What is at the heart of your tradition, and what matters when it comes to sharing a Thanksgiving table? For me, it's being together with friends, family - or both, spending time cooking delicious foods, and eating together - enjoying each other's company with gratitude.

Even though holidays can push all of our trigger buttons so effectively, by being thrown in the stew of family dynamics, the stress of bringing a huge meal to the table and the digestive toll of eating too much - it can also be differently wonderful. It can be exactly what you want to eat, shared with the people you most want to enjoy.

When six of us sit down to our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, for instance, there won't be a bird, stuffing, mashed potatoes or gravy on the table. Our focus will be on vegetables, cheese and homemade pasta, because that is how I want to love my family this year. All of the vegetables will come from either my fall Hogsback CSA farm share - leeks, onions, garlic, celery root, carrots, squash, thyme, potatoes - or from my parents' garden - kale, tarragon, rosemary and Brussels sprouts. The other ingredients will come from as close to home as possible, with the exception of a marvelous hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese that I brought back from a recent trip to Italy, which has inspired our menu.

We'll start the day with coffee and homemade prune or poppyseed-stuffed kolacky (Czech filled buns) - an annual Czech tradition that my mother bakes the day before. For lunch, we'll have a bowl of Celery Root Bisque with a batch of hot rolls right out of the oven. They'll be my mom's famous crescent rolls - tender and buttery, but this year my husband will be learning to make them with her, expanding his knowledge for his new love of baking.

In between breakfast and lunch, my mom and I will spend a few hours in the kitchen - my favorite place to be on any holiday - where we'll work on prepping the dinner. I'll be making one of my favorite things that needs to be made with heaps of love: homemade pasta. I'll be roasting a buttercup squash, and sauteéing onions to make the pasta into Tortelli di Zucca - or squash and parmesan-stuffed ravioli, which we'll have with a decadent butter and sage sauce. My mom will be working on the sides and her apple-cranberry tart. We'll take time away from the kitchen to play cards for several hours, make a fancy cocktail or have a little glass of bubbly, and then sit down to eat our ravioli with a lovely salad, sautéed Brussels sprouts with pecans and shallots, Tuscan white beans (recipe in my Nourish: Spring cookbook), and sautéed kale with garlic. It will be simple and perfect for our day.

Next year it will probably be something entirely different all over again. Maybe there will be more tradition on the table, or maybe not. But it will always include the important stuff: food, friends, family and love. What will be on your table?

Celery-Root Bisque

Prep time: 30 min

Cooking time: 1 hour

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

4 tablespoons organic butter (substitute extra olive oil for a dairy allergy), divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lb celery root (also called celeriac), peeled with a knife or Y peeler, cut into 1/2" pieces

2 large potatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces

3 celery ribs, chopped

2 large leeks, white and pale green parts only, rinsed and chopped

1 medium shallot, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

6 cups vegetable stock - homemade stock or from organic bouillon cubes - OR water

1 teaspoons sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 ounces cremini mushrooms, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves

Warm a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, then add 2 tablespoons butter and the olive oil along with the celery root, potatoes, celery, leeks and shallots. Stir to coat all of the vegetables in oil, then cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 15 minutes. Add stock, salt, and pepper and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes.

Purée soup with an immersion blender, or cool for 15 minutes and carefully purée in batches in a blender until smooth, then return to pot. Reheat bisque over low heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

While bisque is reheating, warm a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, then add the butter and mushrooms and sauté, stirring the mushrooms until crispy golden brown, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer mushrooms to a plate.

Serve bisque topped with mushrooms and a garnish of minced thyme leaves.