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Glorious Turkey Dinner by Jes Mostek	No ratings Rating Details Rate this meal Printable View

***Have a very merry Christmas! Enjoy your family's traditional meal with your loved ones!
***
***Please let me know if you'd like to see some holiday recipes included for next year.

Recipes:

Classic Bread Stuffing by Shannon Lang serves: 8	No ratings Rating Details Rate this recipe Printable View Print Index Cards

down-home favorite

Ingredients:

1 Lb

crusty Italian or French bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

4 Tbsp

butter

2 med

onion, diced

2 rib

celery, diced

1/4 C

minced fresh parsley

1 tsp

dried rubbed sage

1 tsp

dried thyme leaves

1 tsp

salt

1/2 tsp

pepper

2 C

chicken broth

2 large

eggs

1 10.75 oz can

cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

Spread bread cubes in a single layer on two large baking sheets and let dry out a couple of hours, or overnight, at room temperature.

Adjust racks to lower and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 400.

Bake bread until toasty and dry, about 12-15 min. Remove from oven and set aside. Reduce temperature to 350.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and celery; saute until soft, about 8-10 min.

Transfer sauteed vegetables to a large bowl, add bread and remaining ingredients, and mix well. Turn into a 3-qt baking dish. Cover with foil and bake until hot and steamy, about 30 min.

Remove the foil and continue to bake until the top is crusty, about 10 min longer.

Categories:

Breads & Quick-breads
Holiday Favorites
Side Dishes

Cranberry sauce by Mikelle Charlebois serves: 8	No ratings Rating Details Rate this recipe Printable View Print Index Cards

whole cranberry sauce

Ingredients:

1 bag

cranberries

orange

1 cup

orange juce

1/2 cup

sugar

Directions:

Boil bag of cranberries in oj and sugar for 15 minutes, add 1 T. zest and let cool.

Categories:

Dairy Free
Side Dishes
Vegetarian/Vegan

Roast Turkey by Jes Mostek serves: 15	No ratings Rating Details Rate this recipe Printable View Print Index Cards

The ultimate Thanksgiving turkey!

Figure about 1 lb. per person (and remember to have extra for left-overs)

Ingredients:

1 15 lb.

Turkey

1/2 c.

olive oil (or butter)

1/4 c.

parsley (double if fresh)

2 T.

seasoned salt

1 T.

black pepper

1 T.

rubbed sage or tarragon

1/2 T.

oregano

1/2 T.

paprika

Directions:

Thaw Turkey (I prefer to thaw in the fridge for 2-4 days, in the roasting pan that I'll be using to cook the turkey-- yes, it requires some shelf adjusting)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Rinse turkey with water and baking soda. Rinse again with clean water and pat dry turkey. Remove and discard any giblets (O.K., you can use these in the stuffing, but I prefer not to).

Place whole turkey, breast-side-up, in a large roasting pan.

Brush turkey with oil (or rub it on with your fingers).

In a small bown, combine parsley, salt, pepper, sage, oregano and paprika. Sprinkle seasoning mix over chicken. (You can also use poultry seasoning in place of all of these)

Bake uncovered for about an hour and a half or two hours, then make a "tent" with foil by folding it in half and then placing it loosely over the bird, point-side-up, and continue roasting, until meat is done and skin is golden-brown and crispy.

Follow the instructions on the tag for the turkey for specific cook times, this information is also available in the meal description for the Thanksgiving meal on this site.

***Important: do NOT wash that roasting pan when the turkey is done cooking-- you'll need those drippings for the gravy. Skim off the fat/grease/oil and keep the rest, especially the hard crusty stuff at the bottom!

Categories:

Dairy Free
Fall/Winter
Holiday Favorites
Low Calorie
Low Carb
Low Fat
Main Dishes
Peanut/Nut Free
Poultry
Smart Budget Foods
Wheat Gluten Free

Smashed Potaoes by Tricia SOLARE serves: 4	No ratings Rating Details Rate this recipe Printable View Print Index Cards

Recipe by Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

2 pounds

small red potatoes

2 tbls

butter

2 tbls

sour cream

scallions chopped

1/2 cup

milk

Directions:

Cover the quartered, red-skinned potatoes in water in a medium saucepan. Bring water to a boil and cook potatoes 10 minutes or until fork tender. Turn heat under pan off; drain potatoes and return to hot pan and warm stovetop to dry potatoes out. Add butter, sour cream, scallions, and milk to potatoes and smash to your desired consistency. Season potatoes with salt, to taste.

Categories:

Pasta/Rice/Potatoes
Side Dishes

Turkey or Chicken Gravy by Jes Mostek serves: 4	No ratings Rating Details Rate this recipe Printable View Print Index Cards

The key to good gravy is lots of nicely-browned drippings, so if you've made a chicken or turkey, don't go washing that pan before you make the gravy! If you can put your pan directly over the burner (if it's a roasting pan, you're OK), then by all means, use that pan. If not, use a heavy-bottomed frying pan.

Also, to avoid greasy gravy, be sure to skim the liquid left by cooking the bird. If you have a gravy strainer, then I'm probably already preaching to the choir, but if you don't have one of those, simply pour the liquid into any clear glass or bowl, wait for the oil to separate, and skim it off with a ladle. Reserve a small amount of the oil for the gravy, and discard the rest of the oil into a separate can or bowl and throw it into the garbage (don't pour melted saturated fat down the drain; it'll clog the pipes in your house just as effectively as the pipe in you!)

Scale the recipe to meet your needs and the amout of drippings you have. This recipe calls for "drippings:" the skimmed liquid that comes from cooking the bird, but if you don't have enough (or any), substitute chicken broth.

Ingredients:

3 T.

butter (or oil from the drippings)

3 T.

flour (or 1 T. corn starch for every 2 T. flour)

1 c.

skimmed drippings (or chicken broth)

1/2 tsp.

seasoned salt

1/2 tsp.

parsley

1/2 tsp.

sage

1/4 tsp.

thyme

1/4 tsp.

savory

1/4 tsp.

oregano

fresh cracked pepper

1/2 c.

milk

Directions:

Drain the liquid from the pan into a separate bowl.

Using the pan from cooking the bird, or a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan, melt the butter (or return a small amount of the oil to the pan) over low heat, stirring occasionally and being careful not to scorch.

Remove from heat. Whisk in flour. Gradually add the drippings or broth, stirring until well mixed. Add the seasonings and the milk.

Return pan to the burner. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth.

At this point, you'll want to judge the texture of your gravy. If it's too thick, add a bit more drippings/stock or milk. If it's too thin for you, you'll need to add more flour. But to prevent the gravy from getting lumpy, look to the note below. If it's just right for you, then skip to the next step, Goldilocks.

Cook for another 5 minutes, to cook off the starchy taste of the flour. Serve hot.

To add the flour to too-thin gravy, you can either use a sifter over the pan while whisking raidly, or you can make a reux (pronounced roo). To make a reux with milk and flour, simply combine 2 T. flour with 1/4 c. milk (eyeball it) in an airtight container, and shake rapidly. Pour the reux, a little at a time, into the gravy, while whisking rapidly (be careful to keep the lumps in the reux out of the gravy, or they'll be hard to beat out of the gravy.

But keep in mind that lumps are not the end of the world; they're a mark of a gravy that's home-made! A machine may churn out a gravy with a perfect texture, but it's far from a perfect taste.