Cranberry Salad

This is a salad my grandmother has always made for Thanksgiving.







CRANBERRY SALAD

1 Can Cranberrys (don't use jell, even though this one looks like jell)
1 Can Crushed Pineapple, with some of the juice drained
1/2 bag of Marshmellows
1-2 C. Wipped cream with a little powdered sugar and 1 tsp. Vanilla OR 1 small container of Cool Whip
1/2 C. Chopped Pecans - optional (I have to make two salads, one with nuts and one without, 1/2 love nuts, the other 1/2 hate them. I am in the "love" half.)

SO EASY and it's really yummy... Try it!

Cressants

Here's the link for the recipe for these light and flaky rolls, click HERE.




I moved these right after they came out of the oven so they went a tad flat. Last thing to be cooked before the Thanksgiving feast, so everyone was a bit anxious to get them on the table... Timing is everything, isn't it?

Thanksgiving Candied Yams

Boil the Yams until soft. They should be full. Pull out of water and place on a cookie sheet to cool. After they are cooled, remove the skins and slice. Place in a 9x13 cake pan and cover with the following mixture:

1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 tsp Wonder Flavor (if you don't have wonder flavor you can go without it, but it's AMAZING if you can find it!)

Melt butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan until fully combined. You don't want to boil this mixture, but you want it to be creamy.

Cover the yams and then cover with marshmellows and toast in the oven until marshmellows are golden brown.

How do you like Yams cooked?

Thanksgiving Stuffing

Stuffing should not be cooked in the bird. It doesn't reach the right tempturature at the same time the bird does, so one of two things will happen, the bird will be very dry, or the stuffing won't be fully cooked. So, I always cook the stuffing seperatly.

This is not exact measurments:

STUFFING
Saute in butter the following:
Chopped onions
Chopped Celery
Dash of dried Thyme
Dash of Salt
Dash of Pepper

Cook until veggies start to sweat. Add to dried bread cubes or stuffing mixture. Add dried rubbed sage, chicken stock and cream until desired consistancy, tossing gently. Cook at 350° until golden brown. (About 45 minutes)

Thanksgiving Turkey

This turkey recipe was adapted from America's Test Kitchen. It's my favorite way to cook a turkey. It's simple and it turns out super juicy every single time!

First thaw the bird in the refrigerator, this can take up to 4 days if frozen solid.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY
Start with a brine in a clean 5 galon bucket, consisting of:
1 C. Salt
1/2 C. Sugar
2 Tbs. Pepper Corns
1-2 Gallons of cold Water (add more once the turkey is added to cover the bird)

Mix the ingredients in the water. Then drop Tom the Turkey in the water.

Cover Tom with more water if necessary. Cover and place in a cold (50-35 degrees) location for 24 hours. In my case it was the garage.

Once the turkey has brined for 24 hours, remove from brine bath and place turkey on a cookie sheet and pat dry with paper towels.

Use a Roasting Pan with a "V" Rack. Cover the rack with Tin Foil and poke several holes in it. This will allow the juices from the turkey to seep to the bottom of the pan. Fill the bottom of the pan with the following:

Turkey Gravy Prep:
2 Carrots cleaned and roughly chopped
3 ribs of celery chopped
2 onions chopped
1-2 cans of chicken broth
1/2 tsp. dried Thyme
2 Bay leaves
1/4 tsp. pepper

Place Tom breast side DOWN on the tin foil:

Brush with butter and salt and pepper.

Cook at 275° until the turkey is golden brown. I had a 19 pound turkey so this took 3 1/2 hours. Once the bottom is brown the and temperature reads 160°, take out of the oven and flip the bird. :) That's right, turn it over. Now you will butter the breasts and legs and salt and pepper and I used a little bit of rubbed sage on the top. Cook the bird until the top is golden brown and reads 160°-165°, another 3-4 hours.

Remove the bird, wrap in tin foil and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

This is the juiciest turkey. It's so yummy.

The gravy is made from the drippings. Strain everything through a mesh strainer and squeeze the juice out of the veggies. Mix 1 C. Water with 3 Tbs. flour to thicken gravy.

Halloween Treats

I don't have anything spectacular to share. In fact, it's a little sad. For the family Halloween Party I made the two following appetizers:

Deviled eggs turned into spiders. (I know spiders have 8 legs, they just didn't fit.)

Baby Mummy Dogs. The nieces and nephews loved these!