The Relish Tray

Kids will love to help put a relish tray together, and with the convenience of being able to purchase prepared cold veggies, these days, it's much easier than in my childhood.  A few basics include baby carrots, celery sticks, chilled olives, chilled midget pickles (dill and sweet), and other simple favorites, if you so desire.  Ages 8 and up can usually operate an electric can opener, but do supervise the handling of lids and the draining of liquids, if you aren't sure.  Jars may require an adult or teen to open.  Otherwise, arranging of relishes can be a creative endeavor. 

There are many types of relish trays to work with.  If your family enjoys routing for a fave football team, you might want to do relishes on a football themed serving tray, for fun.  Some families create a huge tray of veggies, and others section them off into small arrangements to place directly on the table.  Color coordination is great, but clear crystal relish trays, or elegant Nambe pieces can be very pretty.

Kids in the Kitchen: Thanksgiving Planning and Cautions

Kids love to help with Thanksgiving dinner preparation, but on the big day, they are sometimes underfoot, and it's not as easy to take time to include children in all of your Thanksgiving activities.  However, it's still important that the interested child have the chance to help...after all, that youngster will be your greatest ally someday, as a key helper, or main chef! 

There are many side dishes and desserts that can be prepared ahead of the big Thanksgiving feast.  Cool Whip Fruit Salads are easy, and only require opening of cans, defrosting of Cool Whip.  A child of age 4, and up, can dump ingredients into a bowl, and may be able to stir some.  A 6-7 year old will be able to stir appropriately, and by age 8, your child can probably operate an electric can opener.  By age 10, your youngster will be able to completely assemble that Cool Whip fruit salad, and at age 12, should be able to tell you the ingredients needed at the store.  If you begin from early years with that youngster in the kitchen, on this one simple dish, you will find that by the teen years, he or she can even improvise a little bit.

Pie preparation is a bit challenging for children, but from age 4, and up, most children can easily pour a given pre-measured ingredient into a bowl.  Ages 8 and up should be able to measure most ingredients.  Ages 12 and up should be able to prepare the filling for pies, with some supervision, and by age 14, a child is usually capable of preparing fillings without supervision.  If the child has helped with pie crusts, it's possible that the 14 year old may also be able to make a crust, but I know many adults who have trouble making crusts from scratch, so a pre-made crust is a great way to enable the teen to make the full pie!

Hot foods can be dangerous for younger children to help with, and I reserve the helping with these items for teenagers only.  Cutting depends on the child, but again, this is generally reserved for my teens to help with.  Thanksgiving Day food preparation for younger children can include arrangement of a relish tray, placing crackers and cheeses, and other appetizers on plates, and setting of the table. 

Including your younger children in the days preceding Thanksgiving Dinner will allow them to learn about working in the kitchen, and providing helpful things that they can do on the actual day of the celebration keeps them busy, and helps them to participate in the excitement of the activity.

How Do You Make Green Cool Whip Fruit Salad? An Easy Thanksgiving Side Dish for Kids to Help With

Green Cool Whip Fruit Salad is a favorite in our household, and is a flexible dessert-like side dish for Thanksgiving, one which is always made by one or more of my kids.  In fact, I love to assign this dish to one of the boys in the household, because the girls tend to dominate the kitchen through the year, and this gives my sons a chance to shine.

 

For a big batch of this Cool Whip Salad, we use the following:

 

• 2 Containers of Cool Whip, defrosted
• 2 small packages Pistachio Pudding Mix (Jello brand, or generic)...buy it early, as it is often missing from the store shelves the week of Thanksgiving
• 2 small cans of Mandarin Orange Slices, drained
• 1 can Crushed Pineapple, drained
• 1 jar Maraschino Cherries, drained and stems removed
• 1 bag Mini Marshmallows

 

 

Into a large bowl, empty the Cool Whip.  Sprinkle the pudding mix over the Cool Whip, and fold it in.  Don't stir too hard, or the Cool Whip may break down a bit.  Add fruit, and fold in.  Add marshmallows, and fold in.  Cover, and refrigerate.

 

This side dish for Thanksgiving can be made ahead a day, so the activity in the kitchen on the actual Thanksgiving Day is minimized. 

 

Ages 12 and up can make this on their own.
Ages 10-11 can usually make this side dish with a little supervision.
Ages 6-9 can assist in making this dish, but may need a little help here and there, particularly with mixing the ingredients.
Ages 4-5 are able to help add ingredients, and may be able to stir a little at the start.

Traditional American Pies

Fannie Farmer

One of my favorite family fun activities, when it comes to our Thanksgiving Menu, is trying recipes for traditional American pies.  My Fannie Farmer Baking Book is my main go-to resource, and my favorite, to date, is Shoefly Pie.  My least favorite is Vinegar Pie.  Simple ingredients are used in many of these pie recipes, achieving favorite flavors of sweet and sour.  The vinegar pie is too sour for me.  The shoefly, fun because of its name.

If you are hunting for a copy of the Fannie Farmer Baking Book, Amazon Used books is one possible source, as I don't believe it is in print, at this time.  You can also try Fannie Farmer Cookbooks (click the photo above for current pricing and details).  You may also want to investigate The Fannie Farmer Junior Cookbook for Kindle.

Pie Crust: From Scratch, or Store Bought?

Pies of all sorts don the Thanksgiving Menu of most families, and children love to watch the process of baking pies.  If your childhood was anything like mine, you loved watching Mom mix the dough, roll it out, and turn out several beautiful pie crusts.  However, I didn't learn by osmosis, and I never made the pies, just mixed the fillings.  I don't make very good pie crusts.  I try, but with minimal success.  I couldn't tell the difference between flaky and tough if my life depended on it.  Still, I feel guilty at the costs of store bought pie crusts, and waver back and forth...do I or don't I make my own crusts?

My perspective has become more that it's okay to have an imperfect pie crust, and to provide a fun experience for the kids, and myself.  Some years, that means I make the best from scratch crusts that I can, and let the kids help.  Some years, that means that my teenagers get to try their hands at making crusts.  Some years, it means saving myself time, and splurging on fancy Marie Calendar's crusts.  There isn't a rule, other than the unwritten one, of trying a multitude of interesting pie recipes, eating too much pie through the next week, and bonding with my youngsters in culinary adventures.  My Thanksgiving Menu must, at all costs, include lots of laughs and love!