I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. Leaves falling, football in the yard and on TV, family together, and THE FOOD! The food is the best, to me. So today I thought I’d share my Thanksgiving menu with you.
I’m largely a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s what’s on our menu and the recipes:
Turkey and Gravy
I generally use a fresh (not frozen) turkey. This is my mother’s recipe: Sprinkle salt in the cavity of the turkey and put a stick of butter in the cavity as well. Add celery and a cut-up onion. You can also add fresh herbs to the cavity of the turkey – parsley, rosemary, sage, or thyme works well.
Then rub the outside of the turkey with softened butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in an oven bag and put that in a roasting pan. Bake at 450 degrees. The length of time depends on your turkey: 8-10 lbs. – 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours; 10-12 lbs. – 2 3/4-3 hours; 14-16 lbs. – 3 – 3 1/4 hours; 18-20 lbs. – 3 1/4-3 1/2 hours. Check for doneness with a meat thermometer or the little pop-up thingy if your turkey has one.
If you want the turkey to brown more, open the bag from the top (be careful of steam!) and let cook uncovered for the last 30 min. or until browned.
I have also made the Barefoot Contessa’s Herb-Roasted Turkey and it was awesome.
For the gravy, I make the Real Simple recipe for basic turkey gravy. It’s delicious and really easy to make!
Dressing
Some say “stuffing”; in the south, we say “dressing.” Either way, it’s yummy.
Ingredients:
5 stalks celery, chopped fine
4 onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped fine
Cornbread
6 slices white bread, toasted dry
Turkey broth
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sauté celery, onions (you should have a mix of 2/3 onions and 1/3 celery), and bell pepper until soft in olive oil or butter.
In a big mixing bowl, break up the cornbread and toast. Add the sautéed veggies, 2 eggs, salt and pepper. Use the turkey broth to get it together and stir to combine. Put in a casserole dish and bake until hot and bubbly and the top is brown, a little over an hour.
This can be made ahead and reheated before dinner, FYI.
Sweet Potatoes
These can also be made ahead and baked or heated before dinner. Preheat oven to 350.
In a mixer, mix:
2 large cans of sweet potatoes, drained
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
a splash of orange juice
a little cinnamon (to taste)
Once mixed, put in a greased casserole.
Now – this is where the dispute happens in our family. Half the family loves pecan topping – here’s the recipe for that:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
Mix and put on top of sweet potatoes before baking.
The other half of the family likes marshmallows on top. So I do half with the pecan topping and half with marshmallows. Then everyone’s happy!
Bake for 35 minutes.
Homemade Applesauce
Thanksgiving would not be complete without Nana’s homemade applesauce. I make a ton because I love it and eat it for every meal (including warmed, served over vanilla ice cream – mmmmm).
You’ll need 8 (or however many you want) apples – Nana uses Red Delicious, but I prefer Gala. Nana peels her apples; I leave the peels on. Core the apples and cut into bite size pieces. Put in a pot or in the crock pot with a cup of water.
If you are using a crock pot, add 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon (to taste), a pinch of cloves, and a cinnamon stick. Cook until apples are tender – 2 to 4 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.
If you are cooking this on the stove, cook the apples and water until the apples are soft and can be smushed with a wooden spoon. Remove excess water as it cooks. When soft, add the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and cinnamon stick.
I also make Green Bean Casserole, using the Smitten Kitchen recipe here. If you’ve never had homemade green bean casserole (without cream of something soup), you must try this. You’ll never go back to the condensed soup version!
We also have yeast rolls, which – I confess – I buy at the grocery store (shhh!), and cranberry sauce. We have both whole cranberry cranberry sauce and the canned kind, because we all love the can rings around the cranberry sauce!
Dessert
Last, but certainly not least, there’s dessert. Usually, family members bring pumpkin and apple pie. Then I throw in something untraditional, like fondue.
I use Rachael Ray’s chocolate fondue recipe, served with pound cake cubes, marshmallows, sliced bananas, strawberries, pineapple, and apples. You can’t go wrong with chocolate!
So there it is – our Thanksgiving menu. What are you having on your Thanksgiving table?
