Are you looking for some ideas for Thanksgiving dinners? If you're planning on hosting Thanksgiving this year, whether it's with your friends, family, neighbors, or all of the above, you might be a little overwhelmed with what to do for dinner.
While the food isn't the only thing about Thanksgiving (there's gathering together with your loved ones, hanging out, making crafts, jumping in piles of autumn-colored leaves, watching the "big game," and Thanksgiving prayers and poems), it certainly is a big part of it.
After all, for many people, the term "Thanksgiving" conjures up images of juicy turkey with stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, and melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin pie.
Traditionally, thanksgiving dinners have involved turkey, stuffing, some type of potato or sweet potato dish, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
Instead of going strictly traditional (sticking with the tried-and-true basics without any extras or add-ons) or completely original (avoiding the traditional menu completely, which may disappoint and even upset some people in your party), try "tweaking" some favorites to make them a bit more unique and exciting without deviating from the basic menu too much.
One thing you can do to start everything off is to serve drinks and appetizers.
This is generally not considered a Thanksgiving tradition as part of Thanksgiving dinners for many families, but who says you can't start one with your own group? You could try crackers and cheese with a cheese ball decorated like a live turkey and serve hot apple cinnamon cider ("spiked" with liqueur for the adults), wine, and deep red or orange-colored fruit punch for the kids.
You can stick with turkey as the main dish for the meal; but if you do, crank it up a notch with special spices, orange and lemon juices and flavors, liqueur, cranberries and walnuts, or anything else you can think of that would complement your turkey.
Great turkey alternatives include roasted herb chicken, a ham roast with pineapple, or a succulent roast beef with gravy.
Turn regular cranberry sauce into a mixture of fruit by adding berries (like raspberries) or other complementary fruits.
For the "starch" of Thanksgiving dinners, you can try regular mashed potatoes mixed with the peel, herbs, spices, onions, bacon bits, and cheese with turkey gravy; baked stuffed potatoes; or sweet potatoes baked with mini marshmallows topped with brown sugar and walnuts.
Add some warm veggies to your meal, such as broccoli with melted cheese or a vegetable medley with herbs.
Instead of sticking with traditional tossed salads or caesar salads, mix it up a bit by adding some combination of cranberries, strawberries, walnuts, seeds, raisins, red onions, shredded carrots, or sprinkled cheese to your greens, with a rich, sweet balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
You don't have to bake a pumpkin pie for dessert, although you certainly can.
Spiced cinnamon apple pie is a great alternative, as is rhubarb pie (or rhubarb and strawberry pie), plain cheesecake with warm caramel and walnuts drizzled on top, pumpkin cheesecake, mini pumpkin pie tarts, spiced carrot cake with cream cheese, or carrot muffins.
By adding a little bit of variety, you can turn favorite dishes into extraordinary delights for all your Thanksgiving dinners to come.