Thanksgiving 101 - Edible Turkey Center Piece

This is a great idea that I got from my friend Maria.  She made it last year for Thanksgiving and posted a picture on Facebook and I knew it would be a big hit at the kids table for Thanksgiving.  The only change I made was to replace the cheese cubes with pineapple chunks since we always have a kosher Thanksgiving dinner and we can't serve cheese with a meat meal.  The kids LOVED this.  They sat at the table and started eating it as their "appetizer".

Ingredients:

1 small round watermelon

1 bunch of red grapes

2 cans of pineapple chunks

1 bosc pear

2 mini marshmallows

1 slice of red bell pepper

1 slice of yellow or orange bell pepper

long skewers

tooth picks

Preparation:

Begin by placing the watermelon in a small bowl so it won't roll around.  Attach pear to the front of watermelon by using a few tooth picks.  Stick tooth picks halfway into watermelon and then push the pear onto the toothpicks to hold it in place.  Attach the marshmellow eyes using one toothpick per eye.  Next cut the red pepper into a "gobbler" shape and attach to side of pear with a toothpick.  Do the same with the yellow or orange pepper for the turkey's beak.  Prepare the "feathers" by alternating between grapes and pineapple about 2/3 of the length of a skewer.  I made all the fruit skewers in advance and kept them on a covered sheet pan with foil in the refrigerator to stay cold until just before all the family arrived.  About 15 minutes before I placed all the fruit skewers into the top and back of the watermelon to look like feathers.