Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

In the United States, the Thanksgiving feast, was introduced to thank God and the Native Americans for the bountiful harvest. Thanksgiving's origins date from the XVIIth century, when the puritan Pilgrims who emigrated from Great Britain to America died because of their lack of knowledge in agriculture.

Squanto, a Native American offered to the survivors food and taught them how grow corn, trapping and fishing. To celebrate their first harvest, they spent three days in prayers and celebrations.The Pilgrims invited the Native Americans to share their meal, which sealed their friendship. They ate turkeys for the occasion.

Thanksgiving was not held every year and not always at the end of November. From multicultural, the celebration quickly became a religious holiday and the pilgrims forgot their friendship with the Native Americans. When Franklin Roosevelt was President of the USA, the Congress declared Thanksgiving "Legal holiday". The Thanksgiving Day was established on the 4th Thursday of November...

The most popular Thanksgiving menu is the turkey stuffed with chestnuts; the cranberry sauce; the turkey is usually accompanied by sweet potatoes or sweet potato pie. The dessert is usually a pumpkin pie.

The symbols of Thanksgiving are cornucopias filled with flowers and fruit; Wheat, corn, pumpkin.

Photo: Purplemoon's Holiday Inspiration Album

Thanksgiving doesn't have the same meaning in Canada than in the US. In Canada, the first Thanksgiving was observed by an English explorer thanking God for having survived to his journey. Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated at the same time as the European harvest celebrations, and since the years 1950's, this day is intended to thank God for the bountiful harvest.

In Canada family gathering for twenty-four hours of enjoyment and fellowship is easier than in many other countries of the world. Indeed, the official Thanksgiving Day in Canada is on a Monday but Canadians commonly use the full weekend to celebrate this feast.

After the main meal, it is a tradition to kick back and relax while watching the featured "Thanksgiving Day Classic" football competition.

In addition to the activities inside the house or the family meal, the Thanksgiving weekend is usually the opportunity to to enjoy a last big outdoor event. Either watching or participating to the numerous Thanksgiving Day parades that are such an entire part of the holiday will get one out of the home and into the end of the summer air.

The Thanksgiving three-day weekend is also traditional for taking that last outside getaway before the arrival of the long and cold winter.

Photo: Purplemoon's Holiday Inspiration Album

Thanksgiving... that time of year when families gather together around the dinner table for the big ol' traditional dinner of mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course, the always traditional turkey roasted to perfection.

Oh, you're maybe a vegetarian?

There is a great way for you to have a vegetarian Thanksgiving by choosing the option of replacing the traditional dead bird on the table by...

Tofturkey!

This is the first and the best option available on the market. It is a sort of food made from soy products like tofu and this great meat alternative has grown in popularity.

Recipe binders are useful to keep all your recipes safe in one place.

They're available with several different décors such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, etc.

This is a great way to find the right recipe for the right occasion at the right moment.

Grandma's Recipe Book Binder by ArmyMomCreations

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Pictures are courtesy of my Gardenweb's forum friends so, please don't reuse them anywhere else unless you ask their owner permission to do so.