Thanksgiving recipe round-up

What about pumpkin pie...and cheesecake?

Gearing up for the big Thanksgiving holiday?  Here are some recipes to make quick appetizers, yummy sides, and desserts for the big day. Also, if you’re looking to learn a little bit more about the first Thanksgiving, check out my post at WanderingEducators.

Appetizers

Forget the crackers and cheese tray: These appetizers will impress your guests, without you spending hours in the kitchen.

Veggie quesadillas

Throw together these quesadillas for a quick pre-meal munchie for guests.

Edamame Spread

Maggie Long of the Ann Arbor’s Jolly Pumpkin Café & Brewery serves this edamame spread with pizza pieces, you could use sourdough bread slices.

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Hummus

Crisp pita chips to go along with this hummus that uses peanut butter in place of tahini sauce.

Sides

Add dried cranberries to give the bistro green beans a holiday flare

Looking to tweak your stand-by holiday sides just a little? These recipes will give you some ideas.

Whipped mashed potatoes

Use your hand-held blender and extra milk to make your potatoes extra creamy.

Bistro green beans

Update your green bean dish with this recipe. Bonus: it won’t take up oven space.

Butter crescent rolls

Looking for a no-fail roll recipe? This IS it.

Dessert

Along with pumpkin pie, why not try some of these tempting sweets too?

Achatz apple pie

Michigan’s premiere pie maker, Wendy Achatz, passed along this simple recipe. Start peeling the apples…

Raspberry tart

Use a pre-made piecrust in a tart pan for something a little fancier than pie. And don’t worry, this dessert only looks hard to make.

Pumpkin cookies

Why not put the pumpkin in cookies instead of pie this year? Just Baked’ s Pam Turkin shares her recipe.

Chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake

Usually, I save this for Christmas, but my teen has been begging for us to have this on Thanksgiving too.