We're doing Thanksgiving here this year.. at the "begging" request of my daughter....just us, son, daughter, son-in-law and the grandbabies (almost 4 and just turned one) and a friend of my son's who's family lives in Maine. Planning on eating around 6:30.
Daughter and her crew are going to her husband's family for huge Thanksgiving lunch at 1. So we decided we would have favorites that we wanted for leftovers....
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes (Yukon Golds, butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, Emeril's original seasoning)
Gravy
Green Bean Casserole
Steamed Broccoli with lemon butter sauce
Romaine lettuce with red onion, chopped apple, dried cranberries, candied pecans w a strawberry vinegrette.
Sister Schubert rolls
Pumpkin Pie w cinnamon whipped cream
Turtle Cheesecake.
I still stuff the turkey. I have a turkey roaster oven that I cook it in and it's wonderful. Turkey comes out really moist.
I usually buy about a 22 pounder that has the butter injected.
I saute chopped onion and celery and slice mushrooms in 3 sticks of butter, add parsley, and a bit of chopped garlic, sage, thyme, pepper. I heat up 3 cans of chicken broth....I like Swanson's and add a bit of chicken bouillion granules to it while heating. Add all that to 2 bags of Pepperidge Farm stuffing cubes. Adjust the seasonings, adding salt if needed. More melted butter and/or chicken broth if needed.
M stuffs the bird, and the leftover goes into a casserole dish to bake. I add more butter under the skin of the turkey, and rub more all over the top and the legs, sprinkle with some paprika.
It cooks much faster in the turkey roaster, use the drippings for the base of my gravy. I cook the neck and "nasty" parts in chicken broth for several hours, strain off the liquid and add it to the drippings, along with the slivers of neck meat.
None of us really like sweet potatoes or cranberries, so they are off the menu.
