Thanksgiving around a ping-pong table

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends

Thanksgiving dinner

Except for the turkey

How to Cook Turkey: Part 1 - Prep and Roast

All About the Gravy - How to Cook Turkey: Part 2

Thanksgiving history

Thanksgiving Encyclopedia Britannica

SALADS

Do you think it is a good idea to make some very, very healthy food...like a salad ???

Suggestions:

Waldorf salad
Cucumber shell salad
Red broccoli salad
Tomato feta salad
The best potato salad

Africa

I think it´s time to take a look to african cuisine...here I show you some easy recipes:

Cookies from Zimbabwe

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup finely grated raw sweet potato
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Lemon Glaze

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1-2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Cream together butter and sugar in bowl. Blend in lemon zest, nutmeg, honey and egg. Fold in sweet potato.

2. In separate bowl. sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Add it to the first mixture and blend well.

4. Arrange cookie dough by rounded teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 7 minutes.

6. To make glaze, use a wooden spoon to combine all ingredients in glass container until smooth.

7. Add more water by the drop until glaze is easy to spread on cooled cookies.

Chicken yassa: A typical dish from West Africa

Gambian style

Crêpes

Ingredients:
-4 eggs

-¼ teaspoon salt

-2 cups flour

-2 ¼ milk

-¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter or margarine

Utensils:
A whisk, wooden spoon, fork, electric mixer, or eggbeater, a bowl to mix the crepe batter, plastic spatula, 8 inch non-stick skillet, a tupperware to store leftover batter.

Instructions:

1. Gather your ingredients.
2. Break four eggs into a bowl.
3. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to your eggs.
4. Whisk your eggs and salt together until the egg looks uniformly yellow.
5. Measure two cups of flour.
6. Add some of the flour to the egg mixture.
7. Whisk the flour into the eggs. It will be a bit lumpy right now, but that's okay.
8. Whisk some of the milk into the batter. It will get thinner. Keep adding milk and flour alternately until you've added it all.
9. Whisk the batter until it is smooth, like it looks here. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two to whisk it smooth, from the time you started to add the flour.
10. Add the melted butter to the batter, and again whisk it until it's smooth.
11. Cover the batter.
12. Put the batter in the refrigerator.

At this point, your batter is ready to go, and you can begin making the crepes whenever you are ready. I've kept my batter for several days, and it has been fine. After a couple of days, the batter gets a bit darker in color, but the crepes still taste fine.

Cooking the Crepes

1. Select an eight inch non-stick skillet. You don't need a fancy crepe pan.
2. Preheat your pan on medium heat. I use about one-fourth of a cup of batter to make a crepe in this size pan.
3. Pour the batter into the pan.
4. As you pour the batter, twirl the pan around.
5. As you twirl the pan, the batter coats it and makes the crepe.
6. As the crepe cooks, it changes in appearance. You can usually see a lace pattern developing on the underside of the crepe.
7. This is what the crepe looks like when it has set. Notice you can see the spatula through the crepe, and this isn't a particularly thin crepe either. The crepe will also usually slide around when it is ready.
8. Slip the spatula under the crepe. Sometimes you need to poke it a bit. If it helps to pick up the edge of the crepe with your fingers, do it.
9. Flip the crepe over. Look at that nice lace pattern on the crepes. If you're skillful, you can flip the crepe with a quick action of the wrist and no spatula.
10. After the second side has cooked for maybe twenty seconds, slip it out of the pan onto a plate for serving.
11. Not all crepes come out in pretty circles. Usually my first one looks awful and falls apart because I didn't let the pan get hot enough. That's okay, sprinkle some sugar on it...
12. ...and feed it to someone you love.

BREAD

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup warm water


• 1 package active dry yast


• 1tsp salt


• 1-1/2 tbsp sugar


• 1 tbsp vegetable shortening


• 1/2 cup milk


• 3 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

Preparation:

1- In large bowl, add the warm water. Slowly stir in dry yeast. Continue to stir until yeast is dissolved

2- Add salt, sugar, shortening, and mild to bowl. Stir.

3- Mix in the first 2 cups of flour.

4- If needed, begin adding more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dought chases the spoon around the bowl.

5- You do not need to use up all the flour called for in this recipe, or you may need more flour than called for. The amounts vary depending on many factors, including weather, which is why most bread recipes only give an approximate amount of flour needed.

6- Turn dough out onto floured board and knead, adding small spoonfuls of flour as needed, until the doug is soft and smooth, not sticky to the touch.

7- Put dough in buttered bow., turn dough over so that the top of dough in greased. Cover and let rise in warm spot for 1 hour.

8- Punch down dough. Turn out onto floured board and knead.

9- Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.

10- Form dough into loaf and set in buttered pan. Cover and let rise for obout 30 minutes.

THIN CRUST DOUGH

THIN CRUST DOUGH

Ingredients Required

---

• 1 envelope of dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
• 3/4 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Step by Step Procedure

---

1. Combine 1 envelope of dry yeast, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 3/4 cups of lukewarm water. Mix a little and let sit for 6-8 minutes.
2. Combine 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl or food processor.
3. Pour the water combination into the bowl (or food processor) and mix until ready to knead (around 30 second in a food processor). If using a bowl, mix with a spoon until you have a neat ball.
4. Prepare a lightly spinkled surface with flour. Turn out dough and knead for around 2-3 minutes. Lightly cover your finger tips with flour if the mixture is a little sticky.
5. Roll out by hand for a 12'' base.
6. Place in 12'' lighly oiled oven pan. Press out dough to form a slight lip.
7. Prepare and apply your sauce and topping or choice.
8. Cook in a pre-heated over (500F) for 8-12 minutes (times may vary based on different ovens. Fan assited oven will be quicker!).
9. Remove from oven, slice and share with your favourite friends and/or family members :)

Additional Information

---

• As stated above, fan assisted ovens tend to cook pizza's quicker than traditional ovens.
• You can usually reheat your pizza in around 5 minutes. But beware that it's not advisable to reheat pizzas with a meat topping.