Thanksgiving Recipes Link Listing

Hai webbernets! I’m sorry it’s been so long. There is actually a reason I’ve quit posting besides laziness in general, but I’ll post about it later and for now go back to ignoring you after this post.

This is a list of links for my standard Thanksgiving Day recipes.
I’ve been talking about cooking to a lot of people at work and it’s easier to have it all listed in one place I can point people to easily.

First, the turkey. We brine our turkey.
I use these instructions for brine and cooking:
http://blog.makezine.com/craft/thanksgiving_feast_how-to_brin/
I don’t use ice for the brine, I just use total amount of water and make it ahead (Sunday or Monday night, allow to cool on stove and refrigerate), then throw the turkey in when we get it on Tuesday.
I will note with brining that you can’t really use the drippings for gravy without being way too salty. You may want to consider this if you don’t care about the turkey as much as you do the gravy.
I use stock for my gravy, no giblets (cause eeeww). I do use some of the drippings and consider that my seasoning, and then throw in some flour and bam! gravy.

Cranberry sauce:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-sauce/
This is close enough to what I do, it’s not rocket surgery. I always throw in some random amounts of cinnamon or nutmeg as well, to taste. We like it pretty tart, and if you cook it ahead by two days it should gel up enough on its own, no pectin or gelatin needed.

The Dressing/Stuffing:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/sausage-brioche-dressing-recipe/index.html
I don’t buy Brioche for this however, I make it using this recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brioche-Dough-103412
Then I split it into two small bread loaf pans, let it rise 2 hours, and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.
I usually make this on Sunday, so I can cube it on Monday or Tuesday, and if it’s not dried out/stale enough on Wednesday I throw it in the oven on low for a hour or so to finish that up.
The sausage we use is a Country Sausage from our local meat market, ’cause YUM.

Sweet Potato Souffle and Broccoli Casserole:
http://soapturtle.net/blog/?p=332
I’ve posted my family recipes on this ages ago, so here’s that link.
This year I am taking the broccoli and cooking it the oven and using cream of chicken soup instead of cream of celery or brocoli.
The original recipe on this called for cream of mushroom, but I’ve hated mushrooms always, so much so my Mother couldn’t slip this past me.
The sweet potato souffle recipe is perfect and I don’t ever change it.

Key Lime Pie:
http://www.keylimejuice.com/recipes/nellie-joes-key-lime-pie.htm
I use a spring-form pan for this and make a graham cracker crust using whatever instructions are on the box of crumbs, which are basically, add some melted butter, mix and smoosh around and form it how you want it, throw in oven to harden.
Sometimes, I melt chocolate and cover the bottom of the crust in that and let it harden. Sometimes I don’t. It’s really good without it so it’s not needed for a good pie.
The rest of the pie is according to recipe, and then I generally top with meringue cause I don’t like wasting the egg whites, and if I set them aside to use later I always forget about them.

We don’t do bread/rolls. Not sure why, guess we just haven’t felt a need for it. We won’t be doing them again this year. :)

Beverage wise, I always make sweet tea, this year will probably be Ginger-Peach iced tea, because we both like it. There’s always beer, and sometimes we make Sangria, but usually that’s a Christmas or New Year’s thing.
I’ll probably also make some deviled eggs because shmoo loves them, and maybe some celery, carrots, and ranch dressing to snack on for pre-dinner football.

The Sangria Recipe is here:
http://soapturtle.net/blog/?p=284
It was originally posted on The Elk Run site but it kept getting moved or taken down, and so I duplicated it here a few years back.
You don’t have to use Sweet Katherine for your Sangria but it’s really something special if you do.

And that’s it. Our Thanksgiving (and several days after) eats in a list of links and comments.
If you end up making any of it, do let me know what you thought of it. :)

~Laura

Adding to make for Thanksgiving 2013:
Rae’s Green Bean Casserole http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/green-bean-casserole-recipe/index.html

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