Pumpkin Pie

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I hope that this post finds you all giving thanks and counting your blessings for all the great things in your lives! (and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it!) If you are looking for a last minute recipe to take to your gathering today, or just to make to munch on while you relax at home, then here is my all time favorite Thanksgiving food...The Pumpkin Pie. It just isn't Thanksgiving to me until I've had one piece covered in whipped cream! I've never actually made the pumpkin pie myself, I always left that up to my grandma growing up. After she passed, other family members would rotate bringing it each year, and it was most always a store boughten pie at that. Don't get me wrong, Sara Lee and Mrs. Smith can make one mean pie...but it's just not homemade, ya know? No prepackaged food is ever as good as homemade. So a few years ago, I took it upon myself to learn how to make my favorite Thanksgiving food (ever.) myself. I tried a new recipe this year, and I'm super happy with how it turned out! So the homemade pumpkin pie tradition will carry on!!

Ingredients...

...unbaked pie crust (9")
...3/4 cup white sugar
...1 tsp. cinnamon
...1/2 tsp. salt
...1/2 tsp. ground cloves
...1/4 tsp. ground ginger
...2 eggs
...1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling. That's what we're homemaking here. Just plain old pumpkin.)
...1 can evaporated milk

Directions...

In a small bowl stir together salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and sugar. In a large bowl, beat togehter eggs and then stir in pumpkin. Add sugar and spice mixture and stir until well combined. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk and stir until smooth. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 and continue baking pie for an additional 40-50 minutes. To test for done-ness, insert a knife into the center of the pie. If it comes out clean, the pie is done. The filling will be ever so slightly jiggly yet, but will stiffen as it sits. Serve with whipped topping!

To see more last minute Thanksgiving recipes, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap going on over at Life as Mom!

THE TURKEY...*dun, dun, dun*

The turkey. The part of the meal that sent me into fits of nervous breakdowns every time it entered my mind. What if I messed up? What if it was too dry? What if it wasn't cooked through and we carved into raw bird? what if...What If....WHAT IF?!?!?!?

Remember in the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, where Clark Griswold is carving the absolutely divine looking turkey, only to carve into a bird so dry that it just, deflates, in front of their eyes? Yeah, my husband was teasing me all week that he thought that's how things were going to turn out for me. Thanks for easing my nerves hon...

ps. thankfully it turned out nothing like that, and actually quite juicy and moist!

Ummmm....so I really had no reason to worry because this was probably the easiest part of preperation all day. Seriously. Except for the fits of nervous what if's that I would periodically go into during the cooking. But those were completely unnecessary. Because it turned out wonderfully. I mean, isn't she (wait. are turkey's male or female? Are they one of those animals like the rooster that only come in male form? No. It must be female, because turkey's have breasts. Or, no? I'm so naive...) beautiful?

Ignore my terrible photography skills...I didn't think to take a picture until we were halfway through the carving. So I only had half a bird to work with...

Here's a walk through, so you don't have (multiple) nervous breakdowns like I did. Because really, it's not that hard. Really.

First, you need an oven bag, some flour, a little butter (or oil), an apple and a roasting pan.

How long your turkey needs to thaw out depends on it's weight, mine was 20 pounds, and I gave it 7 days in the refrigerator. You need to allow one day per 4 pounds of turkey for thawing time.

Once the turkey is thawed out, take it out of the bag and be sure to pull the bags out from inside the turkey. THERE ARE TWO!! One is in the neck and the other in the rear. Be sure to get them both or you will have not so good tasting turkey. Drain the liquid from insde the turkey, and pat the outside dry. Using a basting brush, cover the outside of the turkey with the butter or oil. Place the whole apple inside the rear of the turkey.

Next, get your oven bag out and place two tablespoons of flour inside. Hold the top shut and shake to evenly coat the inside of the bag. Place the turkey in the oven bag and secure the bag shut with the clasp provided. Place in the roasting pan and cut six 1/2 inch slits in the bag. Bake at 350 until the timer method you choose says the bird is done.

You have two options for knowing when the turkey is done. The first way is to use an oven safe meat thermometer. Place the thermometer in the thigh, and when it reads 180 degrees, your bird is done. Your other options is one of those pop up timers that you can buy just about anywhere this time of year, placed in the breast of the turkey. I chose the latter option.

According to all of the reasearch I had done, a 20 pound bird is supposed to take 3 to 3 1/2 hours to completely cook. Mine was perfectly done in 2 1/2 hours. So I would strongly suggest using either timer method and not just cooking the recommended time so you know when it's done. Once the bird has fully cooked, let it cool slightly before carving, and then enjoy!

Just a side note, you can choose to stuff your turkey with dressing. I chose not to do this, so I'm not able to give any tips on this method. But from what I understand you just put the stuffing in the place of the apple, but your cooking times will vary as opposed to an unstuffed turkey.

Good luck and breathe! It's way easier than everyone makes it out to be!

Crockpot Stuffing

Two days and counting until Thanksgiving...are you ready? I'm guessing you have your grocery list all made out for what you need to buy, and I'm guessing that Stove Top stuffing is on that list. Well cross it off! Seriously, you won't regret it! At first I was skeptical too...stuffing in the crockpot? No way it could be done! Well, bite your tongue (or rather, bite into some of this, yuummmm!) because it can be done! And it can be done better than any old box of Stove Top any day!

Ingredients...

...1 loaf bread
...1 tsp. minced onion (or onion powder. or that chopped onion that's dried and you can keep in the spice closet)
...1 cup celery, diced
...1 cup apple, diced (I used a granny smith)
...1/4 cup butter, melted
...1 1/2 cups chicken broth
...1 T. poultry seasoning

Directions...

Before you start crockpotting, you need to toast the bread. I cut my bread into chunks before I toasted it, but you can toast it in slices and then chunk. It's totally up to you. Place a single layer of bread in the oven at 300 for 15 minutes. But really, toasting time will depend on what type of bread you are using.

Once bread is toasted, place in crockpot. Add celery, apple, onion and poultry seasoning. Toss to evenly disperse ingredients. Add melted butter and chicken broth and toss to evenly coat bread. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. At this point you can determine if you would like your stuffing a little more moist or not. Let it stand for a few minutes uncovered, if you want more moist then add 1/4 cup more of chicken broth and stir well to coat all bread. Otherwise, serve as is!

Yep. That's it. It's that easy. So don't give me the excuse that boxed stuffing is easier to make. Puh-leeze!

To see other great recipes, be sure to check out Tempt my Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!

Pumpkin Rolls

If you need a good roll recipe for Turkey Day (3 days and counting you know!), I strongly recommend you try this one. The ingredients list will throw you...trust me, it threw me too. A can of pumpkin in rolls just can't be natural, can it? But trust me, you can't even tell that the pumpkin is there...it helps keep the rolls soft and moist instead of getting hard and dry.

This is originally Money Saving Mom's recipe...I left it completely unchanged. Which is very unlike me, I usually switch a few things up. I was super nervous about that too. I never make any sort of bread without the aid of my bread machine. Sure, I've done it sans bread machine before, but I just prefer the machine to do all the mixing and kneading for me. Kneading is so not my forte. Despite that I think I shorted it a little on the flour, they turned out phenomenally, and this is my new roll recipe. Hands down. Perhaps I'll start experimenting with other bread recipes machine-less.

Or maybe not...I'm kinda wussy like that...

Ingredients...

...1/2 cup sugar
...1/4 cup warm water
...1 cup warm milk
...2 T. butter, softened
...1 cup pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling. Plain old pumpkin.)
...1 tsp. salt
...1/4 cup wheat germ (If you'd rather not do the whole wheat germ thing, flour will sub nicely)
...5-6 cups all purpose flour
...3 1/2 t. yeast

Directions...

In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, water, milk, salt, butter and pumpkin. Whisk together until smooth. Add in wheat germ, 2-3 cups of flour and yeast. Combine until all ingredients are well mixed, and then continue adding flour until dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky. Place dough in a greased bowl and grease the top of the dough. Cover and place in a warm place to let rise for one hour. Once dough has risen, punch down and divide into 25 individual rolls. Place on a baking sheet and again cover to let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Once dough has risen, bake rolls at 350 for 15-20 minutes. When rolls are golden, remove from oven and brush each roll with melted butter. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

To see more delicious recipes, check out Mouthwatering Monday over at A Southern Fairytale!

Green Bean Casserole

Welcome to day 3 of my Thanksgiving meal countdown! If you missed the first two days, I made Rice Krispie Treats on day 1 and shared a tutorial for Homemade Mashed Potatoes on day 2!

The infamous green bean casserole. It just epitomizes Thanksgiving, doesn't it? I almost didn't make this to share with you, but I decided at the last minute that I just had to share it. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a casserole dish of this sitting on the table! Not only is this super delicious and a true symbol of Thanksgiving, but it's also incredibly simple! So if you are in a last minute bind to make something to share at a potluck Thanksgiving this is a surefire crowd pleaser that will only take you a few minutes to throw together! But don't be surprised if you weren't the only one with this idea!! There are a lot of different versions of this recipe out there, but this is a tried and true version that women, and men alike, have been making for decades!

I did make a few changes to this recipe...so I guess that makes it original to my kitchen! The original recipe says that the cost of this dish (alone!) is $11.25! So with my changes (and having got many of the ingredients for incredibly cheap with coupons) this is actually a very frugal version of the beloved green bean casserole, which is an aspect that I'm sure we all can enjoy!

Ingredients...

...4 cans cut green beans

...2 cans cream of mushroom soup

...1/2 onion, chopped

...1 cup milk (I omitted this. The casserole was plenty creamy and smooth without this)

...1 T. soy sauce

...1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (I also omitted this)

...Rice Krispies

Directions...

In a large oven safe casserole dish combine soup, green beans, onion and soy sauce together until well mixed (include milk and pepper here if you wish). Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with Rice Krispies and return to oven for 5 minutes.

Mashed Potatoes from Scratch

This is another one of those recipes that probably doesn't need shared. But I'm choosing to do so for two reasons.

1. Up until about two years ago, I had no clue how to make mashed potatoes from scratch. One of my good friends had to teach me.

2. Because what would be a Thanksgiving dinner without mashed potatoes?

3. Because homemade from scratch mashed potatoes beat the pants off of boxed potatoes.

okay. okay. so that's three. don't send me hate mail since I can't count...

Seriously though. Homemade (from scratch!) mashed potatoes are divine. By far better than the boxed stuff. Plus, you can control what goes in them. No harsh preservatives here!!

So if you are in charge of the potatoes for this years Thanksgiving (or any holiday meal for that matter), here's a tutorial on doing it the "old fashioned way"...

First, you must wash and peel your potatoes. The amount you need depends on their size. I just peel and place in the pot until the potatoes cover the bottom of the pot.

Then cover the potatoes with water, adding enough water to have a few inches of standing water above the potatoes. Turn your burner on high heat and let potatoes boil until they are softened. Once things get rolling and really boiling, you will most likely have to turn the heat down a notch or two so you don't have a boiled over mess.

I can't give you an accurate time to how long this process will take. It depends on how big your potatoes are. I used a mix of small and big potatoes and it took about a half hour of boiling once things got going. I test the potatoes for doneness with a fork. When the potatoes are soft and the fork can go through with no problem, the potatoes are done and need removed from the heat.

Place the potatoes in a large bowl and add milk. The amount of milk depends on how smooth you like your potatoes. Start small and keep adding until you are content with the consistency. At this point, you can also add butter and salt. I personally do not add these to the whole batch, I only add milk. I let my guests add the butter and salt if they wish. With so many different diet restrictions these days due to cholesterol, etc. it's just much easier that way. Plus, I eat these for a snack often, and prefer them to be a bit healthier, so I don't like to have butter and salt in mine.

Serve! There are so many different options for this! Add some Thanksgiving gravy, or some butter/salt/sour cream, or some ranch dressing (mmmm! my favorite!). The possibilities are endless!

To see other great Thanksgiving ideas and recipes check out the Thanksgiving on a Budget linky roundup over at Money Saving Mom!

Rice Krispie Treats

Today kicks off my week of Thanksgiving recipes! Every day through Thanksgiving I will be sharing some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes, including the turkey! Today's recipe is a pretty simple one, but what family get together doesn't include Rice Krispie treats?

Not that I really have to share this. It's one of those recipes that has been around for so long that it's probably engrained in all of your brains. Your kids ask for them and you can whip up a batch without a second look at some directions. But just in case there's the off chance that someone hasn't ever made these before, or they need a recipe to glance at, here it is. The Orginial Rice Krispie Treats recipe. Plus, it's the holiday season and all, and lots of people will be making these to share with family at get togethers...and maybe leave a plate out for Santa? Because, yes, there are Christmas sprinkles on it. I like to start celebrating early. I think Santa would be appreciative that I start planning for him early ;)

Ingredients...

...1 bag large marshmallows
...6 c. Rice Krispies cereal
...3 T. butter

Directions...

In a large bowl, melt butter and marshmallows in the microwave. Cook for 1 minute increments on high power until completely melted. Stir in Rice Krispies cereal and let cool slightly. Press into a 9x13 pan and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

To see other holiday dishes, check out The Ulitmate Recipe Swap over at Life as Mom!