Thanksgiving Recipes (and Christmas)

November 19, 2020

Thanksgiving Recipes (and Christmas)

What to make for Thanksgiving? It's all here!

Turkey: ***let turkey defrost in the fridge for 3-5 days before you need to cook it so that it is completely defrosted and not frozen. Also look online for how many hours you should cook your turkey based on the weight, and an oven temperature of about 300.

Early in the morning, on the day you'll be eating, wash the bird in the sink making sure to remove the neck and the bag of giblets from inside the cavity. I just use cold water for this in a SUPER clean sink.

Roughly chop (in large chunks) and onion or two, carrot or two, and celery. Those vegetables should obviously be cleaned first with ends removed. Put bird in roasting pan on top of the vegetables. These will help flavor the gravy later. You can use any other herbs or vegetables you like also either underneath the bird or in the cavity.

Make a mixture that is kind of soupy of lots of melted butter and oil, salt, Lawry's seasoned salt, Montreal Steak seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley sage rosemary and thyme. You just need enough of the melted butter and oil to moisten all the seasonings. *I don't have amounts, I just know it makes about a half a cup of seasoning paste (for a big turkey).

Loosen the breast skin by sliding your hand under it separating it from the breast meat and scoop up bits of the paste with your fingers and smear all over underneath the skin on the breast meat reaching as far under as you can go. Then coat the legs and wings and the skin all over.

Pour about two cups of water in the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover tightly with a large sheet of foil so no steam can escape. Cook covered tightly on 300. You can do lower and slower, or hotter and faster depending on your needs. You need to look online to see how much time you should cook your bird for based on how much it weighs and your oven temperature.

When you can tell it's mostly done (about an hour away) raise the heat to 350 and remove the foil.

Cook until it is nicely browned all over. Grandma Theda didn't use a thermometer, she would wiggle the turkey leg and if it was easily movable- like the meat falling off the bones- you knew it was done. You can also stab a knife between the leg and the breast down deep and make sure it's all clear liquid and not pink at all). Nothing worse than a turkey that is still raw down deep. And it is dangerous. (When it looks lightly golden and seems done everywhere, I still let it hang out in the oven 1-2 hours to cool down, where it continues to brown, but if it's dark brown and clearly well cooked, remove it. You can baste with the juices at the bottom of the pan if the breast looks dry at all, and when you played it you can pour some of that juice over the pieces if they are dry at all.

When the turkey is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from it, the legs stay whole, and then the breast gets sliced and plate them to place on the table. You can arrange greens around them and slices of orange if you want to be fancy. This turkey always turns out well for me and moist and flavorful. I think encrusting it in the salt/seasoning mixture, or the letting it cook slowly and cool down slowly, makes it turn out super moist and delicious! Who knows! I hope it works for you!

The camera didn't really do this justice, but look at how golden, beautiful, tasty, and moist that is! And you don't need to baste throughout. We use the juices for gravy and it's already pretty perfectly seasoned.

Taking all the meat off to serve it. In this case we were not eating it this night, but saving it to make enchiladas the next day, so I poured all the juice over the meat to keep it moist while it refrigerated. Then we used all of it in the enchiladas the next day!

To make the gravy, you will pour off the juices into a measuring cup, give it a few minutes to let the fat rise to the top, and skim most of that off. Then make a regular gravy and use the drippings for the broth. Or through a strainer so that you don't get chunks and bits of vegetable and stuff. Taste gravy before adding seasoning since the drippings will already have all that salt and seasoning in them.

Roasted Root Vegetables: No one ever ate the candied yams (sweet potatoes) not matter how they were prepared, so I now make roasted root vegetables with them as pictured below. Peel and wash vegetables as desired (yams, beets, carrots, parsnips, onions, celeriac, turnips, or brussel sprouts added halfway through, etc.), chop to similar sizes, toss with seasonings (evoo, salt and pepper, and herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and parsley), and spread onto a baking sheet to roast at 425 degrees until soft on the inside and browned on the outside. Turn at least once during cooking. If they are sticking to the pan, add more olive oil.

Stovetop Stuffing
Everyone’s favorite. Just follow directions, but you can add your own fresh celery, onions and herbs. I saute those first with the butter for 5 minutes and then add the water and stuffing. You can even add cranberries, nuts, apples or whatever you like. I’ve gone through the work of making many homemade recipes as well as trying more expensive store-bought brands, and nobody likes them! Stovetop all the way, baby.

Deviled Eggs: After hard-boiling the eggs (bring water and eggs to boil, and boil for about 10-12 minutes), and cooling in the refrigerator several hours, peel, slice in half, and remove the yolks. In a bowl, mix the yolks with Miracle Whip (or mayo if you don't like it sweet), mustard of your choice, dash of acv if desired, salt, pepper. Place on a paper towel on a plate or Tupperware to keep in the fridge. Garnish the tops lightly with paprika. Serve very cold and don't leave out more than an hour.

Veggie Plate *see hummus recipe if desired, or serve with homemade Ranch dressing dipe

Raspberry Pretzel Cream Cheese Jello- *see recipe

I know Jello is unhealthy, but it is okay now and then. I like recipes that have the pineapple, cottage cheese, nuts, and all sorts of stuff, but my whole family thinks I'm super weird.