Special Holiday Meals: Our tried and true favorite Thanksgiving recipes plus a new tradition in the making

It’s so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week! I haven’t finished all my shopping yet but plan to have it wrapped up before the end of the week. We will probably have a lot of our usual dishes plus a couple of new ones ‘keto-friendly’ versions. We won’t be ‘restricting’ ourselves to keto foods for Thanksgiving as we want to have the freedom to enjoy, but not overindulge, the dishes that everyone brings to dinner.

I love using Canva to make up pretty menus and such! Please excuse my typos… oops!

I have a ton of recipes that I had planned to test out but just haven’t found the time to do so yet with everything that happens around here. I will be relying on many of our longtime favorites to keep things easier. Some of our favorite recipes include:

Appetizers:

Deviled Eggs

Spinach Dip or Party Cheese Ball

Charcuterie Tray – will consist of deli meats, assorted cheeses, mini pickles, olives, banana peppers, red and green grapes, fresh pineapple, crackers, pretzels, broccoli, cauliflower, ranch dip, caramel dip, mustards, cheese ball, and whatever else we find around the house to throw on there… plus some assorted autumn themed candy.

Main Dishes:

Brown Sugar & Honey Glazed Ham – I will try to have a non-glazed alternative as well.

Roasted Turkey w/ Giblet Gravy

Side dishes:

Congealed Salad (Something the kids want to try- I will post the recipe if it is a hit!)

Grandma’s Mac N Cheese sprinkled with bacon

Homemade Bread Stuffingmade with our homemade bread

Mashed Potatoes and/or Super Yummy Caulitaters

Momma’s Green Bean Casserole

Nanny J’s Carrot Souffle

Nanny J’s Corn Pudding

Simple Cranberry RelishWe may try this with Rosella this year

Fresh Greens

Sweet Potato Casserole

Breads:

30 minute Rollsor rolls made from our favorite bread recipe

Cinnamon Butter

Honey Butter

Mama’s Best Dinner Rollsthese have been our family favorite for years!

Desserts:

Chocolate Pudding Pie – (This was something I always looked forward to with my Mom-Mom and I will try to make a sugar-free version this year)

Hubby Approved Surprise Salted Caramel Cupcakes (maybe)

Lemon Meringue Pie

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake

Mama’s Southern Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Cheesecake (probably one of the easy in a box kind)

Beverages:

Old-Fashioned Lemonade – made with Monk Fruit

Susie’s Sweet Tea – made with Monk Fruit

Feel free to print these recipes and try them out with your family as well! There have been many holidays when we haven’t had a lot of different dishes but it never seemed to matter as we enjoy having our family together and making special memories… things don’t have to be elaborate or elegant, sometimes the simplest meals are the most treasured!

We also plan to start a new tradition about the Five Kernels of Corn as this has just seemed like a special part of history that I want to treasure and remember! We plan to make some kind of little craft to include on the table for each person as well as having the kids say the Five Kernels of Corn and tell a little bit about the meaning behind the five kernels. I couldn’t find any Indian Corn so we had to settle with some candy corn… the looks I got from Walmart employees when I asked for candy corn were a bit comical but we finally found some! Maybe next year we will grow some real Indian Corn to use for this tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Five Kernels of Corn resources:

The Legend of the Five Kernels of Corn

Five kernels of corn: a Thanksgiving lesson

Kids lesson: The legend of the five kernels

Free Printable Corn Templates & Outlines for Fall Crafts

FREE PRINTABLE CANDY CORN TEMPLATES

The Five Kernels of Corn Poem

FIVE KERNELS OF CORN

Here is another verse that we wrote to read after the Five Kernels of Corn poem:

Thank you for joining us and listening to our poem so true,

We thank God for FRIENDS and FAMILY like you,

We thank God for the blessings the past year has brought,

And for the lessons that have been taught.

We look forward to the blessings the new year has in store,

Blessings of FAMILY, FRIENDS, FAITH, FOOD, FREEDOM and more.

Let us not take them for granted and remember to thank God in prayer,

As we thank Him for his love, grace, mercy, and care.

Five Kernels of Corn!

Five Kernels of Corn!

Let us never forget the tradition of the Five Kernels of Corn!

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