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This Year, Celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving |  |
Canadian readers, you're so lucky. October is such a civilized month to celebrate Thanksgiving and over a long weekend, no less. (The official date for Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October but many celebrate on the Saturday or Sunday.) Many of you are likely turkey-deep in planning, even cooking, this year's Thanksgiving menu. Imagine, luxuriating in the tradition of Thanksgiving, at the height of autumn, a full six weeks before the Christmas busy-ness begins. But American readers? There are so so many reasons why we should celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving too. So far, I count 13. Read on!
Thanksgiving Food Traditions, Menus, Recipes and More.
Thanksgiving Food Traditions, Menus, Recipes and More.
~ PIN This ~
This Year, Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving Twice
American readers, perhaps you'll join me in celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving this year?
You see, I miss cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, it's been far too long since I put America's favorite meal on the table.
So last year, I vowed to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving too, cooking all the traditional Thanksgiving favorites, reveling in Thanksgiving leftovers, filling the freezer with leftover turkey, perhaps even testing some recipes for this year's American Thanksgiving on the decidedly uncivilized fourth Thursday in November, perhaps (with any luck!) sharing some new Thanksgiving favorites here on Kitchen Parade and A Veggie Venture!
So whether you celebrate in October or November – or twice! – here are recipe suggestions for Thanksgiving menus. Enjoy!
PS And if you make just one thing, really and truly make it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole.
13 Reasons for Americans to Celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving ...
- You're Canadian! or have Canadian family you miss like crazy! you just love Thanksgiving, just one isn't enough!
- Isn't it just so civilized, an October Thanksgiving? Instead of cramming Thanksgiving and Christmas together in a few weeks, this lets both holidays really breathe.
- You like to experiment with new food traditions but your family prefers the old Thanksgiving standbys.
- You'd like to do a test run on something special, rolls or pie or maybe dry-brining a whole turkey. Or hey, how about that World's Best Green Bean Casserole some, um, blogger, is always blathering about?
- You're a planner: the best way to make sure to have enough turkey stock on hand for gravy in November is to cook a turkey (or maybe a breast in a slow cooker) in November and freeze the stock.
- Your friends are so social, they already have November Friendsgiving plans.
- A much better chance of pretty weather for an outside Thanksgiving!
- You just can't wait until November!
- You have so much gratitude, one Thanksgiving just isn't enough.
- Thanksgiving is at (your mom's, your aunt's, your cousin's, etc) and you really do like doing your own thing.
- You'll be out of town for Thanksgiving itself but still want to celebrate with local family.
- Your kids are going to their in-laws this year on Thanksgiving itself.
- You really want to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving (so do! and go out on Thanksgiving itself).
Thanksgiving Planning
~ Thanksgiving Menu Ideas ~(six menus for different kinds of gathering plus my own "dream" menu)
~ Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas ~
(a real treasure trove of ideas, super-organized for easy browsing and targeted searches)
from Kitchen Parade
~ Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables ~
(recipes for all of Thanksgiving's Top Twelve vegetables
~ Vegetarian Entrées for Thanksgiving ~
from A Veggie Venture
Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
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Thanksgiving recipes are among my favorites. What a fabulous round-up of inspiration. Thanks, Alanna!
ReplyDeleteSo, for the "civilized" Thanksgiving (which I beg to differ), the Canadians serve very similar food to the "uncivilized" American feast? Many of the recipes listed are what we (my family) do every year. Well, we don't call chutney, "chutney", because then that would be snobbish and uppity and we would get funny stares(JJ).
ReplyDeleteAre there recipes unique to Canada (okay, I know that each province has its own flair, just like our regions in the US), that would be fun to try to help celebrate the "civilized" Thanksgiving?
Oh, and does civilized mean drinking tea with our pinkies extended? Or does it just mean saying "eh" at the end of a question? LOL
Oh boy, thank you so much for the resources. I have no idea we Canadians have so many great recipes, lol
ReplyDeleteIt's not alllll the same food! At least it wasn't in my family. Sure there's turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, but the whole green bean casserole business was news to me when I moved here. And pies were always in the offing for dessert, but pumpkin pie was never this huge thing. Maybe my grandmother just doesn't care for pumpkin pie, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's so not as big a deal. We get a 3-day weekend (with the Mon. off), and when I was in college, for instance, most students didn't travel home for it unless they lived close by.
P.S., while the date Canadian Thanksgiving landed on was more or less arbitrary (seriously, it started out being celebrated in March, I think, and moved around the calendar for a while), in most of Canada there's precious little to be thankful for in November. In most of the country winter's either started or hovering ominously, and in my hometown it just rains miserably the whole month. It's no time for a harvest festival or a celebration of abundance, anyway!
It was great to see your article with recipes for thanksgiving and yes, we do enjoy the earlier thanksgiving as it seems to go hand and hand with harvest.. This yr is the 11th year that I have grown tomatoes and because of our cold evening during the summer and early frost we get very few vine ripen tomatoes and they do not taste of summer.. This year with our very hot Sept, my tomatoes were wonderful, that great color and delicious tasting..
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your articles very much!!
Karri ~ You're so welcome!
ReplyDeletePatricia ~ Ha! At least in my family's experience, the foods are the same. As for unique recipes, I'll ask the Canadian readers to chime in. Are there typical "Canadian" recipes for Thanksgiving? Or is this another example of the similar tracks that Canadians and Americans develop?
On a serious note - I do think there's a certain Canadian sensibility that's different than what I think of as 'American'.
Thanks for a chutney chuckle!
Halifax ~ You're welcome!
Camille ~ I love that laid-back idea of Thanksgiving, yes, that I too have experienced. I wonder if it's possible if American started off that way too, but with the whole commercialization of Christmas, Thanksgiving was elevated as the "first" day of "THE holidays".
Marilyn ~ Thanks! Nice to have tomatoes so long!