ALT-4 Thanksgiving Dinner
Not everyone is into turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving be it for budget concerns, dietary restrictions, food preferences or chosen lifestyle. However, everyone does have something for which to be thankful and may celebrate the day with one of these non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner ideas.
- Don’t Care For Turkey?
As difficult as it is to believe, many people just don’t like poultry of any type and while turkey is the traditional meat for Thanksgiving dinner, it isn’t written in stone that you must serve it. This is America and we can celebrate as we choose.
Whatever your family’s favorite foods are, that’s the place to start planning your non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Beef lovers can serve mouth watering pot roast, beef brisket or a fancy standing rib roast, all of which go well with traditional sides or whatever sides your family likes best.
Weather permitting, get outside and have a barbecue with luscious barbecued baby back ribs or juicy steaks with potato salad, corn on the cob, three bean salad and apple pie for dessert.
If Italian is your family’s favorite, serve pizza or spaghetti and meatballs with a crisp green salad, crusty Italian bread and a good wine for toasting the bounty of the year and the thankfulness in your heart.
- You’re A Vegetarian?
Whether you are a Total-Vegetarian or a Lacto-Ova-Vegetarian, you can still celebrate Thanksgiving with a fine feast without resorting to tofu.
Even meat eaters love a sumptuousVegetarian Pieor a deliciousVegetarian Lasagnafilled with vegetables, cheese and herbs. Served with crusty Italian bread and a green garden salad, this non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner is topped off with a traditional pumpkin pie or a yummycarrot cake.
- Too Many Dietary Restrictions?
The traditional Thanksgiving dinner isn’t usually a very healthy meal. Too much fat and salt are involved but even if you are restricted from eating salt, sugar and fat except in small amounts, you can still have a wonderful though maybe non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It really isn’t about the foods you eat, but the method of preparation that makes them a threat to your health.
Have the butcher slice the turkey breast into very thick slices. Line a roasting pan with foil, add peeled, cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, celery and a bag of hard frozen Brussels sprouts. Add one-cup salt and fat-free chicken broth and drizzle with a little olive oil. Place the turkey breast slices over the vegetables and pepper well. Cover with foil and bake in a 350F-degree oven for about one hour and twenty minutes. The juices from the turkey and vegetables will mingle to make a delicious natural gravy.
Instead of roasting a whole turkey with the skin on, consider choosing a turkey breast and removing the skin before roasting.Marinadethe breast and wrap it in foil, being sure not to over cook it.
- Budget Concerns?
The real celebration of Thanksgiving isn’t on the table, it’s in your heart and spending money to create one traditional Thanksgiving dinner can often drain your resources for the rest of the month. Use your imagination and create a special meal without buying what you can’t afford.
Instead of serving an expensive turkey, serve a large roasting hen stuffed with lemons, oranges and herbs. Skip the pumpkin pie and make a custard for dessert from fresh sweet potatoes, which taste much the same as pumpkin when you add the cinnamon and cloves.
You have to eat something anyway so just dress up the vegetables you normally eat with spices and herbs to make them special. Spices and herbs add as much flavor or more in some cases than costly sour cream, butter and cream.
While some of these ideas do use traditional Thanksgiving foods, they are prepared in non-traditional ways for a healthy Thanksgiving dinner. Serve what you can afford or what your health and life-style allow and remember that Thanksgiving is really about being Thankful for your blessings.
