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veggie turkey with an orange head, pineapple body, veggies, and tiny hat
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🦃 Thanksgiving Centerpiece Veggie Turkey

This adorable, Veggie Turkey Thanksgiving Centerpiece 🥦🦃 is our family's tradition, and we're passing it on to you! ❤️ Not only is it super fun to make; you can snack on it while waiting for the big turkey!
Author Marcie & Julie

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 pineapple
  • handful cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1 cucumber cut into thick slices
  • handful celery cut into long, thick sticks
  • handful baby dill pickles
  • handful radishes cut into thick slices
  • 1 bell pepper cut into big chunks
  • handful olives any kind
  • 1 medium orange
  • handful broccoli & cauliflower florets for garnish

Instructions

  • TURKEY BODY: Cut a sliver off the side of your pineapple, length-wise, so the pineapple can rest on the tray without wobbling. Place the pineapple on top of your tray, cut side down.
  • FEATHERS: Now start to make your layers of veggies (aka feathers). Start the first layer opposite the crown (the spiky top of the pineapple), attaching each veggies with a toothpick or skewer. Here are the layers we did:
    1st layer: 12 tomatoes
    2nd layer: 5 cucumber slices
    3rd layer: 10 celery stalks
    4th layer: 7 pickles, topped with 7 radish slices
    5th layer: 4 skewers of alternating bell peppers and radishes, topped with olives
  • THE HEAD: Draw two eyes on the front of your orange. Then cut a small chunk of bell pepper as the beak and a tiny radish peel as the wattle. Stick a toothpick into the orange under the eyes, and attach the wattle and beak. Then take 1-3 toothpicks and stick them into the back of the orange, attaching the orange to the pineapple butt. Finishing touch: add the tiny hat.
  • THE FINAL TRAY: Surround the turkey with broccoli and cauliflower florets, or any extra veggies. Serve with a dip on the side.

Notes

  • I used three sizes of pokey things to stick everything into the pineapple: toothpicks, skewers, and skewers that I cut in half. You can use whatever size you like.
  • Design: start with smaller veggies, using toothpicks to stick into the pineapple. Work up to a higher height, with longer veggies, eventually using skewers to add bigger veggies to the pineapple or alternating veggies (like kabobs).
  • Softer veggies and fruit will be easier to pierce with toothpicks.
  • You don't have to peel the cucumber, but I peeled it in a pattern just cause it looked cool.
  • You can totally skip the pepper beak and radish wattle, and just draw the whole face on the orange, it it's easier.
  • It might take 2-3 skewers and/or toothpicks to attach the orange to the pineapple.
  • We had to stick a toothpick in the top of the orange to hold the tiny hat in place.