The Great Thanksgiving Side Dish Link Up! Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

My friend, Andie, is hosting another link-up, this time to share wonderful Thanksgiving side ideas. I have two signatures I must make every year: Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Chutney Dressing and then Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle for dessert. I didn't go all out with the warm chutney dressing last year on my sweet potato salad, (but yes, I did miss it!) I just did simple roasted sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, & ground ginger, then tossed with dried cranberries & roasted/salted pumpkin seeds. It tickles me to pieces that my kids LOVE this! Sweet potatoes are my *MUST HAVE* side. What's yours?

For my dessert trifle, I use Trader Joe's Deep Dark Gingerbread Cake & Baking Mix - the most flavorful, amazing baking mix I've ever used! Last year, I accidentally grabbed pure pumpkin (what I use in my muffins) instead of pumpkin pie filling, so I had to add all the spices myself. I didn't, however, add any more sugar than the 1/2 cup of brown already called for, and it was still sweet enough; so I think I'll make that a permanent change. JB doesn't like pumpkin pie, but he loves this...and the kids & I like it better, too!

One more side note, with props to my husband: his traditional family Thanksgiving side is egg noodles cooked in chicken broth. I had never heard of Thanksgiving noodles (other than in Italian families) until my first (engaged ♥ :-)) Thanksgiving 11 years ago...and let me tell you, they go GREAT with turkey! He is making his OWN FRESH noodles from scratch this year - test run last night = success! - so be impressed, y'all! :-D