Turkey Bread Rolls

Last year we were in charge of bringing rolls to Thanksgiving. After a bit of searching, we came across these cute little turkey rolls that the girls wanted to make. Feast your eyes (pun intended) on: TURKEY BREAD ROLLS

Turkey bread rolls are beautiful... fun to make... AND delicious!

Are these adorable or what?  The best part is the the kids can help make them!

The nice thing about these rolls, is that you can make them from frozen pre-made bread dough, which is great if you are busy with other Thanksgiving day prep. We bought the 5 pack of Rhodes frozen bread loaves and used them to make our turkeys.

One thawed Rhodes bread dough loaf.

The original recipe from the Rhodes kids baking blog (not there now) wanted you to defrost the dough over night in the fridge in a greased covered container or some sprayed wax paper and then roll them out into a circle...

then cut the circle into 6 wedges.  

However, I found it very difficult to get the dough to WANT to be rolled from an oblong shape into a round shape.

New solution!  It's easier AND it makes more sense:
Roll the dough out, elongating out the original "loaf" shape.

Expanding the already there "loaf" shape was much easier!  And makes more turkey rolls per loaf.

Now take your pizza cutter and cut zig-zag triangles until you have 9 wedges.  Each dough loaf will make 9 turkeys!

One loaf = 9 turkey rolls.  Those odd shapes at the end you can form into a wedge shape later, because it's dough.

Once you have your wedges, take some kitchen scissors and snip some 1 inch cuts in the wide end of the triangle to make the tail feathers.

Snip one inch down and about one inch wide strips.  Four cuts makes 5 "feathers".

Next, in a greased muffin tin, place the triangle wedge down in the center of the muffin creator.  The "tail feathers", or the wide part of the triangle you snipped cuts into should go up the side of the muffin tin and a little over the side.  The "beak" or pointy end of the dough should go up the other side of the muffin cup and poke out of the top.

You kind of cram the dough down to the bottom of the muffin tin, then spread out the feathers and turkey head

Since these overflow out of the cup, we ended up placing them in every other cup, so they'd have a chance to rise and bake. 

I love my larger 24 muffin cup pan, it's great for a million birthday cupcakes, or these!

 Place covered in a warm place and let them rise for an hour.

Shhh - rising bread taking place

Once they are a little puffier, it's time to bake. Place in an oven at 350º for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 

Cute lil' turkey rolls

FYI - Since the original link isn't there (I called Rhodes today to let them know, so maybe they will re post it) but check them at 20 min see if they need more time.

Close up from our first batch

Brush with a bit of butter while they are still warm.

You've heard of ducks in a row... these are turkeys in a row

They turned out really cute and the girls had a blast making them!

Oh this is funny. The first loaf we did, where there was only six wedges from a circle, the turkeys were HUGE and blew up like fat little monsters. Ha.

These turkeys are here to PUMP... YOU UP!

(We put those guys at the very bottom of the bowl and left the prettiest ones on top).

Such a great little baking project.  You can make these ahead of time and heat them up on the big day wrapped in some foil while the other sides are heating up and the turkey is resting. 

The kids will love to contribute to the holiday festivities. Not only do they get to help with the food prep BUT also impress their cousins on their baking prowess.

A big bowl O' turkey rolls for you and yours.

Let me know if you make this with your kids, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day Mad Libs

Well it might come as no surprise to most of you, but I am in charge of crafts and merriment at most of our family gatherings.  The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is no exception, and I have amassed many years under my belt now of creating fun for the wide age range of kids (including all the grown ups who are really just big kids at heart) that make up our family. Whether it be fun tablecloths they can color on, turkeys made from Oreos, sparkly foam turkey crafts, or Popsicle stick Pilgrims and Indians, we have had ourselves a good time each and every year.

    
Last year I found a fun Thanksgiving Mad Libs on line and all of the kids were finally old enough to fill in the blanks with nouns and adjectives.  We had a blast creating the zany stories, but even more hilarity struck when the stories were read back to the whole family.  There were belly laughs, coughing attacks, and tears shed we were laughing so hard.  When I asked my girls what they wanted to do this year with their cousins, besides Thankfulness Turkeys,  they wanted to do the "funny stories" again.  I went off in search of a new set of Mad Libs this time around, only because I didn't want to use the exact same story as last year. Alas, I couldn't not find anything I liked, so, I created my own this weekend, and I thought I'd share it with all of you.  Click here for a free PDF of this file, print as many as you want and hand them out to the family at your Thanksgiving celebration, then sit back and watch the good times roll in.  By the way, this a great way to get not only kids, but teens and adults to all do an activity together. 

You have to remember that Mad Libs are the most fun, if you fill in the blank words blindly.  This can be done in two methods.  First, have one person hold the Mad Libs above, and have someone else give you answers as you go along.  That way, they have no idea what words go with what, and it makes it a much funnier read in the end.  The other way (especially if you want to play too without seeing the story) is to have only the answer sheet in front of you.  Fill it out and THEN add your answers to the story.  I have made a master list/blind answer PDF as well.  Click here to print it out.

How easy is that? (Do I sound like Ina Garten or what)  Just print these babies out and bam, you've got a fabulous Thanksgiving group game covered.  Be careful though, once you show up with such awesomeness, you might be asked to be in charge of holiday games from here on out.  That's okay, I've got you covered.  Check back every year, I will always try and have new ideas.

If you end up with a hilairous mad lib version of this story, feel free to post it in the comments.  If you want to share this PDF on pinterest or online, please point a link back to my blog.  Thank you so much, enjoy!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankfulness Turkey

We love to do crafts with all of the cousins when we get together for Thanksgiving. Each year I go on a quest to try and find new and exciting crafts.  Sometimes it is tricky to get one that works for all ages, as we currently have a wide range, from preschool to almost middle school.  I am happy to report that this next craft I'm going to show you was a BIG hit with everyone.  It was a "Thankfulness Turkey". 

Besides awesome food and chillaxing with family, we also like to focus on the meaning of thanksgiving, and help the kids really think about even the little things they can be so thankful for.  

Okay for this project you will need:

Brads/brass fasteners   
Brown + yellow construction paper or white cardstock with brown crayons/markers
Paint swatches in a variety of colors
Googly eyes

Also on hand you should have:

Pencils
Scissors
Thin sharpies (for writing in small spaces)
A round object or bowl for tracing
Hole punch
Glue

By the way we got this fabulous idea from the website Preschool Alphabet.  

First you want to make the body of your turkey.  You can use brown construction paper, or like we did, trace a round circle on a piece of white card stock (sturdier) and have the kids color them what ever shade of brown they think their turkey might be.  We used a small lid or bowl to get the perfect circle shape.

Add a small mark for the future hole.  It should not be dead center, but slightly towards one side

Once they have colored it brown, have them cut it out and punch a hole in it slightly off center.

Next, before the big day go around and collect some colorful paint swatches from Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart.  I tried to find the colors of the rainbow plus a few extras.  These will make the feathers.  Round out the ends with a pair of scissors to make them more "feather" like.

Try to find tall swatches to maximize your turkey feather length

 
You will have to measure these up against your "turkey body" to find the right placement for the holes.  I prepped the feathers with a mock up turkey before hand and had all the holes punched in the paint swatches so we could be ready for our craft quickly.  This is where we are going to put what we are thankful for.  Hand out to each child all the colored feathers.

I had a sample of what their finished turkey would look like so they could see that they should probably write their thankful things in the top three or four spaces, as the lower parts of the paint swatches would be covered with the turkey body.

With thin sharpies, have them write on each feather things they are thankful for.  If they are too little to write, they can draw small pictures.  For our youngest ones, we had them tell us what they were thankful for and we would write the words for them.  Also at this time you can glue on some googly eyes above the hole of the turkey body, and a small yellow or orange triangle beak if you wish.  Or like Gabe here, stick the biggest googly eyes on your head.

After that it is just a matter of putting your cute turkey of thankfulness together.  Slip a brass brad through the top of the turkey body, and through all the holes in your turkey feathers and secure.  Fan out your feathers and you've got yourself one adorable turkey!

I thought it was pretty cool that the length of our turkey feathers were just long enough to poke out the bottom end of our turkey body, giving it a nice full turkey "look".

These were so bright and colorful.  We all LOVED making them.

Here is a whole FLOCK of turkeys.  GOBBLE GOBBLE

After dinner we all sat around and each child shared what they were thankful for.

Overall this turned out to be a fabulous and colorful craft that was not only FUN, but was able to drive home the atmosphere of thankfulness, how not to take anything for granted, and to help these little ones learn how to count their blessings.

Kid's Table for Thanksgiving

So a few times this month (and even though it's early) I am going to post some holiday ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas, because sometimes you have to plan ahead to make a gathering extra special.  I just wanted to pass on this quick tip of these fun paper tablecloths that we have used for  the past few years at our kids table.  I am telling you about them now because if you wait until November to purchase them, they will be gone!  As soon as Halloween gets over, BAM it's Christmas time in all of the stores, and Thanksgiving is one holiday they like to skip.  If you have small fry (or some big kids at heart) in your family tree, then this is the perfect inexpensive way to keep them busy as the cooks in the family do food prep.

Mazes, tic tac toe, coloring, dot to dot, games, word searches - Genius idea!

We love this tablecloth!  You can find them packed like this for under $2:

We found ours at Walmart.  Right now there is a super huge Halloween section going on, but over by the birthday party supplies there is a tiny little section of Thanksgiving items.  Thanksgiving paper plates, cups, cookie cutters... and THESE tablecloths.  Run, don't walk and snatch yours up today.  All you need is a container of crayons and the kids will flock to the table (thus keeping them out from "underfoot" as they said in the days of old).

  Be mindful though, these will easily attract "big kids" too.

It lasted through cousin bonding...

It lasted through setting the table

It lasted through drumsticks

Jacob dreams all year of being the one who gets the huge turkey leg

It even lasted through more crafts!

and more crafts... (we are a crafty people)

And at the end of it all, we could just quickly scoop the whole thing up and the table was instantly cleaned.  It was a beautiful thing.  Now if you wait until November, these lovely little babies will be gone I tell you... GONE.  So if you want to add to your family fun in an easy and inexpensive way, you can't beat $2 dollars for all day fun.

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes (Pioneer Woman)

If there is anything stressful about Thanksgiving dinner, it has to be the last 30 minutes when you are mashing potatoes, whisking gravy, and making sure 4-8 side dishes are heated to the proper temperature.  Serving everything hot and at the same time is nothing short of a Christmas miracle... okay, well a Thanksgiving miracle.  Last year I decided to try make ahead mash potatoes from Ree Drummond, aka, the Pioneer Woman, aka my hero.  They actually turned out fantastic.  Best part is, there is still time this year for you to plan and make these a day or two before Thanksgiving and have one less thing to do during that crazy 30 minute crunch time.

Actual shot of my 1st attempt of The Pioneer Woman's delectable mashed potatoes last year

She has a very thorough step by step pictorial on how to make these babies, so I won't reinvent the wheel, just click here for the how to.  The only thing I changed was that I used Russet potatoes and an electric mixer to mash them instead of a hand masher.  Once they are done put them in a large pan, cover, and keep them in the fridge until the big day.  Genius I tell you.

By the way, safety warning here: She also recommends putting pats of butter on top of your potatoes just before warming them up, but the first year I made these, my pan happened to be so packed full that the butter melted right off the top and started burning on the bottom of the oven.  Let's just say there was a moment of black smoke billowing from the oven and some freezing cold doors and windows were quickly opened at one point at our Thanksgiving that first year...and nothing screams failure like smoke billowing from your oven on the most important dinner of the year with all of your siblings there to mock you, and your sister-in-law shivering from the cold. Thank goodness these potatoes were so good, the 2-alarm smoke fiasco was soon forgiven and forgotten.  So if your pan is filled to the brim with taters, I'd wait and put the butter on after it comes out of the oven.  I also sprinkled mine with a bit of paprika for some added color.  Also I am happy to report that last year I pulled these off flawlessly to rave reviews!  Redemption!

These potatoes were creamy, delicious, and the perfect traditional side to go with your holiday meal.  The only difference was I just popped them in with the other sides and had a chance to sip some cider and chat with the family. What a novel idea!

Easy Cranberry Jelly

So Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I'm sure like most of you, I am gearing up for all the food prep that this wonderful day entails.  I'm not sure how you feel about cranberry jelly, that jiggly red stuff that sits next to your turkey, gravy, and stuffing and makes the plate look pretty...but personally, I have avoided that stuff like the plague for the last 38 years. Some how it's always been a little off-putting to have a can-shaped glob on a fancy glass plate that has never beckoned me to try it. That is, until last year.  Last year when we watched a show on the food network and saw something that looked so tasty and pretty I thought, hey wait a second, maybe I would try to make my own from scratch.

Homemade cranberry jelly - with only a few ingredients

Now let's remind you of how far we've come... I give you: typical T-day cranberries:

How in the world could anyone think of this as appetizing??

Now which one would you want to eat?  Okay.  I thought so.  So the original recipe was from Claire Robinson on a show called "5 Ingredient Fix" under the title of Spicy cranberry chutney.  She has this crazy notion of adding hot peppers into the recipe to kick it up a notch.  Well I made her exact recipe (I don't even like hot peppers, what was I thinking?) and although it was easy to make, I didn't like the taste.  So I decided to make the exact same recipe again, only without the jalapenos and guess what?  It was the most delicious cranberry jelly ever!  So if you like hot peppers, then make her original recipe with the link above.  If you want a sweet, simple version, do what we did and just make it with fruit and omit the peppers.

You will only need a few ingredients:

8 cups of cranberries
the juice of 2 limes (and zest)
the juice of 2 oranges (and zest)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cups of water

Add all the ingredients to the pot. Note, I went easy on the zest part.  Just did a little from each fruit.  If you love zest then feel free to go crazy.

Put all ingredients into a sauce pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer until desired consistency, about 40-45 minutes.

The sauce should reduce and thicken quite a bit.  It is a very lovely bright red color and smells fabulous.  Chill in the fridge until serving time.  The nice thing about this is you can make it even a few days before the big day, as the flavors get better when they meld together.

picture used from life's ambrosia blog found here

Proudly serve this to your family and guests on the big day. Or better yet, just for fun, put this and the old canned glob next to each other on the table as an experiment and see which one is consumed first. I must admit this is the first and only cranberry sauce I have actually eaten and enjoyed, so I am planning to make this again this year, not only to make my plate pretty, but to make my taste buds happy.

Hands and Feet Turkey - Kid's Craft

I was getting out some fall decorations when I came across a cute craft we had done with the girls a few years back (they were so tiny then). All you need is some colorful construction paper, a few googly eyes, glue, a pencil and a couple of small people with tiny hands and feet.  This project would be fun to do before Thanksgiving (to add to your decorations) or you can do it the day of to keep the cousins and little ones out from underfoot while you create delicious masterpieces in the kitchen.  Note: If you do this craft the day of, wrangle older kids and teens to help with the supervising and cutting.

A cute turkey made from hands and feet

First, trace the foot of the child with their shoe on.  Do this on a dark brown piece of construction paper.  (Note: if the child is wiggly, then just trace the shoe by itself)

Next, trace your child's hand twice on a piece of construction paper.

My middle child was 2 1/2 here, now she's 6.. where has the time gone?

The original directions from Enchanted Learning say to trace two hands on three pieces of colorful construction paper - yellow, orange, and red (We also added a light brown/tan color), and cut them out individually.  You can do it this way but I found tracing once (easier on a moving child) then stacking the other colored construction paper behind and cutting through all the layers is much faster.  Just be sure to you hold the paper group tightly as you cut to get through all the layers. Good scissors will help here. By adding an extra color of light brown, we ended up with eight "feathers" instead of the regular six.

Now to build your turkey.  Take the two foot pieces and place them upside down heals together, and slightly offset.  (For play by play directions click here).  Next glue all the hand "feathers" spread out on on the back of the bird in a fan-like fashion.  We used the two light tan hands as feathers on the front and attached them that way, the rest were glued on the back.  All that's left after that is a few googly eyes and some small pieces to make a wattle, beak, and feet.

Rubber cement works a little quicker than Elmer's glue for this project

Be sure when you are finished to put the name and especially the age of the child on the back so when you dig it out of your decoration box years later you can remember how small their hands and feet were when they were, say three.  You can make some each year and see how much bigger your turkeys get too.  These would also make a nice gift for a grandparent or for whoever is hosting your holiday dinner.