Thanksgiving

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love giving gifts, focusing on the birth of Christ, gathering with family, singing carols, and most especially I love the looks on my children's faces Christmas morning. My SECOND favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. My reason? Simply put, I love good food. This morning I had a call from a friend asking for my turkey brine recipe because she tried it last year and loved it. Well, the recipe is not "mine" per say but I'm always happy to pass along good recipes. In fact, this brine recipe is so good it recently bested Bobby Flay in a...Throwdown! THE Bobby Flay! How exciting is that?!?

For all you food loving fans, here are a couple of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes that will be gracing my menu plan this week:

Pioneer Woman's Turkey Brine

Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes

Cape Cod Cranberry Relish

Creamy Mashed Potatoes (another Throwdown best from PW)

A Different Cranberry Sauce

Okay. My Thanksgiving confession is I don't like cranberry sauce. My first impression of the sauce was as a young child at my grandmother's house. I still remember seeing the ring marks from a can on the jelly-like red substance that stood firm in the serving bowl. I guess even as a child I felt that if a food looked far from it's natural state it wouldn't taste good (and most likely wasn't healthy for me).

I probably never gave the stuff a fair taste test until a few years ago when my dad made this recipe. As a little introduction to my wonderful dad, he loves stores that give samples (Trader Joes, Costco) and most of the time he gets the recipe, buys the ingredients and makes the dish at home. Yes, that marketing strategy works very well on my dad. I love this version of cranberry sauce or relish to be exact. It's light and fruity and most definitely fresh. I'm excited to make this recipe for our Thanksgiving seeing as we now live in Hawaii and can include fresh pineapple. I LOVE pineapple bought fresh on the islands. Mmmm.. Now if I can only find a market that sells sugarloaf or white pineapples I will be completely pineappley satisfied.

Cape Cod Cranberry Relish

Slightly adapted from recipe featured at a local Albertsons store; source is Decas Cranberry Sales, Inc.

1 lb fresh cranberries, washed and picked through
2 small navel oranges, well washed (or 1 large)
1 c sugar
half a fresh pineapple, cut in 1-in chunks (or canned pineapple tidbits)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut in 1-in chunks
1/2 c chopped dates
1 c chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Additional sugar, if necessary

Remove the peel of the oranges with a zester.  Place the peel and sugar in a food processor.  Pulse until peel is ground and well mixed with sugar.  Scrape frequently.  Add the cranberries and pulse until chopped well.  Place in a large mixing bowl.  Remove the white pith from the remaining oranges, cut oranges into 2" chunks, and process in the food processor by pulsing quickly.  Add to cranberries and orange.  Repeat the process with the fresh pineapple chunks and apples and add to cranberries and orange.  Add the chopped dates and nuts to the cranberries and fruit, stir well and cover.  If desired, add additional sugar to taste.  Refrigerate 24 hours before serving.  Serves 4-6.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

My husband is the official mashed potato maker in our home. That's because he is VERY good at it! The other night we invited my brother over for dinner since his wife was out of town. I realized as I was planning the menu that we always make mashed potatoes when he visits since it's an effort to step up the meal quality. Since the meal I had planned was pot-roast and who doesn't like potatoes with their roast I decided to try a new recipe to give my ol' brother some variation. To make things even more exciting I made the potatoes instead of my husband. ("Ooooooooo! Ahhhhhhh!) End result: these were a HIT!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes
(Pioneer Woman)

5 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
3⁄4 cups Butter
1 package (8 Oz.) Cream Cheese, Softened*
1⁄2 cups (to 3/4 Cups) Half-and-Half
1⁄2 teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1⁄2 teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Black Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 35 minutes. When they’re cooked through, the fork should easily slide into the potatoes with no resistance, and the potatoes should almost, but not totally, fall apart.

Drain the potatoes in a large colander. When the potatoes have finished draining, place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape, before adding in all the other ingredients. Turn off the stove and add 1 1⁄2 sticks of butter, an 8-ounce package of cream cheese and about 1⁄2 cup of half-and-half. Mash, mash, mash! Next, add about 1⁄2 teaspoon of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and 1⁄2 a teaspoon of black pepper. Stir well and place in a medium-sized baking dish. Throw a few pats of butter over the top of the potatoes and place them in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

(When making this dish a day or two in advance, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 3 hours before serving time. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.)

*My Note: I didn't do the last step of warming it in the oven because of a lack of time. Thankfully my mashed 'taters were still steaming hot for service at dinner.

Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes

This year for Thanksgiving we gathered for a large extended family dinner with my dad's side of the family. I remember when I was young we used to get together with these same relatives but once my uncle became sick and passed away and my grandma as well we didn't gather as often. I really enjoyed this mini reunion and seeing family that I haven't seen in many years.

I have never thought of sweet potato casserole as a must-have for Thanksgiving dinner. A few years ago when Dan and I started making our own dinner for just our little family we made sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top which the kids ate. This year I saw this recipe for sweet potatoes with coconut crumble on top and I just had to make it. With my ridiculous fashion of cooking a brand new and never tested recipe when guests come for dinner, I made this recipe and we all loved it! It will definitely be a staple on our traditional Thanksgiving dinner table.


Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes
Recipe from Our Best Bites


4 C mashed Sweet potatoes (4 med sweet potatoes or abt 2 large sized cans)
6 Tbs Sugar
6 Tbs butter (no margarine), softened or melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (eyeball it)
1 t vanilla

Topping:
1 C brown sugar
1 C sweetened coconut flakes
6 Tbs melted butter

Note: You can make these up to a day or two ahead of time, just keep them well covered in the fridge and don't put the topping on until just before baking.

If using fresh sweet potatoes, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick each sweet potato with a fork and place on foil in the oven. Cook for 40-60 minutes or until tender. Once they've cooled enough to handle, slice in half and scoop out the insides into a mixing bowl.

To the mixing bowl add in sugar, butter, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Your butter should be soft enough to blend up easily so nuke it in the microwave before you add it to the bowl if you need to. You could mash it all up by hand, but an electric mixer works great. Spread this mixture evenly into a 9 x 13 pan.

For the topping, combine brown sugar and coconut and then pour melted butter over and combine. Sprinkle the potatoes with the topping and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes.The top should be nice and browned and bubbly so just keep an eye on it.

Jayne's Notes: 
*I highly recommend using fresh sweet potatoes. Their preparation is just like baking a normal potato so it's real easy. Also, the canned potatoes have added sugar so be aware that this recipe already is plenty sweet and you may want to leave out the sugar in the batter if you used canned yams. 
*I increased the crumble topping mixture because we all like a bite of yummy crumblies with our sweet potatoes. I ended up doubling the sweet potato mixture (allowing me to use the entire can of sweetened condensed milk) and making the crumble recipe x 2 1/2. 
*The original recipe said you could leave the sweet potatoes slightly clumpy and not fully beat the mixture smooth. Next time I try this idea and beat the batter ingredients separately to allow them to fully mix and then mix it with the sweet potatoes until just barely mixed yet still lumpy.

Turkey Brine

Photo of PW's turkey -- ours was demolished before it's photo op

I know it's December but we're revisiting Thanksgiving in my house today. I bought a 16 lb turkey for $5 and my husband was excited until he saw the generic-brand label. Let me just say that you can purchase the cheapest turkey in the store and with this brine recipe it will taste great! (I originally typed 'amazing' but I wonder what a fresh turkey would taste like with this brine. Too bad I'll never know...) Since it's snowy yet not below freezing we put our brine/turkey in a large covered bucket and set it on our porch overnight. Luckily our bird didn't freeze by morning. This is to die for turkey brine!! I think we will brine our turkeys from now on. The meat was so tender and juicy it just fell off the bones. Mmmm...now I get to eat leftovers!!
PW’s Homemade Turkey Brine (This is enough for a 20-lb turkey; you can decrease the quantity for a smaller bird.)
2 gallons water
2 cups apple juice
2 cups kosher salt (can decrease to 1 1/2 cups if you’re concerned about salt)
2 cups brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5 bay leaves
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoons dried rosemary
Peel of 2 oranges (I just roughly slice off the orange part of the peel (not much white pith) with a sharp knife, then give it a rough chop to release all the citrus-y wonderfulness)
Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat immediately, cover, and allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cool mixture in the fridge until you’re ready.
To brine the turkey, remove turkey from wrapper, remove gross bags, and rinse thoroughly under cool water. Place the turkey into a plastic brining bag (available at many kitchen shops, maybe even stores like Target) OR a very large pot. Pour cool brine mixture over the top, adding extra cold water if you need more to cover. Seal bag or cover pot and allow turkey to brine in refrigerator for 8 to 18 hours before roasting.
Before roasting, remove turkey from brine and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Pat dry. Discard brine.
PW's IMPORTANT BRINE NOTE: I forgot to mention that when you brine your turkey, the drippings are quite salty. For this reason, it is VERY important that you use a no-sodium (or low-sodium) chicken broth when you make the turkey gravy. Also, I often will cut the drippings with the giblet water to decrease the saltiness. Also, many frozen turkeys are injected with a sodium solution—it’s best NOT to brine these turkeys! Brining fresh turkeys is the way to go.
*Jayne's notes: We did brine a store bought, sodium injected turkey, but it tasted great being brined. Our gravy was salty so I will dilute it even more next time, although my husband liked it and he didn't think it was too salty.

Sweet Potatoes

My family eats their veggies. I'm not sure if my squash/sweet potato fancy began with my first child and making baby food for her. (By the way, I DON'T taste-test baby food. Dan does...talk to him about his crazy idea that he needs to taste Gerber's Turkey Tetrazini before feeding it to our baby. Yuck! Sorry Dan but I just had to add this little funny.) Anyhow, we like eating sweet potatoes for dinner served with a little butter and brown sugar, but we've never tasted any potato (sweet or not!) like these!! The potatoes were very creamy and the top streusel layer was crunchy, sugary, nutty, and just divine!

Pioneer Woman's Sweet Potatoes
4 medium sweet potatoes
1 c sugar
1 c milk
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1 t salt
1 c brown sugar
1 c pecans
1/2 c flour
3/4 stick butter (3/8 cup)

Wash the 4 sweet potatoes and bake them at 375 until fork tender, about 30 minutes. When they are finished cooking slice them open and scrape the flesh into a bowl. Add the sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla and salt. With a potato masher mash them just enough (you don't want them to be perfectly smooth).

In a separate bowl combine brown sugar, pecans, flour and softened (but not melted) butter. Mash with a fork or pastry cutter.

Spread sweet potato mixture in a baking dish and sprinkle the topping on. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

"If you think you don't like sweet potatoes,...think again!"
Quote and Photo courtesy of PioneerWoman

Stuffing/Dressing

Photo Courtesy of PioneerWoman

Stuffing/Dressing has never been my favorite Thanksgiving dish until the past few years. I became a fan once I tasted Kneaders stuffing mix with it's huge asiago cheese bread cubes. It is to die for!! Since we didn't have access to Kneaders in Utah this year I found this 'next best' option on Pioneer Woman's site. I liked the unique combo of french bread and cornbread and the fact that they are larger cubes instead of small cubes that tend to turn to mush (almost like a dressing in the form of oatmeal...know what I mean?)

Pioneer Woman's Thanksgiving Stuffing (Delicious!!)
1 recipe of PW's cornbread (see below)
1 loaf somewhat crusty french bread
1 medium onion, diced
low sodium chicken broth (about 4 cups)
1/2 c butter
2 c celery, chopped
1/4 c fresh parsley
1/2 t dried basil
2-3 t fresh rosemary
1/2 t dried thyme
salt

First chop cornbread and french bread into 1 inch cubes, spread on baking sheets and let dry for approx. 24 hours.

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and celery, cooking until onions are almost translucent. Add 4 c chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add herbs and stir until combined.

Place all dried bread cubes in large mixing bowl and gradually add broth mixture, tossing lightly as you go. If the mixture is not quite moist enough add more broth and stir. Salt carefully...you don't want to oversalt stuffing.

Either stuff the bird and bake according to directions or place in a baking dish and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cornbread:
1 c yellow corn meal
1/2 c flour
1 t salt
1 c buttermilk
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 c plus 2 T shortening

Preheat oven to 450. Heat shortening in iron skillet. Combine corn meal, flour baking powder and soda, and salt in mixing bowl. In separate bowl, combine buttermilk, milk and egg. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and stir. Add 1/4 c melted shortening, stirring constantly. Pour into hot pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Pecan Pie

(*Photo courtesty of PW)

I have never been a pecan pie girl; I prefer berry pies. I'm not sure if my dislike stems from not liking nuts as a child or because I don't think this pie looks particularly pretty. Either way, this has always been a pie I steer clear of...until this past Thanksgiving. We made this pecan pie recipe and I really enjoyed it!! Yum, yum, yum!!

PW’s Pecan Pie
1 unbaked pie crust
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup melted butter (regular, salted)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup chopped pecans
Mix sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl. Pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the pie shell. Pour syrup mixture over the top. Bake pie at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, being careful not to burn pecans and crust.
Allow to cool for several hours or overnight. Serve in thin slivers.

Pumpkin Pie Milk Shakes

Here is a fun recipe for all of your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie leftovers!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes
an original recipe by rachelle, pictures are courtesy of yourhomebasedmom who also loved this yummy treat

2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 large slice pumpkin pie, chopped and frozen (freezing is optional for bigger chunks. also yum just mixed room temp.)

whipped cream and nutmeg, for serving

combine ice cream, milk and sugar in blender. mix. add in pumpkin pie, pulse to blend. put blender in the freezer for a half hour. when ready to serve, stir and scoop with a big spoon into mugs. serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.