Next week, we celebrate my absolute favorite food day of the year. The turkey’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve always been a bigger fan of that particular bird the day after Thanksgiving, served between thick slices of white bread slathered with a healthy dose of mayonnaise and bedecked with Grandma’s secret-recipe sweet pickles. You’re nodding in agreement, aren’t you?

What really makes Thanksgiving my very favorite day for eating, you ask? The bevy of sides available, from traditional green bean casserole to soon-to-be-classic butternut squash bread pudding. Yeah, you heard me. And with a slew of fall vegetables available at farmers’ markets across the state, it’s easy to put together a totally Texan Thanksgiving meal. Our warm climate even affords us the chance for fresh green beans, potatoes, pumpkins, and more. Here’s my dream menu, complete with three recipes featuring my favorite, butternut squash.

Fall favorite sides:
Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage Sage* (add potatoes, shallots, and rosemary too!)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans
Cornbread Stuffing with Poblano Peppers
Modern Green Bean Casserole*
Braised Carrots with Thyme
Swiss Chard Gratin

Dessert:
Butternut Squash Bread Pudding with Tres Leches Sauce*
Spiced Butternut Squash Pie with Pecan Shortbread Crust*
Caramel Pumpkin Pie*
Good Old Apple Pie*

What are you serving up along side the turkey next week?

*These recipes have been tested, and approved, by yours truly! As for the others, I’ve made very similar dishes but the recipes reside in cookbooks stacked on a shelf in my kitchen, so these links represent a close match.

Tagged: butternut squash, cooking, farmer's market, green bean casserole, Texas produce, Thanksgiving, tres leches, turkey