If you are from the South, the traditional Thanksgiving menu includes sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green bean casserole, rolls, and, of course, the turkey. After moving away from home and my mother’s cooking, I wanted to change things up a bit. For my first Thanksgiving as a new wife, I went hog-wild and attempted to do a maple whiskey glazed turkey. Let’s just say it looked more like charcoal than turkey — but my husband did the best he could to peel away the outer layers and eat what was left. I think my mistake was I set my sights too high that first Thanksgiving. Over the next few years, I went back to basics and didn’t branch out from the familiar.
As I have become more confident in my cooking ability, I am always on the lookout for side-dish recipes that are a little unconventional for our yearly feast. One of my favorite places to search for new recipes is a site called MyRecipes. They have a phenomenal search engine that lets you specify main ingredients, exclude things such as wheat or nuts, select which course or occasion you are looking for and even select from 39 different cuisine types ranging from African to Irish to Native American. You can also specify if you are looking for recipes by convenience, such as kid friendly or freezable, by cooking method, by dietary consideration, or by publication such as Cooking Light. In addition, each recipe is given a review and rating by users so you can’t go wrong.
So if you are looking for some unusual recipes or just some traditional ones with a little twist, MyRecipes is the place to go.
And by the way, if anyone has that maple glazed turkey recipe, I might just be ready to try it again, assuming I have a fire extinguisher on hand.
