I’m thankful that every year I’ve owned a home, I’ve been able to host Thanksgiving at my house! It’s always been small with just my parents and boyfriend, but it’s always been a fun time. This year, my poor pup has been sick leading up to Thanksgiving and I’ve been stressing about him. Fortunately, he’s finally getting better now, and I wanted to share with you my Thanksgiving menu lineup!
Also this will be my first time making the majority of these recipes, so come back after Thanksgiving and I’ll update the post with my ratings of each recipe. ❤
Main Course
Crispy Cheddar Chicken
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Don’t fear if you have a bunch of crushed Ritz and cheese leftover after pressing all the chicken! Just take it and press into the chicken that’s in the pan, it’ll still cook up absolutely amazing.
Sides
Baked Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches
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Keep an eye on these in the oven based on the type of Hawaiian buns you buy. Some of the rolls can go 20 minutes in the oven, but others need less than 10 minutes or they’ll burn.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
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Baked Mac & Cheese
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Dessert
Perfect Cheesecake
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TIPS & TRICKS:Be careful cooking it additional time to get that perfect golden-brown top. I cooked for 60 minutes and wasn’t golden at all on the top, so I went an additional 10 minutes. Before the 10 minutes was up, I checked on it and it was a little past golden brown (not quite burnt, but too close for comfort).
When doing the water bath, to prevent the water from leaking, wrap the pan first in a slow cooker liner, then wrap that with aluminum foil. It made the cheesecake turn out absolutely perfectly!
Be very careful opening the oven when doing the water bath, I normally wait a minute to make sure the hot air doesn’t hit my face, but with the water bath, the steam lingered a little longer and almost burnt my face one time when I opened! 😮
Salted Caramel Sauce (for the cheesecake)
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TIPS & TRICKS:Constantly stir, and make sure all your ingredients are ready to put into the pan as you’re cooking the caramel! The caramel wants to burn very easily if you walk away more than a second, but it’s very worth it.
The only suggestion to add if you’re making this for a cheesecake — I’d try adding sea salt vs. normal salt to give more of a salted caramel texture for the cheesecake. Perhaps making a design on the top of the cheesecake with the sea salt would also be nice! — This suggestion courtesy of my boyfriend, who gave the cheesecake an 8/10 because it wasn’t sea salt… but still ate 2 large pieces.
Circle City Crochet 