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I've been serving pork ribs for last three years. My family loves it.

My mom called me the other week to let me know she'd like ME to make the side dishes (Dad makes the Mashed Potatoes, Mom makes the Turkey and the Pumpkin Pie). I'll be looking for some good side dish suggestions!

Last year I made roasted brussel sprouts with white beans and pecorino from epicurious.com and it was a total hit.

We're having a vegan thanksgiving with friends. So far, I think we are having a salad with a cranberry vinaigrette, sweet potato and red lentil soup, a split pea and dill dip with bread and some more traditional stuff. You know, stuffing of some kind, green beans with almonds, mashed potatoes. For the main course I believe my friend is making pumpkin seed encrusted tofu but I'm a little skeptical. Maybe good, maybe not?

And a date, coconut almond cake for dessert with coconut milk ice cream. Yum.

Usually we have Thanksgiving dinner for no less than 15, this year we're only going to be 5 so I think we're going to try a few new recipes, since we don't have to go for volume.

i'm trying to keep it a little lighter this year, and smaller. inevitably we have so much food left over that we end up freezing some with the intention of eating them in, say, february, and then they get freezerburned and ditched. the waste really bothers me--besides, why stress out cooking enough for six meals when you could have a perfectly lovely day cooking half as much?

we're doing roast turkey, wild rice with cranberries, green beans, and mushrooms, roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes, a spinach souffle with goat cheese, herbed popovers, and apple/blue cheese tart. for six, it will be perfect, with just a couple days' worth of leftovers.

I started always just getting a stuffed (organic free-range) turkey breast from our butcher -- the stuffing recipe is his Mamma's. There was lots of meat for our smaller crowd, and that way, I got to concentrate on the sides (which are the fun part anyway).

Sticking around from year-to-year:

Martha Stewart's Roots Anna (beautiful and delicious)
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/roots-anna

Spoon bread and Strawberry Wine's spoon bread (literally makes men swoon)
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/normas-spoon-bread?autonomy_kw=norma%20jean%20dardon&rsc=header_1

Fresh (uncooked) cranberry and orange relish (it's best if it sits a day)

Something with sweet potatoes (the recipe this week on AT would be perfect)

and James Beard's pumpkin pie, which I have tweaked ( a special rum; powdered ginger in addition to the candied ginger; muscovado sugar instead of white, etc.)

One of the best Thanksgiving dinners I ever made though was out of a liquor store magazine (LCBO's) by David Rocco -- an Italian stuffed turkey breast with pine nuts and (? Italian sausage? ground pork?, maybe spinach and fine bread crumbs?). It was served with sautéed dandelion greens with dried cranberries, and I added mashed squash. It was amazing, but I lost the recipe, and when I tried to get it from the publisher, they hadn't a clue...

I tend to do a mix. There are certain traditional dishes that make the day feel like Thanksgiving like our family's cranberry-orange relish (with apples and ginger!) and pumpkin roll in lieu of pumpkin pie. But other than turkey and gravy, I do tend to play with the side dishes.

Last year I did mashed sweet potatoes with ginger, and brussel sprouts sauteed with bacon and garlic. This year I'm going to do the brussel sprouts again because they were fantastic! But as for the sweet potatoes and dressing, I'm still deciding. I want to try a dressing with apples in it. Maybe some roasted carrots, parsnips and fennel, or a squash dish, or maybe something with cauliflower. I'll see what looks good at the farmers' market and that will help me decide.

I was thinking about making the same Molasses and Fall spiced turkey, but after trying to decide between 6 different turkey recipes, the Alsatian Riesling brined turkey won. For appetizers, to tide people over when "just 30 more minutes until dinner" turns into an hour, I'm serving Flatbread with Fig Preserves & Prosciutto and Stilton and Quince Jam Puff Pastries. There's going to be two stuffings this year, just halved recipes: Cornbread Oyster and Mushroom stuffing and Boston Brown Bread, Apple, Sausage and Fennel stuffing. The side dishes will be Roasted Pomegranate Molasses Cioppoline Onions and some sort of Celeriac dish or Camembert mashed potatoes. Dessert? Chestnut Ricotta Cheesecake, with an almond-cookie crust.

Oh, and can't forget the bread sauce!!! (does anyone else make it??)

Thanksgiving's been a state of flux for me the past few years. I used to join my family -- 15-strong when I was a kid -- for big traditional blowouts at my aunt's (when you grow up in New England, you kind of HAVE to go all out with the turkey, the cranberry sauce, the pumpkin pie, etc.).

Time passed and people moved away and other things came up, and gradually our family Thanksgivings dwindled to just about six people, and we started doing a restaurant instead.

Then two years ago I had to stay here in New York, and made dinner for myself and two other friends -- one of whom was vegetarian, so I borrowed heavily from the Moosewood "Celebrations" cookbook and made a squash-and-polenta dish alongside a turkey breast, along with some other vegetarian side dishes.

Then last year, my grandfather died in early November, and the family all gathered for his funeral. Then the restaurant we'd all be going to eat at burned down. My family, too exhausted to contemplate all getting together again, all agreed we'd "cancel" Thanksgiving that year. I made myself a lamb stew with butternut squash that was actually quite lovely, and ate alone (couldn't find any friends to join me -- they had all gone to their families) and watched a MYTHBUSTERS marathon.

I'm alone on Thanksgiving proper again this year -- my parents, who actually liked not having to rush around on Thanksgiving proper, have suggested that we all meet at a restaurant the Saturday BEFORE. So, I'l be alone again, and I've decided to still eat something for myself (even though I'll probably be inside all day -- the doing nothing part of last year's Thanksgiving, I kind of liked too).

I'm trying to decide whether I want to get myself a small turkey breast and go traditional, even if it is just for me, or if I want to go with the lamb and butternut stew again. I've also toyed with a pumpkin-and-mushroom lasagna.

Or -- I've also considered doing something frivolous. Say, making a whole pie, and eating it all myself over the course of the day. Or -- when I was a child I loved PEANUTS, and if you saw "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," you'll remember that the "Thanksgiving dinner" that Charlie Brown tries to serve his friends: pretzels, popcorn, jellybeans, and two pieces of toast. An upscale version of that (maybe making the jam and bread for the toast and the dough for the pretzels from scratch) might be fun.

We're having an English Thanksgiving this year. Roast (we may cheat and have Prime Rib), Yorkshire Pudding, Mashed Veg, Braised Cabbage. ...still thinking about dessert....
hmmm...

Thanksgiving 2008 @ our House

Starters
Pistachio and Chive Goat Chese on Puff Pastry wrappers
Crudites with Green Goddess Dressing
Assorted Relishes
Main Course
Roasted Turkey
Cherry, Pecan and Sausage stuffing
Coke and Pineapple Glazed Ham
Sides
Roasted Beet, Citrus and Basil salad
Salade Verte
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Creamed Spinach and Parsnips
Pearl Onions glazed in Port
Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Lime
Biscuits
Cranberry, Pomegranate and Meyer Lemon relish
Dessert
Pumpkin Nut pie
Non-pumkpin pie
Drinks
French Cider Cocktail
Wine
Tea
Soft Drinks
Sparkling Cider
Beer