A different Thanksgiving

 

This is my Thanksgiving Meal.

What's missing??

Yup. No Turkey.

There are 3 people in this house that eat meat, one of those BARELY does, so why should I buy a 12lbs turkey to over stuff ourselves? I shouldn't. One of the people in my house is a vegetarian, so why have a Turkey when we can join him for day? Another reason is that I ran a 5k this morning! Luckily everyone in the house had no issue with going vegetarian for this Thanksgiving day. Honestly, it's kind of nice. I do like turkey, and the one I make for Christmas will be even better. 

I wanted to share what I made for my Thanksgiving meal.

 

The "main dish" was Macaroni & Brie. This was posted on Facebook by my friend Serge. I worked with him back at MindSpring - back in the day - he's definitely a foodie and we seem to have similar tastes. It was a pretty easy recipe and I used some skills I hadn't used in years, such as making a roux and a bechamel sauce (sorry, I can't make the accent). 

I also made a wild rice dish suggested by a local veterinarian friend (she has her own blog -- http://veteranveterinarian.blogspot.com/ ) who took care of our sweet Pixie. It is a lemon infused rice dish. I used a rice mix from the new coop that included wild rice along with other varieties. I will admit I am not a huge fan of lemon flavors BUT it was the perfect compliment to the other dishes. It was like a refreshing change from the other dishes. It's pretty simple -

Lemon Pecan Wild Rice

3 cups chicken broth (I used vegetable Broth)
1 cup uncooked wild rice (I used the rice mix)
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1) In a large saucepan, bring the broth, rice and butter to a boil.
2) Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until rice
is tender.
3) Stir in the onions, parsley, lemon peel and juice.
4) Stir in pecans.
5) Chill for 1 hr before serving.

Serves 4-6 

I also made some stuffing -- from a box. As well as the "log" cranberry sauce.

Finally -- Carrots.  I made 2 versions. Herb Roasted -- olive oil, salt & herbs roasted. Very simple. And some "candied" carrots -- 4 tbsp butter mixed with 1/4 cup butter mixed together, poured over the carrots and roasted. This used to be a hit with the kids, but this year -- not so much. 

Oh, and I need to mention that the drink being served to all was sparkling apple cider from Trader Joes. No, the kids did not have wine! 

I had planned rolls, but failed to read the recipe from Cooks Illustrated that included "refrigerate for 24-48 hours" and "let rise for 6-7 hours". Yeah, damn Cooks Illustrated. I knew it couldn't be as easy as it seemed.

I have to admit that I didn't miss the turkey that much and it was really nice to have a "guilt free" Thanksgiving!