We usually do turkey. But over the years,as the siblings have married and go to their in laws for the traditional meal, we have done prime rib or lasagne to break up the monotony of it all.

Last year it was just my husband and I, plus his brother and wife. We just didn't feel like doing the whole "turkey thing", so we decided to fix lamb shanks braised in red wine. It was so delicious that we are doing it again this year! We served it with garlic mashed potatoes. Our one concession o Thanksgiving was a pumpkin cheesecake-it was delicious. This year I'm considering changing that up and making Pumpkin Creme Brûlée.

It was the most relaxing Thanksgiving ever! We all pitched in to chop the veggies and brown the lamb shanks, then tossed it all in a big dutch oven. It baked for several hours, and all we had to do was make the mashed potatoes. No last minute stress or craziness.

We'll have turkey on Thursday. On Saturday, we're hosting son and his wife. We'll be having lasagne, salad, garlic bread and lots of red wine.

Me!

It took too many years for me to finally admit that I really dont like turkey. We now have roast chicken.

I'm guessing you were really wanting to know who does something other than poultry? In the past we've done the prime rib and lasagna but we all seem to prefer staying with tradition.

My husband is from Italy so we have everything possible, ugh. Turkey, lasagna, all the veggies, huge antipasti, roasted chestnuts, stuffed veal (beyond delish) and on and on. My son and his wife are amazing cooks and they do it all. They have a separate dining room for just the desserts, it's amazing. I steer clear of that room.

We are having a whole salmon. There will be four of us. I need to decide on the other dishes.

Glenda, do you know what you are having?

We're going to have fresh Dungeness crab if it's available. The local season opened yesterday, but the weather has kept the boats close to shore. If we can't get crab, then we'll have the duck that's in the freezer.

We get tired of the same traditional meal also and serve other special meals often on Thanksgiving. We are doing a big smoked brisket. Haven't decided on the sides yet.

We had an early Thanksgiving meal when my sister was visiting last week, so we'll probably do something different for the actual day. Not sure what yet.

I will be going to a local hotel restaurant for their annual Thanksgiving Day buffet. So good and everything from Turkey, prime rib, sea food and pork of some kind. I could easily not have the Turkey but I try to sample everything and I can't pass up Turkey.

When I was growing up, we often had lasagne with our turkey- we are Italian after all :-)

It's just hubby and I and we had turkey at Thanksgiving. Turkey is so much cheaper per pound than chicken is. At .99 we can eat roast turkey more often than chicken at $2.49/lb.

For Christmas, I bought a Prime rib that I'll have for the two of us. I've never cooked one, so it'll be an experiment.

When I did Thanksgiving for about 3 years when DD was working Thanksgiving Day, I did fresh Scottish pheasant two years and field quail the 3rd year. Both were SO much better than turkey, and I did wonderful, Indian-harvested MN wild rice with both. I make a terrific dressing but I still prefer really good wild rice.

Anglo, no ferret? I laughed so hard at your story in the other thread.

Just the two of us. Haven't even thought about it yet.

Most of us don't particularly like turkey, but we will smoke one per year. It won't be on Thanksgiving Day though--probably mid Dec., due to some of family eating turkey at in-laws' on Thanksgiving. Not sure what we are going to have yet.

I want to go to Yayas dessert room :-)

We don't much care for turkey so I won't make one again. My husband likes the dark meat only and I will eat a bit of the breast but it's not our favorite so since it's just us, there's no need to fix one. I can't stand the way turkey smells for some strange reason, kind of gamey I suppose.

I love turkey and oyster dressing. Since I only make it at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I never have enough! I do vary what we have on Christmas Eve. New Year's is always ham. Sometimes, I will smoke a small turkey during the year, but that is usually pared with picnic stuff like potato salad, slaw, grilled corn, and baked beans.

We will be going over to a friend's home where there will be a delicious buffet.

Turkey and roast beef will be served, and a nice variety of side dishes with nary a sweet potato/marshmallow or green bean casserole in sight. I really like turkey and bought one for us later on.

I've been asked to bring a cheese and fruit board and I'm having fun sampling and selecting some unique cheeses from all over town.

Never cared for turkey until I had one that was brined. It didn't have that gamey taste, I dislike. Thanksgiving will be potluck at parent's house with everyone bringing a dish or two....so a variety of food, and usually ham besides turkey.

I always buy a frozen Butterball, which is prebrined. The only time I bought a "cheap" turkey, we didn't like it.

Goose is a nice substitute for turkey. We will not be home for Thanksgiving, so we will probably have a traditional meal at our hotel. At home, we often have goose (two geese in our case) instead of turkey. I like turkey and roast one quite often and appreciate having the leftovers for sandwiches (much better than buying cured meats, they say.)

Rhizo, your not the first person I've heard that appears to be happy when sweet potato casserole and green been cass is not being served.. I do wonder why though. I don't make these casseroles but I do make candied sweet potatoes (no marshmellows). To me a small serving of candied sweet potatoes must be on my plate. Just like cranberry sauce must be on my plate.

I love candied sweet potatoes as well. Only DS2 and I like them in the family :-(

I have to make them for my DH with the toasted marshmallows. Luckily it's only once a year.

I'll be doing the traditional meal. (sigh)

Every year I made my candied sweet potatoes using fresh sweet potatoes that I cooked the day before, put in frig and candied the day of. My eldest son LOVED them or so I thought. I would rave (brag) about how good my SP dish was and how much my son looks forward to them. Than I find out after almost 40 years he hates candied SP but did not want to hurt my feelings. Its now a joke at the table as I pass them to my son reminding him how much he should love them LOL.

We will have turkey as well as ham and chicken and noodles. We too will have the candied sweet potatoes. We will also have those for Christmas and Easter. Some of the other sides will change, depending on what people want to bring along. I guess you can tell we all like turkey a lot. I think if a person wants to serve different food that is fine as long as they and the guests are enjoying it. Good food and fun with friends and family!

Sue

I cook a turkey for tradition and a beef rib roast because the nephew asks for one.

I've been hosting Thanksgiving for 4 years now and I don't eat or cook meat, so a guest volunteered to bring the turkey. He told me this year he's bringing turkey, ham and roast beef, all for 6 people! I always go crazy with the sides as well but we have fun. Everyone brings Tupperware with them to take leftovers home.

IMO, you can't have turkey often enough and they are hard to find (fresh) at other times of years, so we tend to focus on them for holidays. And turkey parts - which you can find - are not at all the same as roasting a whole turkey!

I will have three turkey dinners this T'day :-) We had one family gathering last Saturday with roasted, brined turkey and all the trimmings with one section of the family that will be off visiting other family members on T'day. And we will have another dinner on T'day with the other local half of the family. And because I love turkey and miss out on the leftovers, I am roasting a tiny one (8 LB) just for me (and the dog :-)) tomorrow.

Prime rib is for Christmas and ham for Easter. But always turkey for Thanksgiving!

It is just DH and me. He does the cooking, so I let him decide. He does not like sugar in his sweet potatoes. Some years we just make stuffing and sweet potatoes. Once a year, it's nice to just eat the food you like!

DH is allergic to dogs, and my sister and my brother each have a dog, so we can't go to their house. Ours is to small to host the whole family. In three years, we might expand the house so we can have guests. Trying to decide if it is worth the expense to enlarge the DR and add a BR and bath.

One year, when we went to my sister's (before DH's allergy got bad) we took a bunch of food including pecan pie made with molasses instead of corn syrup. It was a big hit.

I usually have turkey at thanksgiving. Usually I attend elsewhere and bring a side, but the hosts provide the turkey.

2 years ago with a broken ankle, I didn't get to go anywhere... I roasted two turkey thighs and had one for lunch, the other for dinner.

Once when I was a kid and the parents weren't doing the relative thing that season (everyone else was several states away) we ate out at a Chinese restaurant, where we didn't have turkey.

When my parents were alive, we used to have duck, everyone being mostly sick of turkey. This year, I'm having guests and they said they prefer ham, so ham it is.

It pains me that so many Americans don't know how to cook its native bird.

If I had a quarter for everyone who I've heard say they don't like turkey because the meat is too dry; well frankly, they've never had it done right.

We don't do the whole bird but turkey parts; either it in a bag or deep fried, and most importantly, you don't OVERCOOK the poor bird to the point of sucking out the last trace of moisture! (I do like chicken and duck too, but turkey is much less fatty.)

So yes, traditional here; turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes (but not the candied, super sweet version), wild rice stuffing, butternut squash soup, corn bread, string beans, and homemade blueberry pie.