Blessed Thanksgiving

A Short History of Cheerios and Thanksgiving
By Tauqeer Ul Hassan

Cheerios is a famous breakfast cereal that comes in distinctive ‘O’ shape and is a favorite of children and adults since 1940s. It is owned by General Mills which is a US based cereal company and also marketed by the famous company called Nestle. While Thanksgiving is very closely related with American images of turkey dinners held with family and friends.

The 19th century breakfasts were usually made up of fried eggs, toasts, sausages and bacon. Cheerios are available in a wide range of flavors and styles and it is advertised as a healthy and nutritious breakfast. Thanksgiving has been celebrated not just in the Western world but was also celebrated in the ancient times and also in many different cultures as well. Historically, it was celebrated during the feast which was held for honoring Demeter who was the goddess of agriculture. Even today, these same traditional practices are still observed despite the Christianity religion prevails.

Thanksgiving was usually celebrated during the ancient times after the harvest season when the abundance produce was yielded blessing people with enough food to last through the winter. There was celebration and dancing but the style changed with passage of time and later it became a somber festival.

The Cheerios brand had a good impact on consumers in the mid 1960s when its packaging was chosen as the main source for promoting a new social and charitable attempt known as Project Head Start started by General Mills. Cheerios was full of nutrition and it was well received by the consumers, starting with claims from General Mills that Cheerios provided all type of essential nutritional values of oatmeal.

Thanksgiving follows its history of honoring different gods and was similar to ancient peoples thanking their gods. Americans adopted this custom of Thanksgiving. New York adopted it in 1817 as an annual holiday for the state, later, it was followed by other states by the middle of the 19th century and every state had their appointed Thanksgiving Day. President Abraham Lincoln declared a single day for it in 1863 and finally the fourth Thursday of each November was designated as Thanksgiving Day.

Cheerios has remained a successful product since its launch. Although there were changes in the packing, marketing techniques and it was in competition with Kelloggs but it has been a famous breakfast cereal product for every young and old around the world.

Learn the detailed history of Cheerios and also the history of Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving History and Origin
By Sean Carter

One of the biggest and warmest holidays of the United States, Thanksgiving has its history and origin way back in centuries. There are various instances of thanksgiving observances in history, all of which bear resemblance to the modern celebrations of Thanksgiving; but the generally accepted and circulated view is that the modern day American Thanksgiving has its origin in 1621, when the Pilgrims, or the English settlers and the Native Americans celebrated a three-day long feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But quite contrary to this popular belief, the Pilgrims were never the first to have a Thanksgiving feast. Feasts celebrating a good harvest existed well before the Pilgrims or the settlers arrived. Nevertheless, it’s true that these Pilgrims held a Thanksgiving feast (more aptly, a feast to say ‘thanks’) in the first year of their survival in America

Following this Pilgrim’s 1621 Thanksgiving observance, began the Thanksgiving tradition of holding feasts after a good harvest. People usually celebrate Thanksgiving to mark the Autumn harvest and make merry in the plentiful yield. There is, however, a long tradition of celebrating the harvest throughout history. It might interest you to know that even the ancient Greeks and Romans had their respective harvest celebrations with music, parades and feasts quite like today’s Thanksgiving celebrations. People in ancient China also had their harvest festival with families feasting together on ‘moon cakes’ (round yellowish cakes). This was to celebrate the full moon and, as a matter of fact, the Chinese still celebrate this as their Moon Festival with much hype and hoopla ! Then again, there’s the harvest festival of the Jews. The Jewish harvest fest, Sukkot, is celebrated for eight days and is an occasion to catch up with the family on feasts and to be thankful for a good year. The British Isles too has a harvest festival called the Lammas, which marks the beginning of the harvest season.

Now, whatever the history and origin, Thanksgiving today is primarily a day set aside in the most part of North America to show gratitude and be thankful to God. Feasts and family reunions are a regular trend for Thanksgiving in North America. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year. But in Canada, the harvest season ends a little earlier in the year. Hence in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The Canadians have a three-day long Thanksgiving weekend and the holiday is not as significantly hyped here as in the United States. The Canadians also do not get enough time for a convenient homecoming. So they reserve the family reunions for the Christmas holiday.

The Thanksgiving holiday has serious religious shades for the Roman Catholic Quebecers, who call it l’Action de Grâce. Thanksgiving has a long-standing history in Europe; it is associated with the harvest festivals held there.

So then, as you see, celebrating harvest is quite old. And so is the thanksgiving act–to thank the Almighty for all the good things He has given us ! And all these harvest festivities, although having cultural differences, are common in spirit to the modern American Thanksgiving.

Sean Carter writes on holidays, thanksgiving and celebrations around the world. He also writes on family, relationships,womens issues birthdays, inspiration, religion, love and friendship. He is a writer with special interest in ecard industry. He writes for 123greetings.com

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Five Tasty Thanksgiving Treats
By Patrick Carpen

The nearer Thanksgiving draws, the more we seem to find ourselves instinctively pulled towards the kitchen to create comforting and scrumptious food. For some of us, this means pulling out a dusty old book full of perfected family recipes. For others, this means Googling “easy Thanksgiving recipes.” To save you the trouble, we’ve got five great recipes here that are a scrumptious way to satisfy your craving for holiday comfort food.

One of the first cravings you might start to feel nag at your taste buds is the yearning for anything pumpkin. This is likely a result of the pumpkin decoration littering almost every lawn on the street. So, for starters, we have an easy recipe for pumpkin nut bread. The best thing about bread recipes is that you usually get at least two loaves from one batch, which means you can eat one now and freeze one to have on-hand in case company stops by.

Famous Pumpkin Nut Bread

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, melted 4 eggs 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) pumpkin 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. ground cloves 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2-3/4 cups flour 1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter. Add eggs and pumpkin. Beat thoroughly. Add sugars, baking soda and powder, and spices. Beat thoroughly until all lumps are removed. Add flour. Beat thoroughly. Add nuts and mix. Spoon into 2 greased bread pans. Bake for 1 hour. Test with toothpick to ensure loaves are ready.

The next item on our list of Thanksgiving dishes is the ever-famous cheese ball. This particular item is usually present at most Thanksgiving get-togethers, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the end of November to whip up this easy snack!

Cheese Ball

Ingredients: 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 1 tablespoon diced onion 1 tablespoon chopped green bell pepper 1/4 tablespoon seasoning salt 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions: Mix together the cream cheese, pineapple, onion, bell pepper, and seasoning salt. Form into a ball and roll in chopped pecans. Chill and serve with butter crackers.

If your craving leans more towards sweet potatoes, then we have the perfect recipe for you! Sweet potato balls are an easy dish to prepare and are just as great on their own as they are when complimenting turkey, ham, or any other meat you fancy.

Sweet Potato Balls

Ingredients: 1 (40 ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained 1/4 cup butter salt to taste 3 cups crushed cornflakes cereal 3/4 cup real maple syrup 10 large marshmallows

Directions: Drain sweet potatoes and put into large mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with butter or margarine. Salt to taste. Hand-pat mixture into 3 inch diameter balls. Roll in crushed corn flakes and put into 9×12 inch greased baking dish. Pour maple syrup evenly over all balls. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 40 minutes. When the timer gets to the last fifteen minutes, put a marshmallow over each ball.

For those of you who are craving some serious Thanksgiving meat, we’ve got a great turkey recipe for you to try out. The best part about this recipe is that you don’t have to cook an entire bird, which means you don’t have to deal with carving up the leftover meat and storing it.

Turkey Breasts Stuffed with Cranberry

Ingredients:

2 boneless and skinless turkey breasts

1 (12 ounce) package herb-seasoned dry bread

Stuffing Mix

1 1/2 c. of dried cranberries (sweetened is preferred)

1 c. of pecans (chopped)

1/2 c. halved pecans

2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions: Make the stuffing as usual and set aside. Cut the chicken breasts open so that they lay flat, place between waxed paper and flatten with a meat tenderizer. Remove the wax paper and spread the stuffing over each breast (leaving a bit of room around the edges), then sprinkle with most of the dried cranberries. Add all of the pecans. Starting at the longer side, roll the breast up similar to a Swiss roll. Tuck in the ends and tie it together with string. You’ll probably need about four bits of string to tie the middle and one to go length-wise.

Place the olive oil in an oven proof skillet and let it heat. Try to brown the meat on all sides, but don’t cook it thoroughly yet. Put the skillet in the oven and bake in at 350 degrees F for about an hour or until meat is white all the way through. Try not to let these get too dry. Let the turkey rolls sit for 15 minutes before removing the string and slicing into 1/2 inch circles. You can garnish with any leftover cranberries or pecans.

Finally, we have a recipe for one of the greatest Autumn-time drinks: apple cider! What’s better than cozying up with a book or movie and a steaming cup of spiced cider? It gets better, because this simplified version of spiced cider allows you to keep your cider warmed in a slow cooker for easy re-fills.

Easy Apple Cider

Ingredients: 1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle apple cider 3 cinnamon sticks 1 teaspoon whole allspice 1 teaspoon whole cloves 1/3 cup brown sugar

Directions: In a slow cooker, combine apple cider and cinnamon sticks. Wrap allspice and cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth and add to pot. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and keep warm.

Now that you have a few recipes to tide you over until Thanksgiving, you can hit the kitchen! Enjoy!

If you’re looking for recipes, take a look at the Platinum Recipes Collection. The Platinum Recipes Collection is the Internet’s Most Comprehensive Recipes Collection.

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