ALT-3 Food Ideas for a non Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner
Traditional Thanksgiving dinners often feature such things as turkey and cranberry sauce. There is nothing wrong with this fare, if it isn't eaten often. If it is, the same old dinner can become old.
It may sound sort of funny to some, but the best ideas for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner are often those things you have the least often through the year.
Seafood
A man named Steve (last name withheld at his request) lives in Idaho, a fair distance from the ocean. He can purchase turkey or ham, any time of the year, at the local grocery store. He does so, in fact. Turkey and ham then becomes commonplace foods. What is special about that, on Thanksgiving?
Seafood is a different matter. He and his family rarely have this food. It also needs to be mentioned that his specialty is barbecuing and grilling.
So Steve will get clams, oysters, lobsters, shark, and just about any other seafood he can think of. He often will spend a little extra money to ensure that these are the freshest he can get. Then he will shovel a path through the snow to his barbecue grill, and fire it up.
While the grill is working, he puts together homemade lemon butter, tartar sauce, and cocktail sauce. Frozen corn on the cob comes out of the freezer and is wrapped in foil. Home canned beans add to the affair and are heated up, with a bit of bacon, and a green salad is made. Stuffed Jalapeno peppers are also created, ready for use.
By this time, the grill is hot, and the seafood is placed on the grill, along with the corn and cheese stuffed peppers. Even if it is snowing, he then tends the meal as gently as a shepherd tending a flock. The shellfish is usually cooked on the half shell, possibly with a squirt of lemon if it starts drying out. Shark or fish steaks are turned often, so they are cooked but not burned. The peppers and corn are turned frequently as well.
The dessert is just as unconventional; blueberry or huckleberry pie, homemade ice cream, or baked apples.
The result is a feast that is non-traditional, yet wonderfully tasting Thanksgiving feast.
Another great idea is a feast of salad. it may sound unusual, but it really isn't.
The idea is to make as many different salads as you can. Potato salad, macaroni salad, carrot salad, green salad, fruit salad, three-bean salad, rice salad, and chef salad are all great choices. These aren't meatless necessarily, and cheese and sliced meat can be added to many of them. Hard-boiled eggs make a good touch, and if too many are boiled, the excess can be easily made into deviled eggs.
Think wild
Given that Thanksgiving in the US started primarily as a feast provided by Native Americans, and much of the food was from the wild, the idea of a wild dinner not only fits the theme, but also the palate. A venison, elk or buffalo roast would certainly be unique, and if properly prepared, people will often love the meat. Side dishes could include water cress salad, or even green salad with nasturtium leaves. A dessert of wild huckleberry pie or homemade pumpkin pie, completely from scratch, would be a great after-meal treat.
Snack meal
Many people like watching sports on Thanksgiving. Snacks and sports sort of go together. The meal can be quite filling, and it can also be healthy.
This can be a great idea, by combining several kinds of crackers and sliced sausages such as summer sausage, a few kinds of cheeses, sliced, smoked clams, smoked oysters, deviled ham, sliced lunch meat, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot sticks, pearl onions, ranch and other dips, as well as pickles, pepperocinis, pickled olives, black olives, and just about anything else that can be thought of. Let the imagination run wild.
Many other people use the foods on hand. That is really part of the point, to many people Many others wouldn't think of eating these foods, but for others, they are sweet nectar. There is nothing wrong with having a delicious wild meat meal, without the use of turkey.
The key to making a non-traditional Thanksgiving feast is to think of what you rarely or never have, and what your family likes, then work off of that. The combinations and possibilities are endless, and at the same time, we can all give thanks for the bounty we have.
