What are your favorite Thanksgiving foods?

[The Jade Knight]

It's not potatoes, but "sweet potatoes" (American yams), Monsta.

I'm not a big fan of the sweet potato and marshmellow casserole, but I love the pecan-topped yam casserole that's a tradition in my family.  It's delicious!

No one has mentioned my favorite pie yet, so I'll bring it up:  Banana cream.  For me, a Thanksgiving without a banana cream pie just wouldn't be Thanksgiving.  But I love only my grandma's recipe: I've never tasted another banana cream pie remotely as good.  I do like Pecan, though (not as much as banana cream, of course).  Never been a fan of pumpkin, though Grandma also had a good pumpkin pie recipe.

I'm surprised not more people are going for the Jello Salads—I know we have a lot of Mormons around here.  Do other people just have no good recipes, or is having 2-5 Jello Salads not a standard part of everyone else's Thanksgiving?

[Loud_G]

Please do not equate Jello Salad with Mormons.... *shudders*

That seems to be an oddity of the Utah and Idaho branch of the church. Us east coast Mormons can't understand why anyone would have that much jello when they weren't sick/vomiting....

[CthulhuKefka]

Cranberry Sauce, hands down. I could eat barrels of that stuff.

And I guess my family is weird when it comes to Thanksgiving, we have never had turkey. We always have duck. /shrug

[Loud_G]

Don't worry, my dad always has a steak on Thanksgiving

At least duck is somewhat similar

[CthulhuKefka]

Don't get me wrong, roasted duck is exquisite when cooked right. Actually the only time I had turkey on Thanksgiving was when I was in the military, stuck on gate sentry duty and some people were nice enough to bring us some food. 

[MrPaperCamel]

Don't get me wrong, roasted duck is exquisite when cooked right. Actually the only time I had turkey on Thanksgiving was when I was in the military, stuck on gate sentry duty and some people were nice enough to bring us some food. 

That was nice of them =).

I get to cook again this year. Actually making a dish that normally is reserved for Easter-time, but my sister has been hounding me about it. Macaroni Pie, or Mugliazzo.

[CthulhuKefka]

Yeah, it was nice, even though our "supervisors" said we weren't allowed to receive food at the gates because if someone saw us eating on post it would be construed as "unprofessional." We did it anyway. 

[GreenMonsta]

What is jello salad? I'm not even sure.

[Loud_G]

What is jello salad? I'm not even sure.

Its something to run from as quick as you can. It generally involves green (lime) jello, carrot shavings, and other things that should not be mixed.

[Reaves]

wait is it like jello with a fruit salad in it? I've seen those.

Now if it were actually a vegetable salad...

[Chaos]

I'm going with turkey. Everything else is ancillary to the mighty 20-pound turkey!

[MrPaperCamel]

My mom tried to convince us it would be cute to use Cornish Game Hens one year....we quickly put a stop to that.

[Sigyn]

Bacon needs to be on this list.  My mom cooks her turkey with bacon draped across it.  The bacon tastes so yummy.

Usually, I would vote for pie, but this year I'm expected to make some. That has quickly made pie my least favorite Thanksgiving food.  I've never made a pie. I had thought I would go a few more years before the terror was forced on me.

[readerMom]

Pie is easy if you cheat and buy the crusts. That is the hard part.  I've never been able to get a crust that looks nice, even if it tastes OK.

[The Jade Knight]

ThankSigyn:  Isn't bacon-wrapped Turkey still just one way of making Turkey?

MrPaperHandTurkey: Did your mom go through with it?

Louds_of_Gravy:  Clearly you've never had a real Jello Salad.  Some of them are exquisite.  Oh, and I'm not from Idaho or Utah, but my family has a strong Jello Salad tradition—we have very deep Mormon roots, however, and some great recipes.

PlantationMonsta & Reaves:  Jello Salad is a concoction made with Jello and other ingredients, always involving at least one additional fruit or vegetable (and frequently several).  The simplest Jello Salads are made from just Jello with fruit included for additional texture and flavour.  More complicated Jello Salads involve adding fruit juices, using layers, or even more complicated recipes with exotic ingredients.  In my family, it is traditional (and an excellent tradition, I might add) to serve any Jello Salad which does not include a dairy ingredient with home-made whipped cream.  The one exception to this is Orange Carrot Jello Salad (which, for the record, is not for everyone.  It's my brother's favorite, but I'm not a huge fan of it).

readerMom:  My fiancée is a pie-crust master.  It 's wonderful.  It's also somewhat strange.  Granted the recipe is my grandmother's, and an excellent recipe, but my mother has a terrible time making the crusts.  My fiancée, who was born in China and raised eating 95% Chinese food, has taken to my grandmother's recipes like a natural.  Really makes me happy.  She's busy this year, but I'm begging her to make me 2-3 pie crusts so I can make Grandma's banana cream pies.  Last year, she (my fiancée) made 15 pie crusts for Thanksgiving, I believe.  I think that one day she'll reach my grandmother's production levels (my grandma used to make about 30 pies each thanksgiving, in addition to a bunch of other stuff).