Friendsgiving is the best way to celebrate the holiday away from home! (Pinterest)

The scents of fall holiday cooking permeate the air as moms and dads put the finishing touches on their elaborate menu. Families spend an entire day together — eating, drinking and reveling in each other’s company. At the end of the day, the Turkey Fairy comes down and puts everyone into a deep, deep slumber.

Hold on, that last part sounds wrong. Oh, right, it’s because that entire Thanksgiving picture is a fantasy. Only in Target commercials do turkeys come out perfectly moist and families evade all forms of bickering. Another part of the fantasy? College students coming home for the holiday.

Those of us who live more than a drive away have had to accept the unfortunate reality of too-expensive plane fares and a “break” of only a few days. Instead of moping in our loneliness this Thanksgiving, however, the best thing to do is to host a "Friendsgiving." 

A "Friendsgiving" can happen in one of two ways. Either you decide to cook the whole meal in your apartment and invite friends over to marvel at your cooking wizardry, or you host a potluck. The first has the luxury of quality assurance. You control everything going on in the kitchen to avoid concerns about flaky friends and someone’s terrible green bean casserole. A potluck splits up time and effort, however, which eliminates much of the stress. As long as you designate a type of dish for everyone to bring there’s no concern about having six bowls of mashed potatoes and no cranberry sauce. 

Regardless of how you choose to coordinate the meal, we’ve collected the best and most apartment/dorm-friendly recipes to help you forget all about your mom’s legendary pecan pie.

Main Course: Roasted Chicken

Turkey who? Reasons not to cook a turkey for Friendsgiving:

1. Turkeys are expensive

2. Turkeys are large

3. Turkeys are hard to cook

4. Turkeys are hard to carve

5. Roasted chicken is infinitely easier, faster, and manageable

Thinking about tiny college apartments and their ovens’ finicky heat distribution, the thought of making a turkey conjures up horrifying predictions of uneven cooking and cramped carving space. Enter: the roasted chicken. The smaller bird will be much easier to acquire and won’t require a week of defrosting in the fridge (which means more room to store everything else). With minimal preparation and only about an hour of cooking time it produces a flavorful and moist main dish sure to please everyone. The only special component is a meat thermometer to guarantee the right results. It’s a tool to improve any kitchen, though, so you can keep using it well after Thanksgiving. Head over to The Kitchn for a streamlined recipe where the chicken cooks in a bed of vegetables. Who doesn’t want to get a side dish and main course from one recipe?

“How to Roast a Chicken” on The Kitchn

Side Dish #1: Gluten-free Stuffing

We live in an age of gluten-free, so there’s sure to be at least one friend who shows up and realizes he or she can eat everything but the stuffing. Thanksgiving is all about including and accommodating everyone, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The beauty of this recipe allows you to bake the bread first and then cook on the stove while the chicken goes in the oven. Once the chicken’s done, cover it with foil to keep it warm and turn the temperature down a bit to bake the stuffing. The tetris game of what goes in the oven when doesn’t have to be hard.

“Gluten-Free Stuffing” on Serious Eats

Side Dish #2: Maple-Whipped Sweet Potatoes

With only four ingredients you can make a delicious and unexpected side dish with ease. Sweet potatoes have become more popular than regular potatoes, and for good reason. Their distinct and sweet flavor is full of vitamins and fiber. Plus, this recipe doesn’t require at least a stick of butter like most mashed potatoes do. You can bake the sweet potatoes ahead to leave the oven free for your other recipes, and just mix them with the rest of the ingredients as the stuffing cooks. Don’t have a food processor? Turn it into maple-mashed sweet potatoes instead.

“Maple-Whipped Sweet Potatoes” on Martha Stewart

Side Dish #3: Skinny Green Beans with Shallots

Thanksgiving is often a starchy affair. Vegetables get lost in a pool of cheese and beige-colored foods take up a good portion of the meal. In order to keep you and your friends’ spirits high without falling into a coma, some good old-fashioned vegetables prove crucial. This recipe from a Food52 user provides a classic and delicious take on green beans. Easy and quick, with minimal ingredients and equipment necessary, it’ll provide a nice contrast to the heavier aspects of the rest of the meal. 

“Skinny Green Beans with Shallots” on Food52 

Dessert: Salted Pecan Pie Cookie Bars

Anyone who hasn’t made a pie before shouldn’t let Thanksgiving be the first time. The stress over a perfect crust can overwhelm even the most experienced bakers, so for a Friendsgiving we’re taking the easy (but still delicious) way out. These Pecan Pie Bars have a buttery crust and sweet/salty pecan layer on top. These can be cooked at the very beginning of the day because they taste best at room temperature. They’re pretty and don’t require a plate or fork to eat. Tasty happiness for everyone and fewer dishes to clean. A win-win, no?

“Salted Pecan Pie Cookie Bars” on Cookie Monster Cooking 

Hopefully you and your friends can have a delicious, fun, and stress-free Friendsgiving to tide you over until the rest of the holidays with your family. Unless you’re Jewish, in which case make this the best Thanksgivukkah the world has ever seen.

Contact Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd here; follow her on Twitter here.