This morning, Joey was toasting up one of these leftover rolls for breakfast and I realized I hadn’t finished this post yet!  Also, would you readers be offended if I confessed that this post is more for me than for you, so that when next Thanksgiving rolls around (no pun intended), I remember what we liked, what we didn’t and any tweaks we made to any of the recipes we used?

I’m starting to think my mom will never be ready to bequeath hosting duties to me, but if she ever is, I think I’ll have the whole Thanksgiving timeline/prep/recipe juggling thing down to a T.

Good Old American White Rolls

Word to the wise: do not cover these fluffy little rolls with a lid while they sleep in the fridge overnight because they will stick to said lid and end up all dumpling looking on top, hence the picture from last year.  Oh well, they don’t have to look perfect to taste perfect.  My mom approved and at one point, I looked up to see my sister ladling gravy over her last bite, so I’ll take that as a good sign 🙂  I just pop these in the fridge after the first rise/roll-shaping then do the second rise/baking on Thursday morning.  Works like a charm.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Warning: this is sweet.  Like candy sweet.  I even cut back on the sugar (3/4 cup to 1/2 cup, but next time I might even cut it back to 1/4 cup) but it’s also really delicious!  We’ve been making some version of sweet potato casserole since 2010 but I think this is our favorite.  That pecan topping really seals the deal, if you ask me.

Skillet Green Bean Casserole 

I think we may have defeated the purpose by pouring this into a glass casserole dish, but the thought of lugging around that heavy fire-hot cast iron dish was not appealing.  I gotta give Joey complete credit for this (though I guess I did blanch the green beans) and I think it’s another keeper!  Easy to make, tastes amazing and involves cheese.  What more can you ask for?  We cut back on the amount of parsley in the topping because it was a little overwhelming and it turned out perfect.  Also, we ended up making a second batch after deciding it didn’t look like enough for seven people (& leftovers!).  This was an excellent decision.

Braised Brussels Sprouts with Cider and Bacon 

I love all things Brussels but I don’t know if this necessarily blew me away.  But, if you wash and cut these ahead of time and DON’T accidentally make them with apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider, then these cook up fairly fast and require minimal hands on effort.  I always cook Brussels sprout recipes longer than instructed because I like em just a tad softer than crisp and this recipe was no exception.

Cauliflower and Leek Gratin

I made this on Friday for the Thanksgiving Potluck my brother and sister-in-law hosted and even though it was lukewarm (at best) by the time I got it there, I still think it went over well.  Or it did with my sister at least 🙂

Salted-Butter Apple Galette

Love a galette!  So much more forgiving than a pie, ya know?  I made the dough Sunday, finished the galette Tuesday then wrapped it real tight till Thursday.  I think it’s the combo of brown salted butter, vanilla bean flecks, pretty red apple slices (I used Honeycrisps), crystallized sugar on the crust and a good dollop of maple whipped cream that makes this so good.  For the record, I only got two rows to fit on mine instead of the four shown in the picture and I used dark brown sugar for the apples and cane sugar for the crust.  Recipe rules are meant to be broken sometimes.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Does your family stick to the classics every year or do they change it up?

Do you have a good recipe to share?  (Christmas is still coming!)