I'll be in the kitchen cooking pies with my baby: THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is a holiday known for its food, but college is not always the place for fine dining and feasting.

Whether a person has to use a dorm kitchen to bring a dish to a Friendsgiving, cannot fit a full Thanksgiving meal into the budget or has just discovered the fiery passion for a traditional Thanksgiving meal has vanished, assembling a Thanksgiving meal is no easy task.

Here is a list of alternatives from the norm to set you free.

Turkey

Turkeys lost the animal lottery of holiday consumption. For turkey, there are two alternatives: a vegan alternative and a budget or plan-b alternative.

Vegan Thanksgiving wraps: I love meat, but I would consider eating one of these wraps (just not on Thanksgiving). 

Chicken: If a person has somehow gotten tired of eating turkey on Thanksgiving or maybe said turkey met disaster in the cooking process, then chicken is an excellent alternative. It's cheap, can be bought in a ready-to-eat form and is the security blanket of most of the meat-eating world. 

Stuffing

I personally love stuffing, from its ambiguous name to its delicious taste. But stuffing is not for everyone. With that in mind, here are the options.

Quinoa and winter squash bake: If a person forgoes the turkey, they might as well forego the stuffing. This recipe is gluten-free and has a certain Thanksgiving-ish vibe to it.  

Oatmeal or grits: A lot can be done with them and both have a mushy texture similar to stuffing, albeit wetter. For the oatmeal option, I would recommend the dinosaur eggs oatmeal. There is no taste difference, but it is immensely satisfying to watch dinosaurs hatch while your oatmeal cooks.

Whoever told you to not play with your food obviously didn't have dinosaur egg oatmeal #dinosaureggs #dinosaureggoatmeal #wholetmeadult #adulting

A photo posted by Katie Ruelas (@ceighxtee) on Nov 12, 2015 at 3:22pm PST

Sides

Mashed (sweet) potatoes

Some households serve sweet potatoes, some serve regular, some serve both. To take potatoes out of the Thanksgiving equation is beyond my food mathematics ability, so the alternative is merely other ways to prepare potatoes.

Fries: Unhealthy? Yes. Delicious? Yes. If you are balling on a budget and want to keep potatoes in the meal, fries check all the boxes.

Green Bean Casserole

Not everyone serves green beans with their Thanksgiving meal but something green is usually served on Thanksgiving, whether it is Brussels sprouts, broccoli or asparagus. Here are some alternatives that keep the green aesthetic.

Green Jell-O: Same color, whole different taste. Jell-O is usually grouped with desserts, but it is a feast, so lines can and will be crossed. 

Stir-fried green beans: Still want the green beans? Just don’t want it to be a casserole? Here you go. 

Bread

Different strokes for different folks. There is a lot of variety in this category, so the alternatives are based around budget and dietary preferences.

Hawaiian rolls: The dough that saves you the most dough can be paired with almost any meal in existence. And it adds a summer vibe to the fall holiday. 

Gluten-free potato bread: It’s gluten-free and pretty straightforward to make. 

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is considered the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert, followed by apple and pecan pie. The holy pie trinity should not be broken.

Pumpkin apple pie: We never asked should it be done, only if it could be done. 

Pumpkin pecan pie: This is a dessert for fans of alliteration and tongue twisters. 

Something worth mentioning is the the Frankenstein’s Monster of Thanksgiving — Thanksgiving Turkey Cake. It is a combination of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and gravy.  

@sethpyle22

swerve@dailytarheel.com