Who else hates Thanksgiving food?

I've never been a fan of stuffing, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, that cranberry crap, green bean casserol aka vomit in a dish, pumpkin pie?! Ew.

Anyone else just dislike the holiday all together because of the traditional food you have to eat at your spouses or families houses? I feel so bad passing up something people look SO forward to every year.

ugh.. i hate green beans carrole.. other than that i love it... love the sea food salad and corn and turkey and potatoe salad and greens and baked macaroni  and cheese ex ex.. i love it all lol.. we've never had mashed potatoes or stuff like that...

Original Post by pavlovcat:

Original Post by crazydiamondchrysalis:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by pavlovcat:

Original Post by dnrothx:

My mother brined her turkey last year.  Turned out wonderfully.

Stuffing is awesome.

However, my family has a tradition of putting some rutabaga on the table.  It just sits there.  My father may take a bit of it.

 I love rutabaga!  It's delicious.  Eat your rutabaga young man.

 Boy, you ARE a freak.  You've never had chocolate cream pie and you like rutabaga. ;D

 not sure I can argue with this, pavvy.

 I am, in fact, a freak.  But that status has nothing to do with pie or rutabaga.

 For what it's worth, I love rutabagas too! Also, deep fried turkey is the best! Maybe it's a redneck southern thing, but it tates oohhh so good!

LOVE LOVE LOVE the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pumpkin pie my family always has.  Alas, this year I will only eat the turkey with maybe a tablespoon or two of gravy.  But, they understand, are supportive, and don't try to force the food on me. 

Gross. I can't believe how many people like the food. Yes I am referring to traditional thanksgiving. Thats what I grew up on, and it's what I get when I go home to my family. The only other thanksgiving I have is with my boyfriends family which is the same crap. Crap crap crap.

Now if I were to make my own thanksgiving which is not possible because I just live with my bf and we are destine to go to his folks house (or else they will cry or something), I'd do a Turkey breast rubbed with some kinda herb butter (maybe even chicken), some roasted garlic new red potatoes, maybe corn on the cob, and some baked potatoes. As for dessert? I'd never cook a fruit into a pie. That's just gross, mushy, and full of crap. If I'm going to eat all those calories, it best be called "chocolate moose" Nuff said.

I'm at a loss.....

How can people not like potatoes, lean meat, and vegetables??  I can understand that some people don't care for the "fatty" versions of these foods such as the meat completely covered in gravy, or the green beans made into a high-calorie casserole version.  But other than that, most of the traditional thanksgiving food can be made fairly healthy.

Edit:  Star, I'm not necessarily talking about you.  Your last post still has the basics, just cooked in a healthier way.  But I'm talking about the people who don't want anything to do with any of it and would rather eat pizza or lasagna.  This definitely doesn't compute with me.  Especially since I do like the fatty versions of Thanksgiving, which is just as bad for me as pizza or lasagna.

I second the person who said not to judge all dressing by one person's version. My mother's version was wonderful. I learned from her and mine is damn good too. But I've had the soggy bread pasty kind that is horrible.

I had cornbread stuffing for the first time when a friend who grew up down south made it. I thought it was wonderful. Then my new MIL made some and it was horrible.

My mom's tradition was to put oysters in the bread type dressing. I think the oysters really kicks it up a notch.

*******

As for the green bean casserole, we never ever had that for thanksgiving. I only had it at potlucks. I would never consider green bean casserole to be part of a traditional T-day meal.

HECK NO! I live for the stuff. Turkey, mashed taters, stuffing, white buns, cranberry sauce are way better than what most restaurants serve!

Give me my meat and potatos any day, and I am a happy man

Original Post by kdh1221:

I would be so much happier with lasagna, some pizza, garlic breadsticks and a chocolate cream pie :D

xaxaxa :) nuf said

It really is dependent upon the quality of the original ingredients and the ability of the chef.

Green bean casserole can be wonderful if it's made with fresh green beans that are lightly steamed and freshly cooked bacon crumbles or french fried onions and a sprinkle of blue cheese.  Beans from a can are just nasty in my opinion as are overcooked beans.  Bacon bits are not real bacon...or so I hope!  The blue cheese should be purchased as such and not be the moldy leftovers in the fridge.

Mashed potatoes...the way my mother makes them or my lower calorie modification are great.  Take red or white potatoes which have a much more delicate flavor and smoother texture than russet, for my mom add 1-2 sticks of butter, cream for moisture and salt and pepper to taste.  My version, use an apple peeler to remove most of the skin and don't worry about the rest it's good to have some skin, mash with garlic, rosemary, and chicken broth for moisture, salt and pepper to taste.

Pies - yummy or yucky.  Make your own crust from scratch, none of that store bought cardboard please!  make your own filling, my preference is pecans until there's no more room and then the sugary glue to hold it together, top with some bourbon or cinnamon whipped cream.

Personally I'll pass on the gravy, cranberry sauce, anything store bought or made from a can.

I don't even celebrate it.

ick I hate thanksgiving food!!!

I don't love thanksgiving food but I don't hate it either. When I think of having a delicious treat meal there are so many foods that come to my mind before the traditional fare.

Desert however....yum!

Plus my mom's no chef so making the turkey stresses her out to no end and always causes her to cry and freak out...it just never seems worth it to me. In the past few years I've been having thanksgiving at my boyfriend's. This year we're no longer together but I convinced my mom to make a reservation at a restaurant that does a "thanksgiving buffet brunch" but also offers seafood. Which to be honest, I'll probably enjoy a lot more. 

meh I don't care for it either

cabbage rolls= yuck

meatballs= barf

mashed potatoes= boring

gravy= ugh salty slimey gunk

cranberry sauce= um are you kidding me?

...

turkey I can do, along with a bountiful array of winter squash and pumpkin (puree, not pie!)

BUT i'm from Canada so we had our Thanksgiving like a month or two ago... and I didn't care much for it. It's boring, everything is like the same dirty color...WHERE'S THE VEGGIES!!??

Plus all my family lives in another province so I never see them, and my mom tends to burn something every year... we're thankful if the turkey comes out not charred to ashes!!

meh I don't care for it either

cabbage rolls= yuck

meatballs= barf

mashed potatoes= boring

gravy= ugh salty slimey gunk

cranberry sauce= um are you kidding me?

...

turkey I can do, along with a bountiful array of winter squash and pumpkin (puree, not pie!)

BUT i'm from Canada so we had our Thanksgiving like a month or two ago... and I didn't care much for it. It's boring, everything is like the same dirty color...WHERE'S THE VEGGIES!!??

Plus all my family lives in another province so I never see them, and my mom tends to burn something every year... we're thankful if the turkey comes out not charred to ashes!!

I only like stuffing, vegetables (but for some reason nobody ever makes broccoli on Thanksgiving!), and green bean casserole. Everything else I can do without. Turkey's alright, but nothing special and usually pretty bland. Mashed potatoes are blegh, cranberry sauce is disgusting. I like apple pie but I'm always too full for dinner to have it.

I've always wanted to make more "interesting" dishes (or even healthier ones!) but I'm at the liberty of my mom's cooking. If I make a "healthy" version of something, she makes a "normal" version, making mine seem weird and untouchable. I think when I'm older I may just forego Thanksgiving (once I have my own family and such), not the holiday itself, just the traditional food.

Why do so many of us seem to bring the canned crappy stuff to the table? I don't understand it. Yes, Thanksgiving food can be made amazingly delicious if we bring it back to fresh foods and nice prep work. I think we try to cram so many seperate dishes on the table that all quality is lost.

I've never been to a Thanksgiving table I was happy with the food sitting there. Maybe I'll get a say-so and help with Christmas Dinner (AKA Thanksgiving Pt2).

the canned green beans with mushroom soup and fried onion thingys.... ew

Anytime I make green beans I never ever use canned, I buy them fresh, snap the edges off (family fun) and boil them a little bit, and sautee some onion and garlic and mix the beans in with some beef broth granules and a bit of low sodium soy sauce and everyone loves it.

Thanksgiving foods are traditionally those that are harvested around this time. My garden is dead now. No more watermelons, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, yellow squash, broccoli or cabbage. If I knew what I was doing with growing potatoes I would have a bunch of those still now.

My mother used to make stuffing that was like.. a whole loaf of white bread, poultry seasoning and soaked in water and hand mashed until it was this gluey gray goop. When I was little I loved it, before I knew better... now my sister and I joke about the thought makes us gag now.

Acorn squash caserole is good, I like that, but I never make it. When my youngest gets just a bit older we wont be doing traditional anymore.

Thanksgiving sushi sounds yummy! Or rather, sushi for thanksgiving, not some turkey, cranberry, seaweed combo BLAH

OMG and the leftovers from turkey, and nasty dry turkey/gravy sandwiches... *shudders*

its okay i guess but yeah totally over-rated.

Original Post by fallingupstairs:

I only like stuffing, vegetables (but for some reason nobody ever makes broccoli on Thanksgiving!),

 One of our family's traditional thanksgiving dishes is broccoli with cheese sauce. We also make a sauteed brussel sprout dish.

Bah - you people are strange! Thanksgiving food is awesome - yes, the canned goods and all. I may not want it any other time of the year, but on Thanksgiving, pass me the cranberry sauce that still has can ridges on it and the fried-onion green bean casserole (although we use frozen, not canned, because canned green beans are disgusting 365 days of the year).

Don't get me wrong - I also like cranberry relish made with fresh whole berries, and I love sauteed fresh green beans. But count me firmly in the camp of loving the traditional foods. Well, except for my grandmother's oyster casserole. No one eats that crap.

Since I moved away from home I've done potluck Thanksgivings with friends, and it's always fun to see what foods people consider traditional. I think I must be the only person in the US who grew up eating rice with her turkey and gravy instead of mashed potatoes (and I still prefer it with rice).