It is TURKEY TIME !

It’s turkey time again, so listen up foodies and party hosts. We have some fun ideas for you to consider this year to make your Thanksgiving the best possible Food Adventure.

Now for the gobbleteegok…

TRICKS:

—A fresh turkey should be cooked in 1 to 2 days. Frozen turkeys defrost in the fridge in 2-3 days. If you need to thaw it faster, submerge it in cold water for 30 minutes per pound until defrosted.

—When baking a turkey, allow 15 minutes per pound to cook, or 4 minutes per pound if you deep fry

Carving up some turkey

—Your turkey is done when the inner thigh meat reaches a temperature of 165 degrees.

—DON’T carve your turkey right when it comes out of the oven, let it rest 30 minutes before you carve it.

—Have a tight budget? Get a whole chicken instead of a turkey and save some money.

—To get fluffy mashed potatoes, some people add baking soda !

Chef Houses Upside down cranberry cake

—Avoid a soggy pecan pie crust by layering the bottom of the crust with a some pecans.

—Have young kids? Spell out your expectations for their behavior and bring them a compact activity like coloring or mazes. This will help your kids stay still at the adult or kids table. Let them play outside, supervised to burn off energy. If the kid acts up. calmly remove them from the room and discipline them as not to disrupt others meal.

—Did you overcook your turkey? Place sliced turkey into a pan and cook 10 minutes at 300 degrees in an inch of broth, serve on the tray. No one will know it was dry.

—Use coiled up aluminum foil under the turkey if you don’t have a rack for your roasting pan.

Bread Pudding

—Time constraint? Put store prepared food in a tupperware container and bring it. Sinner…..

—Make mashed potatoes in the morning and keep in crock pot set to “warm”. Right before serving, toss in some butter and stir! Also, add cream cheese and roasted garlic to your potatoes!

—Get kids involved by having them press butter into cookie cutter shapes to be served on plates. It brings a fun look to the table.

—Glazing your turkey in the last 15 minutes of with Balsamic Vinaigrette gives a crispy skin on your turkey and amazing color.

—Side dishes that are served at room temp and can be done ahead of time. This leaves valuable oven/stove top space.

—Stuffing and au gratin potatoes are great done a day ahead and warmed up before dinner. This really helps save oven space considering they need to cook for an hour usually

—No time to brine your turkey? Soak the turkey for 30 minutes in orange juice to get great results.

The Big Ragu’s 5 pieces of Pie year – a record

—Hollow out a pumpkin for a serving bowl or an ice bucket for wine!

—Calculate the size of turkey you need by using the 1lb per guest rule.

—Heading to a host’s house? Bring them a short vase with fresh flowers.

—Alone for the Holidays, or don’t feel like cooking? No worries ! DaytonMostMetro has a list of restaurants that are serving on Thanksgiving Day. Click here to see the list.

The holiday is once a year so enjoy yourself… but for those who don’t want to over indulge, here are some tips:

Ready to bake

HEALTHY TIPS:

—Instead of serving cans of soft drink, offer fruit infused pitchers of water. This will reduce the amount of empty calories your family is absorbing, while hydrating your relatives.

—For a guilt free day of eating, sign up for the Turkey Trot at Welcome Stadium at 8:45am Thanksgiving morning, and that piece of pie wont feel so bad. They have a 5k or Half Marathon for you freaks.

—Have some fall apples available on the dessert table as an option to pie.

Sweet Potato Casserole

—Switch Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes or Mashed Sweet Potatoes instead of regular potatoes to save on calories

—Use the leftover Turkey Bones and the neck. Boil and simmer them to make a gelatinous Bone Broth with benefits for your digestive system or future soups.

—Feel free to indulge in proteins and animal fats, the sweets and processed foods is where weight gains happen

—Eat before the party to ensure you don’t arrive hungry and overeat.

—Pumpkin pie has fewer calories than most pies and if you don’t eat the crust, you aren’t doing so badly.

Turkey Leg

—Try serving grilled marinated asparagus and portabellas with a creamy buttermilk dip with lots of raw veggies too. Marinate the asparagus and portabellas in orange juice, olive oil and garlic. Let sit over night in zip lock bags. Grill in the morning (season with salt of course). Serve with Belgium endive leaves, carrots, celery.

—Chef House loves having pickled carrots and zucchini too for ahead of time easy prep on Thanksgiving. The dip is super easy: light sour cream and mayo, buttermilk, fresh parsley, Housemade chimichurri mix and apple cider vinegar.

—Try roasting beets with feta. Roast the day before, take out hours before to come up to room temp. Toss with feta, lemon or lime juice and fresh herbs. You can add nuts as well.

TRIVIA:

—Thanksgiving is always the 4th Thursday in November.

—The age of the turkey that you are eating is usually between 14-20 weeks old.

—The largest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds and was the size of a large dog.

—Local farm Bowman and Landes in New Carlisle raise over 80,000 free range turkeys each year and has been in business since 1948.

Chef House – Ohio has a lot to offer

—Turkey can be substituted for Chicken in almost any recipe.

—In 1882 a wild turkey in Dayton cost $3 at the market, and the poorest Daytonians ate rabbit on Thanksgiving. Other Dayton favorites purchased for Thanksgiving in 1882 were quarts of Kentucky bourbon for 60 cents, and mince meat pies made with 3 pounds of meat costing a quarter.

— On the West Coast of the USA, Dungeoness Crab is used instead of turkey

—Minnesota raises the most Turkeys in the U.S.

—Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a National Holiday

—Pilgrims did not wear buckled hats.

We have a friends Thanksgiving early November

— In 1813 Ohio first set the 5th of May for a day of Thanksgiving. In Ohio in early times Thanksgiving was not always observed by the people, and not in November.

—Approximately 280 million turkeys are eaten every Thanksgiving.

—Stuffing is what you put inside the bird, and dressing it what you serve and cook outside the bird.

—The first Indian Tribe to celebrate with the pilgrims were the Wampanoag Tribe. This first Thanksgiving lasted 3 days and took place in 1621. They didn’t eat turkey, but had duck, deer and pigeon.

—Football was played on Thanksgiving starting with Yale and Princeton in 1876.

Juicy

—Thomas Jefferson thought Thanksgiving was a ridiculous idea for a holiday.

—Turkeys have been known to drop dead at the sound of passing airplanes.

—People eat more on average on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.

The most important tip is to spend some quality time with family and friends this Thanksgiving. Take time to realize your blessings and thank the people in your life that you are grateful for…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from the Food Adventure’s Crew. Hungry Jax, Chef House and the Big Ragu are grateful for our weekly articles right here that have surpassed #400 recently.

Hungry Jax says Happy Thanksgiving from the DLM kitchen !

We are also grateful to our website followers, the people who attend our food events, charity relations, cooking classes, festivals and our followers on social media approaching 8,000 people.

Please “like” our Facebook Page by clicking here and getting more fun food photos from around the Miami Valley ! We are a food blog with a feature article right here on DaytonMostMetro.com each week!

Feel free to browse the gallery below for some more Thanksgiving related photos.