Pasta with the Turkey?
Given her family’s deep Italian roots, Grace Fala, professor of communication, says that no Thanksgiving would be complete without a pasta dish alongside the turkey for her family’s Thanksgiving spread. Going way back to childhood, Grace’s mother always prepared some kind of pasta for Thanksgiving and the tradition still exists today.

Coconut for a Central Pennsylvania Thanksgiving?
Usually green bean casserole makes an appearance on most tables on Thanksgiving but this year, one professor is boycotting the long-standing family tradition and branching out. Sarah Worley, instructor in communication, has been her family’s green bean casserole connoisseur for quite a while now, but this year, wanting to expand her cooking capabilities, she is tossing the green beans aside and making a Coconut Marshmallow Spiced Sweet Potato concoction. The family doesn’t know yet but they’re in for sweet feast.

Mushrooms….Mmmm
Who salivates thinking of this nontraditional Thanksgiving delight? Randy Rosenberger, associate professor of business and economics, can’t wait for Thanksgiving to roll around. It’s the time of year that his brother makes sautéed mushrooms in a tasty wine sauce. He says that Turkey is great and all but the thing that gets him to the Thanksgiving table are the mushrooms.

Mexican Thanksgiving
Dan Cook-Huffman, assistant dean of students, admits to having a traditional Thanksgiving feast. It’s the days that follow that get a little crazy as far as the pallet is concerned. After Thanksgiving, the Cook-Huffman family often uses some of the leftover Turkey to make Mole – which is a spicy chocolate sauce considered a ‘food of the gods’ in many Hispanic cultures. You pour the sauce over the turkey and serve it with handmade tortillas. Nontraditional, but full of flavor nonetheless.

- Rachel Kern ’09, Juniata Online Journalist