Killer Questions: Our Favorite Thanksgiving Foods

Killer Questions: Our Favorite Thanksgiving Foods

Sarah E. Burr: I love candied yams or any type of sugary yam casserole dish!

Paula G. Benson: I love having real cranberries on Thanksgiving. As a relish or just cooked cranberries, they are my favorite. Often in the South, we have sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin pie. That’s another great food for the holiday.

Marilyn Levinson: Stuffing with sautéed mushrooms and onions.

Heather Weidner: Turkey and gravy.

Shari Randall: Years ago, my family decided that we'd rather have lasagna than turkey. Although there's still a turkey and cranberry sauce (my second favorite)  most of the family are chowing down on a luscious dish of pasta layered with mozzarella, ricotta, and homemade sausage and beef marinara. Buon appetito! 

Judy Murray: My husband's homemade apple pie, a recipe handed down from his mother. It took years for him to perfect without tossing pie crust dough across the kitchen in disgust.

K.M. Rockwood: My favorite Thanksgiving food was actually a drink. Apple cider. It does need a bit of background explanation. My family never served water at meals. Except for the youngest tots, we got one glass of milk each. Years later, I learned I have a swallowing problem. I also have some health issues that tend to leave me dehydrated. On Thanksgiving, someone always brought a couple of gallons of apple cider. While we weren't permitted unlimited amounts, I discovered I could down the first glassful get a quick refill. Possibly several refills. I didn't have problems downing the rest of the food if I had the cider. It was the best meal of the year.

Lori Roberts Herbst: Thanksgiving food: pumpkin pie, with tons of whipped cream.

Kait Carson: My parents came from the generation where holiday food was a never-varying tradition. Despite being a self-taught gourmet cook, my mother served turkey, ham, mashed potatoes (yes, marshmallows were involved), broccoli cheese casserole (howdy, Campbell's) and corn pudding (another nod to the soup people). Dessert was pumpkin pie and three-layer coconut cake. The first thing I did when I broke away on my own was to toss any recipe that contained canned soup. When Mom passed away, my dad moved in with me for a while. That first Thanksgiving, he stood in the middle of my kitchen, took in the prep work an looked at the recipes with a sad expression on his face. I thought he was missing Mom, but I asked if anything was wrong. Where, he wanted to know, were the broccoli casserole and the corn pudding? The question stopped me cold. That's when I realized that my favorite Thanksgiving foods weren't foods. They were the tradition they represented. Hubs can't have broccoli, but corn pudding - howdy Campbell's - is still on the menu.

Korina Moss: The stuffing (with gravy)! 

Grace Topping: I absolutely love turkey. My husband, who hails from England, not so much. There, they had turkey once a year on Christmas, and he feels that's enough. So, I slip turkey into recipes whenever I can, hoping he'll think it's chicken. My favorite is turkey thighs, which aren't readily available except around the holidays. I find myself scouring grocery stores in search of them--most times without luck. Recently, when I asked an employee working near the meat section where I could find turkey thighs, he looked really puzzled—as if to say that it isn't Thanksgiving yet, and pointed me to the chicken section. This Thanksgiving season, when I hope to find packages of turkey thighs, I plan to stock my freezer with them. Even if it means taking every package that's on the shelf.

Debra H. Goldstein: Unfortunately, I don’t care much for Thanksgiving food, but there usually is a corn pudding or squash casserole that makes me happy. My mother also was big on the Jell-O mold with nuts, cream cheese, and red Jell-O. I don’t make it, but it brings back pleasant memories when I see it at someone’s house.

James M. Jackson: Homemade cranberry sauce.