A nip is in the air and leaves are all over the ground. And with three weeks until Thanksgiving, excitement is building for the big feast. Good thing experts have already planned menus and gathered tips and good advice for choosing and preparing your holiday Turkey, with plenty of info on putting together the rest of the meal, too.

Turkey help is on its way.

This year, there are  more ways to talk turkey. Get Turkey tips throughout the season from Buterball’s Turkey Talk-Line. In addition to phone, Web and email help, you can now text the word “TURKEY” to 36888 and connect with 50 professional turkey experts.

In my mind, you can (almost) never have too many resources to help Thanksgiving go smoothly. So, to help you plan ahead, gThankYou has compiled a few favorite and new Turkey Help resources.

• Mark Bittman’s Mininmalist Thanksgiving Menu with a gThankYou! to the Splendid Table.

• Turkey tutorials and more with a gThankYou! to Foodnetwork.com. Here, you’ll find plenty of video plus tools like the Turkey Calculator to help get the cooking time right and buy the right size Turkey, and a plan for putting on a Thanksgiving Potluck.
• gThankYou! to user-generated recipe site Recipezaar posted its Thanksgiving Headquarters offering the top-rated advice and recipes from the popular site.
• Turkey Confidential with a gThankYou! to Lynne Rossetto Kasper and the Splendid Table for posting audio of her Thanksgiving triage radio show. This episode includes Lynne’s how-to put on Thanksgiving on a shoestring.
• Finally, Better Homes & Gardens’ new Recipe.com is worth a look. gThankYou! for lots of proven recipes here from appetizers to Turkey through dessert. Get updates by following them on Twitter at @Recipedotcom.

Aid your planning with menus, recipes and a host of other practical how-to advice in these pages as you approach Thanksgiving.

Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI.  gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, corporate America’s favorite employee gift seller gThankYou is now offering new Enclosure Card designs to personalize Turkey Gift Certificates, as well as Ham Gift Certificates and Grocery Gift Certificates.

Cards showing a beautiful bronze Turkey with all the trimmings, a whimsical Tom Turkey, and a bountiful cornucopia are among the new card designs available at gThankYou. Each was created by artist Amy Pierquet of Waterfront Graphic Design.  All fifteen designs can be seen on the company’s Enclosure Cards section of its website.

“We’ve added these Thanksgiving designs to give you the perfect way to say ‘Thank You’ to your employees this time of year,” company President Rick Kiley said. “Now, you can add the personal touch to your celebration of success.”

Order Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham or Grocery Gift Certificates conveniently online at the gThankYou Store starting at $10 in increments of $5. Personalize them with one of these new seasonal cards, plus add your company name and logo. Certificates are easy for companies to give, often distributed with payroll, and treasured by employees who can redeem them at almost any grocery store for the Turkey (or Ham or Groceries) of their choice.

A popular choice for end-of-quarter and seasonal employee gifts, gThankYou® Gift Certificates help companies celebrate success combining the time-honored tradition of providing a Turkey for the table with modern-day ease of online buying. Find out more at the gThankYou website or by calling 888-484-1658.

About gThankYou.com

The ideal employee gift, gThankYou Gift Certificates are meaningful, affordable and appreciated by the entire family. Convenience is the top reason companies say they choose gThankYou Gift Certificates as the perfect opportunity for workplace leaders to recognize success.  Most of gThankYou customers give the Company’s Gift Certificates to all employees in the company, division or workgroup at holiday times or the conclusion of a successful project, month or quarter.

gThankYou, LLC (www.gthankyou.com ) is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Find out more about gThankYou on the company’s website. And read more about how Thanks can boost your company at Celebrating Work, the gThankYou.com blog. Contact: Rick Kiley, President, gThankYou, LLC, info@gthankyou.com, 888-484-1658.

“gThankYou” is a registered trademark of gThankYou, LLC.

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Cold and flu season has hit all across the U.S.  If – like many – you can’t yet get vaccinated, why not start making soup? Chicken soup is bound to get old this year. Turkey makes a fantastic soup base with all the benefits of home remedies for seasonal ailments.

Healing and Healthy Turkey Soup.

In the interest of  public health, gThankYou offers these Turkey Soup recipes. Don’t worry if you don’t have a turkey carcass — you don’t have to wait until after Thanksgiving to make these soups.  Simply use turkey legs or wings available at most grocers as the base for a hearty turkey stock.

• Mom’s Turkey Soup with a gThankYou! to Simply Recipes.

• Turkey Chowder with a gThankYou! to CDKitchen.

• Mexican Turkey Soup with Chipotles with a gThankYou! to Food & Wine.

• Rustic Bean, Kale and Turkey Soup with a gThankYou! to What We’re Eating.

• Turkey Barley Soup with a gThankYou! to Kalyn’s Kitchen.

To your health, and happy soup making!

Thankfulness has been said to be a key component in happiness and an important tool to up your satisfaction with life – and work.

Thanks to the positive psychology gurus at the University of Pennsylvania, you can measure your level of gratitude. In six simple questions, Dr. Martin Seligman – often credited as the father of positive psychology – offers a tool to test your thanks. (An easy registration is required for this quiz.)

Thanks is key to happiness.

In his own words, Seligman says gratitude amplifies good memories of the past. He offers an exercise in expressing gratitude. Think of it as a way to throw out bad memories to make room for the good.

How does this apply to the workplace? Writing on happiness on the job in her HarvardBusiness.org blog, London-based executive coach Gill Corkindale explains it this way:

“It all comes down to choice, and this is where I believe happiness lies. In choosing — as far as you are able — what you want to do and how you will do it. While not all of us can choose our work and colleagues, we can all choose how we approach things — with an open, optimistic, and positive outlook or with a   frustrated, irritated one. To this end, I suggest you look at the work of positive psychologists such as Martin Seligman and Tal Ben-Shahar, whose course on happiness at Harvard has been inspirational for many students.”

It’s important, today more than ever, to recognize the importance of tools like gratitude to amplify the happiness we all have in our work. This is happening in the most unlikely of places. In England, the British government has appointed economist Richard Layard to the post of “Happiness Czar” to bolster the happiness of its citizens. It’s certainly worthwhile, in our own lives, our own work, and our own organizations, to look at how to be thankful and boost our own happiness quotient.

This is the time of year when the thickest culinary volumes hit mailboxes, stuffed – turkey style – with all sorts of morsels to get you thinking about and planning for the busy cooking season ahead. With shock cooks learned this month that Gourmet Magazine will soon cease publication. But we’re fortunate to have one last issue, the crucial November Thanksgiving tome, as consolation.

Gourmet Talks Turkey one last time.

So, it is with pleasure that I share with you these turkey recipes and menus from the grand Gourmet with a gThankYou! to Gourmet.com.

• Grilled Turkey with Cranberry Gravy

• Simplest Roast Turkey

• Miso-rubbed Turkey with Turkey Gravy

• Turkey Roulade with Cider Sauce

• Gourmet’s All American Thanksgiving Menus

Make some now and save others for Thanksgiving. After all, turkey really is a fine dish almost any time of year and I’ve never gone wrong with a Gourmet recipe.

Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI.  gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.

Corporate America’s favorite employee gifts just became easier to give, thanks to newly designed seasonal enclosure cards that let you personalize Thanks from gThankYou® (www.gthankyou.com). Now, your Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates and Grocery Gift Certificates or Cards can come with a number of fresh Halloween and Harvest enclosure card designs.  The new designs can be seen on the gThankYou Free Enclosure Cards web page.

“These Cards enhance the convenience as well as the meaning of gThankYou Gift Certificates,” said company President Rick Kiley. “With the addition of a custom message and a company logo, these Gift Cards will stand out and be special to an employee.”

A popular choice for end-of-quarter and seasonal employee gifts, gThankYou Gift Certificates come with your choice of new card designs that capture the fall harvest and Halloween themes. Choices include glowing Jack-o-lanterns, a basketful of crimson apples and a whimsical witch’s hat. The eye-catching cards were designed by artist Amy Pierquet of Waterfront Graphic Design.

gThankYou Gift Certificates give employers the ease of selecting Turkey, Ham or Grocery Gift Cards in a variety of denominations. Employees have the convenience of taking the Gift Certificate to any grocer and redeeming it for the Turkey, Ham or Groceries they choose to fill their celebration table.

About gThankYou.com

gThankYou Gift Certificates are an ideal employee gift.  Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates and Grocery Gift Certificates are favorite traditional holiday gifts because they are meaningful, affordable and appreciated by the entire family.

Convenience is the #1 reason companies say they choose gThankYou Gift Certificates.  gThankYou Certificates can be ordered quickly online, are easy to distribute to employees, often with payroll, and can be redeemed at virtually any grocery stores for a turkey, ham or groceries that employees choose. Gone is the inconvenience of distributing frozen turkeys or fresh hams.  Employees value gThankYou Certificates because are able to choose the brand, size and style of ham or turkey that best meets their needs, at the store of their choosing.

Most importantly, gThankYou Gift Certificates create a perfect opportunity for workplace leaders to recognize success.  Most of gThankYou customers give the Company’s Gift Certificates to all employees in the company, division or workgroup at holiday times or the conclusion of a successful project, month or quarter.

gThankYou, LLC is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Find out more about gThankYou on the company’s website. And read more about how Thanks can boost your company at Celebrating Work, the blog of gThankYou. Contact: Rick Kiley, President, gThankYou, LLC, info@gthankyou.com, 888-484-1658.

“gThankYou” is a registered trademark of gThankYou, LLC.

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Woody Allen is famous for saying 80 percent of life is showing up. But it’s neither that nor sheer intelligence that will help you succeed, according to compelling new evidence about what it takes to achieve goals.

What does it take? Grit.

The term was coined by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania in measuring characteristics that lead to perseverance. Jonah Lehrer wrote last month in the Boston Globe on the new scientific measurement that predicts long-term success.

Grit, says Lehrer, “is about setting a specific long-term goal and doing whatever it takes until the goal has been reached”.  “Grit is an essential (and often overlooked) component of success”, he says.

Pioneering grit researcher Angela Lee Duckworth, a U. Penn psychologist, has written extensively in this area.  She characterizes grit as a “noncognitive trait” that predicts success over and beyond IQ and conscientiousness.  Her research looks at success in places as diverse as the US Military Academy at West Point, the National Spelling Bee, plus college and grade-school grades.

If you’re interest is whetted and want a readable academic reference from Prof. Duckworth, see this one from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Grit examines traits that enable some people to reach long-term goals while others just give up. You can test your grit by participating in the University of Pennsylvania study if you want to see if you have the power to persist.

The upshot: Some people are more successful because they have the skills to help them stick with a task long enough to reach a goal. Those who want to help foster these traits – parents, HR professional and workplace leaders, for sure – can do so by learning an important praise or feedback technique: recognize the effort behind work, rather than an intangible quality.

Instead of saying, for example, “good job — you’re so smart!” Go with something like this: “I appreciate how you handled that negotiation – it resulted in a cost savings for the division.” Or, for your child: “Nice going.  You really worked hard on that project and it looks great!”  This sort of recognition will net big results in job satisfaction, and can further develop loyalty.

Success depends on having the “grit” to keep on working toward a goal in the long-term even in the face of challenges. It’s up to leaders to provide the right tools – including meaningful praise, feedback and rewards – to help them keep working toward that success.

Giving meaningful praise and backing it up can prove valuable to your bottom line.

Grit is great.  As the father of a grade-schooler, I earnestly work at my grit-reinforcement parenting, imagining I’m helping myself by helping someone else.

Is grit as interesting to you as it to me?  If so, and you want to learn more about passionate persistence, or mindful diligence, there’s lots much more reading you can do in the popular domain.  Prof. Duckworth’s work is a great place to start, but it’s written for academics.  (Although I can’t wait to see her in-process study for the KIPP Schools, one of the most exciting, large-scale grit-centric imaginable—that can change the course of our nation.)

Mindset, from Stanford University professor Carol Dweck is one place to start. Her work has begun to have a life of it’s own, which you can see at MindSetOnline.

For a business slat, Geoff Colvin, longtime editor and columnist for Fortune Magazine, has written Talent is Overrated.

And for a more popular take see The Talent Code, from Daniel Coyle.

Finally, a hearty gThankYou! to my friend and neighbor, Jim Zellmer, whose blog tipped me off to grit; School Information System is America’s #1 compendium of news for all things K-12 educational.

I’ll post on this topic again soon.

In the meantime, keep your nose to the grindstone.

Rick Kiley is President of gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI.  gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way  savvy companies demonstrate commitment to valued employees. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.

gThankYou wishes our Canadian neighbors a very happy Thanksgiving today! This celebration observing the end of the harvest season is held in Canada each second Monday of October. It’s marked by fall leisure pursuits and, of course, special holiday fare.

Celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving

Turkey sits in the center of the table with all the fixings. For a primer on a full Canadian Thanksgiving celebration and meal, check in with Canadian Living Magazine online.

Whether you’re marking Thanksgiving today or next month, it’s time to brush up on just how to prepare that turkey. Here are a few favorite suggestions:

• Roast Turkey with Pan Gravy with a gThankYou! to CanadianLiving.com.

• Maple Orange-Glazed Turkey Roast with a gThankYou! to RecipeZaar.

• Brined Roast Turkey and Gravy with a gThankYou! to FoodNetwork Canada.

• Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with a gThankYou! to Kitchen Parade.e

• And, with a gThankYou! to our friends at Butterball, Deep Fried Turkey.

Check back frequently as we fill the blog with new turkey recipes. After all, it’s turkey season!

Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI.  gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.

Since we’ve become something of a Foodie Nation (remember David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula?), I’ve heard vigorous debate over the virtues of the down-home casserole. Call them what you want – covered dish, hot dish, casserole – but these make-ahead meals are a must for fall when schedules get tighter and I welcome the oven’s warmth.

The best thing about casseroles: you can tailor them to your own taste. Make them out of top-choice gourmet ingredients or whatever’s on hand, use passed-down family recipes or get creative and concoct your own new favorite. Use a canned soup base or start with a béchamel sauce with fresh mushrooms. The sky’s really the limit.

My family loves casseroles with ham. Enjoy these tried-and-true Ham Casserole meals and Happy Fall!

• 7 Layer Ham Casserole with a gThankYou! to RecipeZaar

• Serrano Ham and Poblano Corn Pudding with a gThankYou! to Epicurious

• Ham, Swiss, and Tomato Strata with a gThankYou! to MarthaStewart.com

• Breakfast Ham Casserole with a gThankYou! To Mr. Breakfast

Ditch the debate and dig in to Fall Ham Casseroles!

There was a campaign this summer that encouraged companies to plan a recess period at work as a way of thanking and engaging employees. Here’s more about the program:

“It has been proven that breaks are essential for satisfaction. But what does this mean to an employer? Well according to Rich DiGirolamo, Founder of Recess At Work Day, it’s simple……..Breaks lead to satisfaction; and satisfaction easily transfers to increase morale, reduced employee stress, more engaged and healthier employees; ultimately having a positive impact on productivity, absenteeism and profits.

Now in its 6th year; Recess At Work Day is the perfect complement to any Health and Wellness or Employee Engagement Initiative.”

This initiative hits a couple of HR goals, covering both praise and motivation as well as the continued movement toward corporate wellness programs and team building.

How can a game of Dodgeball provide  engagement? Consider this from Dale Sweetnam, an Army public affairs specialist who worked at Google’s office in Washington, D.C as part of a training program. While there, Google put on a “Recess at Work” day that included “square pizzas, chicken nuggets, juice boxes, four square and dodgeball.”

“I can’t remember ever having that much fun at work. The whole office got into it.  A computer and speakers were set up on the side of the room and a projector  displayed YouTube Michael Jackson videos while we pelted each other with         dodgeballs.  The event was a huge success. I really felt like it was recess. I was still attending recesses in grade school when Michael Jackson came out with “Bad” and it had probably been that long since I’d last played dodgeball. It was a             blast.  The event led straight into the weekend. As far as I’m concerned, weekends don’t start out much better than that.”

There seems to be a mini movement toward this idea of corporate recess as a reward. There *are* lots of creative ways to say “Thanks” and engage employees.

Stay tuned!