Thanksgiving: It’s What’s For Dinner
Well, I’ve officially begun the process of readying the house for our Thanksgiving guests. The pantry has been organized, the fridge and the oven are next. (Who doesn’t love cleaning the oven?) This year will be my first year at hosting a family Thanksgiving (Brad’s side), but everyone’s pitching in, so I’m in no way responsible for the entire meal. Pheewwww!
Both Brad’s family and my own are known for the traditional Thanksgiving spread:
Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Corn, Rolls, and Pumpkin Pie
I can almost smell it!
If I get everything checked off my list, I’ll be making my Carrot Cake. I got it from a school carry-in a few years ago, and I’ve been highly addicted since. If I don’t get around to it, I’ll leave you the recipe so you can tell me how absolutely amazing it is! Seriously, I consider myself a bit of a “Carrot Cake Connoisseur” and this cake is the best I’ve ever eaten! _________________________________________________________________________________
Make It From Scratch Because It’s So Worth It Homemade Carrot Cake Recipe
2 c sugar 2 c flour
2 tsp. cinnamon 3 eggs beaten
1-2 tsp. Allspice 1 c chopped walnuts
1 c oil 1/2 can crushed pineapple partially drained
3 c grated carrots 2 tsp. baking soda
Mix all the ingredients together and pour into two lightly greased cake pans. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 – 8 oz pkg. of cream cheese 1 stick of butter
1 1/2 c powered sugar 3 tsp. of vanilla
Mix cream cheese and butter together until well blended. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy.
A couple of tips:
* I would definitely use a food processor for grating your carrots, or you’ll spend the entire duration of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade shredding carrots and your knuckles.
* If you don’t have Allspice on hand you can substitute equal parts nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves
* If you really like icing (like I do) you might want to make a double batch of icing
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What’s on YOUR Thanksgiving menu? A traditional meal? Out to eat? Regional tastes? I’d love to hear about your favorite fixin’s!
Sounds delicious. We also have a traditional Thanksgiving with Turkey, Ham, Stuffing, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, rolls and salad. We finish off with cheesecake, pumpkin pie and if we are lucky, carrot cake.
This year I am especially looking forward to Thanksgiving since it will be my son's 2nd Birthday!
Oh my goodness! The carrot cake sounds wonderful. Hopefully I'll have time to make one and let you know how it turns out! Thanks for posting it.
I'm getting hungry already!
Our meal is pretty much the same, minus the corn. Though it sounds like a good addition!
We also usually have an apple pie along with pumpkin and pecan pie. The apple pie is homemade from my great-grandma's secret recipe…mmmm!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Just a quick question, noticed you had 3c grated carrots twice and wanted to make sure we are suppose to use 6 cups of carrots. I think I will be trying this. I've had carrot cake that I loved but they wouldn't part with the recipe and I've had some that I hated. I trust that I will love this one.
We had round 1 of Thanksgiving today for Sean's family. It was your traditional dinner…Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, homemade noodles, pumpkin pie and persimmon pudding. I did make a spinach salad for something lighter! Round 2 will be on Thursday in Marshall!
My husband makes the same carrot cake!! We love it and it is requested *every* Thanksgiving! Other than that, it is a pretty traditional meal for us. My favorite is what I always bring and it is a new-er recipe I found a few years ago. It's "Festive Cranberry Salad" and it is cranberries, granny smith apples, and walnuts in raspberry jello. It is soooo good!
Have a fantastic and blessed Thanksgiving!
We are from the South, so we always have a fried turkey! Plus a baked ham, sweet potato casserole, cornbread muffin sticks, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, cornbread and sage stuffing, and of course the pies, with fresh whipped cream for the top.. pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie ,brownies, and rum cake!
We are having Thanksgiving far away from "home" for the first time, so we decided to gather up all the "strays" at our house and make our own family for the day. A total of 15 people, 7 adults and 8children 5 and under! I am making a turkey and the stuffing and a pumpkin pie for the first time!
Yum! I am going to try your carrot cake recipe!! Thanks for sharing. We have a fried turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, and the gravy of course. We usually finish the meal off with my caramel apple pie, and also a pumpkin pie.
Hope your holiday is truly blessed and not too crazy since you are hosting:-)
I always love the recipes you post on here. Thanks for sharing the new one for Carrot Cake. I've always wanted to try a home made recipe.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Stacey McCastlain
"If you really like icing (like I do) you might want to make a double batch of icing"
I *knew* you were my kinda girl! 😉
I can never get enough stuffing! Maybe it's because you eat the other stuff all the time and stuffing is really the best from the Turkey (Stove Top does not compare! lol!)
just was thinking of making a carrot cake. and here you post your tried & true recipe. thanks so much!
Thanks – I just made one of these carrot cakes and I have a question. Is the flour supposed to be all purpose flour or self rising flour? I had assumed all purpose but now that it is baked, it is very very dense and I'm wondering if since the recipe doesn't have any baking soda/pwdr in it, maybe you meant self rising flour? Let me know! Thanks!!
Do you use half of a large can or small can of crushed pineapple!??