More Thanksgiving Favorites

Home-style Stuffing 
For 1 chicken

1/4 c. butter
1 t. dried minced onion
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1/2 t. celery salt
2 T. parsley
4 C. cubed day old bread
3/4 c. milk

Melt butter in saucepan. Add onion, poultry seasoning, celery salt and parsley. Stir. Add bread and toss lightly. Remove from heat and add milk. Mix gently.

For Thanksgiving I multiply this by 12. This makes enough to stuff a 20 pound bird, with an additional pan, and plenty of leftovers. The bird stuffing will be moist. For moist stuffing in the additional pan bake it covered. If dry stuffing is desired bake uncovered. Bake both 350 for about 30-60 mins. I have never really timed it. I would say 45 mins. if my arm was being twisted. Be sure to place a cookie sheet under it as it spills over butter something fierce. I use fresh Wonder bread that actually turns a day old the minute you open it. For 12X you will need about 2-2 pound loaves of Wonder bread.

I don't like anything to come between me and my buttery seasoned Wonder bread, but if you want little pieces of things to crunch here are some substitutions:

1/3 c. onion for the minced onion
1/3 c. celery plus 1/2 t. salt for the celery salt

Melt butter. Add onion and celery. Saute until onion is transparent. Add poultry seasoning, salt, parsley and bread. Toss lightly. Add milk. Mix gently.

3 - 24 oz loaves of bread makes about 10 times this recipe. 

Caramelized Sweet Potato Wedges
serves 4
From Martha Stewart Living

The potatoes are done when the caramelized sugar bubbles and browns around the sides of the pan. One medium sweet potato is about 2/3 pound.

2 T butter
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cut lengthwise, and each cut into 8 1/2-inch wedges (about 1 1/3 pounds)
3 oz. freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 c light-brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
zest of 1 orange

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add potato wedges to the pan, and stir until coated with butter. Add 1 cup water and the orange juice; cover, and cook until potatoes are fork-tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove cover, reduce heat to medium, and continue cooking, tossing occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Combine sugars, and sprinkle over potatoes; toss until coated. Continue cooking until the sugar starts to caramelize and potatoes have a brown glaze, 5 to 6 minutes, tossing occasionally to prevent potatoes from burning. When caramelized sugar bubbles and browns around the edges, remove potatoes from pan. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with orange zest and serve immediately.

Happy Thanksgiving

Menu
Butternut squash soup
Apple cider-brined turkey with savory gravy
Home-style stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Caramelized sweet potatoes wedges
Sweet basil green beans
Skillet corn
Cranberry relish
Cranberry fool
Cranberry jelly
Crescent rolls
Orange butter
Heritage pumpkin pie with sweetened whipped cream
Cranberry bliss bars
Slush
White mixed drink

Autumn

Long after the last leaf has been raked and the apples have been gathered in, crisp nights meld into crisp days and the memory of warm apple cider doughnuts and fresh apple cider are still in your mind, you remember the ice cold cider you have been saving for just a time as this...




...and it is unpalatable. But it does make a delicious moist turkey.



Apple Cider-Brined Turkey
from Diane Morgan

2/3 c. kosher salt
2/3 c. sugar
6 quarter-size slices fresh ginger or 1 t. ground ginger
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
1 t. black peppercorns, crushed
2 t. whole allspice berries, crushed or 1 t. ground allspice
8 c. apple cider or juice
2 oranges, quartered

In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, put salt, sugar, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and allspice. Add apple cider or juice and stir to combine. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until salt and sugar have dissolved. Boil for 3 min. then remove from heat. Add 4 c. of ice cold water, stir and set aside to cool.

Place plastic turkey-size oven bag inside a second bag, then place in a large stockpot. The stockpot will hold the bags and turkey for you. Position bags so they are wide open and fold the top of bags over the stockpot. Remove turkey from its wrappings. Remove neck and bag of giblets. Stuff main cavity of turkey with orange quarters. Place turkey inside bags. Pour brine over turkey. Add another 2 c. cold water. Draw up top of inner bag, squeezing out as much air as possible; secure it with a twist tie. Do the same for outer bag.  Refrigerate 12 to 24 hours.

Just before roasting, remove turkey from brine. Discard bags, brine and any cured herbs or spices remaining on bird. Discard oranges and ginger. Rinse turkey under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Add 1 c. of water to pan. Cover and roast 300-325 until done. Uncover the last few minutes to brown turkey.

OJ

Have you ever left orange juice concentrate in the fridge to thaw and forgot about it? Yeah, me neither. But if I did and it was dark and fermented, it would still taste good in this recipe.


Red Slush

3 packages unsweetened cherry Kool-Aid. I use black cherry.
3 cups sugar
12 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Add all ingredients to a 5 quart container. Add 4 quarts of water, leaving an a couple of inches of head space at the top. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Freeze for 24 hours in a deep freezer, longer in a frost free freezer. Thaw for about 4 hours before serving or microwave for 10 minutes. Chop the slush completely before serving.

Thanksgiving

These are some favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

No Roll Pie Crust Dough

From Bon Appetit

Makes one 10 inch pie crust

3/4 c. unsalted butter

1/4 c. sugar

1 T powered sugar

2 c. flour

Melt butter. Add sugars and stir. Add flour and stir. Spray pie plate with Pam. Press dough into plate. Refrigerate at least 30 min.

Heritage Pumpkin Pie

From Bon Appetit

Makes one 10 inch pie

1 1/2 c. canned evaporated milk (one can)

1 c packed br. sugar

1 can pumpkin

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. ground ginger

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

2 large eggs-beaten

1/4 c. pure maple syrup

Stir milk and sugar in heavy saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Cool slightly. Using electric mixer, beat pumpkin, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg in large bowl to blend. Add milk mixture and beat one minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Add maple syrup and beat one minute. Pour into crust. Bake at 375 in the center of the oven for about 50 min. This makes a very large pie and will not fit into a 9 inch pie plate.

To decorate pie with leaves, make 1/2 recipe of no roll pie crust dough. On floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thick. Cut out with cookie cutters in leaf shapes. Brush the rim of the crust with water to moisten. Place leaves around moistened outside edge of pie, pressing gently to secure. Leaves can be in a side-by-side or an overlapping pattern. Cover leaves carefully with foil to prevent over browning while baking. Foil can be removed the last few minutes of baking to brown leaves if needed. Bake a few leaves on a cookie sheet for 5-8 minutes. Place these in middle of pie after baking pie and after the leaves and pie have cooled.


Cranberry Fool

1-16 oz. can cranberry jelly
1 t. almond extract
1 T. grated orange peel (optional)
1 c. heavy cream, whipped and sweetened to taste or 1-8 oz container of Cool Whip (can add up to 1/2 c. more cream if desired)

Mix together the first three ingredients with an electric beater or in a blender (recommended) until smooth. If using a blender, spoon cranberry jelly mixture into a bowl. Fold in 1/2 cup of whipped cream or Cool Whip to lighten. Fold in rest of whipped cream or Cool Whip. Fill parfait or dessert dishes. Chill until set. Garnish with whipped cream and orange slice. May also be used at room temperature as a fruit dip.

Cranberry Orange Relish

12 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained, about 3 c.
1 unpeeled orange, washed, cut into eighths and seeded
1 cup sugar

Place half the cranberries and half the orange slices in a food processor and process until evenly chopped. Do not over pulse. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining cranberries and orange slices. Add sugar and stir. Let stand at room temperature until sugar dissolves, about 45 mins. Best if it is made the day before. Can make up to one week ahead. Store in refrigerator. Makes 3 cups.

Bottom of the Bag Becomes Bliss

I had a couple of handfuls of hard dried cranberries that I needed to something with so I could throw out the giganormous bag they were in. This worked out quite nicely.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ginger OR 2 T. finely minced crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup diced dried sweetened cranberries
4 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks or white chocolate chips

Frosting
4-ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

Drizzled Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make cake by beating butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt and beat well. Gradually mix in flour and baking powder until smooth. Mix 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand. Pour batter into a well-greased 9x13" baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until cake is lightly browned on the top. Allow cake to cool.
 
Make frosting by combining softened cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread frosting over the top of the cake.
 
Sprinkle 1/4 cup of diced cranberries over the frosting on the cake.
 
Whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and shortening. Drizzle icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion with a squirt bottle or fill a plastic food storage bag with the icing and cut off the tip of one corner.
 
Allow cake to sit for several hours or cover and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.

From: http://www.topsecretrecipes.com

Makes 16 bars.

Its Official. I'm a Wiener

I won a giveaway over at seriouslysoblessed. I will now collect my booty and spend $400 to fly to Utah to cash in on my $50 gc. Life is good. and i'm an ingrate. no really it was exciting to win.

Update 12/8/09: It was a gc to use anywhere!!

Orange Ya Glad I Made This?

I had some old crystallized orange marmalade and some old butter. They have gone from yuck to yum in one easy step. OK, two, because I had to heat the marmalade to get rid of the crystals. As I look into my fridge I see there will be more butter recipes.


Orange Butter

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 (10 oz) jar orange marmalade

Combine both ingredients; beat at medium speed with and electric mixer until creamy. Cover and refrigerate.
Makes 2 cups.

Word of the Day

Or should I say my life?

pu⋅tres⋅cent

–adjective

1.	becoming putrid; undergoing putrefaction.

2.	of or pertaining to putrefaction.

Related forms:

pu⋅tres⋅cence, pu⋅tres⋅cen⋅cy, noun

Orange Julius, Jello Style

Fact: I only make one Jell-O recipe and it doesn't require orange Jell-O.
Fact: I have left over orange Jell-O from someone's medical test prep.
Fact: I have a tower of sour cream and my recipe calls for yogurt.
Lets do dis.

Orange Julius Jello
3 small pkg. orange Jello
2 c. water
24 oz. sour cream
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 - 8.4 oz. cans of mandarin oranges, drained

Heat water until very hot/almost boiling. For ease use the microwave. Stir in Jello and mix until it is dissolved. Spoon sour cream into a separate bowl. Mix in powdered sugar. Add Jello a little at a time, stirring each time until smooth. (You could use a blender for this instead). Stir in mandarin oranges. Chill until set.

Save the drained juice to make a smoothie.

Crescent Rolls

These are a favorite around here.

Crescent Rolls
24 rolls

1 c. milk
1/3 c. butter flavored shortening
1 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 c. all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 T. yeast
1 T. sugar
1/4 c. hot water

These directions utilize a bread machine.

Proof the yeast. Whisk the yeast and 1 T. sugar in warm water. I run the tap until it is as hot as it can get as I store my yeast in the refrigerator and it needs very warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. It should be foamy if it is viable yeast.

Warm the milk. Pour into bread machine. Add shortening, salt, sugar, egg and yeast mixture. Add 3 1/2 c. flour.

Set bread machine to dough cycle and turn on. Let machine mix dough. Add flour until the ball of dough just no longer sticks to the sides. Allow dough cycle to complete.

Once the cycle is complete, take dough out of bread machine. Let it rest for up to 10 minutes if desired.

Cut dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll out half into 12 inch diameter circle. Divide into fourths. Further cut each fourth into thirds so there are 12 wedges. Roll each wedge beginning at the large end. Place on baking sheet with the points underneath. Repeat with other half. Place all 24 rolls on one large baking sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. To speed the process, place baking sheet on a heating pad or place in oven that has been warmed by heating it at 350 degrees for 2 mins. Rising time will be about 45 minutes using the faster method.

Pre-heat oven to 350. Make sure the risen rolls are out of the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, until rolls are just lightly browned. This method will result in soft and doughy rolls.

If you like your rolls more baked, preheat oven to 375 and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I mistakenly added 1/2 c. shortening instead of 1/3 c. and they were yummy. I just might do this again.

Wasn't Halloween Last Week?

I have a wedding and church this weekend. Think anyone will notice these?

Crostata with Raspberry Jam

Yum.

Crostata with Raspberry Jam
From Giada De Laurentiis

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ice water
Flour for dusting, as needed
1 jar (3/4 cup) raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted
Powdered sugar, for dusting, optional

Mix the flour, sugar, and lemon peel, in a food processor. Add the butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add salt. Pulse in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist clumps form. Gather the dough into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Can be made the day before.

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to an 11-inch round. Transfer the dough onto a heavy baking sheet that has been lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Stir the lemon juice into the preserve and spread the preserves on top of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8-inch round, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks in the dough.

Bake the crostata until the crust is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool. Sprinkle with the almonds and dust with the powdered sugar, if you wish. Slide a metal spatula under the crust to free the crostata from the baking sheet and serve.

Viney or Rotten-y?

The last harvest of the tomatoes were either viney or really overripe. It was hard to tell but not hard to tell they didn't taste very good.
I hid them in chili.

Beef and Bacon Chili

1/2 lb sliced bacon, chopped
1 lb lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions or 1 T dried mince onion
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
28 ounces whole tomatoes, undrained
16 ounces pinto beans, undrained (coarsely chopped if you wish)
1 cup picante sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

4-6 servings

Optional toppings: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion, chopped cilantro, Fritos.

In a large saucepan, cook bacon over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until crisp. Remove to paper towels with slotted spoon. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the drippings. In drippings, brown ground beef with onion and green pepper; drain. Add reserved bacon and remaining ingredients except optional toppings; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Ladle into bowls, top as desired, and serve with additional picante sauce.

Instead of the bacon you can substitute with 8-10 slices of pre-cooked bacon chopped. Skip the step of cooking the bacon and reserving the drippings. Add pre-cooked bacon with remaining ingredients.

Apple Butter

Remember this loverly applesauce? Well it did make some lovely apple butter.

Apple Butter

7 cups applesauce, natural
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves, optional
1/2 tsp allspice

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW for 14 to 15 hours or until mixture is a deep brown and desired consistency. Remove the cover for the last 3 hours, stir occasionally and watch for burning.
Spoon hot apple butter into hot sterilized jars and seal, then process half-pints or pints 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.