Monday, November 16, 2009

#74 Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, we are going to be a relatively [no pun intended] small group for Thanksgiving. Besides my candy corn fix at Halloween, my next favorite food fix is stuffing and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.
This year, I am having my folks, my sister, her husband, my niece and nephew, an aunt and an uncle and my cousin [Annie, the famous author of OBSOLETE]. That makes for 13 of us, which is a nice number, and one that my round dining room table can hold comfortably.

In this babble, I'm going to share my Thanksgiving menu. After my last posting, Passionless in the Kitchen, I received a number of emails, phone calls, and comments about my cooking. Thank goodness, I continue to be my worst critic. So then, below you will find what I plan to serve [with my mom's help] for our holiday meal.

Pumpkin Soup [but of course!!!]
this recipe feeds 20

2 large onions halved
1/2 cup margarine
1 tsp curry powder [spicy and more if you prefer]
4 cups canned pumpkin [not pumpkin pie filling]
3 tsp salt [start with 1 tsp and work your way up as needed for taste]
4 cups of 2% milk (can use cream, half and half ) [My lactose-intolerant friend recommends soy milk. Since I've never used soy milk, I can't guarantee the outcome)
5 cups chicken broth

Saute onion in butter or margarine until limp
Sprinkle with curry powder
Process pumpkin, onions and salt [don't make it too fine]
Pour into pot
Cook very slowly for 1 hour
Serve hot

Parmesan-Butternut Squash Gratin
this recipe feeds 6

1 butternut squash [2 1/2 lbs]
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat oven to 375F. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Peel, halve lengthwise and seed squash; cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange with slices overlapping slightly in baking dish.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Add garlic; cook 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until garlic is soft and butter is infused with garlic flavor. Do not let butter brown.

In small bowl, mix bread crumbs, cheese and 1 tablespoon of the butter-garlic mixture. Brush squash slices with remaining butter-garlic mixture. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and bread crumb mixture.

Bake uncovered 30 to 40 minutes or until squash is tender when pierced with fork. Increase oven temperature to 425F, bake 5-10 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Before serving, sprinkle parsley over top.

Garlic Sauteed String beans [I grew up with, and love, the string bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup and fried onions, but it's not as healthy as this, and truthfully, my kids prefer this to that].

Fresh string beans
Boil until al dente
Throw into wok with olive oil and minced garlic Wok for about 10 minutes stirring quickly [do this close to serving time]
Let sit for a few before serving

Sweet Potato Marshmallow Casserole [not so healthy, but yummy]
this recipe feeds 6

5 med. sweet potatoes (peeled, cooked and mashed)
1/3 c. milk
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. miniature marshmallows

Combine all ingredients except marshmallows, mixing well. Spoon into a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole.
Cover and bake at 375°F. for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with marshmallows and bake another 5 minutes.

Turkey with Stuffing

I am very traditional about my turkey and stuffing. I add mushrooms, celery, salt and pepper to Pepperidge Farm stuffing, and follow the directions on the bag. That's it. Once everything is mixed together, inside the bird it goes. Of course, all of it can't go into the bird, so after the turkey is cooked, the stuffing is removed and placed on top of the non-bird cooked stuffing and into the oven it goes to steal some of the juices and flavor from the stuffed stuffing. About gravy... I've never made it. My mom always does that part, but I know it involves taking the innards of the turkey [neck and other parts], cooking them on the stove top for awhile in water, cutting and mixing them with left over cooked turkey juices, adding some flour and maybe some water and heating and stirring so the gravy isn't lumpy. Not sure about the rest - she hasn't answered my email [she's probably playing mahjong] and I want to post this evening.

Cranberry sauce

From the can. My favorite part of the whole dinner. Just kidding, but I love this stuff and pretty much only eat it on this holiday.

Desserts
My wonderful sister, who is a very good and talented baker, will be bringing desserts this year. She did tell me that one of the desserts she's making are sugar cookies in the shape of a triangle, with the cookie batter dyed to orange and the tip dipped in vanilla frosting. Can anyone guess what these look like? I'll give you a hint.... it's my Halloween candy nemesis!

HAPPPY THANKSGIVING

Quote of the Day: As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." John F. Kennedy

9 comments:

Chris H said...

Your dinner sounds nice! Well except for the pumpkin soup (I can't eat pumpkin, it makes me throw up!)... and the butternut squash.. it's like pumpkin eh? LOL
Oh and the sweet potatoe... we call that Kumera here.. dont like that either! I am obviously TOO FUSSY.... sweet potatoe is a VEGETABLE here... never a dessert! So you are lucky I'm not coming ... cos I would have to eat more than my share of that delicious looking turkey!

Chris H said...

LOL! I love the beans mate.. I DO EAT VEGES! My favourites are peas and brussell sprouts!

Anonymous said...

This sounds WONDERFUL!! I wish I was coming over. There are some great recipes here!!

Jeanie said...

Thanks for the pumpkin soup recipe and for the rest of the menu. I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year for about 12 people and it will be the first time I have cooked a turkey in many, many years. Come to think of it, it will be the first time I've cooked much of anything for a while. Yikes!

Bobbie's Babbles said...

My father in law sent me this email: "you are gonna miss "my" pumpkin soup". I told him I'd miss him too!

Boozy Tooth said...

Hola Bobbie! Greetings from Casa Hice!

Thank you so much for your awesome comment on my blog! Regarding my Kandy Korn Halloween costume, I'd say "eat me," but that would be rude - even if candy corn is your favorite fall treat.

I came back by to return the favor and - yowza! A full Thanksgiving menu from soup to nuts - literally. I may just have to kiss your feet for this. THANK YOU. I love all your festive menu items and want to try them all. Especially the pumpkin soup! You can never have too much pumpkin anything is what I say...

So, girl... I love your blog so much! So happy I found you. And if I don't see you again before the big event - have a wonderful, healthy, happy Thanksgiving!!!

XO

Bobbie's Babbles said...

comment from an email buddy:

I make a very similar pumpkin soup, but I add light cocoanut milk instead of cow or soy milk. Gives it a richer flavor. The other recipes sounds yummy, just need to parve them up for those of us who generally don't mix milk and meat...I'd publish my comments on the blog site, but it keeps asking me to open a Google account, and I don't what that implies.

Unknown said...

Oh you're a freaking goddess with the b-nut squash recipe. Thank you! My husband loves the canned cranberry sauce, too, but I discovered an orange-cranberry sauce that everyone (including my particular children) loved last year so I'm repeating it this year. T-day modifications are not to be taken lightly, as you know.

Bobbi said...

Wow, what a menu. Thanksgiving is also a weakness for me. All of my grandmother's good food. I have to say that I did fairly well this year.