Alaythia is slowly settling in

create my own unique family traditions (read all 3 entries…)
Lasagna at Thanksgiving... 2 years ago

I’ve always thought it would be cool to do something outside of the norm for a holiday. At Thanksgiving, a million gazillion American families sit down and eat turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and pumpkin or pecan pie. Since no one in my family is particularly fond of turkey, I think we’ll do something different this coming year—like lasagna, or enchiladas, or stir-fry. Then we’d be much more likely to eat the leftovers! : )

Jan 23, 2007, 07:21PM PST | 9 cheers


Comments:

Alyssa

We do Lasagna at X-mas

And it is one of our favorite traditions. And you’re right, the leftovers are much better, and very edible! We eat the lasagna with homemade breadsticks, and salad. Good luck on your traditions! The unique ones seem so much more special. I have wonderful memories of growing up.

Jan 23, 2007, 07:27PM PST | Thread | Respond to this 2 cheers

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Mmmmmm! I love lasagna. Thanks for sharing about your Christmas tradition. I think it’s a great idea. : )

Jan 24, 2007, 01:04PM PST | Respond to this

yurasi

I think it’s a great idea too! My husband and I are kind of non-traditionalists (or at least we’ve become that way since moving away from the rest of our families). For last Thanksgiving we each picked a different ethnic cuisine (very randomly, at that) looked up different traditional dishes and each made a few. It was really fun…we researched it together, made grocery trips for odd ingredients, spent two days cooking up a storm. I’m not sure if we’ll do the same type of thing for the next Thanksgiving, but it’s nice to give holidays and occasions our own memorable stamp.

Have you started looking for a fantastic lasagna recipe yet, or already have one on hand?

;o)

Apr 17, 2007, 02:23PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Alaythia is slowly settling in

No fantastic lasagna recipes yet. I have one that I normally use but it’s not the tastiest I’ve ever had. Do you happen to have one to share? ; )

Apr 17, 2007, 03:17PM PDT | Respond to this

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May 18, 2007, 02:35PM PDT

FunnySunny can't believe her log in still worked.

At Christmas

my mom always made chili the night before and then biscuits and gravy Christmas morning. It was one of my favorite memories from growing up.

May 29, 2007, 05:31PM PDT | Respond to this 1 cheer

Snookie

don't think I could do without Turkey on Thanksgiving...

I like the whole tradition of it. It would be neat to try to do one more like the Original Thanksgiving. Anyhow, my family has bits of things to snack on at Christmas Eve. nacho bean dip with tortilla chips, hors devours, my Uncle Brian’s peanut butter fudge and drinks of course. We have this alcohol based punch with ice cream to make the top foamy and maraschino cherries. On Christmas Day we have a large traditional dinner.

So, we’re pretty normal. However, on New Years we have lasagna and manicotti with breadsticks and salad. Mmm mmm mmm!

Jun 22, 2007, 09:52AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 3 cheers

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Oh that's a good idea.

So you do sort of a tapas meal for Christmas Eve. That would be cool to do, very low stress. I guess that’s one thing I want to focus on—creating stress free, pressure free holidays where everyone can just relax and enjoy themselves. I’d rather the focus be on the people and not on the performance…the meal preparation and the clean-up. Maybe we’ll even use paper plates so no one is stuck doing dishes. lol.

Jun 22, 2007, 10:45AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Snookie

sounds good!

You can get cute holiday themed paper plates and napkins! You could also put out a veggie platter :-) I am huge on holiday/family traditions as well. My husband and I talk a lot about our childhoods and what we experienced. My parents did quite a few neat things when I was kid. I remember the elves in our Christmas Tree would leave us notes to find in the morning and some nights when we were sitting in in the living room watching TV the tree would start shaking… something was in it! An Elf (our elves were named Patch and Twinkletoes )!!! Honestly, my father must have had fishing line hooked up to the top of the tree and led behind the curtain up and over the window and then down behind the stand and to his recliner.. I’ll have to ask him next time I visit him how he ever made the tree shake like that LOL.

Another time, I heard a loud knock at the door one dark and snowy night! My Dad told me to answer it and when I went to get it, there was a small rubber scarecrow toy (one of those bendy body things) and it had a note on it and said it was for me from Twinkletoes. I found out later in my life that my father arranged for our neighbor Mike to knock on the door and run away, lol. Ahh, when it comes to holidays I think the more magical you can make it for your children the better. I remember EVERYTHING being special in our house… decorating it, decorating the tree, setting up the manger on my Mom’s old wooden card table LOL, helping my father put all the outdoor lights and decorations up, watching Christmas Specials, making pine cone wreaths, going sledding, ice skating, building snoman… wow, so many memories! We also had a huge deal of Halloween, Easter, and Thanksgiving (watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, turkey, pie). My parents even gave us small gifts for St. Valentine’s Day!

Anyhow, I’m getting hungry thinking about holiday foods! All through this week I’ve been craving a chicken taco salad (I’ve never made my own before). I’m going to try to look for a large tortilla shell (like the one in this picture) at the grocery store tomorrow. I want it to contain seasoned grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheeses, and sour cream. :-) I hope it turns out well!

Jun 22, 2007, 06:39PM PDT | Respond to this 4 cheers

Celtic_Christian

sounds good

If a large turkey is not going to be eaten and enjoyed I agree that its not worth spending the money on it, when you could get something that the leftovers will yield additional meals.

Jun 22, 2007, 11:08AM PDT | Respond to this 3 cheers

intothebreach Did not fall off the face of the earth, but came close

Forget turkey!

Hi, I have never liked turkey that much. Yet, for two holidays in a row my family sits down and gorges on that foul bird. I wish that one year we would have stake, or pizza instead. This is what I will probably do if I ever have kids of my own.

Jun 22, 2007, 05:05PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Mmmmm....

steak. I’ll have to think about that one. Everyone in my family likes steak. : )

Jun 22, 2007, 07:15PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 2 cheers

cluricaune

Me too !

Still bleeding, preferably with its arse wiped.

C.

Jun 23, 2007, 12:10PM PDT | Respond to this

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Oct 02, 2007, 10:23PM PDT

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Thanks!

In December we’re moving to Nevada, far away from the majority of our family (almost all of whom live in Texas). This should give us a little independence when it comes to crafting our own traditions. Our Christmas dinner may very well be enchiladas since we’ll probably be quite homesick at that point! lol.

Oct 03, 2007, 08:02AM PDT | Respond to this

blincolnw needs to update this list!

Everybody loves Raymond

This reminds me of an episode of Everybody loves Raymond that I saw once. His wife wanted to have everyone over for Thanksgiving and she decides that instead of making a turkey she would make a fish.

Jun 28, 2007, 08:47AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Alaythia is slowly settling in

I remember

that episode. lol. When you said that, I was thinking about the one where Marie decides to adopt a healthier lifestyle and makes a “tofu turkey” for Thanksgiving. I love that show. : )

Jun 28, 2007, 02:58PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

blincolnw needs to update this list!

Tofurkey

It’s really a funny program. They’re always trying to do something good and it ends up causing problems for someone.

Jun 29, 2007, 09:53AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Alaythia is slowly settling in

I like it

because it’s so much like regular life. Almost every time I watch an episode I can relate. lol. Though I don’t think I’d ever try making a tofurkey. lol.

Jun 29, 2007, 10:01AM PDT | Respond to this 1 cheer

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Jun 28, 2007, 03:25PM PDT

Alaythia is slowly settling in

That stinks. :(

I would have eaten your yummy side dishes. It sounds like you’re an excellent cook!

Jun 28, 2007, 08:37PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

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Jun 29, 2007, 04:02AM PDT

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Woohoo!

I’ll be looking for my invitation. lol. : )

Jun 29, 2007, 09:58AM PDT | Respond to this

nicolasc is Grinchy... very, very Grinchy. But she dons a hat and plays Santa for Sonny Lou Who anyway.

How odd!

I just made a lasagne at Thanksiving post to you yesterday, and now I just happened upon this thread. You were already onto the lasagne at Thanksgiving idea! Did you know that it is something a lot of Italian Americans do?

By the way, I have made vegetarian turkey on several Thanksgivings – don’t knock it ‘til you try it! :)

Oct 03, 2007, 11:27PM PDT | Respond to this 1 cheer

kewpie

My German grandmother never really got into Thanksgiving. She only made bird meat because my grandfather insisted.

She didn’t understand that Americans expect to eat a lot and so she made just enough food for everyone to have one small portion. I remember the year instead of turkey she made one half of a cornish game hen for each of us. It was really good, but you shouldn’t be hungry and pouring yourself bowls of wheaties after thanksgiving dinner.

Anyway, after my grandfather died, she gave up cooking for thanksgiving and now she goes out for Sushi.

Jan 28, 2008, 04:26PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Alaythia is slowly settling in

Sushi!

Now that’s an idea. lol. I haven’t tried very many kinds of it, but I’ve liked what I’ve had.

How often did you go to her house for Thanksgiving? Was it a yearly tradition?

Jan 28, 2008, 06:59PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

kewpie

several times but not every year

most years we went to one relative on my mom’s side. They did the whole traditional thing – except to add leg of lamb to the meal because over half of my family hates turkey but loves lamb.

I can’t remember the ratio, but I do remember being disappointed going to my German grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. I’ll still say she was by far a better cook than most people I know. But she just didn’t get Thanksgiving. She grew up in world war 2 and had a weird thing with food. There were NO leftovers in her house. She always made exactly enough for a carefully measured small portion at all times. If you took two scoops of mashed potatoes, someone at the end of the table wasn’t going to be getting any potatoes for Thanksgiving.

As for the sushi thing, she flies out to chicago and goes out with my aunt. It’s just the two of them.

Jan 29, 2008, 07:27AM PST | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

Alaythia is slowly settling in

I think a lot of people who grew up in the Great Depression/World War II era had food rationing habits. I’m glad I didn’t have to live through that!

Going out to eat on Thanksgiving sounds fun too. Only I’d feel bad for the people who weren’t getting to spend it with their families because they were busy cooking for customers. : /

Jan 29, 2008, 12:50PM PST | Respond to this


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