Thanksgiving is approaching, which might mean it’s turkey season. However, I’m allergic to turkey, which means I’ve had to get creative with other options. Whether you are a vegan, want to try something new this year or just not a big fan of turkey, I’ve got you covered. 

This week, I followed two alternative recipes. The first dish, salmon with broccoli and mashed potatoes, has been a Marlett Thanksgiving tradition for many years. For the second dish, I followed a vegan recipe using squash and pasta. 

Marlett-Style Thanksgiving Salmon 

My aunt first suggested salmon instead of turkey for Thanksgiving years ago, and now I can never go back. The taste always brings me back to Thanksgiving trips to see my family in Arizona, my home away from home! 

For this recipe, I found the best places to get the ingredients were Trader Joe’s and King Soopers. The frozen wild-caught salmon at Trader Joe’s is decent value based on the weight of the fish. Some packages were $10, but I got a pack with two large pieces for $11.95. King Soopers has good broccoli, and it’s usually around $2.99 a pound. For the mashed potatoes, I got five pounds of potatoes for only $2.29 at Walmart.  

Ingredients: 

2 pieces of salmon, thawed 

1 teaspoon garlic powder  

2 teaspoons salt 

½ cup water 

2 stalks of broccoli  

Garlic powder 

½ cup water 

2 tablespoons oil 

4 teaspoons salt 

3 Russet potatoes 

Water 

Salt 

Directions: 

If the salmon is frozen, thaw it in the fridge, preferably a few days before you use it.  

Place the salmon in a pan and season it with garlic powder and salt. Add enough water to the pan to cover the bottom in a quarter inch of water and turn the heat on low.  
 
Cook for 10 minutes with the lid on. Split the salmon down the center. If it’s still raw, continue cooking. Be sure not to overcook it; turn the heat off when the salmon is done. 

Broccoli: 

Cut off the ends of the stalks. Peel or slice the stalks so that they are smooth, discarding the rougher outside of the stalks.  

Cut the stalks into slices about 2 centimeters thick. For big pieces, cut them in half to create semi-circles. Cut the florets into sections that can easily fit in the palm of your hand.  

Place in a wok or a large pan with oil, water, garlic and salt. Turn on high heat for 5 minutes, keeping the lid on and stirring occasionally. Then turn the heat down and cook it for around 7 minutes on low until the steam condenses on the lid.  

Let it cook for 5 more minutes until you get the texture you want — a longer cook time means it will be softer.  

Potatoes:  

Peel and cut them up into small cubes or half circles. Place them in a pot with enough water to have all the pieces submerged and put it on high heat. Boil them until they are soft when you poke them with a fork.  

Drain a little bit of water from the pot but keep some water inside. Add salt and mash the potatoes. If they get too dry, add some water back in until it is creamy. Serve with salmon and broccoli, and you have yourself a Thanksgiving dinner. 

Sweet Potato Stuffed Pasta 

This was a new recipe for me. I found it on Love and Lemons, and I like squash, so I thought it would be a nice Thanksgiving dish. However, there were no measurements or quantities listed in the original recipe, so … this is me winging it. 

I found most of the ingredients at Trader Joe’s but had to go to Whole Foods for some of the remining ingredients. The firm tofu was $1.79 at Trader Joe’s, and the butternut squash was $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods. The original recipe calls for cashew cream, but as I’m allergic to everything, I decided to substitute it for Violife non-dairy cream cheese which was $6.99 at Whole Foods.  

I ended up using Jovial brand Manicotti as a gluten-free pasta substitute, and it worked great. My family loved this recipe, and I hope you will, too! 

Ingredients: 

1 butternut squash 

2 handfuls of spinach  

1 box of Jovial manicotti pasta 

2 tablespoons tofu 

2 tablespoons Violife Cream Cheese 

Water 

Garlic powder 

Red pepper flakes 

Oregano 

Salt 

Pepper 

Directions: 

Cut the squash up into small cubes — be careful, it is hard to cut — and put the cubes into an oven-safe pan. Spread over them a generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.  

Boil the spinach until it looks limp and stringy. Boil the pasta for 10 minutes in a separate pot.  

As all of that is cooking, take the cream cheese and sprinkle on garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes. There’s no limit here – measure with your heart.  

Add a small amount of water to make it creamy and stir. Then, add the tofu, breaking it up and mixing it until it’s fluffy. When the spinach is done, mix it in. 

When done, take the squash out of the oven, and take the pasta off the heat. I drained the pasta and filled the pot up with cold water to make it easier to handle.  

Taking one pasta at a time, fill it with the cheese mix and some cubes of squash, placing them in an oiled 9×13 pan. If you have extra spinach or squash, you can add it alongside the pasta so it gets roasted, too.  

Place it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Serve when cooled and enjoy!

Graphic by Neako Hallisey.