Thanksgiving Decor and Menu

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, mostly because it’s all about the food and being with family and friends. That’s all that’s really required. That, and being thankful. My mom, sister and I rotate this holiday between our three homes, so sometimes we celebrate on the West Coast and other times we’re on the East.  I love spending the day in the kitchen with my mom and sister, and whoever else is around that year, depending on who’s kitchen we are in. It gets pretty hectic around the stove, as we shuffle things in and out trying to warm, bake, simmer and saute all of the dishes on our Thanksgiving menu, but we sip wine, snack, gossip and keep chopping. Our location changes, people around our table change, our decor changes, but not our menu. Here is a sneak peek at our Thanksgiving decor and menu.

Every year prep get easier, especially since we figured out our Thanksgiving menu a few years ago, and now stick to it. Now, we even have a Pinterest board dedicated to our dinner. Below is the entire menu for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Twine, a few sprigs of sage and personalized place cards made the table setting much more special and elegant, without a lot of work. Previously, I also purchased small pumpkins, dipped them in gold paint for a personalized plate setting. You can find the DIY for that here, and here is my Pinterest page for some more Thanksgiving inspired decor.

Our table centerpiece was this DIY ice bucket I made, a few cranberries, fall foliage and mini pumpkins and some candles completed the Thanksgiving decor.

Our Full Thanksgiving Menu

First Course:

Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Bacon ( I previously posted the recipe here.)

Pirozhki with Cabbage ( These are Russian traditional mini savory cakes, a similar recipe can be found here.)

Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad

Second Course:

Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

Yes, we also make ham on Thanksgiving, because everyone at our table secretly loves ham better than turkey. Except for last year when we made the turkey below.

Citrus and Herb Turkey

We tried this spatchcock turkey for the first time last year and it was by far the best turkey we’ve ever made. Previously we made the turkey on our grill, by turning it into another oven, because we run out of room, but spatchcocking the turkey made it much easier to fit it into the oven with other items!)

Cornbread and Chicken and Feta Cheese Sausage Stuffing

We double the sausage and 1/2 the cornbread for this one.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Apple Sauce

Boiled Potatoes with Garlic

Third Course:

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

Apple Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Chocolate Cake

Mulled wine

Still figuring things out for your Thanksgiving menu? Take a look at our Pinterest board for some last minute inspiration.

Besos,

Alina