A Southern Thanksgiving

I was thinking today about all of the family tradition dishes that are served at my mother's Thanksgiving table. (I laughed to myself beacuse in a matter of minutes I was able to find pictures of all of our usual thanksgiving foods on the Southern Living and Cottage Living websites). This post is especially for our northern friends we made while living in Philly. When we discussed Thanksgiving I realized our spreads are completely different.

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We are a southern family tried and true (except for my dad's 1/2 Yankee blood). Bless his heart. My paternal granddaddy (Poppa) was from Illinois. Shhh...don't tell anybody. Our disclaimer to this fact is that he moved to south Georgia to live his life with his new bride at a young age. He realized what was good for him and never left.

This Thanksgiving will be a little different for everyone. We can thank the network hosting the Iron Bowl (when the University of Alabama and Auburn University play each other) for this oddity. Thanksgiving is the day before the Iron Bowl. Thus, we will be in Auburn having our meal of thanks with our tailgating friends and not at one of our mother's tables. Weird. I am trying to get used to the idea. I know we will have a great time, but it just won't be what we are used to doing for this holiday.

Even if we wanted to eat with my family this year we wouldn't be doing it in our traditional way. My parents are going to my aunt's for Thanksgiving. Is it just me or is the whole Thanksgiving Day off kilter this year? I know they will have a lovely time. I will miss not being there with my extended family.

Anyway...back to the point of this post. Sorry, I ramble sometimes. I was thinking about what dishes I equate with Thanksgiving. Because I have grown up with a mother and grandmother from Rome, Georgia (a beautiful small north Georgia city) I have become accustomed to eating all of the southern delicacies associated with this special day. (Now, read this with a thick southern drawl. Think Paula Deen. It will make the food look even better. I promise.)

Mom usually prepares an oven roasted turkey. My husband will also usually fry a turkey. (Yeah, one of our favorite wedding presents was a deep fryer. Call us country...we don't mind.) We've found it is also very handy to boil peanuts at tailgates. This is another tasty southern treat. I'll do a typical tailgate foods post at a later time.

The typical casseroles are also prepared. The sweet potata' casserole is topped with marshmallows or pecans. The green bean casserole has fried onions on top of it.

Mom usually makes a cranberry and orange relish to eat with the turkey.

She also makes giblet gravy. This is a true southern dish. If you have to ask what parts of the turkey are considered the giblets than you're probably not from the deep south.

We also serve collards at our Thanksgiving feast. My father-in-law is the collard master. He has this dish preparation down to a science.

Mom usually prepares our Christmas and Thanksgiving dressing on the same day. She makes two pans and freezes one for Christmas. Her dressing is amazing!

She also makes some yummy homemade yeast rolls. Mmmm...I can smell them now.

For dessert we usually have pecan pie and homemade chocolate pie with mom's tremendous meringue. Her pies are so good she used to sell them when my brother and I were little.

Since I knew I wasn't going to get to have all of these yummy treats with my family this year I at least wanted to experience them electronically. I am officially starving just thinking about all of these yummy southern comfort foods. I will share recipes for these dishes soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Pictures courtesy of Southern Living and Cottage Living).