We caught up with Superstar Remmi Smith to see how she would prepare a healthy Thanksgiving! She made an awesome video to take us step-by-step! Check it out!

Hi fans of Ask, Listen, Learn! I’m Chef Remmi of Cook Time with Remmi and I’m so lucky to be part of this great organization! So it’s November and you know what that means! Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite day of the year because it is a full day of cooking, food, and fun. My thanksgiving usually starts at 5 AM, when we start with getting the turkey stuffed and into the oven so we can have an early afternoon feast! Then, we start to make all of the side dishes. We typically have mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, salad with my Italian salad dressing, peas and onions, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, dressing, cranberry-cherry Jello mold, and my dad’s homemade rolls.  For dessert we make homemade pumpkin and cranberry apple pies with ice cream and whipped cream of course!

Customs, dates and rituals are all different but the feast of Thanksgiving is celebrated all around the world. The reason behind the feast is the same everywhere as it is a celebration of thankfulness for a huge harvest. The turkey is center stage with 91% of Americans consuming turkey on Thanksgiving.

Today, I have fixed you a turkey, stuffing and giblet gravy! If you have never gotten involved in the cooking of the Thanksgiving Dinner, I hope you will try it out this year! It’s fun and whoever fixes this meal for you will love your interest and company! And you will have fun…I promise!

And now…Thanksgiving Trivia: Americans consume 46 million turkeys at Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving feast in 1621 had lobster, eel, fish, venison, duck, geese and oysters on the menu…but no turkey! In the US, Californians consume the most turkey on Thanksgiving. In 1920, the NFL started the tradition of Americans watching football on the holiday with the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys hosting games each year ever since. In 1953 Swanson created the TV dinner due to an overstock of turkeys (by over 260 tons) at Thanksgiving.  A Swanson salesman suggested the company create a frozen meal served in a tin container with sliced turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, and frozen peas. They projected 5000 meals would be sold in the first year, but the number of sales first year was over 10 million.

REMMI’S STUFFING:

Ingredients:

8 C bread(I” cubes/baked and toasted)

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

½ onion(medium/small dice)

2 celery stalks(medium dice)

2 apples(small/medium dice)

1/3 C fresh parsley

1 t sage

1 C water

2 C chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Prepare all ingredients as directed. I medium pan sauté onion and celery with the butter and olive oil for 2 minutes. Add apples, parsley, sage, water, chicken broth and salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. In medium bowl, place the bread croutons and toss with the vegetable mixture.  Stuff the cavities of the turkey with the dressing.

 

GIBLET GRAVY:

Ingredients:

Turkey giblets: neck, heart and gizzard

½ onion(medium dice)

2 celery stalks(medium dice)

¼ C fresh parsley

1 C water

3 C chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

2 T cornstarch

4 T water

Directions: Prepare all ingredients as directed. In medium pan, place all ingredients and simmer for 2 hours. Remove giblets from pan. Cool and then dice to small pieces. Add to the liquid mixture. Bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water and then add to the gravy mixture. Simmer until mixture thickens.

Thank you for watching my video. I hope you enjoy these recipes. After our early afternoon meal we gather in the den and watch old movies as a family until we go to bed. At this movie event we feast on leftovers and our first round of turkey cranberry sandwiches. This is the time where I really dwell on how grateful I am for family, food, and love. Enjoy your family traditions and feast and, have a very Happy Thanksgiving! Say “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to underage drinking. Go after your dreams! <3 REMMI!