Thanksgiving Ideas, Around The Table

Every year on the fourth Thursday of November, families prepare to give thanks around a table heaped with delicious dishes. The hours spent digesting copious amounts of food grant a fantastic opportunity for family entertainment. When guests walk in, you can hand out a Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt list with items such as a picture of the turkey cooking in the oven, and a count of how many times the gravy runs out on the table. Before moving onto dessert, place bets on who gives into the tryptophan-induced turkey coma first! If you’d like to bring out everyone’s inner artist, have adults draw, and the kids color, a turkey (the losing adult has to help clean the dishes). 
    In order to revive the Thanksgiving spirit, ask everyone around the table what they’re thankful for, and lastly, get creative by playing Thanksgiving Would You Rather, with questions like “would you rather wash your hair with mashed potatoes for a week or take a bath in gravy for a week?” 
    Despite the extensive amounts of preparation required to pull off a fun and delicious Thanksgiving. Sometimes there is just too much food resulting in the aftermath of holiday leftovers. It is quite possible that you would rather toss your leftovers than give them a second life, but luckily, there are simple ways to spice up your Thanksgiving leftovers! Starting with the bird, you can make turkey chili with quinoa and black beans, turkey potpie, turkey sloppy joes, creamy turkey and noodle casserole, or a turkey wild rice soup. Puree your leftover vegetables together, like beans, pumpkin, and potatoes, to make a nutritious soup. You can also add turkey to a sandwich by making turkey pesto paninis, turkey cranberry and almond salad, or turkey Cobb sandwiches. For your leftover potatoes, try a mashed potato pizza, adding some bacon and cheese to make it a loaded pizza. You can also try making a Thanksgiving pizza by adding the leftovers of your choosing, or combine turkey, mashed potatoes, and vegetables to make a shepherd’s pie. If you have any left over sweet potatoes, consider sweet potato fries (add some gravy to make it poutine), sweet potato mash, or loaded sweet potato skins. Add eggs to your left over stuffing for a delicious breakfast frittata, or, if you’re into sweet breakfasts, add cranberry sauce to your yogurt or oatmeal. You can also bake a cranberry pie. If, for any strange reason, you have leftover apple pie, make a sweet milkshake!