turkey dinner...rolls

What is a turkey dinner without the bread. I usually cheap on this aspect of the meal and get brown and serve rolls, it is way easier than making them from scratch. In which I can`t seem to do just yet, oooohhhh the perfect roll , that looks just like the store bought. Ohhh how I love this modern convenience. With all of the other baking and cooking that is done, this makes it soo much handy and easy , just put in the oven while towards the end of all the cooking and baking at least 10 -15 minutes and wha-lol you have rolls for the feast of turkey.

I hope everyone out there in blogland has a wonderfulll Turkey day, this is a week in advance or rather 5 days in advance. And please don`t stuff yourselves, just the turkey, lol.

Turkey dinner...chocolate pie

Chocolate pie is always a staple here on the farm, I do kinda of cheat alittle , it`s not all homemade. My oldest daughter always request this pie for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.
This is how I make mine:

One pie crust, baked
1 package of instant chocolate pudding mix.

Just follow the directions on the box of the instant pudding mix to make a pie , pour into baked pie shell and let set, then serve with a dollop of whipped topping.

That is is , just as simple as can be and easy to make.

Turkey dinner.....Pumpkin pie

Ok, what is Thanksgiving dinner with out the desserts,hmmmm, and what is it without pumpkin pie, or pumpkin of some sort, say a bread or a pumpkin cream pie. This recipe is just the ordinary pumpkin pie, but it is sure to please.
I got this recipe from Betty Crockers cookbook. It has a recipe for both a 8-inch and a 9- inch pie, in which doesn`t make me any difference. I still use black metal pie pans. I will post both ingredients for both pies, either one will do when making the pie


Pumpkin pie

8-inch
pastry for 8-inch one crust pie ( can use store bought or make your own)
1 egg
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin or cooked pumpkin
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/4 cup evaproated milk

9-inch
pastry for 9-inch one crust pie
2 eggs
1 can( 16 oz) pumpkin or 2 cups cooked pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 2/3 cup evaporated milk

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Beat egg (s) slightly with hand beater, beat in remaining ingredients. Place pastry -lined pie plate in on oven rack and pour in filling. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake until knife inserted in middle comes out clean, 8-inch pie 35 minutes longer, 9-inch pie 45 minutes longer; cool. Serve with whipped topping or whipped cream


This usually makes 2 pies for me ,so have two pie crusts

turkey dinner...broccoli and califlower salad

You can`t have a turkey dinner without some form of salad. Here is my mom`s recipe for broccoli and califlower salad, since she once made it, it is expected at all our dinners.

get a bunch of broccoli and a head of califlower, clean and cut up. Take a few celery stalks and slice them up. Put in bowl and add ranch salad dressing and toss, then it is yummmy gooood.

turkey dinner....sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are always on the table during Thanksgiving and Christmas. We use the canned variety with a little additons that we put on it.

Open two to three cans of sweet potatoes or yams
Put them in a baking dish, sprinkle with some brown sugar and bake. Towards the last of baking time , add marshmallows, either the big ones or the little ones, it doesn`t matter. Sweet potatoes usually bake for about 30 minutes in a moderate oven...350 degrees.

I have made whipped sweet potatoes, but my family and I prefer the ones with the marshmallows on top.

Thanksgiving dinner....corn

Around here we eat alot of corn, not green beans. We do eat green beans from time to time, but corn is the number 1 and green beans is somewhere below that. Its not that we don`t like green beans, but that we favor corn.

This is how I fix my corn; a couple of cans of corn drained , then put in saucepan along with a stick of butter, or margarine. Heat till the butter or margarine is melted. That`s it ,simple as can be.

Cranberry Bread.. turkey dinner

This recipe is excellent with butter or just plain.. It comes from the Kansan`s Silver Spoon cookbook of 1967. This would be good for just any occasion, not just around the holidays. Though a person might not find all the ingredients except around the holidays, ( Thanksgiving and Christmas)

Cranberry Bread
Mrs E. A. O`Donovan

2 cups flour, sifted
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup orange juice ( I squeeze my own)
1 Tablespoon orange rind, grated
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup green glace cherries, chopped

Sift flour, sugar, bakiing powder, soda, and salt together. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Combine orange juice, and rind with well beaten eggs. Pour at once into dry ingredients, mixing until dampened. Dust Chopped cranberries and cherries with 1 Tablespoon flour. Carefully fold into batter. Spoon into well-greased 1 1/2 quart casserole or loaf pan. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool before removing from pan. Ice with confectioners sugar icing or serve with butter,

Or just eat the way it is.

Turkey dinner.....cranberries..Cranberry salad

Usually we here on the farm just get a can of cranberries, usually the jellied kind. My dad liked Cranberries, so we always put them out for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, the can variety. I am gonna post two different recipes for cranberries, which one might show up this year for Thanksgiving. Here goes the first one; cranberry Salad ,which is from the Kansan`s Silver Spoon cookbook of 1967.


Cranberry Salad
Mrs. Retha Sappington

1 pound cranberries, ground ( I used the canned variety ,whole berry)
2 cups sugar
1 medium can pineapple, crushed
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup nutmeats, chopped , ( I used walnuts)
1 pint whipping cream, whipped

Combine sugar, pineapple, marshmallows and nutmeats. Let stand overnight. Fold in whipped cream abnd cranberries. Let set for 4 hours before serving.

Turkey dinner...mashed potatoes and gravy

Thanksgiving dinner isn`t dinner unless mashed potatoes are on the menu. Of course, I consider mashed potatoes a comfort food, I guess just a country girl here.
Ok on to the recipe;

peeling and cut up about 6-8 potaotes, I usually use white potatoes
Water to cover them
dash of salt

Boil potatoes until tender, then mash ,I usually use an electric mixer for this, add butter, salt and milk to taste. I start off by using about half a couple of tablespoons of margarine and about little of milk and I adjust to taste and how creamy I like my potatoes.

What is mashed potatoes without gravy, in which I have had , but I prefer to have gravy with them. I usually use the package of brown gravy or turkey gravy and follow the package directions, of course you can add broth from the boiled turkey neck, along with the some bits of turkey from neck ,instead of the water. You can make the gravy by boiling the neck to make a broth and then drain . Then take the broth and add a little flour to make a gravy with then proceed until gravy is the consistency you like and heat to warm thruout.

Turkey Dinner...Dressing

Now it is time for the next recipe for turkey dinner, here in the US it is for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. This recipe I have had for a few years. Everyone in the family likes it, even my dad liked better then my mom`s. Of course my dad has gone to his heavenly rewards. I still make this dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So here it goes;

Stuffing

1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped celery ( I really don`t measure this)
1 cup chopped onion ( I don`t measure this either)
1 1/2 teaspoon sage ( I used to measure this but no more, I just put in what I think)
1 teaspoon thyme
8 cups bread cubes ( I usually get the package kind , along with the herbs)
1 ( 10 1/2-oz ) Turkey gravy ( I have used the turkey gravy mix as well as the canned turkey gravy, whatever is the cheapest)
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Melt butter in oven. Add onions, celery, sage and thyme. Saute until tender. Add bread cubes, gravy and parsley. Use low heat 2 minutes.
Use to stuff a 12- 16 pound turkey, as I said it is better to put dressing in another dish instead of in the turkey. Make sure the Baking dish is buttered really well. Then dot with butter and bake in oven to heat through at about 350 degrees. I usually put in the oven while the sweet potatoes are cooking. This is good even after the second day, if their is any leftover


I have tried it with homemade cubes, but I am not so good at making them, so I use the package kind with added herbs

Turkey dinner..how I fix the turkey....

This is how I fix my turkey here at the farm. Yes, It is a store-bought turkey. I start by defrosting the turkey, I usually take the turkey out about sunday or monday to make sure it is good and thawed. I put it in the frig to thaw out , not out in the open.
The day of cooking the turkey usually Thanksgiving ( we have ham for christmas). I rinse off the turkey and calculate how much time to cook the turkey in the Showtime Rotisserie, which is on the side of the rotisserie. We usually cook about a 10 pounder for it. i think my Showtime rotisserie was a great investment.. Anyway . I injected with melted butter, sometimes I sprinkle with salt and pepper and sometimes lemon pepper or sometimes just the melted margarine. I put it in the rotisserie and basted with the melted butter every so often, I would say about every hour or 30 minutes. The white meat is always so moist. I do not put my dressing in the turkey, as I cook in the oven in a separate dish.
In the past I have baked the turkey in the oven using the old method of putting it in the paper bag and basting it every hour, or putting alumin foil over and basting it every hour. I soooo love the doing the Rotisserie method , it is so much easier.

Oh yea, an another hint.. make sure you remove the neck, sometimes it is in a paper bag .

I have in the past take the neck and other things I rim off the turkey and boiled them in water with some salt and pepper. I used this broth to put in the gravy mix instead of water along with some of the meat that is taken off the neck. I also use sometime the broth to put in my dressing as well.


This is how I fix my turkey. Other recipes from my turkey dinner are to follow. Each day I will try and add a recipe on this blog until we get to thanksgiving for the big dinner.