Thanksgiving Menu

Wow...It almost snuck up on me this year! Thankfully I got the clue last thursday and started to do my food shopping. Thought it would be kind of cool to see what my fellow ATSers have planned for their Thanksgiving feast. I have mine just about worked out. Feel free to leave tips and recipes...I am still a bachelor in the kitchen and this will be my first Thanksgiving in the new home. So here we go(mind you family and friends are bringing food as well,not sure what):

Breakfast:Toasted Honey wheat English Muffins with pear preserve
Canadian Bacon
Eggs
Sweet Potato Hash Browns

Dinner: Brined Turkey(I really hope I dnt burn it or make it too dry)
Macoroni Bake
Mashed potatoes
Buttered Corn Cobs
Green Bean Caserole
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Iceing
Sweet Potato Cheese Cake

If anyone has a good Stuffing recipe please share. Look forward to your posts!

reply to post by Cyberboiraves



Our Thanksgiving meal usually consists of:


Turkey with Stuffing cooked in.
Stuffing casserole on the side (Usually Pepperidge Farm with celery and onion)
Homemade Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Fresh green beans with 'shrooms
Spicy Orange Yams
Salad
Orange Jell-O Mold with carrots and pineapple
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie

My mom always makes everything from scratch..nothing storebought outside the ingredients. Of course everyone is in a food coma afterwards..

For anyone that likes yams..
My Grandma's Spicy Orange Yams. Simple recipe, but DELISH.

2 small or 1 large can of Bruce's Yams. (Or substitute fresh if desired..)
4 T of orange juice concentrate (frozen)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup of butter
Orange slices (if desired)

Drain yams. Melt butter in large frying pan over medium heat. Add OJ and sugar, mixing well to dissolve sugar. Add yams. Cook over medium low-medium heat approx. ten minutes, stirring frequently to coat yams. Remove from heat, serve right away. Top with orange slices. You can add marshmallows if desired, but I always leave them out.

Yum!

My stuffing recipe has never been written down, and it's different all the time. I never measure.
It's just a very simple one.

Basically, saute in butter a bunch of chopped celery and onion, once it's cooled down add it to a bunch of cubed stale bread, mix together, and use poultry seasoning to taste. I usually use lots of seasoning. Sprinkle in a bit of milk or orange juice if the mixture is too dry. Taste it before stuffing the bird. Salt and/or pepper if needed.

If you've ended up with more celery and onion than you need for the amount of bread, just save it for something else.

Optional add ins would be loose cooked sausage, kernel corn, cornbread, and/or wild rice.

Experiment.

reply to post by Cyberboiraves


Okay, this is not your traditional bread dressing. But, I made this for something different last year and it was AMAZING!!! I did not have any leftovers after serving Thanksgiving Dinner if that tells you anything. ALL GONE!!! Now that you have me thinking about it, I think I will make this again this year....

Scarborough Fair - Savoury Bacon, Onion and Herb Bread Pudding

1 loaf of your favorite bread, crusts removed
1 ¼ cups hot vegetable, chicken or ham stock
4 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
3 large eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons melted butter
salt
black pepper

Directions:

Prep Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 hrs

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F degrees.
2. Grease a large baking dish or tray about 12" by 8" in size.
3. Tear the bread into small pieces and pour the hot stock over the bread - mix well and allow to soak for about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, cook the bacon over a medium to high heat; as soon as the fat starts to run, add the chopped onions. Stirring the bacon and onions constantly, cook them together for about 15-20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and the bacon is crisp.
5. Add the bacon and onion mixture to the soaked bread and mix well.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients - continue to mix them together thoroughly.
7. Pour the bread pudding into the greased dish or tray, level the mixture out with a spoon and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until well risen, firm to the touch and golden brown.
8. Take out of the oven and allow to "rest" for 5 minutes before cutting into squares.

More sweet potato recipes. I make both of these lots, they're both really good recipes.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine (or canola oil)
2/3 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 – 2 tsp dried thyme (or basil, or oregano)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine mashed sweet potato with melted butter and milk. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and herb of choice in a large bowl. Add sweet potato mixture and stir to form a soft, ragged dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead about 12 times, or until smooth. Pat dough to a ½ inch thickness. Cut into 2 inch shapes. Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 16 biscuits

Microwave Sweet Potato Pie

Filling:
1 1/4 cups pureed cooked sweet potatoes
3/4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground allspice
3 eggs, slightly beaten

Pie Shell:
9 inch graham cracker crust in a microwaveable plate (pyrex)
Mini marshmallows scattered in crust (optional)

Topping:
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 tsp flour

Mix all filling ingredients except eggs in 2 quart casserole, cover with wax paper, and microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 3 minutes, stirring at halftime. Blend a little hot mixture into eggs, stir back into casserole, and microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM (50% power) for 2 minutes, whisking well at halftime. Pour into crust, smooth top, center pie on an oven shelf or shallow bowl, and microwave uncovered, on MEDIUM (50% power) for 10 minutes, rotating at halftime if not on a spinner. Mix topping, scatter evenly over filling, and microwave uncovered, on MEDIUM (50% power) for 3 to 6 minutes until all but 1 inch circle in center of filling is set. Cool and serve

I am curious as to how this Sweet Potato Cheese Cake will turn out. I have made a pumpkin Cheesecake for Thanksgiving a few times and decided that because I was makeing a Pumpkin Spice Cake this year that it would be too much pumpkin dishes with the pupmkin cheesecake too. So I am sticking with my old recipe and subing pumpkin with sweet potatoes.
My crust goes like this:

2 cups of ground ginger snaps
6 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of crushed pecans
Melt Butter. Combine ginger snaps,sugar and pecans and stir in butter. Press into spring pan and bake for 8 minutes at 350. Remove and set aside.

Filling: 3-8oz pkgs of cream cheese
1 cup of mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/3 cup of sugar
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
4 eggs
let cream cheese soften and put in mixer. Add butter,vanilla and eggs while blending on medium. Combine sugar,cinamon and nutmeg. Add Sweet potatoes to blender and continue blending follow with sugar mix. Blend till well blended but not runny. Add Filling to Crust and place in preheated oven at 350 for 55 minutes. After 55 minutes reduce oven to 250 and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. It is done when the filling sets to the crust and its not looking like pudding in the middle. lol..sorry I am no good at giving cooking directions. lol

Do you think the crust will go well with the filling?Topping with whip cream and sprinkle of pecans

Oooo...some good ones so far...
I saw a recipe for stuffing once that did not have bread crumbs in it and was kind of like a risotto(i think thats what its called) wild rice, cranberries, spced orange,lemon,onion,cherry tomato...cant remember what was all in it... i dont know about tomato in my turkey though. lol

reply to post by snowspirit


How would you make that into a pancake? minus or plus?

Originally posted by Cyberboiraves
reply to post by snowspirit

 

How would you make that into a pancake? minus or plus?

I'm not sure, were you thinking of turning the biscuits into pancakes? That might work by making it runny enough by adding more milk? More experimentation.


I also have a separate pancake recipe I was collecting these recipes a while ago. Sweet potatoes are rumoured to help keep us young.

I'm not sure what these are like, I haven't tried this recipe, but I've made normal pancakes from a mix and added mashed sweet potato into them, and they were tasty.

Sweet Potato Pancakes
• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Combine remaining ingredients; add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop by tablespoons onto hot greased griddle or skillet and fry, turning once, until browned on both sides.
Makes about 24 pancakes.

I think anything that calls for pumpkin, can probably be made with sweet potato, but the sugar might have to be cut down a bit.

I've even tried adding Kalua to cubed cooked sweet potato, to candy them up a bit. Tasty.

reply to post by snowspirit


lol...thanks..I am going to try the pancakes in the morning. thanks everyone for your posts so far..keep it comeing

Originally posted by snowspirit
My stuffing recipe has never been written down, and it's different all the time. I never measure.
It's just a very simple one.

Basically, saute in butter a bunch of chopped celery and onion, once it's cooled down add it to a bunch of cubed stale bread, mix together, and use poultry seasoning to taste. I usually use lots of seasoning. Sprinkle in a bit of milk or orange juice if the mixture is too dry. Taste it before stuffing the bird. Salt and/or pepper if needed.

If you've ended up with more celery and onion than you need for the amount of bread, just save it for something else.

Optional add ins would be loose cooked sausage, kernel corn, cornbread, and/or wild rice.

Experiment.

I do basically the same. No recipe just remembering from childhood. I do usually add some cornbread. If you don't have cornbread just add a little of the store stuffing in with the rest. I just get the plain cornbread kind, not the seasoned. Also add some chicken broth and a couple of spoons of turkey juices from basting and sage and rosemary. I like a lot of sage and a few shakes of poultry seasoning if you have it.

I usually just do a turkey breast. My secret... Pull the skin a little loose and stuff a couple spoons of butter underneath then take a fork and poke the skin and meat a little. The butter seeps through while cooking and makes it really juicy. The last hour or so I even rub a bit on the outside. I always cover with foil loosely while cooking then take it off the last 30 minutes or less so it will brown nicely.

reply to post by snowspirit


Tried your recipe this morning.At first, it turned out like potato fritters...I added a little little too much sweet potatos, but after I reduced it with some box mix and milk it came out very good! I tried it with syrup and maple syrup. It was a little too sweet with the maple but just right with the buttered syrup. Thanks!

Watching tv this morning, there was a chef on that said 5 lbs of turkey will feed 10 to 12 people, and that getting a 20lb bird is a waste.

IS HE KIDDING?!??

I used to get at least a 12lb bird for 4 people, because you need to have leftovers.

Turkey sandwiches
Turkey fried rice
Turkey a la king
Turkey chili
Turkey fahitas
Turkey chow mein
Turkey soup/stew
etc.

When I do up a turkey, which is only 2 or 3 times a year, we eat it til it needs making into soup. Plus, it freezes well.
Nothing is wasted.

This year, my oven crapped out on me, so I only have a toaster oven. Christmas is going to be Cornish Game Hens, stuffed. I'm pretending they're little turkeys, but sadly, there won't be enough for leftovers.

reply to post by Cyberboiraves

Tried your recipe this morning.At first, it turned out like potato fritters...I added a little little too much sweet potatos, but after I reduced it with some box mix and milk it came out very good! I tried it with syrup and maple syrup. It was a little too sweet with the maple but just right with the buttered syrup. Thanks!

I'm glad they worked out. I never thought of fritters.
But that also made me think of potato latkes, which are grated and fried in oil. Regular white potatoes get grated with onion, and add egg and a smidgen of flour to hold together. Sweet potatoes would be good like that too, they would be savory with onion, but they could be made sweet with grated apple or pear. I wonder how they would hold together? I wonder if the apple or pear would get mushy, or if there's something else that would grate into them well?

More experimenting ...

Upon my arrival in the community we all celebrate Día Dar Gracias (Thanksgiving) with the traditional feast. Not all ingredients are available here in the usual form so a little improv is in order. Pavos (turkeys) start showing up in the supermarkets so it is apparent that the celebration is observed here except that there are no huge discounts on turkeys and they will typically cost more and are smaller though I may be lucky enough to find a 16-17 lbs. bird. Smoked turkeys are just as prevalent as non-smoked and require a bit less cooking time.

Fresh cranberries are not to be found but I can purchase a bag of dehydrated and make a good cranberry sauce. Yellow camotes will do for yams, and my method of using a lot of butter, piloncillo (a hard, molded form of brown sugar), and a stick or two of canela (cinnamon) thrown in. Marshmallows are plentiful here so they are always added after pre-cooking the camotes and prepare it all for the final-stage baking.

Stuffing really goes over big here. In the week prior I start buying extra bolillos and teleras (yeast bread rolls used to make tortas, sandwiches, or eaten separately) and letting the leftovers dry out so that I have several to cube-up for the stuffing. Of course I use celery and onion chopped-up in the mix and may add champiñones (mushrooms) or perhaps a few dried cranberries in the making. I may improvise by adding other ingredients that are appropriate as well. It is typical I may use powdered/dried chicken stock for flavor and salt but will also get the turkey juices out of the pan about halfway through the cooking then mix up into the stuffing to bake alongside the pavo.

Although yeast rolls may be what I would cook for this meal in the US, here my biscuits are always in demand so will cook a batch for this meal. Other items for this meal will include a pot of green beans, mashed potatoes, and I will make some turkey gravy as soon as the bird is removed from the baking pan and readied for the dinner. I might also serve peas in sour cream with thin slices of cucumber, and will likely put out appetizer platters of cheeses, fruits, cold cuts, and olives. Dessert will be pies of some sort which may include apple, cherry, and camote spiced like pumpkin pie. Most likely we will have a hot "ponche" to drink made from apples, guavas, pineapple, and canela which will take the place of hot spiced apple cider in a more traditional fashion.

Navidad meal will be fairly much the same but will make some variations on the Thanksgiving meal. Codfish and pork loin are the more traditional Navidad type meal here but my Mexican family has become well-"gringo-ized" when it comes to food for special occasions.

¡Provecho!

reply to post by snowspirit


LMAO! No kidding! I cant imagine trying to get by on a 5 lb turkey with the crew I got comeing! Left over turkey is part of the trrad..turkey samndwiches for a week or two.lol. Though some of the things
you mentioned might break the sandwich streak. Turkey Taco? Awsme!

OMG! I made a pre-thanksgiving dinner today to try out the recipes I have decided on and it was pretty good. I used a hen instead of a turkey but used the same recipe I am going to use on thanksgiving. I added something to the sweet potato cheesecake I thought I would share because it turned out so good. I added a cup of praline pecans to the ginger snap crust and it was an atomic flavor bomb! lol! Anyway...Blessings to you all and good luck with the cooking!

oh yeah...I decided on a sausage corn meal stuffing. Pretty simple, just made a pan of cornbread, broke it up and added celery,onions,sage, rosemary,butter, salt and 1 lb of mild sausage drained with 2 chopped boiled eggs. Its not going in the turkey. I am going simple with fresh rosemary,sage and thyme bundle with a halfed lemon in the turkey.You dont realy taste the lemon but it made the hen really moist and allowed the natural flavor to come through with a nice hint of the herbs. now I also tweaked the macaroni bake and added grated aged white chedder and hickory smoked bacon bits. Delicious!