Bee and I were just discussing the essentials for a Thanksgiving dinner, as we're gonna try to do a bare bones dinner this year!
Here's what we came up with:
Bare essentials: Turkey/chicken + stuffing
Also pretty darn essential: Mashed potatoes + gravy
Nice to have: Cranberry sauce
Anything you'd add to the list? Let me know if we're missing something key to the Thanksgiving experience!
eggplant / 11824 posts
Cranberry is essential to me - turkey is meh without it! I could definitely do without turkey, if I had it's pan drippings to make gravy with! 
Essential:
Stuffing
Gravy
Everything else is just nice to have
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@yoursilverlining: Without turkey?! That is some Thanksgiving heresy right there!!
nectarine / 2690 posts
Stuffing/dressing and green bean casserole are what make Thanksgiving for me!
eggplant / 11824 posts
@mrbee: it's just a distraction from the stuffing and gravy! I only use turkey as a vehicle for cranberry sauce
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@sera_87: We usually do a salad! And like @Andrea: mentioned, green bean casserole - I forgot about that one!!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@yoursilverlining: I agree with everything you're saying... just hard for me to picture Thanksgiving with a fowl of some sort on the table!!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@mrbee: this is basically all I make since it's just our family of 4 every year for Thanksgiving so we don't need a ton of food. Bare bones it is!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@Andrea: Totally true, but what about leftovers? I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the turkey sandwiches for the next week!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@mrbee: We definitely still have leftovers! The two kiddos don't eat tons of meat. They do take all the delicious dark meat though, booooo!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@Andrea: Haha mine too! My kids also try to eat all the skin before we can... another boo!
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
Other than the turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie are musts to me... And DH's family doesn't have either! It's unAmerican haha!
DH thinks baked Mac & cheese is a Thanksgiving standard, though. Weirdo
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
If it were totally up to me, I would do heavy appetizers and dessert. I love small tastes of lots of things and sweets, so I'd skip the hassle of the turkey altogether!
Or I would make salmon en croute, if everyone demanded a side dish. I think it's pretty traditional, at least the salmon part is!
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Stuffing, mashed potatoes, my MIL's sweet potato purée with orange sauce, green bean casserole, rolls, and pumpkin pie. I eat the turkey out of tradition but I'd be just as fine passing on it. I might just make a plate of sides this year
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
@looch: When I was a teenager I stayed home on Thanksgiving while my family went out of town to work on Black Friday. I went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and they served salmon instead of turkey. I called my mom crying!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@daniellemybelle: awwww, but fish was one of the foods served at the first thanksgiving, that's how I rationalize it!
pear / 1672 posts
I'm always fascinated by what people eat for Thanksgiving and what they think is most important.
Essential: Turkey + stuffing (or some other large roasted animal)
My favorite sides: sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, baked macaroni and cheese, roasted veggies, some sort of greens.
Dessert: Wweet potato pie. It's not Thanksgiving to me without it.
I didn't have green bean casserole until about 5 years ago at my in-laws. Y'all can keep that.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
@BKCaribBaby: LOL to your feelings on green bean casserole! Your ideal Thanksgiving dinner sounds just like my in-laws except they just do candied yams instead of sweet potato casserole and no pies. Maybe we should switch in-laws 
watermelon / 14467 posts
Must-haves: Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, baked macaroni and cheese, and cranberry sauce from a can (the kind you can slice), and my dad's apple pie. I can do without corn and mashed potatoes, but my husband wants both this year.
My inlaws do baked beans on Thanksgiving. It's weird. Baked beans belong to summertime and the grill to me, but I'm making them this year because my husband asked me to. My MIL does the most awful stuffing. I cannot choke it down, so I'm glad I don't have to pretend this year.
@daniellemybelle: What. the. hell. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without pie.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
@avivoca: I know. One year I made a pie and brought it on the airplane because I knew I'd be too homesick without it! I think I am going to make pie again this year.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
You got it covered. If all I had was turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a pumpkin pie I would be set.
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