Thanksgiving Side Dishes from the Garden

CRANBERRY CILANTRO SALSA....great for a Holiday Party! 

Cranberry Salsa on Cream Cheese Dip. check out the recipe HERE.

I've been cooking myself into a food coma these past few days. I had the missionaries over tonight and made a ham and cheesy potatoes and pecan tarts. I also tried a new cranberry and crushed pineapple raspberry jello recipe that was really good! And tomorrow I'm cooking a turkey! EEK!

 These potatoes were DIVINE!The secret ingredient in the twice baked potatoes is cream! And of course the bacon makes everything betta! 

Chinese Chicken Salad with dried cranberries and mandarin oranges. I added some slivered almonds too. Yum. 

Corn pudding. I'd never tried this before but it was good! Kind of sweet and savory at the same time. I found a recipe at Taste of Home HERE that got a 4.9 rating! It would be a fun, new recipe to try! I loved it! 

I made some cute Thanksgiving cupcakes too...Scarecrows and Turkey Cupcakes with Orange Slice Candy hats and Lemonhead heads and Candycorn feathers and beaks.

I also found these fall colored Reese's Pieces candies that added a yummy touch to these Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked pretty on my fall brown crockery platter. 

Another one of the teachers made these delectable chocolate turkey cupcakes. Yummo! 

And these pecan tartlets were to die for. I ate two of them! They are like a tiny pecan pie! I found a similar recipe at All Recipes.com, HERE.  It's my favorite cooking website because everything is rated by like thousands of home cooks. You KNOW it's gonna be good.

Had to have something healthy too! Everything tasted really great. 

Another yummy thing we had was Cranberry Sprite! It's NEW and Superbly YUMMY! Try it this holiday! 

I am planning my menu for Thanksgiving Day too. I'm going to do my favs but add some of those pecan tartlets and some Sweet Potato Casserole too.

Little Pinecone Turkey Placecards....check out my previous blog post for the tutorial Here at Weekday Chef.

Besides making some excellent memories with your kids and family this year doing some fun crafts like Gingerbread houses, Little turkeys out of pine cones (above... my granddaughter is modeling them as hair bows lol) or making sugar Christmas cookies or breads....we play Pin the Hat on the Turkey. 

 What side dishes do you plan to go along with your turkey and stuffing? 

Side dishes....besides your obligatory potatoes, gravy and stuffing, WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER FAVORITES? 

WELL....And besides all of the wonderful pies we all make....My daughter-in-law Cait made these cute mini apple pies....So cute....what else do you love on Thanksgiving Day???! 

My favorite salad is one my mom always made.....fresh cranberry....Check out the recipe HERE at Weekday Chef. The fun thing about it is my siblings all make this one too. You make family traditions with all of your side dishes, did you KNOW THAT? Yeah. It's true! 

My son  Devin made this spinach salad....doesn't it look yummy? So pretty too! It is seriously one of my very favorite side salads to any meal....with spinach, candied pecans, avocado, strawberries and a sweet raspberry vineagrette. 

My niece Becky made this to die for sweet potato casserole...I found a recipe for it at All Recipes.com HERE. ...it is really yummy and tastes almost llike a dessert it's so good! 

One that I have always made is the French's Fried Onions Green Bean Casserole with Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup in it. You just Have to have some green bean casserole! The recipe is on the back of the French's Onion Can. 

And of course you can't forget the homemade rolls and real salted butter. I love to have some really good raspberry jam to go with it.

Here is the link at Patties Place. I have lots of Thanksgiving decor I've taken pics of.  It's my other blog. Try a new side dish this Thanksgiving you haven't tried before. And have fun at YOUR get together this fall holiday!

Thanksgiving Decorating at My House

 LOOK what I found at the Dollar Store! These are dancing solar pilgrims and a turkey! They will be so cute for my kiddie table this year at Thanksgiving!!

The little turkey is the cutest. You just set them under a lamp and they bob and dance! It's really sweet! I hope the kids don't fight over the turkey. It was the last one in the store! Maybe I can find a set at another dollar store if I go today....hummm.....

Thanksgiving decorating has begun! I've gotten out all my boxes of junk and started switching out Jack-o-lanterns for Turkeys!

This was my very first Thanksgiving decoration I ever made when I became a newleywed. I remember getting the hubs to cut out the 2 x 4 pieces of wood to make these cute little Pilgrim Pair. Then glue guns were all the rage and I could add the felt clothes, the jute hair and the spanish moss in the basket of apples. 

This was another Thanksgiving decoration I made soon after. It's a mop doll scarecrow, made from a cotton mop. It's cuter if you hang it up. 

The kitchen counters with  all kinds of turkeys and here a pumpkin, there a pumpkin, everywhere a pumpkin......

I love the gourds and pumpkins of fall but what I LOVE are those amber colored glass pumpkins and leaves.  So pretty!

I got this cute Happy Thanksgiving wooden banner from Taipan Trading along with these beautiful glass acorns. They are some of my favorite Thanksgiving decorations. 

I LOVE the stuffed turkey sitting on pumpkins too. I got that from my favorite store Kohls. KOHLS ALWAYS HAS THE CUTEST LINENS AND FABRIC DECOR. 

   The kitchen buffet was decorated with Thanksgiving pilgrims.....

My little Thanksgiving Indian couple is so pretty, I love these fall colors and the little lucite acorns too....and Look! I even made a little fall subway lettering in a picture frame! 

   More pilgrims.....the little girls love my tiny set of pilgrims and Indians at a tiny table. The legs are broken off of two of them now, but we still set them out just for the grandkids to enjoy. 

We always play games at Thanksgiving llike  pin the hat on the turkey....the girls and Devin love it! (Devin is just a big kid, didn't you know?) He will be missed at Thanksgiving this year. But we will see him at Christmas! Woot! 

We can start making those gingerbread things we love so much too but I think I'm gonna do little candy bar trains for the little kiddos...it should be fun....

Entry table in the great room is so cute! Don't you just love my broom handle adding charm to this area? Yeah I forgot to put that away. 

Here was my Thanksgiving table decor last year. I loved these placemats so much. I usually find pretty ones at Kohls or T.J. Max. 

Here was last year's kiddie table....I got 2 little pilgrim bears and a soft turkey for the kiddos to take home with them......all of them loved the turkey. Megan got to take it home..... but look what I found for this year! I should have gotten a set for each little girl. 

One of the end tables in the great room......I love fall decor! 

I love this wreath I found on Pinterest. I might have to try and make it!

The piano is getting decorated for fall too....I love those autumn colors! 

Gotta love a scarecrow on a Coffee table.....OH and LOOK! Candy Corn! They are cute but they are disgusting to eat! Yucky...give me some Reeses Pieces ANYDAY! 

End table in the living room......Turkey love....

Desk decorated for Thanksgiving in the living room...I'm going to go over to Kohls with my coupon today to see if there is anything shiny and new.

Well, I'd better get to work now. I still have 30 report cards to do before Monday morning. EEK! I get so sidetracked when I'm playing with my decorations. snicker.....