Our Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Menu

This Saturday we had an early Thanksgiving dinner. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were headed back east for a wedding, Chanukah and then some traveling in Europe. This meant they were going to miss Thanksgiving day, so we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving early.

Unfortunately, I didn't take one picture of our Thanksgiving spread. Bad blogger/photographer!!! Bad, bad bad!

Here is a picture from a couple of years ago:

Thanksgiving Meal from 2011: Salmon, mashed potatoes, sausage and sauerkraut, stuffing, asparagus, cranberry sauce, salad, bread, quiche...

We have a pretty non traditional Thanksgiving spread, in that, we almost never serve Turkey. I remember growing up we used to have a Turkey Thanksgiving, but as the kids grew into adults, it became known that Turkey wasn't everyones favorite. Salmon became our new main entrée.

Even so, we have one individual who doesn't like fish, so we almost always have a sausage entrée as well.

Our Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Menu for 2013

Grilled Salmon - My dad is in charge of the salmon. I’m not sure that he follows any recipe. I know sometimes they put lemon pepper on it.

Sausage and Sauerkraut - My mom puts a whole bunch of sauerkraut and kielbasa sausage in a big pot on the stove and lets it simmer. Again, not sure if she follows any particular recipe, but boy is it yummy!

Broccoli and Mushroom Quiche - This year I made a homemade quiche. I just realized I have never shared this recipe with you! It is super yummy and you can fill it with so many different things. I think my recipe is derived from this one from allrecipes.com: Yummy Quiche. I normally put ham or bacon in it, but I made this one vegetarian because my dad doesn't eat pig.

Roasted Baby Red Potatoes - Typically I would make scalloped potatoes from a recipe my mom taught me. This year, I decided to make quiche, so I made these roasted red potatoes instead. They are quick and easy to make! I cut mine into eighths, put them in a rectangular glass dish. Coat potatoes with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Toss the potatoes in the dish so they are well coated. I normally cook them at 450 for 40 minutes, but the quiche was in the oven at 350 for 60 minutes, so I just put them in with the quiche. You will want to flip them every now and then as they will generally cook where they are touching the oil on the bottom of the dish. Once the quiche was out, I turned up the heat for 10 minutes and they turned out fine. I think I got the inspiration for this from this post by Jewels For All: Easy Roasted Potatoes.

Pumpkin Curry - My younger brother made pumpkin curry in a pressure cooker. Not sure quite how he made it, but it was yummy!

Salad - My sister-in-law typically is in charge of the salad. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and choice of salad dressings. Everyone typically wants a different dressing, so my mom always has these available on the side. This year, my precious nephew helped her chop up veggies (he’s two!).

Apple Pie, Apple Crisp, Chocolate Cheese Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Homemade Whipped Cream - For dessert, my brother always goes hog wild and makes apple pie, cheese cake and pumpkin pies. Typically I will also bring cookies or a dessert bread, like pumpkin bread or ginger molasses bread. This year, my oldest brothers girlfriend brought an apple crisp. Very yummy! After dinner we feast on a sampling of each.

My nephew was so cute! He was hungry before dinner was ready, so my brother made him a fried egg with ketchup on it. He insisted on more ketchup! More ketchup! haha! He liked the potatoes with ketchup and ate salad once dinner was served.

After dinner, he was going around asking everyone for pie! Pie? Pie? Pie! Such a cutie!

I asked him if he wanted whipped cream on his pie. He scrunched up his face and said, “no!” Well… of course, after he tried it he loved it! His face was smeared with whipped cream.

“Do you like whipped cream?” “Yes!” with a big grin.

What do you normally have for Thanksgiving dinner? Is it a traditional meal or non-traditional meal? Does everyone help out, or does one person generally take the bulk of the work?

Linking to: Freedom Fridays | Weekend Wonders | Sharing with Domestic Superhero