Anyone else choosing to do non traditional Thanksgiving?

[lynn]

I decided to cook a German meal this year.  My boys have a second Thanksgiving to attend later in the day and are happy about this.  They love when I channel my Oma and make rouladen and spaetzle,   we are also having bratwurst, sauerkraut and red cabbage.  Still working on dessert not sure if I want to make a black forest cake or German chocolate cake.

[Starr]

I'm coming to your house!

[Annie G]

That sounds wonderful. My mom’s meal for special occasions was rouladen, spaetzle, and red cabbage so it brings back so many nice memories. 
 

We’re having lasagna that I only make it once or *maybe* twice a year, which makes it special. 
 

 

[marbel]

Tht sounds so good!

We do a traditional meal but there are times I want to change it up. Right now 2 of my people love the traditional foods so we'll keep it that way 

But I do love your plan!

 

[saraha]

My mom is serving tacos! She doesn’t like turkey so she does something different every year. Last year was a big sub and salad bar. We have traditional thanksgiving with Dh’s family so it’s all good. I’m the last several years she has also done lasagna, fried chicken and one year she got out her electric griddle and tried to do like Japanese steak house and cook up to order. That was interesting 😆

[Dmmetler]

We're going to be in a rented condo with our vegetarian teen, and this is a "Thanskgiving is our teen's birthday" year. I fully expect we'll get Asian or Indian takeaway. Thanksgiving in restaurants tends to end up badly for me-too many things can contain cinnamon and cross contamination is likely even if I avoid anything with sweet potatoes, fruit, or ham.

[El...]

That sounds fantastic!

We usually do something like tacos for Christmas, though one year I made duck and it was delicious. 

Since we frequently have guests at Thanksgiving, I feel more obligated to do what's expected traditionally. I guess I could warn them in advance if we wanted to break out.

[MEmama]

We’ve never done traditional. 😉 

We thought about getting away for the long weekend (there’s the holiday, a birthday and our anniversary all mushed together, and this our first thanksgiving as empty nesters so it’s just the two of us) but it looks like a big storm might hit New England. If we are just going to be stuck somewhere it might as well be at home, especially since indoor activities are still a no- go for us.

Actually, to be non traditional, I might just do something traditional-esque . That’s be different for us! Lol

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by MEmama

[Kassia]

We used to always make corned beef because none of my kids liked turkey.  But corned beef is hard to find this time of year and now everyone likes turkey so we're pretty traditional.  

[Selkie]

We don't do traditional. I'm not a fan of the usual Thanksgiving foods and we don't eat animals or animal products. By popular demand, we're doing a repeat of the absolutely delicious vegan shawarma that we had last year.

[Tap]

We are having prime rib, Brussel sprouts with Parmesan cheese and bacon, potatoes, yams and whatever else I decide on that day. Yummy! And definitely not turkey !

[mlktwins]

12 minutes ago, Tap said:

We are having prime rib, Brussel sprouts with Parmesan cheese and bacon, potatoes, yams and whatever else I decide on that day. Yummy! And definitely not turkey !

We are doing prime rib also!  Yummy!!!

[Faith-manor]

15 minutes ago, Tap said:

We are having prime rib, Brussel sprouts with Parmesan cheese and bacon, potatoes, yams and whatever else I decide on that day. Yummy! And definitely not turkey !

The Brussels sprouts sound divine!

[happi duck]

None of us like turkey.  I've never cooked a turkey in my life!

We do make cranberry sauce every year: cranberry, apples, pears, some OJ and cinnamon...yum!

This post has me wanting red cabbage now!  Also, I've never attempted my late mom's sauerkraut so maybe I should finally give that a try!  (She started with a roux which somehow intimidates me...not sure why! Also, no recipe just going off of memory)

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Eos]

50 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

Thanskgiving is our teen's birthday"

Our teen's is the next day this year, which means we can commiserate that some years it's the same day - although to be honest the giant plate of warmed-up leftovers I ate after giving birth to her was clutch.  We go all traditional here but key lime pie is our edgy break-out addition.

I'm finally putting my garden to bed today and discovered one last massive dandelion which I will let live for Thanksgiving salad.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Eos

[Ditto]

We are definitely non-traditional here.  Though a few sides may fall under traditional.  Here is our menu:  black bean burgers,  mashed potatoes,  mashed potato muffins (teen loves potatoes),  apple cranberry sauce,  peas and  oatmeal cookies for dessert.   My teen and I came up with the menu and we are very much looking forward to it.   

Not part of the official menu is the Prosecco and OJ I will be sipping on much of the day in order to deal with having estranged husband here.  

[Ditto]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

We’ve never done traditional. 😉 

We thought about getting away for the long weekend (there’s the holiday, a birthday and our anniversary all mushed together, and this our first thanksgiving as empty nesters so it’s just the two of us) but it looks like a big storm might hit New England. If we are just going to be stuck somewhere it might as well be at home, especially since indoor activities are still a no- go for us.

Actually, to be non traditional, I might just do something traditional-esque . That’s be different for us! Lol

 

Every time I see your board name it reminds me how much I would love to live in Maine.    I am definitely jealous!   Also, I believe you were one of the people who convinced me that I wasn't too old for Doc Martens.  Thank you!  I finally ordered the vegan 8 eye pair and love them so much!  

[Ditto]

1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:

We're going to be in a rented condo with our vegetarian teen, and this is a "Thanskgiving is our teen's birthday" year. I fully expect we'll get Asian or Indian takeaway. Thanksgiving in restaurants tends to end up badly for me-too many things can contain cinnamon and cross contamination is likely even if I avoid anything with sweet potatoes, fruit, or ham.

 

20 minutes ago, Eos said:

Our teen's is the next day this year, which means we can commiserate that some years it's the same day - although to be honest the giant plate of warmed-up leftovers I ate after giving birth to her was clutch.  We go all traditional here but key lime pie is our edgy break-out addition.

I'm finally putting my garden to bed today and discovered one last massive dandelion which I will let live for Thanksgiving salad.

My sweet sweet late grandmother's birthday would fall on Thanksgiving some years.  It always made Thanksgiving extra special for all of us when it did.  She didn't mind it either.     She is very much missed (and her birthday is actually in 2 days).

[MEmama]

3 minutes ago, Ditto said:

Every time I see your board name it reminds me how much I would love to live in Maine.    I am definitely jealous!   Also, I believe you were one of the people who convinced me that I wasn't too old for Doc Martens.  Thank you!  I finally ordered the vegan 8 eye pair and love them so much!  

Yay! I’m glad you love them! 🙂 

[Harriet Vane]

We do both. We love the turkey and sides, but we always have a huge equivalent Polish feast right alongside. Sauerkraut, multiple kielbasa, thousands of different pierogi, kolacky. YUM.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Harriet Vane
spelling

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, lynn said:

I decided to cook a German meal this year.  My boys have a second Thanksgiving to attend later in the day and are happy about this.  They love when I channel my Oma and make rouladen and spaetzle,   we are also having bratwurst, sauerkraut and red cabbage.  Still working on dessert not sure if I want to make a black forest cake or German chocolate cake.

We did Chinese last year.

 I like your idea of German.  I could really go for zwiebelrostbraten.  and dh has a good rotkhol recipe.  do you have a spaetzle press?  How does that go?

re the bolded, why limit yourself?

Did you know Marie Antoinette brought Austrian pastries to France?  There are many Tortes. Dh's favorites are Linzer or Hazelnut. (1dd made him one or the other for his birthday).  I will admit the Sacher Torte from the Hotel Sacher was better than other Sacher Tortes I've had -  I find it much too dry and have made my own alterations to make it a more moist cake.  a good chocolate cake with apricot filling and a ganache frosting.

Some German friends made me a Bienenstich for Christmas one year - it was very good.

 

[lynn]

15 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

We did Chinese last year.

 I like your idea of German.  I could really go for zwiebelrostbraten.  and dh has a good rotkhol recipe.  do you have a spaetzle press?  How does that go?

re the bolded, why limit yourself?

Did you know Marie Antoinette brought Austrian pastries to France?  There are many Tortes. Dh's favorites are Linzer or Hazelnut. (1dd made him one or the other for his birthday).  I will admit the Sacher Torte from the Hotel Sacher was better than other Sacher Tortes I've had -  I find it much too dry and have made my own alterations to make it a more moist cake.  a good chocolate cake with apricot filling and a ganache frosting.

Some German friends made me a Bienenstich for Christmas one year - it was very good.

 

that sounds good.  Yes I have a spaetzel press.  My oma had her cousin bring one when she visited from Germany years ago.  However my oma showed me how to make them using a slotted spoon.  I do prefer the press though.  

[happi duck]

1 hour ago, Harriet Vane said:

We do both. We love the turkey and sides, but we always have a huge equivalent Polish feast right alongside. Sauerkraut, multiple kielbasa, thousands of different piroghi, kolacky. YUM.

And now I want to make pierogi!  I've never tried from scratch.

I do make really great kolaczki!

[Selkie]

1 hour ago, Ditto said:

Every time I see your board name it reminds me how much I would love to live in Maine.    I am definitely jealous!   Also, I believe you were one of the people who convinced me that I wasn't too old for Doc Martens.  Thank you!  I finally ordered the vegan 8 eye pair and love them so much!  

I have the same vegan Docs in both black and cherry red. Love them. I’m trying to get my kid a pair in black gloss for Christmas, but most sizes are sold out. Aargh, the vegan Docs tend to sell out so quickly!

[Ditto]

56 minutes ago, Selkie said:

I have the same vegan Docs in both black and cherry red. Love them. I’m trying to get my kid a pair in black gloss for Christmas, but most sizes are sold out. Aargh, the vegan Docs tend to sell out so quickly!

I got mine from the Doc Marten website.  Have you checked there?  

[Selkie]

29 minutes ago, Ditto said:

I got mine from the Doc Marten website.  Have you checked there?  

I did, yeah. I've looked all over. The black gloss/DMS green are all sold out except in the smallest sizes.

[Harriet Vane]

8 hours ago, happi duck said:

And now I want to make pierogi!  I've never tried from scratch.

I do make really great kolaczki!

I make kolacky from my great-grandmother's recipe. We have always bought pierogi from a Polish deli, though now that I am gluten-free I may try a from-scratch version that is gluten free. My sister-in-law's favorite are plum. My favorite are sauerkraut and potato for savory ones, and I like to eat sweet cheese and blueberry ones together as a sort of end-of-meal dessert before the huge, elaborate dessert that comes later. 

My great-grandmother used to bring literally hundreds and hundreds of kolacky to the holiday gatherings. Ours look like a tiny tart (2-3 bites unless you're my brother, who considers them one bite), rather than the square with folded corners. We ate ourselves silly at the party and then kept eating cookies and date-nut bread all week after. My personal favorites are sweet cheese and prune, but I also really love apricot, strawberry, raspberry. 

Years ago, long after my great-grandmother had passed on, I had her recipe and no other guidance. My first Christmas making them they turned out okay, but it was such an elaborate production in our tiny apartment and very, very overwhelming. They didn't taste quite right, but I was glad I had them. The next year my best friend offered to power through the baking together in her huge kitchen. What a gift!!! It was such a fun day with such a dear person. We made hundreds to give to everyone--it was important to me to do it just the way my grandmother had done. She helped me standardize the best production line-up. Even though I did it with her just once, the day we put in together set the stage for every year since, bless her.

Do yours look like tarts or do you do folded corners? Favorites?

Edited November 18, 2021 by Harriet Vane
typos

[happi duck]

@Harriet Vane

Great memories!  Thanks for sharing!

I make apricot filling and pastry cream filling.  I also buy poppyseed filling.  I want to try making it sometime.  I use an "auntie"'s recipe.  She was always the one who brought them to celebrations.  In her style I make them teeny tiny, a small square with two corners folded toward each other.

I'm eager to do some holiday baking now!

[City Mouse]

Not food, but location.

For many years, we went camping for Thanksgiving with the express purpose of avoiding family drama. We would cook a turkey or turkey breast and stuffing over charcoal in a tripod contraption. It was a lot of fun to draw the attention of our camping neighbors and the park rangers who could smell the turkey from a distance.

Then we moved far from family, and kids got older, so we stopped the camping. I miss it.

[Bootsie]

We often do not have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Many years we have either gone on a picnic and roasted hot dogs (maybe turkey) or gone to the beach (and maybe had turkey sandwiches)--we haven't made any plans for this year.

[rebcoola]

We are doing traditional this year which I don't really like.  often we do prime rib and seafood.

[AngelaGT]

I'm planning to run a Skinny Turkey 8K on Thursday morning and then have a lazy rest of my day with fabulous books and a homemade veggie pizza.

[Longtime Lurker]

We are not having turkey, but we are having other traditional Thanksgiving foods. We always (except last year) eat at my parents' house but we all help with the food. A few years ago, my mom sent out a group text asking each person to list their two favorite Thanksgiving foods. The idea was to simplify and eliminate anything that's not a favorite. The one item that did not appear on anyone's list was turkey. So we don't have turkey anymore. Oh, also, we have never had cranberry sauce. We have stuffing (of course!), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, lots of green beans, and pie. We may buy a rotisserie chicken if some people want meat. We still make my Garndma's stuffing recipe. Every year, that is my job 🙂

[lmrich]

I am preparing traditional for Tuesday night. I so want to do the Peanuts' Thanksgiving - popcorn and toast! I need to watch it again to see what else is served. But I am all in for making  a paperbag turkey stuffed with popcorn. 

[math teacher]

We are having sandwiches and dessert at mother in law's, but I am making the works for the three of us here. DS is coming home, and of course I will make all his favorites.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting is my must-have.

[MEmama]

12 hours ago, City Mouse said:

Not food, but location.

For many years, we went camping for Thanksgiving with the express purpose of avoiding family drama. We would cook a turkey or turkey breast and stuffing over charcoal in a tripod contraption. It was a lot of fun to draw the attention of our camping neighbors and the park rangers who could smell the turkey from a distance.

Then we moved far from family, and kids got older, so we stopped the camping. I miss it.

That sounds like an awesome tradition. What fun! 🙂 

[lmrich]

I had a student present a slide show on his family's Thankgsiving traditons for a class on how to use Google Slides... anyways in his slide show he said their tradition does not focus on food but on being together and making memories. Love that! and he also included a picture of the great turkey sandwich he ate last year - so a little focus on food - but he is a growing teenager! 

 

[Lady Florida.]

Growing up our Thanksgiving meal was antipasto, eggplant parmesan, and a type of pasta (often something like rotelle) with meatballs. Our Christmas meal was ravioli and meatballs. When we moved to Florida we gradually switched to a combination of the above plus traditional. 

We're having our family Thanksgiving (all vaccinated except the three year old) on Saturday. With a firefighter and a nurse in the family our holiday gatherings often have to move. Since we'll be having traditional Thanksgiving food Saturday I'm going to make ravioli and meatballs with my mom's homemade sauce on Thursday for just the three of us here.

[Laura Corin]

We are having smoked turkey from a new barbecue place. Otherwise traditional. 

[WildflowerMom]

I am on (several) Christmas Facebook groups and someone posted a pic the other day of her table spread from last year.    Of course, it could work for thanksgiving, too.   
it was basically a sandwich bar.   Cold cuts and cheese of all kinds, different breads, toppings galore.  I loved it so much!!!    We are going to a restaurant for T, but I might do something like that for New Years Eve night.   I’d post a pic but it’s not my picture to post.  Maybe I can find something on google images.  

[Kassia]

11 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

I am on (several) Christmas Facebook groups and someone posted a pic the other day of her table spread from last year.    Of course, it could work for thanksgiving, too.   
it was basically a sandwich bar.   Cold cuts and cheese of all kinds, different breads, toppings galore.  I loved it so much!!!    We are going to a restaurant for T, but I might do something like that for New Years Eve night.   I’d post a pic but it’s not my picture to post.  Maybe I can find something on google images.  

I love that idea!  Please post a photo if you can find one.  

[WildflowerMom]

7 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I love that idea!  Please post a photo if you can find one.  

If these are large, I apologize.   I thought about also doing a bowl of egg salad and a bowl of chicken salad.   
these pics do NOT do justice to the sandwich bar that lady on Facebook did.   Her pics were glorious, lol.  

[Kassia]

Thank you!  I love this idea.  I am probably having reconstructive surgery on my foot and thinking about meals when my family is home for the holidays since I'll be pretty much bedridden for 6-8 weeks - this might work.  

[BeachGal]

It might be scandalous but I do not actually like eating leftover Thanksgiving food which is why we usually eat out at a barbecue restaurant. (Plus it’s so much work!) This year’s T-Day restaurant is Q in Chicago. Their food is fantastic, however, their desserts are way too sugary, so I’ll probably make something we can have at home later.

[Quarter Note]

On 11/17/2021 at 7:30 AM, lynn said:

I decided to cook a German meal this year.  My boys have a second Thanksgiving to attend later in the day and are happy about this.  They love when I channel my Oma and make rouladen and spaetzle,   we are also having bratwurst, sauerkraut and red cabbage.  Still working on dessert not sure if I want to make a black forest cake or German chocolate cake.

Lynn, we will be having a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year, but you just gave me my Saint Nicholas Day menu! Thank you!

[lynn]

16 hours ago, WildflowerMom said:

I am on (several) Christmas Facebook groups and someone posted a pic the other day of her table spread from last year.    Of course, it could work for thanksgiving, too.   
it was basically a sandwich bar.   Cold cuts and cheese of all kinds, different breads, toppings galore.  I loved it so much!!!    We are going to a restaurant for T, but I might do something like that for New Years Eve night.   I’d post a pic but it’s not my picture to post.  Maybe I can find something on google images.  

I did this for Christmas a few years ago.  I just didn't want to cook, everyone loved it.

[Jenny in Florida]

As the weird vegan family, we have our own "traditional" Thanksgiving meal that we have done for the last couple of decades. This year, however, the decision was made just a couple of days ago to do an Indian-inspired spread, instead. 

Everyone here is feeling a little off about the holidays, generally, and it will be just my husband, our son and me for dinner. So the guys decided Indian sounded better than the usual fare.

I'm planning:

• Appetizers from the frozen department of the Indian grocery (samosas, puri, dosas)
• Channa masala
• Curried potatoes
• Basmati
• Mint chutney
• Onion chutney
• Sliced tomatoes and cucumber

We don't usually get around to desert, because no one is hungry again until the next day, but I do have a variety of vegan ice cream in the freezer and some CocoWhip in the fridge, just in case.

[Elizabeth86]

On 11/17/2021 at 9:50 AM, saraha said:

My mom is serving tacos! She doesn’t like turkey so she does something different every year. Last year was a big sub and salad bar. We have traditional thanksgiving with Dh’s family so it’s all good. I’m the last several years she has also done lasagna, fried chicken and one year she got out her electric griddle and tried to do like Japanese steak house and cook up to order. That was interesting 😆

Can I come? I could eat tacos every day!

[saraha]

15 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Can I come? I could eat tacos every day!

Yes!