by Rex Trulove

Created on: October 16, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2011

Traditional Thanksgiving dinners often feature such things as turkey and cranberry sauce. There is nothing wrong with this fare, if it isn't eaten often. If it is, the same old dinner can become old.

It may sound sort of funny to some, but the best ideas for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner are often those things you have the least often through the year.

Seafood

A man named Steve (last name withheld at his request) lives in Idaho, a fair distance from the ocean. He can purchase turkey or ham, any time of the year, at the local grocery store. He does so, in fact. Turkey and ham then becomes commonplace foods. What is special about that, on Thanksgiving?

Seafood is a different matter. He and his family rarely have this food. It also needs to be mentioned that his specialty is barbecuing and grilling.

So Steve will get clams, oysters, lobsters, shark, and just about any other seafood he can think of. He often will spend a little extra money to ensure that these are the freshest he can get. Then he will shovel a path through the snow to his barbecue grill, and fire it up.

While the grill is working, he puts together homemade lemon butter, tartar sauce, and cocktail sauce. Frozen corn on the cob comes out of the freezer and is wrapped in foil. Home canned beans add to the affair and are heated up, with a bit of bacon, and a green salad is made. Stuffed Jalapeno peppers are also created, ready for use.

By this time, the grill is hot, and the seafood is placed on the grill, along with the corn and cheese stuffed peppers. Even if it is snowing, he then tends the meal as gently as a shepherd tending a flock. The shellfish is usually cooked on the half shell, possibly with a squirt of lemon if it starts drying out. Shark or fish steaks are turned often, so they are cooked but not burned. The peppers and corn are turned frequently as well.

The dessert is just as unconventional; blueberry or huckleberry pie, homemade ice cream, or baked apples.

The result is a feast that is non-traditional, yet wonderfully tasting Thanksgiving feast.

Another great idea is a feast of salad. it may sound unusual, but it really isn't.

The idea is to make as many different salads as you can. Potato salad, macaroni salad, carrot salad, green salad, fruit salad, three-bean salad, rice salad, and chef salad are all great choices. These aren't meatless necessarily, and cheese and sliced meat can be added to many of them. Hard-boiled eggs make a good touch, and if too many are boiled, the

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