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