Tradition or not, I stay away from pumpkin pie. I think I’m allergic to pumpkin, actually, so I’d rather not tempt fate. So, every year, Mom makes me a chocolate macaroon pie instead. MMMMMMMm, it just ain’t Thanksgiving without it.
So, that’s mine. Chocolate macaroon pie, instead of pumpkin.
Double-yumm. Thank you! Will add to my menu.
I make traditional bread stuffing, but I add a pound of browned, crumbled sausage to it, plus about 1/2 cup of chestnuts (chopped), that I’ve roasted myself.
The green pistachio-pudding based salad is also called Watergate Salad (at least it was in Virginia.)
My family has a boring old Thanksgiving, but my mother makes a hell of a turkey.
Robin
I love green bean cassarole so much that I make it throughout the year. It must be made with canned green beans, and it is the only time I can stand canned green beans.
My family does ravioli. Yum. Also black olives, celery with cream cheese, and a big bowl of homemade caramel popcorn for appertifs.
I have just learned that the turkey will be prepared by my mom, and the rest of the meal will be made by my cousin Matt, the professional chef.
YUM!
Robin
Tofurky.
Yup. Tofurky. I always make allowances and eat some of the darn turkey on Thanksgiving, but my partner is 100% hard-core vegan, so at his house we get tofurky.
My little sister, on the other hand, has a whole slew of weird dishes she has to have made for her, since she absolutely hates all the normal stuff. We’ve gotta make cheesy broccoli hotdish, and those stupid pillsbury crescent rolls that come out of the can. Last year, when we put her in charge of dessert, she made a chocolate cake! It’s thanksgiving: I want my punkin pie darnit! I think it’s just her way of making sure we never decide to have Thanksgiving at her place.
Ditto “the green stuff.” One thing I don’t each much of but it’s Mom’s traditional salad. It’s not watergate though.
LUMPIA!!! It’s like an egg roll, only from the Phillipines. My aunt is Filipino, and she makes it for all the major holidays. I was hooked from an early age, so I begged her to teach me her secret.
Basically, it’s ground beef (I use sirloin) seasoned with garlic and onion powder and soy sauce. You sautee it with chopped onion and garlic, and wrap it in a wonton or eggroll wrapper.Then you deep fry them in olive oil until they’re crispy and brown. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Bacon-wrapped oysters. Kind of like rumaki, but with canned oysters and without the water chestnuts.
My insisted upon dish is vegetarian cornbread stuffing, made with celery, onions, butter, vegetable broth (instead of turkey/chicken) garlic and no #*@!% sage or “poultry seasoning” (the most putrid combination of “seasonings” in the history of seasonings.)
But if my sisters, mother or aunts are going to be here, I have to hold my nose (literally and figuratively) and make them (here we go with more “stuff”) oyster stuff. It’s butter, butter and more melted butter, Ritz cracker crumbs, heavy cream, hot sauce and oysters, mixed together in a layered casserole kind of thing and baked. It’s wholly disgusting to me, but my family loves it. (Insert oft’wished for gagging smiley here.)
Mmmmmm . . . green bean casserole. Some of Mr. S’s relatives call it “funeral beans” because it seems to show up at every postfuneral potluck.
We’re pretty traditional, but one dish I usually make for Thanksgiving (and Christmas too) is lime-pineapple jello salad. There’s rarely any left, and there are only 4 of us! LOL
Empty 20 oz. can crushed pineapple & juice into saucepan; add 2 pkgs. (3 oz) or 1 large pkg. Lime Jello, stirring until it dissolves. Heat till near boiling, remove from heat. Mix in a bowl with: 8 oz. cottage cheese, small container cool-whip, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. (We omit the pecans as my daughter is allergic to nuts, but it really tastes delicious with them!) Will fill a 9 X 13 dish, or a jello mold.
We also almost always have candied sweet potatoes: I use 5-7 large sweet potatoes, bake them first, when they have cooled the skins slip off and then I slice them and layer them in a large pan, sprinkling them with brown sugar & margarine dabs, then top it all off with minimarshmallows. Bake until marshmallows are nice & brown. YUM!
One of my favorite dishes is scalloped potatoes, but I rarely make them since they are so much work, and they are so full of stuff that’s bad for you! I might make em for Christmas this year though. 
For appetizers we’ll probably have steamed spiced shrimp.
tarragon
7-UP Salad. My grandmother used to make it every Thanksgiving. Now, my mom does. It is lemon jello, bananas, 7-UP, and some yummy topping that I can’t describe. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.
A combo of breast of turkey, duck, and chicken rolled up with stuffing in the middle. I’m new to cooking but I think I can handle it.
This is a variant of Turducken which is a whole turkey with a duck stuffed inside and then a chicken stuffed inside the duck.
Happy Thanksgiving from Quasi and Suzie (the cat)
Alias:
Lumpia Shanghai are (to use the vernacular) DA BOMB !!!
I’m half Filipina and lumpia are a must at any gathering. My unusual holiday fave are what I call “raw” lumpia. Browned, crumbled pork sausage and *very *lightly steamed and slivered carrots,cabbage, bean sprouts, sweet corn and chick peas wrapped in an uncooked lumpia wrapper. Served with a sweet dipping sauce. Its kinda like a spring roll on steroids.
P.S. Would anyone be willing to part with a recipe for the Pistachio/ Watergate/Green Stuff Salad? Please?
Growing up we used to always have cream of leek and potato soup. Not sure of the recipe, but from what I recall it was something like leeks, potatoes, chicken broth, cream, butter… tasty stuff. My mother made some modifications due to my father’s changing dietary requirements (food allergies and high cholesterol) and it still tasted great. I’m not much of a vegetable fan, but I used to eat two bowls at each sitting. My mother passed away a few years ago and I haven’t had it since. I should find out where that recipe is…
A more recent tradition is baked clams. I make them with my brother and father. Standard baked clam ingredients (clams, onion, celery, breadcrumbs, garlic, bacon and a bit of olive oil), but home made baked clams just taste better than those served in any restaurant (and I should know as I often order it as an appetizer :smack: ). Of course, the baked clams are not so much a part of the meal as they are a nice little snack before the meal.
The absolute worst Thanksgiving dish has to be the cream of squash soup that my brother in law’s sister used to make. It was so rich that more than a few spoonfulls would make me retch. She insisted on making it every year, and considering that it probably took her a long time to make, guilt prompted us to eat it.