Our Mini Thanksgiving

We had a mini Thanksgiving today. Everything (thankfully) turned out great. We have only cooked a turkey one other time. PE and a friend fried one a few years ago but that is all of our experience with turkey. I made stuffing for the first time and what makes that even more exciting is I just threw things together so I can call it my own. Our meal consisted of Roasted Turkey, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Sausage Stuffing, Brown and Serve Rolls, Honey Butter, and steamed Normandy vegetables. For dessert we had the Buttermilk Cake with Caramel Icing I made last night. Nana came over to join us for dinner and had the pleasure of eating potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. No turkey as it had to go back into the oven. I guess you can't always go by the temperature you really need to look at the juices too (pink isn't good).

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Roasted Turkey
from Sparky
Print Recipe

turkey
lemon juice or half a lemon
Kosher salt
2 celery stalks, cut in half
1/2 yellow onion, quartered
2 carrots, cut in half

I followed The Pioneer Woman's directions as far as the roasting goes (Ree gives excellent directions); however, we sort of did what we wanted other than that. We cleaned the turkey. Rubbed the inside with lemon juice and Kosher salt. Rubbed the outside with Kosher salt and drizzled it with olive oil. We placed the celery, onion, and carrots in the cavity of the turkey. We placed the turkey breast side down on a roasting rack in a disposable roasting pan placed on a baking sheet. I am not going to reinvent the wheel by retyping Ree's directions. Her directions have pictures and she would never lead you astray. Go here for those wonderfully detailed roasting directions. We turned the turkey over (breast side up) for the last hour of baking.

We put the neck and giblets in a small sauce pan covered with water with 1/4 onion, 1 carrot, and 1 celery stick cut in thirds. We simmered them for a couple hours. PE ate the heart, liver, and part of the neck--ick--and I will use the broth for something.

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Sausage Stuffing
from Sparky
Print Recipe

1 loaf French bread
14 oz pork sausage
5 cups water
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup butter
2 cups celery, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock
1/4-1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp basil

Cut French bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Spread out on a baking sheet. Either bake in a 275 degree oven for 20 minutes or until crusty OR place in cool oven overnight. Place dried bread in a large bowl (should be 8-10 cups). Boil sausage in water with garlic clove for 15 to 20 minutes. while the sausage is boiling, heat butter on medium to medium-high heat. Add celery and onion to melted butter and saute for 5 minutes. Add seasonings and continue to simmer. Drain water from sausage reserving for later (discard garlic clove). Crumble the sausage in the pan and cook until browned. Pour two cups sausage water and the chicken stock into celery and onion mixture. Heat to boiling. Once sausage is browned combine with bread in bowl. Gradually add the broth mixture to the bread/sausage mixture and toss. Keep adding broth mixture until stuffing is plenty moist but not overly soggy. Taste as you go and add more seasonings and salt to taste. When the stuffing is ready pour into a baking dish and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

++Once in the casserole dish you could also freeze it until you are ready to bake it. Think how much easier that would make Thanksgiving day.

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Creamy Mashed Potatoes
adapted from The Pioneer Woman
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5 pounds red potatoes
3/4 cup butter
1 (8 Oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. 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 butter, cream cheese, and half and half. Mash. Add Lawry’s seasoning salt and 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.

Note: 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.

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What a Great, Productive Day

As you know the morning started out with Moo making crepes. Then PE finished making the meat sauce and we ate it over spaghetti squash and some pasta with garlic bread. DELICIOUS!! I am going to share those recipes while I wait for Moo to clean up the kitchen.

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Marinara Sauce
from Sparky
Print Recipe

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 cups fresh tomatoes, diced*
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 (5.5 oz) cans tomato juice
oregano
basil
garlic powder
onion powder
Italian seasoning
salt

Heat olive oil in 6 qt pan. Saute onion and garlic in heated oil. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato sauce. (2 cans diced tomatoes can be substituted for fresh tomatoes and tomato juice). More sauce or juice can be added to thin the sauce OR tomato paste can be added to thicken it. Add seasonings to desired taste. It seems as though a little salt goes a long way in this sauce so use caution--more can always be added later. Simmer sauce for several hours to let all the flavors meld together. Serve as is or use to make Meat Sauce. Extras can be frozen.

*The tomatoes can be seeded if you are worried about bitterness from the seeds.

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Meat Sauce
from Sparky
Print Recipe

marinara sauce (homemade or purchased)
1 lb hamburger
1 lb Italian sausage
garlic powder
onion powder
Italian seasoning
basil
oregano

Cook hamburger and Italian sausage in pan with seasonings. Once cooked add to Marinara Sauce and server over spaghetti squash or favorite pasta.

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How to cook Spaghetti Squash
from Sparky
Print Recipe

Wash spaghetti squash. Puncture with a knife or fork six to seven times. Place in a large pot. Cover with water. The squash will float in the water, that is okay. Cover the pan with lid. Place on stove and bring to boil. Boil for 20 minutes or until fork can be inserted with little resistance.

OR

Wash and puncture the squash. Place in a Crock-Pot with 1/4 cup water. Cook on low for 4-6 hours depending on the size of the squash.

Once cooked, cut ends off the squash. Cut in half. Remove seeds, and shred. Place the "spaghetti strands" into a bowl. Serve with Marinara/Meat Sauce or butter and salt and pepper. Extras can be frozen.

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Garlic Bread
from Sparky
Print Recipe

1 loaf french bread or baguette*
olive oil
roasted garlic

Turn oven on to broil. Slice french bread or baguette as desired and place on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven. Broil for 5 minutes or until lightly browned and crusty. Remove from oven and serve with roasted garlic cloves. (Heat the cloves before serving then spread on bread.)

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Everything was delicious and made for a wonderful early dinner.