This isn’t your grandma’s THANKSGIVING dinner

November 20, 2008 on 5:00 pm | In The Heart of Your Home |

This years Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t have to be the “same old thing”.

With so many people requiring special dietary meals; for instance, a patient with congestive heart failure can’t take the sodium load of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner — one meal could land them in the hospital, this might be the year to deviate from the traditional turkey-stuffing-mashed potato lineup at Thanksgiving.

You don’t have to follow tradition on Thanksgiving — any food that says ‘celebrate’ will make the occasion fun. If your family enjoys seafood, try a medley of scallops, shrimp, crab or lobster.  If you prefer homemade pizza make that on Thanksgiving. This shows that anything goes.

Often, diners aren’t so adventurous on the holiday nicknamed “Turkey Day.”  A lot of people don’t want to mess with tradition, but if you are adventurous anything goes.

Just remember that you can shake up your Thanksgiving menu without giving turkey the boot. Turkey is one of those meats that pairs well with a variety of flavors, it’s easy to spice up your traditional meal with some unusual grains, fruits and vegetables.

Here are some easy ways to deviate from the traditional this Thanksgiving:

Try healthier versions of the familiar side dishes.

While there are a lot of people who say, ‘I plan to overeat and don’t anybody slow me down’, there are a lot of people who are now saying, ‘I would really like a lower calorie choice’. The turkey itself is a pretty lean meat – it’s the skin that carries the most fat.

Try making stuffing in a separate casserole dish to limit the amount of fat, and you can skim a lot of fat off the gravy. Have a veggie dish that isn’t so starchy. Broccoli goes very well with turkey. Choose whole-grain dinner rolls.

Give vegetables more prominence.

Vegetables can take center stage by combining them with an unusual ingredient. For example, pair broccoli with Parmesan cheese or toasted almonds, green beans with onions and roasted red sweet peppers, or spinach with garbanzo beans, garlic and pine nuts.”

Sweet potatoes don’t have to be sweet, try adding thyme, paprika and onion for a different flavor for a traditional dish.

Reconsider putting mashed potatoes into an “untouchable” category among the menu items.

Mashed potatoes can be such a high-calorie dish depending on what you put in them. Try a rice and vegetable dish instead.

Improve the salad to improve the meal.

Pre-bagged salads now have all different varieties to choose from. You may want to choose spinach or arugula. You can add a different flavor by adding fruit like pear or mango slices, some toasted walnuts or pecans, a full-bodied cheese like shaved Parmesan or Romano and finish with a light dressing.

To avoid turkey, its traditional side dishes and to veer from the expected, think globally.

Maybe this is the year to try an ethnic meal– just about anything is possible with the foods available to us.