Thanksgiving food...

I know it's traditional and all, but...

Thanksgiving food isn't even really that good, guys. I mean, maybe it's just our Thanksgiving food that isn't good...but the only thing I really liked this year was stuffing. Beyond that, who cares about turkey (honestly, do you EVER attempt to eat it when it's NOT thanksgiving??), that jellied cranberry dressing stuff is just nasty, and we also get honeybaked ham. I don't even eat ham. And pumpkin pie seems to always taste like the can the pumpkin came from, to me.

Anyone share this sentiment? I found it easy to abstain over the Thanksgiving holiday simply because all the food we have there is for tradition, not for taste.

Ooooh, I make Thanksgiving food not only for tradition, but for taste, and have certainly swapped out foods for others. Broccoli casserole is a new tradition here. I like turkey; if I didn't, I'd make something else. And I LOVE pumpkin. In pies, in cookies, in breads, two of these three being in my kitchen at this very moment!

But I am totally with you on the jellied cranberry stuff being nasty! Bleah!

Ordinarily I'd agree with you but my Mom always made the freakin' best tasting Thanksgiving dinner ever. Nothing out of a can. I mean everything tasted so good. I managed to watch her over the years and picked up a lot of tips. Most of her cooking was pretty healthy too. Once she put the bird in the oven she'd take us all out for a 5-7 mile hike in the woods and so by the time we came back everything would be done and we'd be starving!

I hear you on some of it.  I can't stand that jellied cranberry crap... I do like the fresh cranbery compote that my mother in law makes.  I like Fresh Turkey though but mostly for my sandwiches on the following days.. i am not a huge mash potato, stuffing person... and I agree with you on the pumkin pie...I don't mind if the pumkin is fresh or perhaps if it is canned cooked differently. I don't care for it so I don't waste the calories eating it.  Perhaps if the pumkin were fresh or cooked differently I may like it.. My preference is for more ethnic type of foods.  My husband and I decided for Christmas we will cook Greek and Middle Eastern type foods.

I have to agree with cutiebooty, our dinner was made entirely from scratch, and it came out fantastic.  I'm especially proud of how good our turkey tasted - we brined it overnight and rubbed a sage butter under the skin before baking, and it was so moist and delicious, even the white meat.  I made our cranberry sauce Wednesday night, and  used fresh cranberries and orange juice in it- nothing from a can.  Made homemade mashed potatoes with red potatoes, garlic, and butter, and got the creamed spinach recipe from Dickie Brennan's steakhouse in NOLA, which was amazing.  Did a simple stuffing in the crockpot with rye and pumpernickel bread from a local jewish deli.  Also made a homemade apple crisp with rolled oats and cinnamon, and it was to die for with some vanilla ice cream on top.  I'm thinking of adding some caramel to it next year, though, as I felt it was missing something.  I posted the recipe I used for my turkey in the recipes forum, under the "How are you cooking your turkey?" thread.  I highly recommend it, and I definitely recommend brining your turkey.  You'll never go back to the old basting method...

I've heard so much about brining the turkey, I will have to try it next year. After washing the boatload of dishes and the cleaning up, I ALWAYS say "next year someone else will cook!". I've been saying that for over 5 years now...

My dad's retirement hobby is cooking, and *everything* he makes is to die for.  :)  Thanksgiving was one of another series of fantastically tasty meals that he has produced. 

I think the main difference in taste is was it made from scratch or out of a can, jar, or just pre-packaged.

My veggie neighbor made cranberry sauce (I NEVER liked cranberries before) it was awesome.  I love Turkey, so Thanksgiving is definately a real test for me!

I do wish I didn't love all the traditional foods that go along with the holiday.  Would have made things alot easier:)

I could eat pumpkin pie all day! But, my mother uses fresh pumpkin and she puts a lot of spices in it. I like other thanksgiving foods too. I don't eat turkey, though, be/c I'm a veg.

For me, this is the best homemade meal of the year! And by no means is turkey just a holiday food in my house. But I also love the social aspects of this meal which many others in the year just don't come close.

I'm sorry your experience with the food was so poor. What would you crave the same way others crave the Thanksgiving meal? Just curious...

OK now I need to hear about the menu of PAndajenns Thanksgiving! It's so cute that your Dad cooks the meal! :)

Well, I did make a prosciutto-pear-hazlenut stuffing that was killer.

Other than that, I tend to favour more 'ethnic foods' I guess you could call them.

If we had maceroni and cheese on Thanksgiving, I'd be screwed. If we had any form of Indian food, likewise I would be screwed. For some reason, I cannot CANNOT control my intake of Indian Food. If I'm at a buffet, I go back like 17 times. If I'm at my friend's house and her mom is cooking, I eat until there are no leftovers. It's sickening.

But my family really likes all that food, so...I guess we have different tastes. Then again, I was vegan for 6 years, so I learned my way around a lot of the traditional foods all those years. I also had to find creative ways to get non-meat/dairy protein and calcium sources down, and Indian Food is good at that.

I HATE thanksgiving food. It's nast.

My Tofurky was delicious, I'm having leftovers for lunch tomarrow :D.

I love Turkey, I eat it all the time!

Honestly, Thanksgiving food is garbage. I watched the rest of my family munch out and I just had a small plate. I had a bite of this and that. It all looked like crap anyway. Candied yams, stuffing, jellied cranberries, rolls...not enticing.

Even Steak would be nasty if you dont know how to cook or marinate it. 

I love cooking thanksgiving meals and the only thing from a can is the cranberry jelly which the boys refuse to eat the good homemade stuff so I don't bother to make that.

Sweet potatos baked then mashed with some seasoning that makes it taste close to pumkin pie.

Turkey that is brined for 12 hours makes for a bird that is dripping with juices and even the leftovers are not dry at all.

Stuffing is a modification of the recipe my sweetheart grewup with and was her grandmother's recipe. The first few times we made it we actually made our own bread cubes but that takes way too long so we just buy bags of bread cubes.

Mashed potatos also made fresh, but this year we tried a new recipe with spinach and while I don't normally like spinach at all, these potatos were incredible!!

This year we also tried a new Corn cassarole recipe that was really good.

Finally, we made Pumpkin and Pecan pies from scratch (I was really good and only had a couple small pieces of the pumpkin before they were gone). OK, I cheated and bought frozen crusts, but nothing beats a home made pie. My sweetheart love pecan pies but always complains store made pies never have enough pecans. My pies are almost all pecans with just enough filling to hold them together.

Yeah i didnt have any turkey.  Firstly im not too fond of meat.  And secondly its like bad-tasting chicken with a dry aftertaste.

edit; there was one really good thing tho.  this stuff i thought was mashed potatos so i took a little but it was actually turnips? Tasted really good.  So much better looking than the yellow mashed potatos that came around later. yuckky >.<

I love turkey, and yes, I do eat it when it's not Thanksgiving.  However, Thanksgiving is the only time I'll grab a whole leg and wolf it down-- the rest of the year I try to stick to the breast.

Our cranberry sauce was very good, actually-- I made it myself, with real, fresh cranberries!  None of that canned crap here ^_^ .

We actually had a lot of veggies, so as usual I tried to load my plate up with that more than anything else.  I was actually feeling rather virtuous until dessert came around :-P .

I had three pieces of pie-- one each of apple, pecan, and sweet potato :-P .  Unfortunately, they were store-bought (since our oven doesn't work), so they weren't that great.  Or maybe I should say, fortunately, since the years we had homemade pies, I pigged out even more!

sorry shakti, I just can't go there with  you. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and my favorite meal of the year. I LOVE turkey. I only roast a whole bird on Thanksgiving, but we have roasted turkey breast once a month or so in the fall/winter. I love pumpkin pie (although didn't have any this year). And maybe it's warm fuzzy childhood memories, but I love jellied cranberry sauce!