I'm vegetarian, so for me it's not all about the turkey. I have to make my grandmother's potato salad: potatoes boiled till tender but not mushy, then sliced and peeled, tossed with shredded escarole, heaps of green onion, vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper.

For DB, it's not Thanksgiving without his mom's cranberry relish: cranberries, whole oranges, apple, sugar, grand marnier.

What makes Thanksgiving for you?

Zinfandel :-)

We change the menu every year.

When we used to set a 'big' table, a cranberry relish, was a fixture at Thanksgiving. I made a delicious one, with orange peel, fresh cranberries, ginger ale, and something else . . .

Bergamot, even though we're not vegetarian, the turkey does get overlooked for the sides; everyone looks forward to them. Thanksgiving dinner would not be the same without the cranberry-orange relish.

Seven Cup Salad!

Oyster dressing.
In fact, I would be happy with JUST oyster dressing...

Candied yams. Yum!!

Yep, the dressing is MY favorite part of the meal, but I don't think the rest of the family would let me in the door without the broccoli/rice casserole.

What is Seven Cup Salad?

1 cup maraschino cherries
1 cup mandarin oranges
1 cup pineapple tidbits
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sour cream ... and I'll have to write to my mother for the last ingredient! I can't remember. Anyway, it's good!

Can you post the oyster dressing recipe. I LOOOVE oysters!

Bergamot, that potato salad sounds amazing! I'll try my own version blindly...

For me, though, Thanksgiving is about Ryan's aunt's gravy.

mmmm.....

Winemaven, I think Catie posted her oyster dressing recipe under the "Stuffing" topic earlier. I like oyster dressing a lot. It's very south Louisiana. And african-american cooks always do the meat and oyster combo. It tastes great, extremely rich, and carries a guilt factor to the Nth degree. A little bite goes a long way.

OH! I'm off to find the recipe!

For me, it's not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie.

I'm making my pumpkin gooey cakes tonight!! Better than pumpkin pie!

Mashed baked sweet potatoes, sweet as cotton candy, with lots of brown sugar. maple syrup, and marshmallows.

sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce mashed potatoes, I guess I have to have it all, lol

Candied Yams and Pumpkin Pie! Oh and FTR - I just printed out your 7 Cup Recipe. So easy and sounds good. Thanks.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Make sure to drain the fruit well before you mix it in.

Definitely mashed taters, dressing and candied yams. But, we also have to include corn souffle and macaroni & cheese.

Arhianrad, I'm trying it blindly, too-- regrettably, Grandma did not leave a recipe card for posterity. I tried to get one out of her at one point and she just shrugged and said, "Just mix it so it looks and tastes right." Anyway, last year I cooked the potatoes too long and didn't use enough green onion, but I'll keep making notes and eventually, perhaps in 2010, it will turn out right.

I'm not into turkey either, so for me, the staples are always fresh cranberry-orange relish, some kind of sweet potato and the stuffing. We rarely have cranberry sauce or stuffing at any other time of year, so that's what makes it special for me, oh, and pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin pie. It could be Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie alone. I always make extra. The best breakfast in the world is a slice of pumpkin pie with a small glass of Scotch served neat.

Definitely! Pumpkin pie for breakfast!

Am I the only person who likes turnips?

Do you mean white turnips or the yellow turnips sometimes called rutabagas?