I'm a vegetarian and if you make the gravy separate and do a meatless stuffing with nuts and vegetable broth in a casserole dish, I can make a meal out of that and most of the other side dish stuff.

Have you ever made "no boil" lasagne? I make it all the time, love it. With a good name brand store bought sauce, this could be an easy peasy thing to put together and pop in the oven the last hour or so the turkey was roasting.

Something I always make at Thanksgiving is wild rice pilaf. The other folks in the family like it, and if I make it with lentils, peas or nuts or a combination, it has some protein for me. Another thing I like to make at Thanksgiving is corn bread. Very traditional and veggie friendly. Succotash is also a veggie friendly traditional dish. Depends on how your family feels about lima beans though! I love the frozen baby ones.

Here's an adapted wild rice stuffing mix I made one year, recipe from a Penzey's catalog.

Wild Rice Stuffing Casserole (serves 12)

1 lb. fake meat crumbles, (optional. I like Yves and Morningstar Farms brands. Can sub Tofu kan or extra firm tofu if you can get it. Can sub a cup of lentils cooked in veggie broth. Can use some chopped walnuts or pecans. Can just leave this part out all together.)

1/2 cup wild rice
1 1/2 cups brown rice
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 TBLSP margarine
5 cups water or veggie broth
1 med. onion chopped (1 cup)
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
(I'd throw in two stalks diced celery, but my dad is allergic to it so not if I was making it or my family. Could also add about a cup of chopped frozen spinach or some shredded zuchinni or carrots. All OPTIONAL, depending on your family's taste and whatever else you are serving.)

3 TBLSP shredded parmesean cheese

Cream sauce:
2 TBLSP olive oil or butter
6 TBLSP all purpose flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt or less, to taste
1/8 tsp. granulated garlic
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp sweet curry powder

Combine poultry seasoning, wild rice, brown rice, butter and water in a roomy pan with a lid. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over med. low heat for about 1 hour, until liquid is absorbed by the rice. Watch it to prevent sticking to the bottom at the end.

While the rice is cooking, make the sauce. Melt the butter or put the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes until the flour is lightly toasted. The flour mixture will be a bit dry and crumbly. Slowly add the vegetable stok, whisking the flour-stock mixture until smooth. Start by adding just a few tablespoons at a time, whisk each time to keep sauce smooth. Add the milk in a thin stream after the stock has all been added. Then add the spices and cook over med. heat until a smooth thick and bubbbly sauce forms. Remove from heat and set aside. Brown the fake meat or tofu in a skillet with a little oil, if using. Also saute the onion, mushrooms and other optional veggies in this oil.

When the rice is done, combine the sauteed vegetables, rice mixture, and sauce all together and turn into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min. For the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Here's a recipe link for acorn squash lasagne I came across while looking for pesto instructions. It's from "Everyday Foods" which is a food show associated with Martha Stewart's Living Magazine. It's a little different than the other recipes I've seen, which top it with a white sauce. I made the white sauce kind and wasn't that impressed. I might try this, the nice thing about it is it is definately "make ahead" if you use the no boil noddles.

I'd experiment with adding spinach or tomatoes to the filling, for color and taste punch. But that's my taste, some people like the bland flavor of squash. I like mine more piquant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acorn Squash Lasagne

gee--nice job, lpink! sounds like some great options and no one at your place would be bored with the menu or hungry! thanx especially for the acorn lasagne recipe--i think we'd really enjoy that too.