Fresh Thanksgiving Ideas

It may seem like fall just started, but believe it or not, it's already time to think about Thanksgiving dinner. It's only one week away! A lot of people have their core Thanksgiving recipes established from previous years, but if you're looking for new ways to spice up your autumn feast or going gluten-free for the first time, check out these ideas for an organic Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving is a great time to indulge and load up on all the heavy carbs, meats and sweets that you may skip at other times. But if there's only rib-sticking stuffing and heavy gravy on the table, you can indulge so much that you fall asleep and miss the real point of the holiday -- getting together with friends and family to enjoy each other's company and express gratitude. This Thanksgiving, try to make sure your vegetables are on the table too -- and not just those of the potato variety.

If you're tired of the more traditional brussels sprouts, why not bring a Kale Salad to the meal? Add cranberries to the kale salad and you'll really be feeling festive. Speaking of salads, you could also try an Apple Fennel Salad or even just stick with your basic green salad and get it into the spirit by adding a Cranberry Vinaigrette. Or go with a warm salad and serve this Roasted Beet and Carrot Salad, which is sure to fit in on the Thanksgiving table.

Just about everyone has plenty of go-to recipes for Thanksgiving gratins, casseroles and stuffings. But what about soup? A light starter round of a brothy, vegetable-full soup is a great way to begin a meal and allows you to get in some much needed nutrients before turning to the sweets. Try this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pear Cider or maybe this twist on Carrot Soup that adds miso and sesame oil. You can also get your greens in by starting with this Creamy Broccoli Soup. Or make the soup the centerpiece and pull out all the stops by serving White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs.

For the gluten-free-ers, Thanksgiving can be a treacherous time. Even if you can eat wheat yourself, chances are there will be someone at your meal who can't, so why not play it safe and make as much of the dinner gluten-free as possible? Not only does this mean not planning to cook your bread stuffing in the bird and load the table up with mac-n-cheese, wheaty gravies and pumpkin pie, but it also means checking your ingredients. Making a marinade, broth, gravy, soup? Read everything for hidden glutinous ingredients and make as much from scratch as you can.

Good thickening substitutes for wheat in things like gravy and roux are tapioca starch, arrowroot starch or sweet rice flour. And if you really want a stuffing, why not try making it with rice and or even cornbread, as in this Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Maple Roasted Acorn Squash? Or check out these tips for making gluten-free stuffing.

Of course, the main event at any Thanksgiving meal is the dessert table, which is often loaded with intensely sweet and wheaty pies. If you need that traditional pumpkin pie to be present but are looking for a gluten-free alternative, try this recipe for a gluten-free pie crust. And if you're wanting to branch out a little, what about trying this Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Praline and Coconut-Pecan Crust? Other great dessert ideas that don't involve a lot of time rolling out pastry include roasting or poaching whole fruit, as in this recipe for Poached Pears. You can even skip the fruit (/squash) part altogether and try serving Hazelnut-Caramel Bars. Get simple and comforting with Cornbread Pudding or chocolately and decadent with Chocolate Mousse Tart with Hazelnuts.

However you do Thanksgiving this year, just remember: this particular autumn feast was made for giving thanks and eating well. Keep stress out of it and eat what makes you happy.