FR Thanksgiving Thread (Share Traditions, Recipes, etc)

20-nov-2003 | stb

[stainlessbanner]

Time to start preparing and planning!
Post your best recipes, blessings, and traditions to share with other FReepers.
Let's make this Thanksgiving the best ever.

Here's a start:

Pumpkin Custard Pie

1 ¾ c. pumpkin purée
¾ c. sugar
¾ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten, at room temperature
1 c. heavy whipping cream
½ c. whole milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. In a saucepan, stir the pumpkin over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until slightly dry and caramelized. Remove from heat; add the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Mix well. Add the eggs, cream and milk. Mix until smooth; pour into pie shell.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to completely cool on rack before cutting. Don't forget to top this with as much sweetened whipped cream as you can spoon!

Island Flair Pumpkin Pie

From Bahama Breeze

A delicious and exotic pie, scented with the aromas and flavors of the Caribbean – ginger, cinnamon, orange, nutmeg and rum. The gingersnap crust is an added treat.

For Crust
14 2-inch gingersnaps (about 4 ounces)
1 c. pecans (about 4 ounces)
¼ c. granulated sugar
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For Pie
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 c. (packed) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
1 ¼ c. heavy whipping cream (see note)
2 tbsp. dark rum
2 tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. grated orange peel
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

To make crust, combine gingersnaps, pecans and sugar in a food processor, grind. Add butter, blending until combined well.

Press mixture onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (1 quart) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 13 to 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden around edge, and cool on rack.

Meanwhile, whisk pumpkin and brown sugar in medium bowl to blend. Add all remaining ingredients and whisk until blended. Pour filling into baked crust.

Bake pie until filling is set in center, about one hour. Transfer pie to rack; cool 30 minutes. Can be made one day ahead. Cover and keep chilled. If desired when serving, top each slice with additional whipped cream and sprinkle with additional crystallized ginger.

Note: Evaporated skim milk may be used in place of heavy cream, in the same amount. Makes one 9-inch pie. Serves eight.

Pound Cake

My Aunt Ruth used to make the best pound cake in the whole world. It was so rich and creamy. She explained to me that it was called a pound cake because it used a pound of butter and a pound of sugar. This was what made it so rich. Here's my recipe -- hers was very similar.

Ingredients

3 c. cake flour
6 large eggs
1 pound butter
1 pound sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
½ c. buttermilk

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar. I use a large spoon for this. Next I add the butter. My grandmother would melt the butter in a pan over slow heat to make it blend easier. You can do this or just let the butter soften at room temperature.

Add the eggs, whole. At this point I break out my mixer and begin mixing on slow. I slowly add my buttermilk, and then the vanilla extract.

After it is thoroughly stirred, I turn the mixer up to medium for a few minutes, and then finally on high. If the mixture is a little thick I add just a touch more buttermilk. If you don't mix things thoroughly you will have lumps that will form air bubbles in your mixture and leave holes in your finished cake.

It was always a matter of pride not to have these air pocket holes in our cakes so we always made sure we got all of the lumps. In the pre-electric-mixer day that involved a lot of whipping the cake by hand. We usually didn't have a hand-cranked mixer that worked well, so this involved a large mixing spoon to whip it.

Some old timers even counted the number of times they whipped the mixture -- sort of made it fun and you didn't notice your arm tiring.

Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit.

Take your standard tube cake pan and oil it with butter. Then lightly flour the oiled pan. Shake the excess flour from the pan.

Pour the mix in, bake the cake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Keep looking at how your cake is doing through the oven door but avoid opening the door too much while it is cooking as I have seen this, or jarring the cake before done, cause it to collapse.

When you think it is done, do the toothpick test. Stick a wooden toothpick into one of the thickest parts of the cake. If it's dry when you pull it out, the cake is done.

Allow the cake to cool 15 or 20 minutes in the pan. Then gently remove it and stick it on your favorite decorative cake plate.

Ginger Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, small dice
1 tablespoon molasses

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter with an electric mixer, add sugar and continue beating until combined. Add egg, both gingers and molasses and beat to combine. Gradually mix in flour, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Be careful not to overmix.

Roll into two 2-inch round logs, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice logs into 1/4-inch slices and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

— Recipe: Alton Brown

Sweet Potato Bisquits

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large sweet potato - cooked and mashed
2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 375 F.
With a good electric mixer, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt till combined. Cream in butter with fingers or a fork until it resembles small crumbs. Add in sweet potato, honey and buttermilk untill mixed through. Don't over mix.
Press the mixture into a 1 inch deep cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut out circles with a floured cookie cutter or glass. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper again and bake for 10-12 mins until lightly golden brown.

More Great Recipes here: http://www.thanksgivingrecipe.com/

A Thanksgiving Prayer

O, heavenly Father:
We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember those who protect us.
We thank thee for family and remember the love.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That thy gifts to us may be used for others and to further your Kingdom, Lord.
With all of our thanks and good blessings, Amen.

A Cowboy's Thanksgiving Prayer
By Steve Lucas

Dear Lord,

This last year was rough on us cowboys
With calf prices bein' low.
And the drought, and the snow last winter
Didn't leave a lot to show

For a lot of really hard workin'.
There were times, I confess,
That I lay awake nights and wondered:
Lord, how do I get out of this mess.

But I turned it all over to you, Lord.
Put my trust in your capable hands.
And I thank you that you let us keep on
Makin' a living off of your lands.

I thank you for every morning
when the sun rose over the trees,
and spread light over the meadows.
And thanks for that cool summer breeze

That cooled sweatin' backs in the hay fields.
And thanks for new friends I made,
for the joy of seein' baby calves
curled up, asleep in the shade.

Thanks for these good friends and neighbors
and the love and the help that they give.
And I thank you Lord for these old cows
and the cowboy life they let me live.

And thank you Lord for my family,
my little girl and my wife.
And for the chance we have to raise a child
to live the kind of life

That most folks only dream of,
spending days outside,
Feedin', checkin', and sortin', and looking
where old cows hide.

So, Lord, on Thanksgiving,
as we take a break from our chores,
We thank you for this year's blessings,
and for what you have in store.

God, the Giver of Victory and Peace. A Thanksgiving Sermon, Delivered in the Presbyterian Church, September 18, 1862, Raleigh, N.C.

[EagleMamaMT]

Bump.

[forward]

Started a 'new' tradition last Thanksgiving. Since family is in WI. and hubby and I are in MT. we went to Las Vegas. Doing the same this year--leaving Monday.

[riri]

To any SW Freepers...Particularly anyone with a hankerin' for green chile, I highly recommend this dish. First year or two I made it, no one in my family quite "got" it. But now everyone says "Are you making that green chile corn thing"?

Corn Custard

serves 12

4 eggs beaten or egg substitutes
2 lbs frozen corn
3.5 cups zucchini squash, cut in very fine dice 3 cups fried corn tortilla crumbs divided (bake or fry corn tortillas and crush in food processor)
1 cup green chile, roasted, peeled and diced (frozen like, Bueno is fine)
2 cloves garlic, mashed
2 cups milk or light cream
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese
Salt to taste
1 cup pumkin seeds ground fine (I never do this because I can't find them)

Place the corn, zucchini, mashed garlic, salt, 2 cups of tortilla crumbs
and cheddar cheese in a casserole. Beat the eggs and mix with the milk or cream.
Pour over the corn in the casserole and stir together.
Mix the remaining cup of tortilla crumbs
with the ground pumpkin seeds and spread over the top.
Bake at 350 for one hour.
Can be halved.

[codercpc]

bump for later reading, and planning:}

[Ol' Sox]

Thanks for starting this thread, Stainless!

I leave the Fried Turkey to my brother-in-law who has adopted and claimed it as "His" method. As for myself, I like brining because of the osmosis involved. I love the word - say it with me - OZZ-moohhhh-sis! Thanks!

I've tried various brines - high sugar content, spicy, fruit based - and I've got to say that they all have their merit, both flavor-wise and juicy-bird-wise. My personal favorite is an apple juice and brown sugar blend. But! please don't wait until Thanksgiving before trying them out. Experiment on a chicken before committing your feast to an unknown, untried brine.

Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
These are kickin'!
Boil your taters as usual. Mash with butter, half-and-half, salt, pepper and two heaping tablespoons of horseradish for each 5 lbs. of taters. My family likes more than this but we're crazy, so don't take our word for it.

[1Old Pro]

2 words: Fried Turkey

Fried my first last year. This year I'm doing TWO.

[Lijahsbubbe]

We like to read Deuteronomy 8: 10-19.

(8:10)When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you.


(8:17,18)Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'my power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

[1Old Pro]

one reason I've never tried it is that it's such a waste of oil

Well, if you fry TWO it's only HALF the waste.

[Lady Jag]

How To Cook A Turkey  

A Roast Turkey Recipe for Non Cooks

10-15 pound turkey
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup stuffing
1/2 cup unpopped popcorn
salt and pepper to taste
1. Baste turkey with butter, salt and pepper.
2. Mix together remaining butter, stuffing and popcorn.
3. Stuff turkey with stuffing mixture.
4. Put in oven and bake at 350F.
5. When turkey's ass flies across the room, the turkey is done!

[Aracelis]

Thanks! Will check it out.

[Treebeard]

Thanksgiving was the holiday when my mom would come down and spend about a month with us. On the day before, she'd send me to the store with a huge shopping list, her legs wouldn't work well enough for her to go anymore, and I'd endure the crowds, etc, to get all the stuff.

It was a high point of her year, so she said, to sit down at the dining table and, with the help of my two daughters, make an apple pie, the old fashioned way, including the crust. She'd alternate between the table and the kitchen supervising what I was doing.

When it came time to assemble the pie, it had to be left exactly as the girls made it. I was not allowed to straighten, tweak, spice, taste, or in any other fashion alter what the girls had done. Keep in mind that when I was a kid, her pies were perfect, but this was her granddaughter's pie and no daddy interference was brooked.

The pie most generally came out wonderfully, and the girls were convinced they did most of the work. Mom showed them how to roll out a crust, and flute the edges, then either lattice the top or put on a top crust and draw designs in it.

Mom died in March, 2002, and this will be Thanksgiving #2 without her at that table. The girls still insist we make the pie, though, and although my heart isn't in it, I'm going to do my best. Last year, the youngest girl, a creature of pure heart, brought Mom's cane out and hung it on the back of the chair where she sat to supervise the great pie bake and said "maybe that will make you feel a little better."

The kitchen will look like a tornado made of flour went through it after I make pie crusts, and I'll eat more Granny Smith apples than I put in the pie, but, hopefully, someday, my girls will sit down with their kids around a table somewhere and say "My Nana taught me how to do this..."

[subterfuge]

Subterfuge's tradition on T-Day includes taking the whole week off and playing several rounds of golf.

[bmwcyle]

I like lettuce.

[pro libertate]

Good thread. Thanksgiving in my house usually isn't complete without a spinach/red pepper/red onion salad w/honey glazed pecans, Cornbread & Andouille Dressing, Carmelized Cipollini Onions, and a brined Turkey with gravy that includes a healthy dose of Spanish brandy.

This year were having a cured ham from Kentucky (live in wine country, CA) instead of turkey, but I'll fight for my dressing and onions.

This dinner usually included at least one good bottle of Burgundy, but not this year. We'll be having a Scherrer Winery Fort Ross Vineyard Pinot Noir, a Cuvasion Estate Pinot Noir, and a Mason Sauvigon Blanc. I'm not big on sweets, so I'll be enjoying some Wallace single malt liquer (don't look for it here-it's not sold in the US) instead.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Smoked turkey. I have about 40 people coming over and i'm skoking the bird. not the fried crap, all night and day in the smoker. I think i may try the beercan inside the bird thing.

I love smoked turkey!!

[petercooper]

A Great Thanksgiving = Family + Turkey + Football + Beer.

God Bless and thanks to our troops worldwide!!!

[BibChr]

Here are my two main Thanksgiving traditions.

1. I don't call it "Turkey Day"

2. I give thanks to God — as, on any given day of life under the grace of God in Jesus Christ I have more for which to give thanks than I begin to touch on.

Dan

[GeekDejure]

1. Loosen your belt.

2. Stuff your face with food.

3. Sleep soundly.

4. Dream about FreeRepublic.com ;-))

.

[Zansman]

A waste of oil?

No, no, no.... A great thing about peanut oil is that it doesn't get rancid easily. We fry on up on occasion for parties, etc. and I'll use the same 5gal. drum of peanut oil for about 6 months (filtered of course).

Maybe I'll try the brining sometime, but trust me when I say fried rules!!!!!

[ken5050]

Gonna take you up on it..try it with a small chicken for a test run...is it always peanut oil?...