A Friends Giving Menu

A non-traditional menu for Thanksgiving with friends (a.k.a Friendsgiving)

A Friends Giving Menu

Thanksgiving is next week, which means this weekend is for Friendsgiving! What I love about Friendsgiving is that it’s more than ok to change up T-giving traditions – to keep the ones you like and ditch the ones you don’t (bye bye canned green bean casserole!). To celebrate, I’ve put together a menu of some of my personal favorite recipes that I think will be perfect for the occasion.

But before we get there, we should always remember that you can’t have a “Friendsgiving” without “giving.” To that end, and to help bring more food to more people this holiday, we’re partnering with ALDI who is teaming up with Venmo, and Feeding America to add a new tradition of giving to your Friendsgiving celebration. See that cute turkey hand emoji up there? Every time the Turkey Hand is shared on Venmo this November, ALDI will donate 10 meals to Feeding America to help people in need, up to one million meals(!!!).

The emoji, inspired by the nostalgic childhood craft, symbolizes the essence of Friendsgiving: sharing and giving. To activate an ALDI donation with your Venmo payment, use the Turkey Hand emoji in your payment note. You can select the Turkey Hand emoji from the emoji picker or type in the word “Friendsgiving” and the Turkey Hand emoji will autocomplete.

Now for the menu!
(Click on each image to go to the recipes)

Sweet Potato Avocado Tartare

I love this little appetizer – it’s like mini avocado toasts but on sweet potato rounds.

Shredded Brussels Sprout Apple Salad (pictured at the top of the post)

Every Love & Lemons menu needs a salad, and this is my favorite one to bring and share. Skip the apples (or slice and add them at the last minute) and it can be made the morning before your event.

Sweet Potato Avocado Tartare

Spiced Up Fall Squash Salad

I shared this one a few weeks ago and it’s been a hit at my fall gatherings ever since – you just can’t go wrong with butternut squash, pomegranates and goat cheese during this time of year!

Spiced-Up Fall Squash Salad

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Broccoli

Not your traditional marshmallow sweet potato casserole – this one is delicious AND happens to be good for you.

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Broccoli

Butternut Squash Black Bean Enchiladas

Because it’s my party, I can have Thanksgiving Enchiladas if I want to. 🙂 So can you!

Butternut Squash Black Bean Enchiladas

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

This is my favorite way to prepare Brussels sprouts. A touch of maple, tangy balsamic, cranberries, pecans, and roasted red onions for pop.

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Parfaits

These are like pumpkin pie, but require only a fraction of the work! Plus they’re ADORABLE.

  Vegan Pumpkin Pie Parfaits

Happy Friendsgiving everyone!

And sincerest thanks to the sponsor of this post, ALDI, both for allowing us to take part in this great act of generosity and for creating such a fun, great way to give! Don’t forget to use that turkey hand emoji!

4 comments

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  1. Bankim Chandra
    04.24.2020

    Although this is an old post but in today’s scenario when the world is fighting the covid 19 scare it is vital for all of us to be compassionate and truly start caring about others.

    We probably should ensure that no food is wasted in our houses.

    Suddenly Money has started appearing to be so irrelevant.

  2. Linda
    11.23.2017

    These punkin pie parfaits look great! Question about the jars: did you remove the lids and use something else smooth the rims? Thank you!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.24.2017

      They’re little Weck tulip jars with the lids removed. The rims are pretty smooth, I think it’s just the way they are?

  3. Olga from olis-myme.blogspot.com
    11.18.2017

    Such a great post! We are not celebrating Thanksgiving here but I was looking for something to whip up on that day and those vegan pumpkin pie parfaits look like just the thing!

    olis-myme.blogspot.com

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.