Turkey day communication

Alachua County (Fla.) Food & Nutrition Services communicates with their school community on Twitter and Facebook. They adjusted pickup to fit the Thanksgiving break.

Curbside makes it happen

Another district doing curbside grab-and-go meal bundles is Broward County (Fla.) Public Schools. The bundles are being distributed the week before Thanksgiving break.

Gwinnett’s “Gobbler”

Café Gwinnett of Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Schools is serving “Thanksgiving on a bun” with herb-roasted turkey, gravy, stuffing and melted cheese on a Café Gwinnett branded bun.

New take on classic casserole

Green bean casserole is an American icon. At Gwinnett schools, District Culinary Coordinator Rachel Petraglia and team have improved on it. They’ve roasted the green beans and topped them with pumpkin seed brittle instead of baking them in mushroom soup and topping with canned onions. A definite improvement, we’d say!

Housemade cranberry sauce

Also at Gwinnett, the traditional cranberry sauce has a twist—it’s cranberry-orange chutney.

Night-before traditions

How many of us can remember our family prepping all day for visitors and a big dinner the next day, then ordering a stack of pizzas the night before so the kitchen won’t get messed up? That’s what Food Service Director Lance Wells and nutrition team are recreating at Fergus Falls (Minn.) Public Schools. Serving pizza the day(s) before Thanksgiving break is a surefire way to boost sales, according to Wells.