Thanksgiving Day will be here before you know it. There’s no better way to celebrate than by indulging yourself in two of America’s top past times: watching football and eating delicious food.
We’ve married the two right here for you in this list of NFL-inspired thanksgiving dishes.
5 Pro Athlete Thanksgiving Recipes and Meal Ideas
1. John Madden Turducken
Long before Inception, people weren’t talking about a dream inside of a dream inside of a dream. Back then, it was deboned chicken inside of a deboned duck inside of a deboned turkey, better known as the turducken. The recipe was popularized by NFL commentator John Madden, who brought a turducken to the broadcast booth on a Thanksgiving Day match, with the winner getting the chance to chow down on the delectable combination.
Ingredients:
• 10 to 12-pound turkey, deboned except for wings and legs.
• 5 to 6-pound duck, completely deboned.
• 3 to 4-pound chicken, completely deboned.
• Stuffing
The preparation and cooking of this monster is a bit arduous but the result will be well worth the effort. See the complete step-by-step intructions on how to cook the turducken at homecooking.about.com
2. Vince Wilfork’s Turbacon-epic
Wilfork is listed at 6-foot-2 and 325 pounds, so it’s only natural for us to assume that he eats by the truckload. And a Thanksgiving feast with the Wilforks, as one can only imagine, is a total gorge-fest of epic proportions.
If it were up to Wilfork himself, he’d probably prefer it to be a Thanksgiving week. So what kind of single Thanksgiving recipe would stand that long against the voracious appetite of this football beast?
Here’s what we think would be a perfect recipe for a Wilfork eating marathon (it’s not for the faint of heart, literally and figuratively): The Turbacon-epic.
Turbacon-epic is a recipe carefully crafted to American perfection. The guys over at Epic Meal Time developed this abomination and they describe it as a “A bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig,” which essentially makes Madden’s Turducken a sad chicken nugget by comparison.
Ingredients:
20 pounds of pig
8 pounds of turkey
6 pounds of duck
4 pounds of chicken
10 pounds of bacon
cornish hen
PAUSE HERE AND CATCH YOUR BREATH
quail
12 croissants
2 liters of Dr. Pepper
6 pounds of butter
7 baconators
Fat counter of this NASA project of a food dish? 79,046 calories and 6,892 grams of fat. Sweet dreams, football fans!
3. Prince Fielder’s Seven Vegetable Couscous
You wouldn’t know it based on his frame, but Prince Fielder – the slow on his feet, world rumbling when he dives to third base home run machine – is a vegetarian. Of course, it was only in 2008 when he began his veggie diet, because apparently it’s impossible to get up to that weight without feasting on a ton or two of beast meat. [sc:NFL240banner ]
So as a tribute to Fielder’s dedication to stick to his diet, even during highly caloric events like Thanksgiving, we have this colorful vegetarian-friendly dish that can be served on every last Thursday of November: Seven Vegetable Couscous.
Couscous is popular in North African cuisine. It is steamed semolina, usually garnished with meat or vegetable stew. In this one, we’ll forget everything we know about meat and replace it with seven veggies. Complete list of ingredients and recipe instructions can be found at MoroccanFood.about.com.
4. The Richie Incognito Bacon Cheeseball Bully
Tired of all the Miami Dolphins’ locker room brouhaha?
Well, might as well use it as dietetic inspiration for an upcoming Thanksgiving Day recipe. At the center of the latest soap opera in the NFL is Richie Incognito, the burly offensive lineman, who when not playing football, is busy calling one certain teammate’s phone and leaving threatening, racially-fueled voice mails of a disgusting nature.
All right. Here it is. The recipe that will bully its way into your gullet, and shortly after, the arteries of your heart. The Richie Incognito Bacon Cheeseball Bully.
Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 (1 ounce) package hidden valley ranch dressing mix (dry)
1 cup shredded colby or 1 cup colby-monterey jack cheese or 1 cup cheddar cheese
1 (3 ounce) bottle real bacon bits (or use bacon, crumbled)
Step-by-Step:
Take 2 packages of cream cheese (softened) and mix until slightly whipped.
Add packet of ranch dressing and mix until incorporated.
Fold in 1 cup shredded cheese.
Pour bacon bits in a plate or pie tin.
Form cream cheese mixture in to a ball with your hands.
Roll ball in bacon bits till covered. Wrap cheese ball in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
When cheese ball feels firm, remove and serve with crackers.
5. Adrian Peterson’s Purple Jesus Drink
Gløgg or mulled wine is a concoction of red wine and various spices and raisins. This is a typical drink usually enjoyed in the Christmas season, but hey, why not let it warm you belly a little early this November?
This drink is served either hot or warm, best sipped when settling down after a courageous and hard-fought battle at the dining table.
In the mix:
1 1/2 cups Port wine
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup Cointreau or Gran Marnier
1/3 cup brown sugar
zest of 2 oranges, cut in strips
10 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bottles dry red wine
Fresh orange slices
Heat the ingredients in a pot on the stove, stirring occasionally, and enjoy with friends during this year’s Thanksgiving football games.
