Turkey Day

Some interesting facts about the Star of Thanksgiving, the Turkey!!!

• The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lbs), at the annual "heaviest turkey" competition held in London, England on December 12, 1989.

• Fifty percent of Americans put the stuffing inside the Turkey.

• Fossil evidence shows that turkeys roamed the Americas 10 million years ago.

• 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

• Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.

• Turkey is the traditional dish for the Thanksgiving feast. In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations. There is no official reason or declaration for the use of turkey. They just happened to be the most plentiful meat available at the time of the first Thanksgiving in 1621, starting the tradition.

• The preliminary estimate of the number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2005 is 256 million. That’s down 3 percent from 2004. The turkeys produced in 2004 weighed 7.3 billion pounds altogether and were valued at $3.1 billion.

• Turkeys were one of the first animals in the Americas to be domesticated.

• A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds.

Something a little weird to think about...

The flavor of bubble gum comes from the fusion of vanilla, wintergreen and cassia, a form of cinnamon. 

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Did you know?

Chips are probably one of my favorite snack foods, so I found this fact incredibly interesting!!!!

In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.

      Cost of 1lb. of potato chips  = 200 x Cost of 1lb. of Potatoes 

A Twist On Mac-N-Cheese

I posted before on how much family means to me. Recipes are often passed down through members of the family. One recipe I have in my collection is an original twist on Mac-N-Cheese. My fiance's Grandmother shared this recipe with me, and I immediately fell in love. And I bet if you try this recipe too, you will love it too!

For this recipe you will need:

 

Tomato Sauce, Macaroni Noodles, and American Cheese

Once you have those ingredients, you need to boil the water to cook the noodles. 

While the water is reaching the boiling point, you should set your oven for baking. 

 After about 10 minutes in the boiling water, your noodles will be cooked to al dente (the noodles will still be a little chewy). Drain the water from the noodles, and place then in a baking pan. Mix in the tomato sauce.

Once you covered the noddles with sauce, you should add the American cheese to the top. (If you like, you can add more cheese, or less.)

Place the entree into the oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and the tomato sauce is bubbling. Then you can enjoy this delicious twist on a traditional meal.

Thanks Grandma!

Dinner & A Show

            Don’t worry; I’m not talking about a dinner and a play or a musical. But I am talking about food, of course. Do you enjoy Chinese or Japanese food? Do you like being entertained? Do you like getting your money’s worth? Well then I have a solution for you!

            This past weekend was my birthday (as you can probably tell from my last post) and I had the pleasure of having my birthday dinner at a hibachi grille. A hibachi grille is an oriental restaurant with a show atmosphere. When you walk into a hibachi grille, you will be seated around a flat top stove like those in restaurant kitchens. After choosing the meat of your entrée which includes choices like chicken, beef, shrimp, or scallops, a hibachi chef will bring his cart with all his supplies to your stove area. And the show begins. 

             The chef will toss his sharpened knifes all over the place and never drops a single one or cuts himself. He will juggle eggs around in his spatulas, and throw a couple into his chef hat. He will squirt oil all over the grille and light it on fire. You will definitely feel the heat from that flame so close to your face. He will throw food toward you so you can try to catch it in your mouth (which is a lot harder than it looks). Basically the chef builds your entire meal from scratch in front of you and then places it on your plate. Talk about interactive cooking! This meal is the perfect combination of excellent food and great entertainment.

            The hibachi I went to was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which is about two hours from good ol’ Annville. So I did a little research and found three in the local area.

Kugo Japanese Steak House

1723 Quentin Road

Lebanon, PA 17042   

Sakana Japanese Restaurant

2308 Patton Road

Harrisburg, PA 17112

Sakura

1144 E Chocolate Avenue

Hershey, PA 17033

Happy Birthday October Babies!

      I wanted to share my "birthday cake" with my followers. My "cake" consisted of 21 chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing made by my beautiful mother. Thanks mom! Happy Birthday October Babies! =]

Try not to drool!

Pie without an Oven?

A simple, but delicious, find! Enjoy!