Food...

Top 10 Things to Try This Thanksgiving

10. Set Your Table

Outfit your table with these bright, autumn-colored hemp tableclothes, napkins, and placemats. All you have to do to find a great centerpiece is head outside, collect a bunch of pinecones, leaves, and evergreen sprigs to the table and you’ve got yourself some Thanksgiving décor.

9. Visit a Local Bakery

As you plan your dessert table, make at least one dessert hassle-free by checking out a local bakery at BakeryFinder for your pumpkin pies, carrot cakes, and turkey-topped cupcakes.

8. Get a Green Wine

Take a tip from Treehugger and put a bottle of sustainable wine on your table. Some options: the carbon neutral winery Mendocino Wine Company or LEED certified Stratus Winery.

7. Start Right

Get your Turkey Day off to a tasty start with a host of appetizers, from cheese balls to sugar coated pecans to the inevitable (in my house anyway) olive bowl.

6. Prepare for the Day After

Store leftovers in reusable, biodegradable storage containers from GreenHome.com. Then, get creative with your leftovers by trying out some creative turkey recipes, like Turkey and Black Bean Soup, a turkey or veggie pot pie, or the Moistmaker late-night turkey sandwich with enough tryptophan to put you right to sleep.  

5. Save Room for Dessert!

Get organic baking ideas (or a delicious treat if you’re in the Los Angeles area) from Ghalia Organic Desserts or try one of the healthier treats from Eating Well, the pumpkin pie with rum sounds especially amazing.

4. Don’t Forget the Sides

As important as the turkey is, the sides are just as vital. Get an array of side dishes that will wow every guest. Try winter fruit salad with lemon poppyseed dressing, bread stuffing, or sourdough dressing with truffles. Browse even more sides at The Food Network.

3. Celebrate the Pumpkin

Pumpkin is the featured veggie at Thanksgiving, so take yours to new heights with pumpkin turnovers or curried pumpkin soup. Or, choose one of the many pumpkin recipes from the Pumpkin Nook's Cookbook.

2. Make Tubers Terrific

Thanksgiving comes with two potatoes—sweet and white. My suggestion, keep the white potatoes the way they should be, mashed. And make something delicious with the sweet ones, sweet potato cassarole or mashed with maple butter anyone? Or, go for a total spud surprise by adding Roasted Fingerling Potatoes With Dried Figs and Thyme to your table.

1. Make the Perfect Turkey

Follow the cooking directions at Organic Authority to cook an organic turkey and you’ll find that there’s more than one way to cook a turkey—in an oven, grilling, frying.

Here are the answers to every turkey question you could have on the big day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo from Vanelsas.wordpress.com.