Friendsgiving might just be one of my favorite traditions of the year. We’ve gathered for the past few years with a few of our closest friends – together our three families have ten children ranging in age from 3-12 way outnumbering the adults. I was a little hesitant to host everyone this year as its been a busy fall and have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with upcoming travel for our own Thanksgiving. But I happily agreed and realized this was the perfect weekend to test out some recipes for our actual Thanksgiving in Chicago with absolutely no pressure, no family dynamics and no travel.

Our plan was to have everyone over for a very early family Sunday dinner and have everyone bring something. I didn’t have much time to prep much ahead this year, something I always try to do when hosting but woke up early Sunday morning and just embraced having the three kids and husband in the kitchen together all morning. My husband doesn’t do a lot of cooking but LOVES making Turkey – so I leave it completely in his hands. His preferred method these days is to get a brined turkey and smoke it low and slow on our Traeger Grill.  

My daughters were actually excited and willing to try their hands at a few things on their own this year. They volunteered to make the cranberries, researched and made this delicious, very easy recipe from Bon Appetit. 

I had some delicata squash and love to use up the sage that’s still flourishing in my garden and have this recipe for Winter Squash with Crispy Sage and Honey on repeat by Eden Grinshapn – it’s sooo easy and delicious.  

I had made a big salad for dinner the night before and so prepped some extra dressing and tossed together a big green salad. I love Susan Spungen’s Basic Vinaigrette which is similar to this one from Via Carota. 1 medium shallot diced, 1 tbs dijon mustard, 2 tbs red or white wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, freshly ground pepper, 1 tbs fresh herbs chopped, 1/4 cup olive oil. Combine ingredients in a jar and vigorously shake!

My speciality is always a grain salad and I love the base of Susan Spungen’s Grain Salad with Many Flavors – it’s super adaptable, the grains can be made a day of ahead of time and the entire salad assembled and chilled hours before dinner. Susan calls for a mix of farro and lentils but I just use two cups of farro. I like to cook the grain in a liquid of both water and 1 cup of apple cider. Be careful not to overcook the farro, I like mine firm and a little chewy, I also rinse the farro after its cooked and spread out on a baking sheet to dry until I’m ready to assemble the salad. I incorporated leftover roasted sweet potatoes, 1 cup of golden raisins, 1 cup grated carrots, 1 chopped cucumber, 1/3 cup slivered Kalamata olives and a handful of roasted pistachios. The dressing is similar to the vinaigrette for the green salad just without the dijon a mix of lemon juice, minced shallots, red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. A combination of any fresh chopped herbs will work here. This is what I’ll be making for our own Thanksgiving feast in Chicago later this week!