Thanksgiving Traditions: Family Gatherings, Canned Cranberry Sauce, and The Turkey Pardon By Connie Vines

 

Once again, it's that stressful yet joyous time of the year. A time we paw through the mountain of frozen turkeys at the local market, praying the one we select will thaw before Thanksgiving Eve. 

Each year, Americans in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

The preparation of the turkey varies from family to family, state to state, and from traditional to new and improved. And then there is a time-honored tradition that I can't explain or truly understand. 

The Turkey Pardon

Each year at Thanksgiving, the president receives a gift of two live turkeys. At a White House ceremony, the president "pardons" the National Thanksgiving Turkeys so they live on a farm.

Fortunately, for the young children and miffed mothers, it takes place several days before the "families' turkey" roasts in the oven.

The Meal

Since my childhood was nomadic, my menu is a combo of southern cooking, cornbread dressing (I do not stuff the bird), collard-green with diced bacon, sweet potato pie, and mashed potatoes. However, my mother's family was Czech. In other years, I made potato dumplings topped with sour kraut, date snack, and my favorite cookies. Kolaches. It is not the yeast roll type in the southern states, but the buttery/creamy cookies you see in Chicago, IL. 

And a can of cranberry sauce...

The WishBone

We can delve into this tradition at another time. 

Let's focus, instead, on the can of cranberry sauce.

I was never a fan of canned cranberry sauce. Everyone is familiar with the Jelly-like creation, which slides, giggles, and slides off your plate when cut. 

The History: Marcus Urann, a Massachusetts farmer and lawyer, created the first canned cranberry sauce in 1912. It appeared on the market in 1941, allowing the product to be sold year-round.

As a child, it appeared on the dinner table every holiday. I vowed to banish it from the world when I became an adult.

Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened...

I married. My husband, from Louisiana, loved fried catfish and preferred canned cranberry sauce to my homemade version (which was delicious, by the way). We compromised. He never asked me to prepare or eat catfish. (It tasted like muddy water, even after I soaked it in buttermilk.) And I never complained about his canned cranberry sauce.

Of course, our sons loved the canned cranberry sauce but agreed with me about the catfish.

FUN FACTS:

🦃A ripe cranberry will bounce.

🦃All turkeys and chickens have wishbones.

🦃Canadians celebrate their own Thanksgiving every October.

🦃Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863.

🦃The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in 1929.

  

I hope you enjoyed my post. 

Holiday shopping time and Black Friday Events with huge markdowns begin the day after Thanksgiving here in the US.

BWL is having a can't-be-beat sale on all of their EBooks!

From now until Christmas Day (at midnight), the Elves will be busy delivering your purchase. 🧝 🦌🎅🎄

Happy Reading and Happy Holidays,

XOXO

Connie

(the link is below the photo)

Holiday Book Sale!!

Where's Connie?

https://bookswelove.net/vines-connie/

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What Food Will be on Your Table This Thanksgiving? by J.Q. Rose

Find J.Q.'s mysteries at BWL Publishing.

Hello and welcome to the Books We Love Insiders Blog!

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the USA, otherwise known as Turkey Day. Turkey is traditionally served at Thanksgiving because the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag Indian guests probably shared turkey and deer at their harvest feast at the First Thanksgiving in 1621. No one knows for sure if turkey was served, but wild turkeys were abundant in the Plymouth, Massachusetts area.

Happy Turkey Day!
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

My husband, raised on a turkey farm, had his fill of turkey when a boy. He's not a turkey fan. But since it's part of the traditional meal, he'll eat turkey on that day and the day after and the day after that if we have plenty of leftovers! He's in charge of preparing and baking the festive bird.  

Historians don't believe the First Thanksgiving menu included sweet potatoes and cranberries, or even pumpkin pie. Perhaps some form of squash, but not as a pie. Sweet potatoes were not food eaten by the colonists. Cranberries may have been served, but probably not as a relish or sauce.

Cornucopia (Horn of Plenty)
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

In an article by Joanne Camas at the Epicurious site, culinary historians stated they believe "the table was loaded with native fruits like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries, plus local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, Jerusalem artichokes, and squash. (English crops such as turnips, cabbage, parsnips, onions, carrots, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme might have also been on hand.) And for the starring dishes, there were undoubtedly native birds and game as well as the Wampanoag gift of five deer. Fish and shellfish were also likely on the groaning board."


So why do we Americans serve these traditional foods? According to the Washington Post, "In the mid-1800s, a popular magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale read about the 1621 feast and decided to use it as a model for an annual holiday. She published recipes for turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and started traditions that had nothing to do with the colonists."

Click here to read the entire Washington Post article 

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving by serving the traditional Thanksgiving menu?What's on your Thanksgiving Day table? Please leave a comment below to let us know.  Thank you. 

We have a lot in common with the Pilgrims and their guests at the First Thanksgiving, not only enjoying delicious food, but also taking the time to be aware of our blessings and to be thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Click here to connect online with J.Q.Rose 

A Sweet Potato Thanksgiving by Jamie Hill

November is a good time to reflect on things for which we’re thankful. Thanksgiving dinner is something I’ve always taken for granted, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to understand that not everyone is so fortunate to have a big, bountiful meal. (I hope that those of us who do get to partake will keep the less fortunate in mind and donate as we’re able to our local food pantries.)

Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, but we’re just gearing up for it here in the states. Thanksgiving seems to me sort of a forgotten holiday, sandwiched in between two others that are much more fun for children. For many adults, Thanksgiving boils down gathering together whatever family and friends you can and enjoying a big meal and lots of leftovers.

In my family we go the traditional route with turkey, potatoes and gravy, and sage dressing (cooked in a separate dish, never in the bird.) My favorite vegetable is green bean casserole and my second favorite is a sweet potato casserole topped with brown sugar and pecans. It tastes more like pumpkin than sweet potatoes and is sweet enough to be a dessert, but we serve it right along with the meal. Homemade rolls round out the first course and pumpkin pie with whipped topping comes out about an hour after dinner has settled.

If I’ve kept up with the pots and pans as I went along it’s just a matter of loading plates directly into the dishwasher and finding enough plastic containers (with lids that fit) for the leftovers. They’re piled in the front of the fridge because just a few hours later we’ll drag everything back out for a repeat of the same meal in the evening.

Friday noon we’re still eating turkey but by that night, we usually order pizza because we’re ready for a change. On the weekend, the leftovers are either consumed or frozen because we’re all tired of them by that point.

Once Thanksgiving weekend has past it’s full speed ahead to Christmas. Ho! Ho! Ho! But we’ll talk about next month. For now, I’m making my grocery shopping list and checking it twice. If I close my eyes I can smell Thanksgiving dinner cooking already.

Please enjoy our family’s sweet potato casserole recipe, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sweet Potato Casserole

2 pounds sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter or margarine

4 eggs (beaten)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sugar 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all above ingredients with electric mixer and pour into buttered 9 x 9 casserole dish.

Topping:

3 Tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 cup soft margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup pecans

Mix topping ingredients together and pour over top of sweet potatoes.  Bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. For sweeter taste, double topping ingredients.

  

Find Jamie Hill's titles including her latest release, Pieces of the Past, here: http://bookswelove.net/jamiehill.php