Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Neither are fancy, but both are oh-so-good!

Carrot Soufflé
Serves 10

3-1/2 lbs peeled carrots
1-1/2 lbs sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1 TBS vanilla
1/4 cup flour
6 eggs
1/2 lb butter, softened
powdered sugar

Steam or boil carrots until extra soft. Drain well.
While carrots are warm, add sugar, baking powder and vanilla.
Whip with mixer until smooth.
Add flour and mix well.
Whip eggs and add to carrot mixture. Blend well.
Add softened margarine to mixture and blend well.
Pour mixture into baking dish about half full as the souffle will rise.
Bake in 350ºF oven about 1 hour or until top is a light golden brown.
Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar over top before serving.

Corn Pudding

2 16 oz cans creamed corn
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk

Mix all ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into a 9”x13” baking pan. Bake at 350˚F for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and center is firm to touch.

as crazy as it might sound I never had mashed potatoes with Thanksgiving dinner until I moved to Chicago from New Orleans a few years ago. For me its all about grandmaws Oyster Stuffing and New Orleans Dirty Rice (an not the kind from the box in the grocery store).
let me know if you want some recipes :)

we've been doing mac n cheese as a new addition to thanksgiving and it is definitely the most popular dish on the table and the only one with zero leftovers. We use a simple tyler florence recipe but instead of 2lbs of the cheddar we usually will do like 1/2 cheddar and 1/2 fontina:

1/4 cup flour
1 stick butter
1 quart whole milk
2 pounds sharp cheddar
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 2quart saucepan, melt butter then incorporate flour to make roux. With a wire wisk slowly pour in milk, wisking vigorously to avoid lumps. Once milk is incorporated, sauce is made. Simmer for ten minutes to remove flour flavor. Finally fold in two pounds of grated cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. In a large mixing bowl combine elbow macaroni with cheese sauce. Mix well. Pour into casserole pan and bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes or until crunchy golden brown.

At our house we do all the traditional stuuf sort of tweaked up a bit as well as some stuff that others might find a little odd on the turkey day spread.

Ranch Potatoes (mashed potatos with powder ranch mix added, yes I know how it sounds but trust me, it's delish.)
Green Bean casserole (sauteed beans, shrooms and onions then make a gravy using the drippings and bake it all to lovelyness)
Asparagus casserole (pretty much the same as green bean but with asapagus instead)
Oven roasted Garlic and Butter glazed brussle sprouts
Homemade stuffing (corenbread and regular bread mixed with onions celery and carrots)
Butternut squash tots (roast the squash, mash it then portion out little bits and deep fry them)
Lime and cranberry relish

Here's a collection of my side recipes: http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-sides.html

These collard greens are delicious…

http://www.foodandwine.com:80/recipes/cider-braised-collards-with-ham

This is a fun and different side dish:
Pumpkin with Mascarpone and Pecan Pralines

I posted a few other ideas on the "not boring" thread Otabenga linked to above.

Cheers!

On the sides menu for this year:

Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes (with Marshmallows, of course!)
Stuffing
Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/Pancetta
Carmelized Onions
Cranberry Relish
Cranberry Chutney
Spiced Cranberries

I'm excited for Turkey Day this year as we will be at Mom's house and she's got two ovens!!!

I could also go for an all sides Thanksgiving. The turkey is good and all, but the sides are divine... We're also the cranberry family, so no less than three kinds of cranberries will do!

Can't wait till the big day!

I posted a recipe for my very favorite Thanksgiving side, corn pudding, on my site. It's tasty, and easy! http://therunawayspoon.com/blog/2009/11/classic-corn-pudding-with-cheddar-and-chives/

I

I blanche green beans and then toss them with caramelized onions that were cooked in bacon fat, then I garnish the beans with the bacon and slivered almonds.

I love Tyler Florence's dressing recipe that includes sweet Italian sausage, dried figs, fresh sage, and all kinds of other good stuff.

Asparagus is always good. I just toss them with salt, pepper, and olive oil, roast them, and then springle freshly grated parm on top.

Food and Wine had this great recipe for fall vegetable hash recently that I think I'm going to make for Thanksgiving this year. It sounds delicious:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-fall-vegetable-hash

I would gladly have a sides-only Thanksgiving. We typically do a brussels sprouts+chestnuts dish, as well as mashed rutabaga with buttermilk. This year, I'm also making some sort of a savory squash dish.

I roast sweet potatoes and butternut squash tossed with herbs and balsamic vinegar. I also do steamed rutabaga mashed with butter and sour cream (for me. I'm the only one who eats it, but it reminds me of my dad so I have to have it on the table.). My mom always brings a cranberry salsa (it's got roasted poblano peppers, orange zest and pistachios - way better than the run of the mill cranberry sauce!).

also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/dining/11sides.html?_r=1&ref=dining
great nytimes article today about side dishes