Ty's Thanksgiving Favorites

We take Thanksgiving very seriously at the Bentli household. There is sure to be a 15 pound turkey on the table, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole and so much more! Today, I want to share some of my favorite dishes with you all and the history behind them. You can even share these fun facts around the table this year and maybe impress a relative or two...

Turkey

Turkey is the ultimate representation of Thanksgiving. Although they might not have had it at the first Thanksgiving (historians believe they probably had venison and various wildfowl), it became a staple in the mid-1700s. This is all thanks to “Turkey Drives”, where thousands of turkeys (led by a header with a long pole) would walk hundreds of miles in a group to slaughterhouses along the east coast. They moved pretty slowly though- only 20 miles a day. Thank goodness the grocery store is only 5 minutes away...

Corn

Without the Native Americans teaching the colonists how to grow corn and various other crops, it’s fair to say they might not have survived their first tough winter in America. As silly as it sounds, I love that we have a dish on the table that reflects the very beginnings of this country.

Stuffing 

Stuffing is a Thanksgiving staple, but when you think about it, it is a pretty weird idea to stuff a bird with bread and vegetables. No one knows for sure when people began making stuffing, but many historical cookbooks have featured stuffing containing vegetables, herbs, chopped liver, nuts and brains. Now I am feeling thankful for Granny’s recipe. 

Cranberry Jelly

This is by far the boys’ favorite Thanksgiving dish, they say that cranberry jelly is the dessert that you get to eat before the real dessert. The beloved cranberry jelly went on the market in 1941, marketed by Ocean Spray to become the new ready-to-serve Thanksgiving side dish. It’s by far the easiest dish to serve up, and a crowd pleaser for the little ones.

Green Bean Casserole

This dish will split households apart. Some love it and others hate it - my family loves it. Green bean casserole was made by the Campbell’s Soup Company in the 1950’s as a Thanksgiving marketing recipe to increase the sales of their cream of mushroom soup. It’s so popular that Campbell’s estimates that 40 percent of their cream of mushroom soup sales is used to make green bean casserole - crazy!

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie has been around since the 1500s- but didn’t become a Thanksgiving staple until the early 1700s! Thanksgiving was originally a New England holiday, so when President Lincoln declared it a national holiday in 1863, the South was VERY hesitant to adapt- they even made fun of the north for eating it! I’m guessing it only took southerners one bite for them to realize what they were missing out on.