Do Any of Your Schools Celebrate Thanksgiving?

[Chef Dave]

Do any of your schools celebrate Thanksgiving?

I just learned of an annual tradition that is celebrated by my high school.

The cafeteria manager came by my office this afternoon and told me that next Tuesday she'll be serving all staff members a
complimentary Thanksgiving lunch. I thought that was nice.

She then asked me if I'd be making pumpkin rolls.

I raised an eyebrow.

It turns out that part of the annual tradition is that the culinary arts department (which I head up) is expected to produce pumpkin rolls for sale.

When I first heard about pumpkin rolls, I thought of yeast bread made with pumpkin.

One of my assistant managers told me that the school tradition was for us to produce spiced pumpkin bread stuffed with sweetened cream cheese.

http://www.silkthumbflorist.com/images/specials/large/ginR8Usa.jpg

When I surveyed the staff to see if anyone might be interested in purchasing loaves of pumpkin bread, I got a resounding YES. Several even submitted orders in anticipation that we'll do this.

Bowing to tradition, the culinary arts department will produce pumpkin rolls next Tuesday. In addition to producing loaves of stuffed pumpkin bread for the teachers, I'm going to have each student make a loaf to take home.

The student loaves will be stored in the refrigerator of our culinary arts lab. Students will be expected to pick up their bread prior to going home at 3 PM.

Any bread not taken home will be sold to the faculty the following day.

[jenmh]

We just had our school's Thanksgiving dinner today. It is a big deal at the school. The students' families are invited to come and eat lunch with them.

Pumpkin Rolls are great, I have been making them every Thanksgiving for the past 4 years now. The family really looks forward to it.

[Chef Dave]

For those of you who might want to make stuffed pumpkin rolls, here is a recipe from all recipes.com.

INGREDIENTS

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* confectioners' sugar for dusting
*
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* 8 ounces cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper. If you don't have parchment paper, use a non-stick silpad.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high for five minutes. Gradually add white sugar and pumpkin. Add flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle walnuts evenly on top.

3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.

4. To Make Filling: Mix confectioners sugar, vanilla, butter or margarine, and cream cheese together till smooth.

5. Carefully unroll the cake. Spread filling over cake to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up again. Cover and chill for at least one hour. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar, if desired.

P.S. NOTE:
I would like to suggest that if you have a digital baker's scale, you should convert the above recipe to ounces and use the scale.

Why?

Measurements by weight are much more accurate (and less messy) than measurements using volume.

As an alternative to walnuts, you could also use golden raisins. Rehydrate the raisins in hot water until they're plump and tender. Drain the water and mix the raisins into your batter for added flavor.

[teach1027]

We can celebrate, but we are not suposed to call it Thanksgiving, it has to be called "Harvest"

[mopar]

My last school celebrated Thanksgiving with the students and family during the second half of the school day. The students actually sit and eat with their families and then they can go home with them. It was a very nice celebration time and a big event for the school.
My new school does not celebrate Thanksgiving with the students but I have heard nothing about whether we can or not.

[Chef Dave]

My last school celebrated Thanksgiving with the students and family during the second half of the school day. The students actually sit and eat with their families and then they can go home with them. It was a very nice celebration time and a big event for the school.

What a neat idea!

Out of curiosity, was this a low income school?

And was this a high school?

[mopar]

It was an extremely low income school. More than 80% of our students received free or reduced lunch and breakfast. I was not at a high school. It was a K-8 building.

[leafy seadragon]

That's really a great idea, people eating together and celebrations anytime!

[kingrichie]

No,
I used to have a Culture Festival in my classroom where all the students would bring something to share, but now we're not allowed to share home prepared foods. It's pretty sad.

[Chef Dave]

No,
I used to have a Culture Festival in my classroom where all the students would bring something to share, but now we're not allowed to share home prepared foods. It's pretty sad.

Yep ... thanks to frivilouos law suits and liability, many districts have had to implement this policy. It's unfortunate that a small handful of people are rocking the boat but in this day and age, school districts are being increasingly targeted as defendants in civil law suits.

As a chef instructor I will play devil's advocate by suggesting that there is ALWAYS the possibility that some people could (inadvertently) poision others through sheer stupidity.

The food used in preparation could be expired. It may have been left on the counter at room temperature for more than two hours. The person preparing the food may have used dirty hands and utensils. The possibile list of sanitation calamities is truly alarming.

[busbus]

For those of you who might want to make stuffed pumpkin rolls, here is a recipe from all recipes.com.

[I]INGREDIENTS

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* confectioners' sugar for dusting
*
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* 8 ounces cream cheese
[/COLOR]

I saw this recipe that you posted around Thanksgiving time. Just wondering, could canned yams or sweet potatoes be substituted for the pumpkin?

I cook very seldom; but, I enjoy reading recipes and watching the cooking shows.

[kjem]

We had a huge Thanksgiving feast when I taught fifth grade. I sent home traditional Native American recipes and students brought those in as well as modern recipes. We had two huge turkeys, mashed potatoes, veggies and 21 pies. AMAZING! I think we all rolled out of there. No one else wanted to participate, so it was just two of the fifth grade classrooms. Their loss, I guess! I would highly recommend it. Just a little bit of organization and you've got yourself a great afternoon.

[CrazyKids]

We learned about Native Americans in first grade so we made drums and had a pow wow. Then we all had a feast of whatever the families brought it. They just had to put the ingredients on an index card and there could be no nuts.