffing, roast sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and mac and cheese if I'm really going for it. Pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie for dessert.

There is no such thing as pumpkin or sweet potato pie with marshmallows on top. You are thinking of sweet potato casserole. Personally, I didn't really have it growing up (I assume maybe just one of those things my family didn't make), but I do actually like it now and it's one of the things my dc will always eat! I It's more of a sweet potato mash, topped with marshmallows and spices, not a 'pie' per se.

If I was going to go all sweet potato though, I'd much rather make an actual sweet potato pie (with sweetcrust pastry) for pudding, serve with squirty cream and/or clotted cream.

If you want to make proper pumpkin pie though, you can order the Libby's pumpkin filling here, though it's pricey as imported, but it's the real deal.

You can Libby's in Waitrose

Thank you!
any recipe recommendations for green bean casserole?
is that the only veg? Or are there parsnips and carrots, sprouts etc like a British roast

Here's a basic recipe for Green Bean Casserole.
When I lived in the UK, years ago, I would use the crispy onions found in Indian shops.

www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-classic-green-bean-casserole-237725?epik=dj0yJnU9X2VBN3hBbUJDd0NhdW9JbHNkdnluZk8xRjVDdDdESEQmcD0wJm49cEFNMG9JeHR3bUJIRmRkYmZ0U3ZBQSZ0PUFBQUFBR04tTzVj

I'm from the southwestern part of the US so our dinner has corn on the cob, sweet potatoes are savory rather than sweet often mashed, carrots and my family enjoyed calabasa squash (Mexican squash, looks like a small light-skinned courgette) with tomatoes, jalapeños and onions. Pecans grow abundantly so we eat pumpkin pie for dessert.

I was at the store in the Gulf Coast where I live now, Houston, and they have cornbread stuffing with oysters and deep-fried Cajun spiced turkeys and different sides. Delicious stuff, indeed.

Parsnips in my part of the world are massively expensive. I saw them for $3.88/lb. My English husband can do without!

Argh, I meant we eat PECAN pie in the southwest

Pumpkin pie is probably found in most states and I've only found sweet potato pie primarily in the south.

Btw, @Frostycarrot, sweet potato and pumpkin pie are native to the Americas. It's abundant here and that's why the Brits are not familiar with it, not because it's "disgusting".

Sorry @elp30 !! Didn’t mean to be rude.
i think there’s some British food that If I tried now I wouldn’t think were great, but since I’m familiar or they’re nostalgic I like them, and as we get most American things and this is something that hasn’t appeared over here, I thought it was because there wasn’t a market or palette for it! I could’ve worded it more politely and I am actually keen to try it so I will be making it.

thanks for your advice!

Macaroni and cheese is a traditional Thanksgiving side dish in the Southern US.

Dinner rolls or cornbread are a must have.

Devilled eggs for starters.

My MIL makes the most delicious sweet potato casserole with a crunchy pecan topping.

Green beans of some sort, you can do green bean casserole or just steamed green beans.

If you want more vegetables we sometimes do a harvest salad with kale, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, shredded Brussel sprouts and poppyseed dressing.

We have decided not to do turkey this year. Just two of us this time so we have got a nice piece of beef to roast.

Husband (American) doesn’t like pumpkin pie so we never have that anyway.

We always have sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It’s become a bit of a tradition after I made it the first Thanksgiving we were together and my husband loved it so much we decided we’d have it every year.

Right now the thing I’m looking forward to most is 4 days off work after the year we’ve had at work.

We move our thanksgiving to the weekend so we can get as many relatives as poss (Brit/ US family)

As I cook, I do turkey, mash, stuffing, cornbread, peas and sweetcorn and roast sweet potatoes. Loads of gravy and cranberry sauce. I. Refuse to make mil's grated carrot in orange jelly or anything with marshmallows on top but I also sneak in Delia's red cabbage just because!

Always both pumpkin pie and apple pies (no pecan - allergies)

Best bit is always the fabulous leftovers in sandwiches 😀

We kept it pretty simple this year, as I was too busy to do any prep, and I’d already invited people over so couldn’t do fake Thanksgiving on Sunday (has to be a day there’s live football on). Had dry brined turkey for the meat eaters, mashed potatoes, maple glazed carrots, Brussels sprouts, stuffing, red wine and mushroom gravy, turkey gravy, and cauliflower & broccoli cheese (or I could rebrand it as a casserole to sound more American). Key lime pie for dessert, which was really nice and bright after lots of heavy food. I was toying with making a traditional green bean casserole, but I’m not wild on green beans and unconvinced by the mushroom sauce, though crispy fried onions are always welcome. I also fancy making my own cranberry sauce, but never get around to it. Maybe next year.