Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Games

Thanksgiving Dinner

You need a good memory for this one. The players sit in a circle. The first player starts by saying, "At my Thanksgiving dinner I ate turkey." The next player must repeat this and add another dish, "At my Thanksgiving dinner I ate turkey and bread stuffing." The third player must repeat it and add yet another dish, "At my Thanksgiving dinner I ate turkey, bread stuffing, and sweet potatoes." The game continues with each player adding an item to the menu after first listing all the previous items in the exact order they were first said. If a player makes a mistake he drops out and the game continues until there is just one mnemonic expert left.

Thanksgiving Recipes

Cranberry Sauce With Caramelized Onions

Red onions are cooked down until sweet and rich, then simmered with brown sugar and balsamic vinegar — a perfect match for tart cranberries! Use leftovers as a flavorful topper for turkey sandwiches.
Do-ahead tip: Sauce can be made up to 4 days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.
Yields: about 3 cups
Work Time: 10 minutes plus chilling
Total Time: about 40 minutes
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 medium red onions (about 1 pound), each cut into 4 wedges, then thinly sliced crosswise
1 bag (12 ounces) cranberries (3 cups)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. In nonstick 12-inch skillet, melt margarine over medium heat. Add onions, and cook 15 to 20 minutes or until onions are dark brown and tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in cranberries, sugar, vinegar, salt, and 1 cup water; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, 12 to 15 minutes or until most cranberries pop and mixture thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. Spoon sauce into serving bowl; cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.
Each 1/4 cup: About 100 calories, 1 g protein, 21 g carbohydrate, 2 g total fat (0 g saturated), 2 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium.


Giblet Gravy


Ingredients:

1 Package Neck, heart, gizzard from TURKEY giblets
1 Medium carrot thickly sliced
1 Medium onion thickly sliced
1 Medium celery rib thickly sliced
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 TURKEY liver
3 Tablespoons fat from poultry drippings
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a 3-quart saucepan, over high heat, place neck, heart, gizzard, vegetables, and salt in enough water to cover. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 45 minutes. Add liver and cook 15 minutes longer. Strain broth into a large bowl; cover and reserve broth in the refrigerator. To make the gravy, remove the cooked turkey and roasting rack from the roasting pan. Pour poultry drippings through a sieve into a 4-cup measuring cup. Add 1 cup giblet broth to the roasting pan and stir until the crusty brown bits are loosened; pour the deglazed liquid/broth into the 4-cup measure. Let the mixture stand a few minutes, until the fat rises to the top. Over medium heat, spoon 3 tablespoons fat from the poultry drippings into a 2-quart saucepan. Whisk flour and salt into the heated fat and continue to cook and stir until the flour turns golden. Meanwhile, skim and discard any fat that remains on top of the poultry drippings. Add remaining broth and enough water to the poultry drippings to equal 3-1/2 cups. Gradually whisk in warm poultry drippings/broth mixture. Pull cooked meat from the neck and discard bones. Coarsely chop the neck meat and cooked giblets and stir into gravy. Season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until gravy simmers and is slightly thick. Provides 16 servings at 1/4 cup per portion.

Pink Salad


Ingredients:

1 can of cherry pie filling
1 can (drained) of pinapple chunks
1 large bag of pecans (chopped)
1 large container of Cool-Whip
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together (in large bowl) and serve chilled as a dessert.

Turkey Facts


At one time, the turkey and the bald eagle were each considered as the national symbol of America. Benjamin Franklin was one of those who argued passionately on behalf of the turkey. Franklin felt the turkey, although "vain and silly", was a better choice than the bald eagle, whom he felt was "a coward".
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving — that's one sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year. American per capita consumption of turkeys has soared from 8.3 pounds in 1975 to 18.5 pounds last year.
Last year, 2.7 billion pounds of turkey was processed in the United States.
In 1995, retail sales of turkey reached approximately $4.4 billion. They are expected to $4.7 billion in 2000.
Age is a determining factor in taste. Old, large males are preferable to young toms (males) as tom meat is stringy. The opposite is true for females: old hens are tougher birds.
A turkey under sixteen weeks of age is called a fryer, while a young roaster is five to seven months old.
Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.
Turkeys have great hearing, but no external ears. They can also see in color, and have excellent visual acuity and a wide field of vision (about 270 degrees), which makes sneaking up on them difficult. However, turkeys have a poor sense of smell (what's cooking?), but an excellent sense of taste.
Domesticated turkeys cannot fly. Wild turkeys, however, can fly for short distances at speeds up to 55 miles per hour. They can also reach speeds of 25 miles per hour on the ground.
Turkeys sometimes spend the night in trees.
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining. They can also have heart attacks: turkeys in fields near the Air Force test areas over which the sound barrier was broken were known to drop dead from the shock of passing jets.
The ballroom dance known as the Turkey Trot was named for the short, jerky steps a turkey makes.

Other Great Thanksgiving pages

Thanksgiving Central:
Happy Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving Graphics:
Thanksgiving History and Legends : Understand the celebration, the history, and the legends and true stories behind the holiday. (Also in Spanish.)
Thanksgiving Grace : Includes selection for Thanksgiving grace as well as Thanksgiving poems
Thanksgiving By Marvelicious : The history of Thanksgiving, along with related stories and poems.
Happy Thanksgiving : screensavers,wallpapers, recipes, history, ecards
Thanksgiving : Includes songs, jokes, games, readings, and links.
Thanksgiving Screen Savers and Downloads : Download free Thanksgiving screen savers, wallpaper, icons, and GIFs. Send free electronic Thanksgiving greetings.
Thanksgiving Recipes : Turkey, stuffing, side dishes, desserts, leftovers.
Thanksgiving Pies : Thanksgiving pie recipes from PieRecipe.com.
Annie's Thanksgiving Welcome Page : Features recipes, thoughts, traditions, special page for children, and links to other Thanksgiving sites.
Sandy's Thanksgiving Page : Thanksgiving thoughts, fun, links, and a recipe for candied sweet potatoes.
Abigail's Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes : Selection of recipes to choose from for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Barbara's Thanksgiving : Provides historical info and links. Graphics intensive.
Thanksgiving Turkey Story : Humorous short rhyme tells about a turkey's Thanksgiving Day at Grandma's.
A Holiday Castle Thanksgiving : Includes tips decorating and entertaining tips.
Sammy, the Turkey Snake: Grandpa Tucker's Tales Sammy, the Turkey Snake
Annie's "Thanksgiving Just for Kids" Page:
An American Thanksgiving for Kids and Families :
Billy Bear's THANKSGIVING :
Heather's Happy Thanksgiving :
Thanksgiving Crafts and Recipes:
Thanksgiving Paper Chains :
Not Just for Kids! Thanksgiving Games :
Thanksgiving Mazes :
An Olde Fashioned Thanksgiving: Vintage clip art