The years have given us all so much for which to be thankful. I am especially happy that my life has brought me a wonderful husband with whom I raised three very special children; at least they are to us. We still spend every holiday together, along with our two grandchildren, and the location of Thanksgiving dinner varied from year to year. Recently, it is more often held at daughter Lori’s home…close enough to us that we can all be there in time to get turkey bumps from the delicious aromas escaping from the oven.
As time passed, we changed some of the menu for the day. Munchies are still part of the food fest, and of course we now have Macy’s Parade and football games to watch, as well as DVD movies. We might play cards or games and exchange notes on what’s happening in our lives and of those with whom we are mutually acquainted.
We no longer do a pasta course, and have exchanged it for Lori’s Pumpkin Soup starter. I’ve added a Cranberry Jell-O Salad to the usual cranberry dishes. Creamed Onions, a tradition in the family of my son-in-law, Mike, is a new institution and we have done away with beans, peas or corn altogether. So fattening! (Ahem)
Stuffing starts with one or another of the boxed dressing bases, and additional ingredients are added as the mood directs. No protein of any kind in stuffing for the bird, though. I sometimes wonder how we lived through all those giblet dressings so long ago!
We use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and do not bake all our own pies. Marie Callender does a very good job, even with pecan pie, which I thought no one could ever equal to mine. Whipped cream comes from a pressure can and a Cool Whip tub. Some years we try a community affair, wherein everyone is assigned a dish to prepare, and we either bring it or prep it on the spot. It’s fun, but can get hectic at times. Something about ‘too many cooks’???
When I was very young, those many years ago, Thanksgiving was really turkey treat day. It was the first time of the year that we could get turkey since after Christmas the year before. They just didn’t farm them for wide distribution then, as they do now. Turkeys, pre-1950, were usually a challenge to cook. It took a long, loving time and a caring hand to draw true succulence from those birds, but they at least were free range and fresh. As the years passed, turkey evolved. I’ve had many brands of turkey; Honeysuckle White was my favorite for years when I cooked for my family, but Butterball was also quite tender and juicy. In the last ten years or so, it appears that every super market has come out with their own ‘brand’, and of course most of them have the pop-up thermometer that is supposed to tell you when “it’s turkey!” Timing and following the directions on the packaged bird works just fine, though; as does the time honored method of moving the leg gently for ‘give’ and pressing a thigh for tenderness.
No matter how you cook it, however, Thanksgiving turkey is all about aroma. Before any of the carefully prepared foods touch my palate, their fragrances stir up my appetite and my brain cells, making sure that “I Remember Thanksgiving”.
3-Qt Soup Pot -- 2 T Butter
½ C Minced Onion or Shallots -- 3 Cloves Garlic minced very fine 2 tsp Curry -- ½ tsp Black Pepper -- ½ tsp Salt -- ½ tsp Crushed Pepper Flakes
6 C Chicken Broth -- 2 C Freshly Cooked or Canned Pumpkin
1 C Half & Half or ½ C Heavy Whipping Cream
Sour Cream -- Chopped Chives or Green Onions
Sauté Onions and Garlic in Butter in Soup Pot, until glassy.
Add Curry, Pepper, Salt and Chicken Broth.
Simmer 15 minutes, stirring often.
Add the Pumpkin. Simmer 40 minutes, stirring often to keep from scorching.
Remove from heat and Cool -- 15 minutes.
Whip Soup in Blender or with Hand Blender until very smooth.
Add the Half & Half or Whipping Cream, blending well.
Heat in Serving Pan until steaming -- Do not boil.
Serve in warm bowls, passing Sour Cream and Chives on the side.
Celery Raisin Dressing
2-Quart Soup Pot
11 x 9 Glass Baking Dish Buttered Well
Remove Giblets and Neck from Turkey and rinse them well.
Place in Soup Pot with:
6 C Water -- 1 T Chicken Base -- 1 Diced Onion --
1 Stalk of Celery, Diced -- 1 C Raisins -- 1 T Parsley
Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer about 1 hour. Discard giblets and use turkey neck meat for gravy, if desired.
Strain the Broth, reserving vegetables, raisins and broth separately for stuffing. This process should be done the day before making stuffing, refrigerating the broth so the fat can be skimmed before using it.
Stuffing: (Make just before stuffing turkey)
3 Slices of day old bread, cubed
1 Envelope Mrs. Culbertson’s Stuffing Mix
½ tsp Pepper -- 2 Stalks Celery, Chopped -- 1 T Poultry Seasoning 1 tsp Garlic Powder -- 2 T Parsley -- Cooked Vegetables & Raisins
Enough Broth to moisten well. (Reserve remaining broth for gravy.)
Combine all stuffing ingredients in a bowl, mix well, and adjust liquid for desired moistness.
Use some to stuff the turkey, if desired (turkey without stuffing cooks faster), place the rest in the buttered baking dish, cover and refrigerate until one hour before turkey should be done. Bake at turkey temperature for ½ hour or so, remove cover and bake until lightly browned on top.
Cut in squares and serve from baking dish.
Plentiful Turkey Gravy
Large Skillet -- Gravy Boat
1 C All Purpose Flour -- ¼ C Turkey Drippings -- Pinch of Sage 1 T salt -- ½ tsp Black Pepper -- 1 tsp Garlic Granules
1 Qt Broth from Stuffing or enough Broth & Water to make a Qt.
After removing turkey from baking pan, drain off all the fat except ¼ C, leaving the browned goodies in the pan. Place pan over medium heat and lightly sprinkle all the flour over the surface, scraping and stirring with a spatula to lightly brown the flour, cooking it so gravy will not lump, but do not scorch the flour.
After a few minutes of stirring/scraping, begin to deglaze the pan by slowly adding the liquid, stirring and scraping vigorously all the while. If there does not seem to be enough liquid, add a bit more a little at a time until the mix is just under the thickness you want. Add all of the seasonings, reduce heat to low, and continue to cook about 10 more minutes, until gravy is rich and smooth.
Pour gravy into top of double boiler and keep hot over hot water so it will not scorch or cook away. Fill gravy boat with boiling water before serving the gravy, to preheat it so gravy will stay hot.
Of course, you can buy several envelopes of instant gravy and skip the flour process by just using the broth and seasonings in place of water called for on the envelope. Not quite as plentiful as the other, or as tasty, but will work if you are just not gravy friendly.
Cranberry/Raspberry Jell-o Salad
Large Bowl for mixing -- 13 x 9 Glass Serving Container
1 Family Pack Raspberry Jell-o 3 -- C Boiling Water
1 Can Jellied Cranberry Sauce
1 Large Can Crushed Pineapple, drain Well. ( Reserve juice for candied sweet potatoes.
1 C Chopped Walnuts -- 1 Large Stalk Celery, diced fine
Place Jell-o in mixing bowl, add boiling water. Stir until dissolved.
Break up the cranberry sauce in the can by cutting with a knife all around the edge and slicing across in all directions, until it is almost a dice.
Add the broken up sauce into the dissolved Jell-o, stirring and breaking up into it is all fairly well dissolved.
Add the celery and walnuts.
Pour into serving pan, cover and chill overnight. Cut in small squares to serve.
This is also pretty done in a mold. (Remove from mold per Carolyn’s Jell-o in Cooking Up Christmas Eve.)
Thanks! It's very interesting to see the recipes other people use for their Thanksgiving traditions. I'll be cooking a 24 lb. bird with sausage-apple-dried cranberry stuffing, orange-glazed sweet potatoes with chestnuts, cranberry-cherry relish, marinated asparagus, and maybe mashed potatoes for the faint of heart who don't like sweet potatoes. Dessert will be a cranberry-apple crisp made with Splenda for my diabetic brother, and store-bought (sorry )cherry and pumpkin pies. I'm not sure about the appetizers as of now, but I guarantee at least one will have artichoke hearts as a primary ingredient. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it all!
by Ruby13 (PM , CC ) on Friday November 17, 2006 @ 10:41 PM
And I'm getting hungry READING about it. We have whole artichokes cooked until tender in a marinade of seasonings water and olive oil for every holiday that we can find nice ones. I've been loving scraping the meat from each leaf with my teeth until I can fork into the heart, since I was old enough to have teeth! heheheh
Thanks for stopping by and sharing with us. Looks like you are going to be busy this week also!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing with us. Looks like you are going to be busy this week also!