Thanksgiving Menu

Rockwell's idea of Thanksgiving

Somehow it's November, and Thanksgiving is exactly one week away. As is typical for me, I have done nothing to plan or prepare for this event, even though it looks like I'll be so lucky as to have both of my sons, Alec and Benjamin, home for the holiday.

Benjy arrives on Sunday, which just happens to be his birthday. He'll be 22. So we have that to celebrate.

But when it comes to Thanksgiving, plans are still in the works.

Although I love a traditional Thanksgiving spread, I've started to change what I'm cooking based on — wait for it — what we actually eat. Whoa! What a concept!

I used to get a 12-pound turkey for the three of us. We would fight over the breast meat and then kind of work our way through the rest. Rather than buy a whole turkey, I started buying just a turkey breast. It eliminates waste and leaves more room in the fridge. The only trouble with this is that most turkey breasts are about 7 pounds, and part of that is bone. That doesn't leave much in the way of leftovers.

I thought I'd be clever this year and order a big, fat turkey breast, but the woman at the butcher shop told me that turkey breasts only come in 7- to 8-pound sizes. Frustrated, I explained the situation to her, and she came up with this groundbreaking solution: buy TWO!

My family at Thanksgiving when I was about 9 years old.

So this year, I'm going to buy and brine two turkey breasts so that we'll have lots of leftovers. Here's what's on the rest of our menu:

Tray of munchables, like olives, radishes, celery sticks, Italian peppers — This keeps hungry young men from bugging the cook.

Mashed potatoes — Greatest food invention ever.

Stuffing — Not inside the bird, obviously. With potatoes, we don't really need it, but what is Thanksgiving without stuffing?

Some kind of squash — I have acorn and delicatta left from my garden. I steam delicatta but bake acorn squash.

Green Beans — I usually just steam them but this year I might mix them with steamed golden beats.

Broccoli or Brussel sprouts — We love both in this house, and I saw a cool recipe for oven roasting Brussel sprout halves after stirring them in a mix of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and spices.

Cranberry sauce — Nothing from a can, thank you. I make my own from fresh berries. It's easy and tastes so much better. Plus, you can cut back on the sugar.

And for the grand finale, a homemade Pecan Pie and my first attempt ever at Maple Cream Pie, something Benjy learned to love from his years in college in upstate New York.

I'm going to be back, probably this weekend, to discuss pie-making with Natalie Benoit McBride — the heroine from Breaking Point. This is her first Thanksgiving as a married woman, and she's pulling out the stops to make it special and romantic for herself and her husband, Zach McBride. They definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year. I had hoped to bring Dessert Diva in from the newspaper to make pies with Natalie, but that never worked out, so you're stuck with me.

Speaking of Breaking Point, it was named one of the top 10 romances both under books and Kindle romance of 2011 by Amazon.com — a huge honor and a thrill. Right now, you can vote for Breaking Point in the Goodreads Choice Awards, where it has made the semifinal rounds and faces some amazing competition. Click here to vote, and thank you so much for your support!