Get out your recipes and start your shopping lists! It's November 1st, which means open season on Thanksgiving planning. Zach and Clay from The Bitten Word are here to help us get started with a look at what's trending (and what's not) in our favorite food magazines this year.
After collecting all of this year's Thanksgiving issues and indexing their recipes, Zach and Clay's verdict is that Thanksgiving 2011 is looking pretty laid back, actually. Lots of traditional comfort dishes and familiar flavors. Which, given how hard food magazines try to re-invent the wheel every year, honestly feels like a welcome relief!
Some trends were clear. Vegetarian main dishes put in a good showing. And after a few seasons of a "Thanksgiving cake" trend, pie is back (hooray!). Green beans and Brussels sprouts led the charge for side dishes, while corn continues to be absent from Thanksgiving recipes.
Take a look at Zach and Clay's full analysis of this year's trends:
• Thanksgiving 2011 Trends in Food Magazines: Pies, Pecans, Ginger and Green Beans from The Bitten Word
And you'll want to bookmark their index of recipes for future reference and menu planning:
• Thanksgiving 2011 Recipe Index: What the Food Magazines Are Recommending from The Bitten Word
Any ideas about what you'll be making for Thanksgiving this year?
Related: Five Thanksgiving Prep Tips from Melissa Clark
(Image: The Bitten Word)
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Shouldn't this be about year 2011.
twylag - I thought the same thing, LOL
I def. want to make something different this year for thanksgiving to add to the meal but I'm not sure what.
one year I did a cream corn pudding type thing and oven roasted veggies (potato, carrots, squash, etc) and my brother and husband, who are very traditional when it comes to thanksgiving, were disappointed...they just wanted basic corn out of can with some butter and old fashion mashed potatoes.
Ha! 2012, indeed. Apparently, I'm eager for the new year to come! Fixing now...
For sure I am NOT cooking a turkey this year. It's never worth the effort involved, and I would honestly rather have a roast chicken instead.
Def. doing a raw kale salad again, and chanterelle mushroom stuffing/dressing. I have vegetarians coming over so I'm thinking more about the veggies this year--maybe stuffed squash or eggplant for a main?
I love a good word cloud.
I'm so glad people are warming up to the Brussels sprouts. I was totally ignorant to their awesomeness until Nigella talked me into them last Christmas. I'm really looking forward to them this year! And I love making my own cranberry sauce. So delicious and so not a big deal at all.
We get creative with the side-dishes, but the family is really hide-bound about having turkey. But it's never dry and I love the dark meat anyway.
I tried brussel sprouts for the first time last night. I got some in my produce box a couple weeks ago & I thought about subbing them, but decided to give them a shot. The recipe I found was to sautee them in honey butter until they carmelized, then add some chili flakes, a bit of water, cover, & cook a few more min until done. I can't believe I hadn't tried them before! I'm going to start buying them & will be making them for Thanksgiving this year.
It looks like I will be attending THREE Thanksgiving dinners (big one Friday, so will probably wind up at a friend's Thursday, and "fake Thanksgiving" with other friends the following weekend), so this is exciting. Might go for straight up vegetable sides, might bring my Mediterranean flair.
So I'm thinking 3-4 of the following:
-a favorite root vegetable bake with cheddar biscuit topping
-baked spinach with cream
-spanish-style spinach and chickpeas (not really Thanksgiving-rate fancy, but easy and good)
-spanakopita
-sweet potato bisteeya from Ana Sortun's cookbook (is it savory? is it sweet? who knows? it's awesome!)
-apple/ginger/cranberry crumble