Turkey Day Game Plan!!!!!!

Thanksgiving is awesome! But it is very stressful getting everything done and on the table.  Here's a game plan to get you through.

First, getting the meal prepared should be part of the festivities and everyone should be involved, including the kids and the men.  The kitchen should be full of people and telling stories and tasting and craziness.  Mistakes will happen and will become the talk of next year's event.  One year, I mistakenly put salt instead of sugar in the pumpkin pie filling - it was disgusting!

Second, I firmly believe in asking people to bring a dish.  A good guest will offer and will ask what they can bring.  Tell them exactly what they can bring.  Don't ask what they want to bring.  Say, "Thank you.  Would you bring the dinner rolls?"  But then you have to be OK with them bringing something store-bought or different than how you make it.  If you really, truly don't need anything for the big meal, then ask people to bring appetizers or wine or a centerpiece.  Everyone loves to feel like they are contributing.

When someone arrives and asks "What can I do to help."  Tell them what they can do to help - chop, mash, stir.  There is plenty to do and people want to help - they really do.

Third, plan on simple dinners during the week before the big day.  Take-out is your friend.  Pizza, Chinese.  Or have "snack" dinners - crackers, cheese and apples/grapes.

Here's the game plan:

Saturday, clean out the fridge.  Then go shopping and fill it back up again.  You'll probably forget something at the store so be prepared to have to go back during the week.  But under no circumstances go to the store on Thanksgiving.  If you don't have something, muddle through.  Employees deserve to be home with their friends and family; boycotting stores on Thanksgiving makes a good statement.

Sunday make the cranberry sauce.  Either process in mason jars and store in the pantry or pour into molds and put in the fridge.  Older kids can help stir the berries and pour into molds. 

Monday do nothing.  Really, don't cook or bake anything!  Order take-out.

Tuesday make the candied yams.  Candied yams should really sit for a couple of days in the fridge to let all the flavors mingle.  My dad makes this dish based on my great grandma's recipe.  Put the frozen turkey in the brine.  (Remove the giblets and put in the fridge.)  Use a very large bucket, with a lid.  Brine in cold water mixed with 1/3 cup salt and 8 cups buttermilk.  Keep cold until Thursday - in the fridge if you have space or in a large cooler with ice around the bucket (add more as needed). 

Wednesday we start getting serious.  We make the jello salad, stuffing, green beans and pie crust dough.  At our house, my daughter, who is 11 yrs old, makes the jello salad, my mom makes the stuffing and I make the green beans and pumpkin pie.  The jello salad is my great aunt's recipe and a staple at our table.

Thursday play by play:
8:00am have a big, healthy breakfast and shower.
9:00am make the potato roll dough and let rise for the first time.
9:30am remove the turkey from the brine.  Pat it down with a paper towel.  Rub butter all over.  Stuff the cavities and place in oven se ta 350 F (this is for a 16 lb turkey and to eat around 3pm - turkey cooking chart)  Put the rest of the stuffing in a casserole dish and set aside.

10:30am have your husband, dad, partner or child peal the potatoes while you sit, read the news paper and have coffee, a mimosa or Bloody Mary.  Seriously, chill for 30 minutes.

11am have your husband, dad, partner or child boil the potatoes, mash and place in a buttered crockpot on "keep warm."  You punch down the roll dough and let rise again.
12:00 put out a tray of store-bought, pre-cut veggies, apple slices, humus dip and crackers.  Get the green beans and candied yams out of the fridge and set near stove, along with the stuffing, to bring to room temperature.
12:30  Boil the giblets with 1/2 diced onion and 2 ribs diced celery.  When done, strain and set meat, veggies aside.  Ask someone else set the table.  Have your husband, dad, partner or child grease the muffin tins in preparation for the rolls.

Take a break!!  Eat some snacks.  Have a glass of wine or beer.  Watch football or take a walk or play a game with the kids. Seriously, enjoy some time with your family and friends.

1:30pm Back to work.  Form the rolls in the muffin tins and set out to rise the 3rd time.  Make the pumpkin pie filling, roll out the crust and pour in the filling (set in fridge).

2:30pm check the turkey temperature - it needs to be 165 F.  Take the turkey out of the oven and set under a foil tent to rest.  Up the oven temp to 400 F and put the rolls in.  Also put in the green beans, stuffing and candied yams (if there is room).  Alternatively, use the microwave to warm up the side dishes (make your husband, dad, partner or child do this while you make the gravy). 

Make the gravy.  Pour the turkey drippings into a large deep frying pan.  Put the boiled giblets and veggies into a blender (remove the neck meat from the bone, discard the bone).  Add 3 cups of water to blender and puree.  Add 1/4 cup butter to frying pan, when melted, add 1/4 cup flour.  Stir with a whisk for 2 minutes.  Pour in blended meat and simmer until desired consistency.  Remove from heat, add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/4 tsp pepper - taste and adjust seasoning.  

2:45pm take the rolls out.  Have your husband, dad, partner or child butter the top of the rolls. Then put the rolls into a basket with a towel over to keep warm. Have your husband, dad, partner to scoop the mashed potatoes from the crockpot into a serving dish, put the cranberry sauce onto a serving plate, and pour gravy into a serving dish

2:55pm take out the green beans, stuffing and candied yams.  Drop the oven temp down to 350 F and put in the pumpkin pies.  

3:00pm ask your husband, dad or partner to carve the turkey and have everyone (including guests) help place all food on the table.  We don't put the food on the table.  We put the food on the counter and people serve themselves - it's just easier.

Enjoy dinner!

4:00pm check on the pie and take it out if it's done.  Let it cool for a half hour, while you enjoy wine and chatting with your family and friends.  We take take a walk around the neighborhood while the pie cools.
4:30pm have desert and coffee or more wine.

Make everyone help clean up! Kids can clear the table.  Adults can put leftovers into tupperwear. (Tip - have guests bring their own tupperwear to take home leftovers.) Load what can go into the dishwasher and run it.  Rinse special dishes and set aside - make someone else wash these later or even tomorrow morning (it is OK to leave the kitchen a bit of a mess until the next day).

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #8: Potato Rolls

There is one thing that you make that everyone raves about.  It's the thing you are always asked to bring.  It's the first thing to get devoured.  My "thing" is potato rolls.  The problem is that my "thing" takes an entire day to make.  So I only make them on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The recipe comes from my Grandma Charlotte Emigh.  She developed this bread recipe because she doesn't like bread that has a strong yeast taste.  The recipe does use yeast, but the end result is mild.

If you are going to make these, you need to start early on Thanksgiving day.  I usually start around 9am if we are planning on eating 3pm-ish.  And don't skimp on any step.  If you try to go with 2 rises instead of 3 rises, the result will not be as good (trust me, I've tried to speed it up and skip a tise - bad.)  If you are going to make these, do it right :-)


Grandma's Potato Rolls (makes 2 dozen)
1 1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast (one packet)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup warm potatoes*
7 cup unbleached white flour (or more)

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Let it proof for 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a very large glass mixing bowl, combine salt, shortening, eggs and potatoes together.  Stir in the yeast mixture.

Mix in 5 cups of flour by hand (yes, with your hands).  Keep adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until it forms a ball that is not sticky and ready to knead.  Your hands will be a mess.  I ask my husband to add the flour while I keep mixing.

Flour a surface and knead the dough until it's smooth an elastic - adding flour as you need to.  It takes 5 - 10 minutes of work.  Consider this your exercise for the day.

While you are kneading the bread, have your husband, partner or child wash and dry the large glass bowl.  Then have them use shortening to grease the inside of the bowl.  When the dough is nice and smooth, form it into a ball and place in the greased bowl.  Use the shortening to grease the top of the dough.  Please a damp dish towel over and set in a warm location to rise.

When the dough has doubled in size (1-1 1/2 hours). Punch it down, put the towel back over and let rise again.  When it has doubled in size again (1 1/2 hours), prepare the muffin tin.  Use shortening to grease the inside of each muffin tin (don't use liners and don't use olive oil or butter - use shortening - I'm not kidding, use shortening).

Form the rolls by making three small balls of dough per muffin.  This will make them easy to tear apart and dip in gravy.  When all the rolls are formed, take pieces of parchment paper, spray one side with cooking spray and place, oil side down, over the dough.  Let the rolls rise again.  (Yep, that's rise number 3.)

When the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 400 F.  Bake for 15 minutes, watching closely. Take out when turning golden on top.  Apply butter to the top of each roll as they come out of the oven, then let cool for 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.  Put right into a towel lined basket, cover with a towel and set right onto the table.  These are best served right away.

*The only way to speed it up that won't impact the end result, it to go with dried potato flakes instead of baking a potato.  Follow the instructions on the back for making one cup of potatoes.  I've done both dried and fresh and you really cannot tell the difference when the rolls are baked.*

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #7: Jello Salad

Last night I met with some ladies for a pre-holiday drink.  And a major topic of discussion was the upcoming Thanksgiving meal.  Turned out that all of us have mid-western roots.  My family comes from Ohio.  So we were all commiserating about the infamous casseroles and "salads" that have been passed down.

Lora's family boasts a "coke salad" which is jello made with coca-cola.  Sara's family does an ambrosia with maricino cherries, whip cream and pineapple chunks in jello.  We were musing about how jello became salad.  Maybe it goes back to WWII when it was harder to get fresh food?  Whatever the reason we all agreed that while the jello salads are strange, they are part of our Thanksgiving meals and secretly we love them?

My family's jello salad is a green jello with cottage cheese, condensed milk and, you guest it, pineapple chunks.  It comes from a woman named Rose Anderson who was a close friend of my Grandma's and a surrogate aunt to my mom and her sisters.  And we make it as part of Thanksgiving dinner ever year.

Since it's pretty easy to make, last year my daughter took over making this dish.  She helps with other things, like kneading the potato rolls, but the jello salad is all hers now.

Jello Salad
2 small packages lime jello
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 small container cottage cheese
1 small can drained, crushed pineapple
1/2 cup mayo
1 small can condensed milk

Mix jello, water, sugar and pineapple juice.  Allow to sit until just soft, but not set.  Mix in the remaining ingredients.  Chill in fridge until set.

You can make this up to two days ahead of Thanksgiving.  Keep it well covered in the fridge.

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #6: Pumpkin Pie

Ok, I have a huge admission to make here.  Even though I make lots statements about cooking from scratch, there is one thing I just can't get right and thus I buy pre-made every time.  And that is ... pie crust.

Stop laughing.  Pie crust is hard to get right.

My mom can do it.  Her crust comes out nice and flaky.  Mine shrinks, get's thick, doesn't cook all the way through or burns.  It's too wet, too greasy, too dry.  It's never right.  So I buy Pillsbury, pre-made, refrigerator pie crust.  And worse yet, I let people believe that it's completely homemade.  Little white lie.

Therefore this installment of "traditional, homemade Thanksgiving dinner" is just about the pie filling.  If you want a good pie crust recipe, talk with my mom.  Or cheat like I do and just keep quiet about it.

Pumpkin Pie makes 2 pies
4 eggs
5 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground colves
3 1/3 cup canned milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Beat eggs then stir in pumpkin.  Add dry ingredients.  Add milk and stir thoroughly.  Pour into two pie crusts.  Bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean.  Let cool 15 minutes before cutting.

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #5: Candied Yams

Candied yams get two responses at my house - "Another helping please!" And "Keep that stuff away from my plate!"  I'm not kidding.  Either you love it or you hate it.  I'm in the love it camp.  In fact, I like there to be extras so I can have it for breakfast the next morning ... followed by a slice of pie.  This recipe is for about 8 side-dish-sized servings.  You can always substitute sweet potatoes for yams.

Candied Yams
3 lbs yams, peeled and cubed
1 apple
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup real maple syrup
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions
In a large pot, bring salted water to boil.  Add yams and simmer 15 minutes.  Drain.  Meanwhile, peel and chop the apple.  Mix the apple with all the remaining ingredients.  Add the yams and mix using a fork to gently mash up some of the yams.  Leave it pretty lumpy.  Scoop into a greased casserole dish and bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.  You can make this (without the topping) a day ahead of time - the flavors actually get better after 24 hours of mingling.

Optional topping:  I think this dish is plenty sweet as it is.  Plus I don't like marshmallows, unless I'm charring them over an open flame and consuming with graham crackers and chocolate.  But if you love a marshmallow top then here are the rest of the ingredients and directions.  Add the topping the day of to make it look pretty.

1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tablespoons finely chopped pecans

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and butter with fingers.  After the yams have baked for 15 minutes, removed from oven and sprinkle with the marshmallows, flour/sugar/salt/butter mix and the pecans.  Put back in oven for 15 more minutes or until the topping is light golden brown.

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #4: Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are one of the more simple side dishes to make.  However, it seems like people can really mess up the tatters.  So here are my suggestions for nice, fluffy, flavorful potatoes:

1.  Use Yukon Gold potatoes because they make better mashed potatoes then Russet or reds.
2.  Use 5 lbs of potatoes for 10 people.  Mashed potatoes aren't great as leftovers, so don't go overboard on the amount.  Half that amount for a smaller crowd - then also half the amount of ingredients in #6.
3.  Peel and quarter putting them into the large stockpot full of salted water as you go.  This will prevent browning.
4.  Boil.  It's much faster than baking.
5.  Do not use a hand mixer, blender or food processor to mash.  The number one thing that ruins mashed potatoes is over working.  It turns the starches into glue and makes the potatoes sticky.  Use a ricer if you like yours very fluffy and a potato masher if you like them with some chunks (I like the chunks).
6.  After the potatoes are mashed, fold in flavor.  Add 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter (cut up), 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup milk.  You can add more milk to change the consistency, but don't over dampen or the potatoes will get soupy.
7.  Make the mashed potatoes early in the day and keep warm in a crockpot.  Rub the sides of the crock with butter and use the lowest setting.  I have a new-ish crockpot that has a "keep warm" setting.
8.  Scoop into a nice serving dish for dinner and sprinkle with chives.

Other flavorful additions: 1 teaspoon each parsley, oregano, thyme and rosemary or 1/4 cup ranch salad dressing (reduce the sour cream to 1/4 cup).

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #3 - Stuffing (aka Dressing)

This is one of those Thanksgiving side dishes that I can't see why people don't make from scratch.  Seriously, it's bread, some veggies and herbs.  No need for those boxed versions.  Here is how you do it.

First you need stale bread or "day old" bread.  At our house no one likes the heals of the loaf.  So I stick the heals in the freezer in a bag and keep until Thanksgiving.  We do this with hamburger buns, hoagie rolls - any leftover breads go into the freezer.  But you can go to the bakery section of any grocery store and ask for day old bread - bonus, you'll get a loaf at a reduced price (usually 1/2 off).  Get two loaves.  I recommend a really nice bread with no preservatives or strange chemicals.

Yum - 7 ingredients

Preheat your oven's broiler.  Place a single layer of slices of bread on a cookie sheet with no oil or butter - just dry bread.  Toast on one side, flip and toast on the other side.  Repeat until all the slices are toasted.  You'll need to keep an eye on the bread in the oven, it will go from perfectly brown to horribly chard in a matter of seconds.

When the toast is cool enough, break it into bit sized pieces and put in a large bowl.

Chop up one sweet onion and four celery stalks.  You can use more or less depending on your preferences.  Toss the veggies into the bowl with the bread.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth (or water) and 1/4 olive oil or melted butter.  Stir.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (available at the grocery store).  Stir.  Taste.

Now it's all up to you. I like my stuffing moist, so I'd add more broth/water and olive oil or butter.  Add 1/4 cup liquid and 1 Tablespoon oil at a time until it looks right.  I also like more flavor, so I'd probably add more poultry seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon at a time.  Tasting often (my favorite part).  

Other yummy additions - chopped apples, dried cranberries, dried currants, cooked sausage.  Most families have their favorite.

You can make the stuffing, up to this point, a day a head of time (Wednesday).  It needs to be stored in the fridge, covered to keep the moisture in.

Then bake it.  Officially you aren't suppose to stuff the bird.  I don't care.  Nothing is better than the stuffing that comes from inside a roasted turkey.  We use a good thermometer to make sure everything gets hot enough.  We always make a huge batch of stuffing, so half of it ends up in a casserole dish.  Bake at 350 F, with the lid on the dish, for 25 minutes and with lid off for an addition 10 minutes to brown up the top.

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #2 - Cranberry Sauce

One of the nice things about making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner is that you can make it way ahead of time.  Like tomorrow on Veteran's Day.

My cranberry sauce is the kind that you pour into a mold.  If you spray the mold with olive oil before pouring in the sauce, when it's cooled you can easily remove the cranberry sauce for display on dinner table.  I however, do not use a mold.  I pour my cranberry sauce right into prepared mason jars.

I've posted the cranberry sauce recipe before.  It's here.  So, instead of repeating the recipe, I'm going to share some cranberry facts with you:

• Cranberries are grown here in the U.S. in Washington (my home state), Oregon (where I'm employed), Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New Jersey.  BC and Quebec also produce cranberries.
• Cranberries don't grown in water.  They grow on vines in marshes and bogs.  When the fruit is ripe, the marshes are flooded and the berries float making them easier to harvest.
• Americans will consume about 80 millions pounds of cranberries this Thanksgiving.  That's a lot of cranberries!
• Only blueberries top cranberries in the amount of antioxidants per cup.  Cranberries are also a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, beta carotene, lutein, zea-xanthin, folate, potassium and manganese.
  
  
  
  

Traditional, Homemade Thanksgiving Dinner - Installment #1 - Green Beans

Being the first installment, I'm going to take a minute to explain a few things.  1) I really, really dislike that Thanksgiving is overlooked and people move right on to Christmas Nov. 1st.  I love me some Christmas, but it can wait it's turn and give Turkey Day its due!  2)  I'm a huge traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner.  I require the same homemade dishes I've eaten since I could mouth some mashed potatoes. 3) I believe, if you are going to only make one meal entirely for scratch during the whole year, make it Thanksgiving dinner!

Over the next week or so I'm going to share our Thanksgiving dinner dishes.  Plus some tips for how to take some of the stress out of cooking all that food.  On to the food.

Installment #1 is green bean casserole.  I love thick, creamy green bean casserole.  But I hate cream-of-crap soup and French's fried onions.  So, over the years I've created a completely homemade recipe that tastes just like the version I grew up with but way better for you.

Green Bean Casserole
Makes 8 dish-side-sized servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
2 T butter
1 T olive oil or non-GMO canola oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
Handful french fried onions

Instructions
Cut green beans into bite-sized pieces.  Bring a big pot of water to boil.  Add the green beans and cook 3 minutes.  Drain and rinse in cold water.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Melt butter in a large, thick bottom sauce pan over medium heat.  Add oil. Add diced onions and saute until opaque.  Whisk in flour until damp.  Slowly add milk while whisking.  Cook, stirring until thickened - about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in buttermilk, salt and pepper.  Fold in the green beans.

Scoop into a greased casserole dish.  Sprinkle with the french fried onions.  Cover and bake for 25 minutes.

Tips:  Make the french fried onions up to 2 days ahead of time.  Store in the fridge in a plastic bag with a paper towel folded up inside with the onions.  The onions won't be crunchy after being in the fridge, but you are going to bake them anyway and they will get soft, so it won't matter.  (Those store-bought brands stay crunchy due to preservatives and partially hydrogenated soybean/palm oil.  So bad for you!)

Yes, you can use canned green beans instead of fresh.  Use 3 store-bought cans.  I can, in a pressure canned, beans from my garden - a mix of green and wax beans.  I use 4 pints of my beans.  Fresh do taste a bit better, but fresh beans are not in season in November so I'm OK sacrificing a little flavor/crispness for local, organic beans.  It's up to you.

This dish gets better when it sits and the flavors blend.  You can make the beans early on Thanksgiving day and just warm back up in the microwave right before dinner.

11/16/16 Update - I highly recommend making a double batch of the french fried onions. My daughter and I eat the first batch as soon as they are cool, while they are still crunch.  They are way better than onion rings from the fast food restaurant.