Hellobee Boards

Sounds like you want an elegant dinner...traditional, but with very good ingredients. This is what I aim for when I host.

I do turkey breast marinated in a spicy maple marinade, roasted in the oven.

The stuffing I do is very plain, it's caremelized onions and toasted bread, bound with chicken stock.

Then for sides:

Ina Garten's Sagoponac Corn Pudding

Garlic Pan fried string beans (steam beans, then when it's time to eat, get a pan smoking hot with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes, toss in string beans to coat)

Oven roasted sweet potato wedges (salt and olive oil)

cranberry sauce (I like canned, but i also do the whole berry kind, I just boil the cranberries until the skins fall off, rinse them out, and then combine with orange juice and sugar to taste and reduce).

For dessert, I make pumpkin cheesecake and pear cranberry crumble (I use Gourmet recipes).

Making fresh cranberries is super easy! I do it just like @looch: said, but instead of sugar, I think we use maple syrup and a bit of pepper. It doesn't take long at all and the recipe I have says that it is best to do the day before so that the flavors come together. I love that because that I one less thing that I have to do on the day of!

@NorthStar: Oh that sounds interesting!

Stuffin Muffins are what I will miss most at my first gluten free thanksgiving. It's literally all I've really wanted in past years.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/apple-and-onion-stuffin-muffins-recipe.html

This stuffing recipe is also just really good (the apples help make it more moist)

And I think it can be served more elegantly in muffins than trying to spoon stuffing out of a baking dish

Every muffin is perfectly crispy on the top and moist in the middle. SO GOOD

@Anagram: just a tiny bit of black pepper. I don't put much, if any. I'll have to see if I can find the recipe, but I do know that we put orange juice as well.

@Anagram: I tried cornbread stuffing one year, but it seemed too dry and I think that I just really LOVE the regular kind. So, I won't be doing that again. I was so hopeful..

For dessert, I've made this pumpkin bar recipe many times and it's always a huge hit:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-bars-recipe.html

Homemade cranberry sauce is incredibly easy and the bag of cranberries usually has the recipe on it. I've also made an orange one and it came out great - http://damndelicious.net/2013/11/15/cranberry-orange-sauce/

I'm curious why you're not going to stuff the bird? I always like the texture of the stuffing better from inside over the extra stuff we cook in the oven. We do a really basic stuffing that is my favorite thing ever, but not very fancy. Lots of butter, onions and sage.

@Anagram: totally agree...I can't do it either.

We are hosting for the very first time ever!!! We are doing brined turkey and then stuffing the cavity with lemon, onion, and rosemary. Sides are:
Mashed potatoes
Regular stuffing with onion, sage, and sausage (cooking in crockpot to save space in the oven)
Honey glazed carrots
Green bean casserole (not my fave but DH loves it)
Roasted asparagus
Creamed pearl onions
Rolls
Cranberry relish-

Dessert:
Pumpkin pie
Maple bourbon pecan pie (no Karo syrup here because I think it's gross. I just use maple and brown sugar)

As far as your preferences go- for the green beans I like to lightly steam them and serve with toasted sliced almonds and lemon butter reduction. Sweet potatoes are delicious just peeled, cubed, and roasted in olive oil with a little chili powder (or Rosemary since you are hosting littles), salt and pepper.

My family always makes cranberry relish, which is just fresh cranberries, a whole orange, and sugar chopped together in a food processor. The recipe calls for a cup of sugar but I don't like it that sweet so I start out with just a little and add to taste.

Other desserts that I love for TG are apple pie, cranberry cake, or gingerbread cake!

We are going to test this out one day this week....but looks easy enough!

http://karalydon.com/recipes/slow-cooker-baked-apples/

I like that it's in a slow cooker so no oven space needed!

Using as an apple pie alternative....

I split the cooking with my MIL and D's aunt.

I'm making:

Either butternut squash or kale gratin (haven't decided for sure yet, I think I'm leaning towards kale, though).
Sausage and apple stuffing
Sweet potato rolls
Chocolate torte
Cranberry curd tart

We also have a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato puree with orange sauce, cranberry sauce, creamed pearl onions, oyster dressing, and pumpkin and apple pies.

D's aunt (the hostess) also puts together a killer cheese board and candied walnuts.

This is my favorite stuffing: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/crown-roast-with-sourdough-dressing-recipe.html

I use my own cream of mushroom soup instead of the golden mushroom so it's a bit less processed.

@Foodnerd81: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-maple-turkey-breast

I didn't make the sauce or even need gravy!

I can't remember my aunt's menu except for the dessert she's making and the sides she asked me to make. Sides: baked mac & cheese and candied yams. My dad brought over yams from his own garden for me to use. My aunt is making some pecan crunchy whipped thing that I LOVE and a vanilla bundt cake that is out of this world.

ETA: the cranberry sauce can be made ahead of time. In addition to white sugar I add a cinnamon stick, orange juice and orange segments. Before you serve just take out the cinnamon stick.