Category Archives: Holiday Recipes

Amazing Great Holiday Recipes

Recipes For A Complete Thanksgiving Holiday Turkey Dinner With Trimmings

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It is the start of the Holiday Season again.  Presented here for the first time are my Thanksgiving recipes. Below are the links. You will want to visit them all.

Turkey Gravy From Scratch ,

Moist Thanksgiving Day Turkey,

Bread Stuffing or Dressing From Scratch ,

Sweet Potato Casserole ,

Cranberry Relish, Green Bean Casserole,

Shopping List of Ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner

My recipes are made from scratch, mostly using common household ingredients, not from prepackaged products, with one caveat…frozen dinner roll dough. I have cooked Thanksgiving Dinner using my recipes for over 45 years. I learned them my mother who used them starting in 1925.   Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!! Special greetings to my Canadian friends for 2019.  I am certain you will get many compliments from your guests.

Recipe For How To Make A Moist Traditional Thanksgiving Day Turkey Dinner

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Ready To Serve Moist Turkey

Ready To Serve Moist Turkey

Moist Turkey Roasting Instructions:

Ingredients:

* (1) defrosted, 10-12 pound thawed turkey
* Melted butter to be used for coating the bird
* Salt and pepper
* Roasting pan and wire poultry rack
* Meat thermometer
* Pastry brush

Preparation

1. Start by placing the oven rack in the lowest position.
2. Set out a two quart saucepan on the stove top and fill half full with cold water and one teaspoon each of salt and pepper for boiling giblets.
3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Remove the turkey from its packaging, remove neck and giblets from inside the bird’s cavity, rinse, then bring to a boil in a sauce pan, then set the burner temperature to simmer and cook until done, about 2 hours or so.

cooking turkey giblets

cooking turkey giblets

5. Rinse the turkey, both inside and out, using cold water.
6. Put the turkey inside the roasting pan, with the breast side up, on a roasting rack
7. Brush the bird’s exterior with the melted butter to help moisten it.

Ready To Cook Turkey

Ready To Cook Turkey

8. Using salt and pepper, sprinkle the turkey’s body and cavity, seasoning evenly. Place in oven to roast.

place roaster on bottom rack

Place roaster on bottom rack

Overall tips and suggestions

* As a rule of thumb, the un-stuffed turkey should be roasted 10 to 12 minutes per pound.   I never put the bread stuffing in the turkey because it absorbs all the juices and becomes soggy.   I use the turkey drippings later added into both the stuffing and gravy recipes (links below). I also think it is safe food preparation because the juices are brought to a boil before use in the dressing and gravy, and the turkey cooks completely through.

* Turkeys cooked uncovered result in a browned exterior that is more appealing.  Too long uncovered though results in a dry turkey so I cook the turkey covered with a lid or an aluminum foil tent shaped down around the bird for 2/3 of the cooking time and uncovered for the final 1/3.  Basting it with it’s juices, while uncovered browns the bird, sealing in the remaining juices, resulting in a very moist turkey.

Alternate to bread stuffing is an apple, sausage, fresh herbs cooked inside the bird.  It does change the flavor of the juices.
More Thanksgiving Day Dinner Recipes:

Gravy From Scratch ,

Homemade Stuffing ,

Ambrosia,

Cranberry Relish,

Sweet Potato Casserole,

Green Bean Casserole,

Parker House Dinner Rolls,

Shopping List For Thanksgiving Dinner,

Flour Thickening Method For Gravy

Thanksgiving Dinner Shopping List Of Ingredients

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A Thanksgiving Day Dinner “List of Ingredients” for a large group of 12 people can  be overwhelming.  Here is my list, done in the complete menu style.  I use it as a checklist to insure I have an ample amount of everything I need. You may want to add amounts to suit your guest list.

Turkey: 12-14 pounds

If a fruity flavor is desired loosely stuffed with a cut up apple, a peeled orange, and a large stalk of celery

Coarse Sea Salt for the cavity of the bird

4 tablespoons butter for a generous coating on outside of bird

Dressing: (cooked separately from the turkey)

3 to 4 loaves of sliced white bread (1 to 1-1/4 pounds each)

3 medium onions

4- 5 large stalks of celery (or one entire celery heart package, about 1/2 pound)

3 sticks of butter (yes…. 3 sticks for the dressing alone)

Dry seasonings to taste: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme

Salt and Pepper

Giblet pan drippings

Mashed Potatoes:

5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

Butter, salt and pepper, heavy whipping cream to taste

Gravy:

Turkey pan drippings

Flour and water or Wondra (to thicken to your preference)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Basic Green Bean Casserole:

1 pound of cooked, cut up green beans

1 can cream of mushroom condensed soup

1 large can or bag of french fried onions

Worcestershire Sauce

Corn:

16 ounces frozen corn kernels (for 12 diners, make it 32 ounces)

Butter, Salt and Pepper to taste

Simple Ambrosia:

One 16 ounces container of sour cream

One 15 ounce can of Del Monte Fruit Cocktail with cherries

One 16 ounce bag of mini marshmallows

Squash:

Delicata, Acorn or Butternut (I cook all three so there can be leftovers)

1/4 squash per person

Butter, salt and pepper to taste

Sweet Potato Casserole:

Yams

Pecans

Brown Sugar

Maple syrup

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg,

One fresh navel orange

Cranberry Relish:

Whole Cranberries

Walnuts

One fresh navel orange

Two medium apples

Sugar

Deviled Eggs:

Large Eggs

Hellman’s Mayonnaise

Paprika

Lawry’s Salt and Pepper

Desserts:

Fruit Pies

Pumpkin Pie

Assorted Cheesecake

Pecan Pie

Ice Creams

Whipping Cream

Maraschino Cherries

Beverages

More Thanksgiving Day Dinner Recipes:

Gravy From Scratch , Homemade Stuffing ,

Moist Turkey Recipe,

Ambrosia,

Cranberry Relish,

Green Bean Casserole,

Sweet Potato Casserole,

Parker House Dinner Rolls,

Shopping List For Thanksgiving Dinner

Flour Thickening Method for Traditional Turkey Gravy

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How to use Flour for Thickening  Traditional Turkey Gravy

Tools Needed:

Approximately 2 cup container with a tight fitting lid

Strainer

Ingredients

3/4 to 1 cup of cold water

2-3 Tbsp of all purpose flour or I also use Wondra

Fill the glass or plastic container about half full of cold water and place 2-3 tablespoons of flour in to the water. Close tightly and shake to thoroughly blend.  Inspect the mixture; if lumpy, pour through a strainer into the heated sauce pan (or roaster pan).  Tip:  If you shake the jar vigorously the lumps will all disappear.

Next add the mixture to the boiling juices.

Immediately upon adding the flour and water mixture, stir the juices while gently boiling to thoroughly blend the mixture into the gravy. Repeat for thicker gravy. This step may be done 2-3 times depending on how much gravy is being thickened.  Allow the gravy to cook while stirring as this is what creates the thickening.

Caution: After adding the flour/water thickener and cooking it into the juices, check consistency before adding more of the flour/water mixture. Putting in too much flour and water at once, without stirring it in, will make a gravy too thick to serve. (You will know if it is too thick because it will have the consistency of a pudding, not a gravy).  Also, too much thickener can make the gravy taste like flour; adding seasoning will correct the flavor.  Gravy will thicken as it cools.

Delicious Turkey Gravy Made From Scratch,

Traditional Thanksgiving Day Turkey Recipe