It’s that time again — planning the Thanksgiving menu. This year I’m making it easy on myself by going online and plucking out recipes from Epicurious. I’ve got a lot of these recipes in hardcopy, culled from the years that I subscribed, BUT, it’s so much easier to just go through their database so…. here’s what we’re having this year (subject to change until the actual week of Thanksgiving :D)

• Roast Turkey — I don’t really change this anymore from year to year. Once I found the perfect recipe (for me) I’ve stuck to it. It’s basically a brine-first recipe. I thought I was going to get a Heritage Turkey for Thanksgiving but guess what — I’m late again. The local farms that raise them are already out of stock. So I’m settling for free-range from one of the local farms (I’ve e-mailed two, waiting to hear back from them) or the free-range turkey from Wild Oats, which they say they get from Zacky Farm in California. I googled, and I’m not too happy with what I’ve found, plus I really would prefer to patronize our local farmers. I hope they call me soon so I can cancel my Wild Oats order if need be.
• Allergy-free cornbread from Jenn
• An apple crisp with homemade granola topping (I’ll post the recipe after I make it)
• Wild Rice Dressing with Sausage, Corn and Leeks — which I’m planning to make with homemade sausage mix instead of storebought kielbasa
• Cranberry Sauce with Pearl Onions and Golden Raisins
• Yams with Spiced Sorghum Butter, because I’ve got some sorghum here that’s been waiting for me forever to use — I’ll make this recipe using some Earth Balance un-butter that Jenn recommended
• Haricots Verts, Roasted Fennel and Shallots

And then I’m veering off course a bit to do two allergy-full recipes — which I’m planning to prepare in time for Thanksgiving, but make into bite-size bits for our coming holiday gatherings:

• May Bsisu’s Pull Away Cheese Rolls

and

• and this “Perfect” Pumpkin Pie which my 10-yo (very mild allergy-sufferer) has been asking for; he didn’t ask specifically for this recipe, but every year we try a new Pumpkin Pie recipe, looking for the perfect one — this may be it! Or then again, maybe this!

So there you have it… if you’ve cooked/plan to cook any of these, let me know so we can compare notes!