AwesomeBites

Category: Thanksgiving

  • T.R.Thompson’s World’s Greatest Mexican Cornbread

    T.R.Thompson’s World’s Greatest Mexican Cornbread


    T.R.Thompson’s World’s Greatest Mexican Cornbread

    3 packs              Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

    1 cup                frozen onion

    3                      eggs, beaten

    1/3 cup             vegetable oil

    1/3 cup             milk

    1 lb                   bacon (cooked, crumbled)

    2 cups              shredded sharp cheddar cheese

    1 can               cream style corn

    1/2 cup             jalapeno peppers (diced)

    Mix

    Spray non-stick oil into two round cake pans.

    Pour into pans.

    Bake 400° for 55 minutes

                    or

    Spray non-stick oil into two large muffin pans.

    Pour mix into pans.

    Bake 400° for 30minutes.

    Makes 12 large muffins, easy to freeze and re-heat.

  • Artesian Apple Pie

    Artesian Apple Pie

    I love pie.  Spice apple pie. Pie al mode.  Pie with cinnamon and spice that leaves a trail throughout the house.

    During thanksgiving, I am usually out of pie pans, and so this artesian pie you can make with out a pan. I used my large casserole dish, but you can use a cookie sheet.  This baby has 6 large peeled and sliced Green apples, 1/8 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp garam masala.  Mix all your spices and flour and add to the green apples with lemon juice.

    Double the pie crust recipe on this site and roll out the dough.  I like to use a large cutting board and roll the dough onto the parchment paper so it easy to lift later. 

    Once your dough is rolled into one large round, place the pie filling in a mound in the center. Grab the edges of your parchment and place into the casserole dish.  (The dish should be sprayed with pam for easy removal later.) 

    Dab butter on top of the pie, brush with egg wash and she is oven ready.  Bake at 375 for 60 to 75 minutes or until golden brown. 

  • Turkey en Croute

    Turkey en Croute

     

    Puff Pastry 6 sheets (3 frozen packs)
    Egg wash

    Whole Turkey
    Salt & Pepper
    Rosemary

    Whole Garlic

    2 lemons cut into wedges

    Oven proof tray just large enough to hold the bird. I prefer an oval stainless serving platter.

    Wash turkey.
    Season with herbs, salt and pepper.  Place a handful of garlic and the lemon slices

    into the cavity of the bird.

    Bake according to package directions for unstuffed bird.

    45 minutes before bird is done, prepare your puff pastry.
    Use 4 sheets and seam together using egg wash and a fork.  I hide these seams using braids I make from the remaining sheets of puff pastry. 
    Make braids, leaves, or bows.

    As soon as your puff pastry is ready, remove bird from oven. 

    Remove the bird from the original roasting pan and place on a smaller oven proof serving tray. I use an oval stainless tray.  This gives the puff pastry a nice shape.
    Seal the puff pastry around the oven proof serving tray.

    Brush the egg wash all over the pastry so it will brown evenly.  Quickly get the bird back into the oven because the heat from the bird will start to cook the pastry and make it slide off the bird if you are not fast.

    When placing the puff pastry covered bird back into the oven, if you are using the bottom rack, place a cookie sheet down first to keep the puff pastry from getting too close to the flame or heat element, you could burn it.  

    When the puff pastry is nicely brown, the turkey is done, appoximately 45-60 minutes.

    Remove from oven and place tray onto a larger serving tray and garnish with roast garlic and vegetables or parsley or oranges and rosemary sprigs.

    Ask one of your guests to carve the turkey for you. 

  • Brussel Sprouts with Carmelized Shallots

    Brussel Sprouts with Carmelized Shallots

    Brussel Sprouts with Carmelized Shallots

    6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, divided

    • 1/2 pound shallots, thinly sliced
    • Coarse kosher salt
    • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
    • 4 teaspoons sugar
    • 1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed
    • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1 cup water

    Preparation

    Melt 3 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Sauté until soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar. Stir until brown and glazed, about 3 minutes.

    Halve brussels sprouts lengthwise. Cut lengthwise into thin (1/8-inch) slices. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sprouts; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until brown at edges, 6 minutes. Add 1 cup water and 3 tablespoons butter. Sauté until most of water evaporates and sprouts are tender but still bright green, 3 minutes. Add shallots; season with salt and pepper.

  • Decorating – Thanksgiving

    Decorating – Thanksgiving

    Nephew Matt's Green Bean Casserole
    Roasted Sweet Potatoes with a dash of nutmeg

     

    Thanksgiving Table

     

    Looks so pretty!
    Happy Thanksgiving Turkey! Place Markers, how sweet!
    Glinda my little decorator trying to steal the show.
    Apple Pie and coffee for the hostess after everyone has gone.
    The Dessert Buffet Table
    Pumpkin and Apple all decorated pretty.
    Buffet Table – Dinner rolls

    Army of Turkeys
  • Turkeys, Turkeys, and more Turkeys

    Turkeys, Turkeys, and more Turkeys

    My daughter Denny, family friend Colleen and I spent the evening with a bunch of Turkeys! 

    Army of Turkeys

    Well, it didn’t start out that way.  After heading to the store and buying

    Peanut Butter Cups

    Double Stuffed Oreos

    Whoppers

    Pumpkin Seeds or Candy Corn

    Pretzel Sticks or Candy Corn

    Chocolate Cookie Icing

    Red Icing

    Yellow Icing

    We proceeded to assemble a bunch of turkeys for our Thanksgiving table.

    Happy Thanksgiving Turkey!

    The only problem encountered while making these little devils was the extra broken pieces, of course, they were quickly consumed, accidents happen!  

    Step One:

    Push the pretzels (or candy corn) into the Double Stuffed Oreo.

    Step Two:

    Using the chocolate icing as glue, adhere the bottom Oreo to the Oreo you pretzeled.

    Step Three:

    Shave off one of the sides of the Peanut Butter Cup. (Use the chocolate icing as glue to adhere the chocolate piece to the oreo back and bottom.

    Step Four:  With the Turkey laying on his back, adhere the head – the whopper –  to the oreo.

    Step Five:  Cut the pumpkin seeds or you can use the white part of candy corn and chocolate glue to the head.

    Let the turkeys dry overnight.

    Step Six:  Using the red icing, pipe a little red under the beak of the turkey.

    Step Seven:  Pipe yellow dots for eyes and use a chocolate or red dot for eye centers.

    Step Eight:  Pipe yellow feet.

    This little guy has an attitude!

    You’re done!    You have turkeys for your table to use as Place markers, just add a label on a toothpick with someone’s name or decorate the center of your table with them  They are so cute! 

    Turkeys out for a trot.
    Talking Turkey

  • Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Butternut Squash or Beets

    Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Butternut Squash or Beets

    My daughter needed a pot luck item for a Thankgiving dinner tonight with about 19 friends.  She loves sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed them, roasted in a 400 degree oven on a cookie sheet.  I find that about 3 sweet potatoes will fit per cookie sheet.  Keep them in a single layer, they will brown nicely and not get mushy.  (I also love Butternut Squash and/or Beets roasted in this same way.)

    Roasted Sweet Potatoes with a dash of nutmeg

    Make sure you use a little olive oil so they do not stick.  After 45 minutes, they will be perfect.  Salt and pepper to taste and I always like to add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg.

    Perfectly yummy!

    Simple Sweet Potatoes – Oven Roasted
  • Roast Turkey – It is not just for Thanksgiving!!

    Roast Turkey – It is not just for Thanksgiving!!

    It is nearing Thanksgiving and once again I overhear people nervously confess they have never cooked a turkey.  Their concerns?  It will be dry, or worse yet not cooked. Stop over thinking it.  

    I love turkey sandwiches and while at Costco yesterday, I was going to buy some sliced turkey, but wow, for the price I could purchase a whole turkey – so I did. 

    I’ve been roasting turkey since I was a teenager. My parents divorced and to help my Dad, I was in the kitchen.  I loved those days of making the dressing while the turkey was in the oven.   Cook with your kids, they will remember it forever. I have wonderful memories of meal times, large table, big platters of food, the unbelievable smells and of course many smiling faces chatting around the table.

    Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the bird, I always figure if I am going to cook a turkey, I like the largest turkey that will fit in the oven.  One year I purchased a 26 going on 27 pounds. Well, that was a bit big.  I actually had a hard time fitting it in my pan, my oven, and it was very difficult to hoist into and out of the oven.  Stick with what you can lift, but don’t buy anything less than 12 pounds.

    You may think that is a lot of turkey, but with sandwiches and the freezer being nearby, just cook the whole turkey.

    This fresh young turkey – that’s what it said on the package – is a little over 19 pounds.  I brought it home, washed the outside and inside out removing those extra parts.  You know there is a big resurgance in using the internal organs, but I just toss them.  I keep the neck and carcass and freeze in a ziplock until I am ready to make soup. 

    For you, my friend Denise, take that plastic thing out of the turkey.  And, there can be extra stuff in the neck as well as the body cavity. You need to do a full body search removing everything, then was the turkey inside and out, and then you are  ready for the next step.

    Pat the turkey dry and set it on you roasting pan.   At the moment it should look very, very white.  Soon to be gorgeous and irresistable.  Notice: I didn’t brine it or go thru any other work. I don’t think turkey needs to be brined and I am not going to baste it either. The oven is my friend and it should be yours too! 

    Using olive oil I rub the turkey all over and sprinkle salt and pepper liberally over the turkey.

    At this point, you can add rosemary or thyme.  But, it is not necessary. 

    Using aluminum foil, cover the entire bird. Crinkle it up, sealing the tent around the roasting pan.  If your foil is smaller then the pan, put two pieces of foil together and seal it up.   Put it into your 350 degree oven. 

    My 19 pounder took about 3.5 hours to cook.  One hour before the turkey is scheduled to be done, take off the tent and place it back into the oven for the remaining hour.  Your turkey will brown nicely over the next hour.

    Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.  (I use my foil again to cover the turkey loosely.)

    Hot Turkey Croissant Sandwich anyone?