ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Building a Non Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Updated on April 27, 2015
Photo taken by: Mighty June
Photo taken by: Mighty June | Source

Thanksgiving is a time to bring everyone together for a delicious meal. While tradition may be comforting to some, others desire to break away and try something new. The trick is to be close enough to everyone’s favorite foods that they will try the non traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu item. Beyond the ideas below, there is also a link to the right with Canadian Thanksgiving menu items. These items are fairly close to American favorites so that few will complain that they are too off the map. The ideas below though are geared towards achieving that balance of unique and comforting. In addition, creating these recipes will certainly cause some buzz around the Thanksgiving table and may even start a new tradition or two.

Please note that some of these are very complicated and time consuming to make. It may be best to consult with the recipe before deciding to venture down one of these roads.

Photo taken by: jeffreyw
Photo taken by: jeffreyw | Source

Turducken

For those that are unfamiliar with this upcoming trend, a turducken is a blend of several meats. More specifically, this mix is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey. What is fascinating about this particular blend is that a duck is normally darker meat, hence making each slice go from a white meat, to dark, to white again. The name reflects the combinatinon as well: Tur(key), Duck, and (chick)En. Many families are embracing this mish-mash of meats in a variety of ways. Some families have started putting eggs inside the chickens, making them hard boiled. This introduces four different layers, depending on what kind of eggs are used. Another interesting idea started in Southern states; and that include deep frying the turducken. Nearly all turduckens have stuffing of some sort, but some recipes have different types of stuffing for each layer. This allows each slice of the turducken to have many layers of different food.

Probably the best thing that turduckens are known for: being a show stopper. A delicious turkey is hard enough to produce. Bringing out a turducken raises the bar several times over!

Here is a recipe for turducken. An example How-To video is also included to the right.

Photo taken by: Kristen Taylor
Photo taken by: Kristen Taylor | Source

Homemade Sweet Potato Chips

A unique spin on sweet potato casserole is to play on the chips and dip idea. The traditional method includes making a bed of sweet potatoes and then putting marshmallows on top. In this idea, sweet potatoes are made into chips, and then served with marshmallow sauce for dipping. The flavor is the same, but the texture and method of eating is different. The great thing about this is that homemade sweet potato chips are so easy to make.

Another great thing about this recipe is that these homemade potato chips make a perfect Thanksgiving day appetizer.

Information on how to make these is here.

Photo taken by: Kim
Photo taken by: Kim | Source

Homemade Plantain Dessert Chips

Another unique spin is to use plantains and make a dessert chip with those (the side photo shows salsa and guacamole, but I am not sure I could recommend that). Plantains taste like bananas but have a lot more starch and slightly less sugary. This makes them perfect to turn into chips. One fantastic idea is to serve these chips “a la mode” with a nice vanilla bean ice cream.

Photo taken by: Asha Pagdiwalla
Photo taken by: Asha Pagdiwalla | Source

Grape Focaccia Bread

During the upcoming Christmas holiday season, we give out a food brick known as fruit cake. The idea behind this concoction isn’t very complicated - fruit mixed in cake. The same idea is there for the grape focaccia bread. This is a type of bread with grapes on the top. The unique thing about this particular bread is that it can be created where the inside is stuff with a flavorful fruit mixture. This turns the bread from a fancy way to serve a sandwich (as shown to the right) to a full on dessert.

For information on how to build this delicious dessert, go here.

Photo taken by: Meal Makeover Moms
Photo taken by: Meal Makeover Moms | Source

Pumpkin Soup

Nearly every Thanksgiving has a version of pumpkin pie. However, few Thanksgivings have a pumpkin soup. The great thing about this soup is that small pumpkins can even be hollowed out to make bowls. This soup is created by adding cream, maple syrup, nutmeg, and pumpkin to a soup stock. This soup can be garnished with some extra cream, chopped walnut pieces, or with baked pumpkin seeds.

For more information on this recipe, please go here.

Which dish sounds the best?

See results

Have a unique dish you want to share? Disagree with one of the selections above? Have a tip on how to make one of these?

Feel free to leave a comment below!

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)