the thanksgiving plan

mom and dad are coming again this year (!), and i love to cook, so i'm already planning our menu.  no turkey again this year (my parents are awesome), but we will have:

--fancy mac & cheese (i learned how to make a roux as a teenager using this recipe; i make it with penne noodles, because penne > macaroni)
--grandma norma's green bean casserole (a must, obviously)
--from the smitten kitchen cookbook, a recipe for roasted eggplant with crispy chickpeas and a yogurt tahini sauce (i haven't tried this recipe before but it looks awesome and could be a quasi-substitute for meat)
--smitten kitchen's kale and caramelized onion stuffing (which both my parents - independent of one another - asked if we could add mushrooms to, because in my family mushrooms are king.  we will be adding mushrooms.  this is another recipe i haven't tried yet but am excited to!)
--brussels sprouts of some sort, perhaps the pioneer woman recipe i've used before and love
--pumpkin pie of some sort, per mom's request (maybe another pioneer woman recipe that becky made one year - it's a pumpkin cream pie, which cuts the super pumpkin-y flavor and consistency of normal pumpkin pie...the exact specifications of this is still up for debate)

basically, this thanksgiving reflects my trio of food inspirations - family + smitten kitchen + pioneer woman.  that about sums up what i eat in everyday life, too...plus a sprinkling of things i learned in cooking classes and things mark bittman taught me how to make.