Thanksgiving 2013 Game Plan

I've realized more and more that I come from a family of cooks. My mom has always been a from-scratch cook, like her mom and her grandmother who lived on a farm in Napa Valley. My dad has been the big surprise- during his working years (aka, all the years until last summer) his extent of cooking was...eggs? Campbell's soup? Grilled cheese, definitely. Manning the grill in the summertime off and on. And taking us out to dinner was his specialty! But since retirement he has caught the cooking bug, so to speak, and whips up gourmet meals (think grilled watermelon salad with feta and arugula) all the time. This is all to say, Thanksgiving is serious at our house and serious in a different way than with Brian's family. They are big on tradition- sage stuffing, cranberry "salad," home canned green beans, mac and cheese, etc. You do not mess with the meal at their house. We like to try new things and Mom has been cataloging our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals in a notebook for a few years now, taking note of what we liked and what didn't work. This year we've split the menu pretty evenly and here's what we're making:

Mom:
2 Turkey Breasts
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Souffle
Green Salad
Cranberry sauce (canned and fresh. I have a die hard love for the canned cranberry sauce, I don't care what anyone says about it).
Coconut-Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Me:
Garlic-Rosemary Rolls
Brussels Sprouts
Wild Mushroom and Bacon Stuffing
Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie

I'm spreading out the work over the week- pie crust and fresh bread for the stuffing were made on Sunday. Tomorrow I'll make the dough for the rolls, (it's a breadmaker recipe so don't be too impressed), the stuffing and the chocolate base for the pie, and probably prep the Brussels Sprouts. Then on Thursday I'll let the rolls rise and bake, cook up the sprouts (probably with bacon) and top the pie with pecans and fresh caramel.

To be clear, this meal is for my parents, Brian and I. We're having a very small Thanksgiving this year and planning on lots of leftovers!