Untraditional Thanksgiving Menu: Our Thanksgiving Brunch

      I know that it's already been a few weeks since Thanksgiving and we are well into the Christmas season already, but I still wanted to get a post up about my menu for this Thanksgiving. Save this to use as inspiration for a future year, or maybe you'll even want to incorporate a recipe or two from here for your Christmas meals!

     This year was obviously an untraditional Thanksgiving for a lot of people, not just myself. I shared in this recent blog post that although I've spent many past Thanksgivings away from my parents in Maine due to living out-of-state, this is the first one that I've ever been completely at home and responsible for my own meal, and not invited to someone else's family gathering. As Thanksgiving got closer and closer this fall, I was honestly really nervous that it would be lonely and a total drag this year since I wasn't going to anyone's house. Honestly I was also kind of intimidated at the prospect of cooking an entire traditional Thanksgiving meal for just my roommate and I. I'm not a huge fan of roast turkey, pumpkin pie, or some other traditional dishes, so it seemed silly to put all the time and money into making them in our apartment when I probably wouldn't even want many leftovers.

    A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, I had the idea to do an untraditional menu since it's an untraditional year. Thankfully my roommate Abigail loved the idea! The two menus I thought of were Thanksgiving themed brunch or a build-your-own turkey burger bar. We ended up going the brunch route! I wanted every dish we served at brunch to be symbolic of a traditional Thanksgiving dish.

      

     Our Thanksgiving brunch ended up being for me, Abigail, and Abigail's grad school classmate Annika (who works entirely from her home this semester, and has been one of the two-three people in our COVID bubble who is allowed in our home). We all split the cooking and drink making into thirds, and it was perfect. Doing a brunch menu versus a traditional meal cut down the cooking time and clean-up so much! It only took about an hour and a half of prep and cooking (including setting the table), and we were able to easily clean our kitchen that evening, so we weren't stuck with a huge mess. 

     Here is our menu, and who was responsible for what:

     Thanksgiving Brunch Menu:

• Cranberry Moscow Mules - Abigail 
• Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Pancakes - Annaliese (this recipe doesn't call for chocolate chips but I added some and they made it even better!)
• Homemade vanilla whipped cream - Annaliese (to serve over pancakes)
• Peppered turkey bacon - Abigail (from Trader Joe's!)
• Pumpkin bread - Annika (from Trader Joe's!)
• Sweet Potato Hash - Annika 
• Stuffing - Annaliese (Stove Top brand from the grocery store- hey, you can't beat the box mix sometimes!)
• Mexican Hot Chocolate - Annaliese (this has nothing to do with being Thanksgiving inspired, but Abigail and I both love this!)

    The three of us agreed this was one of the best Thanksgiving meals we've all ever had! Should I have future opportunities to host Thanksgiving, I really want to copy this menu again. The pumpkin pancakes especially might just be the best homemade pancakes that I've ever made. They were incredibly flavorful and fluffy!

    The rest of Thanksgiving was so nice too. I watched the parade in the morning, and after we ate brunch the three of us met some of Abigail and Annika's other classmates for playing pickle-ball and going on a long walk at a nearby park. The three of us ended the evening back at our apartment with the Mexican hot chocolate, decorating our Christmas tree, and watching Gilmore Girls! As far as COVID holidays at home go.... this one was pretty wonderful. 😊

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese