Thanksgiving Recipes

Food! Glorious food

Here are some recipes
I will make for Thanksgiving.
Perhaps you would enjoy them as well.

  Corn Pudding

It seems corn would have been on the menu for the first Thanksgiving. A native staple, maize was important in the diet and its harvest helped save the first colony when Indians taught the Pilgrims to add fish heads to their plantings. God bless them.
This is the sweet version of the pudding.

Preheat your oven to 400F
Grease a casserole that holds 2 quarts

 Ingredients:

 5 eggs lightly beaten
1/3 cup of melted butter
1/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of milk or cream for a richer taste
Place these in a bowl and whisk in 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch.
Now stir in 1 can (15oz size) of whole kernel corn, or use thawed frozen.
15.26 oz can is just shy of 2 cups or 1.91 cups to be exact. Just measure out a wee bit less than 2 cups and you will be fine.
Now add 2 large cans of cream style corn. (This is the 14.75 oz size can)
Mix all of this with your spoon until mixed together.
Place it in your greased casserole and bake for about 1 hour.
I use frozen thawed corn because it has no salt added and canned corn has tons of sodium.
I also think it tastes better. I use the white sweet corn.
I used to use dried corn but I can only find it in Pennsylvania and have not been there to buy groceries in a long time. I go to my mother's hometown to buy things when I can but it is on top of a mountain and once autumn sets in it's not a great drive up.
This is the sweet version of corn pudding.

If you like a savory version try this one:

New England Style Colonial Corn Pudding

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
5 cups canned corn ... drain it well. (you can also use thawed frozen corn or fresh)

1 cup half and half
½ teaspoon  salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
a bit of grated fresh nutmeg
¾ cup crushed oyster crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter
½ cup shredded very sharp cheddar cheese
Paprika
Assembly:
Set the oven at 350 F
Use some of the better to grease a 9-inch casserole pan. It can be round or square
In a separate bowl mix the cream, eggs, salt, and pepper and dash of nutmeg
Now add in half the crackers and 2 Tablespoons of butter
Pour the mix into the baking pan and then cover over with the cheddar cheese
Place the rest of the cracker crumbs over the top
and place some sprinkling of paprika on the top to decorate.
Now, bake it for 45-50 minutes. It will be puffed a bit and the edges browned and crisp.

My Mother's Candied  Sweet Potatoes

Cook 2 lbs yams or sweet potatoes in water and bring up to boil.
Lower heat and cook 25 minutes.
Cool down and peel and cut into chunks or do as my mother did and half them lengthwise then half them lengthwise again.. you will have long thick sticks that way.

Combine 1/4 cup of real Maple Syrup
1/3 cup of brown sugar packed
1/4 tsp of real cinnamon
1/4 cup of butter

Cook this until the mixture boils.
Pour this over the potatoes in the baking dish and bake them for about 40 minutes at 350F.

Sausage and Apple Stuffing

I don't have a recipe for this so I will list the ingredients I use and you will have to wing it.
But you can make your regular dressing.. like a sage and onion style and add walnuts and breakfast sausage, apples etc. to it. You can even add dried cranberries to it.
It is like a meal in itself and everyone loves it.

You will need about a pound of Banquet Beef Breakfast Sausage or a pound of Jenny O Sweet Italian Sausage.  You can use both and a lot of it. These were the sausages mentioned int he original recipe which is old. You can substitute sausage that taste similar to them.
Other ingredients are :
chopped celery
chopped sweet yellow or Vidalia onion
chopped apples
pecans or walnuts chopped a bit
Bell's(Or similar) Poultry seasoning
Turkey or Chicken broth
Bread cubes or the stuffing they sell especially for Thanksgiving time.
You'll need enough bread to match the number of veggies and sausage that you use.
Saute the veggies and apple in butter or Oil or even Pam.
Add Bell's seasoning to them to taste.
There is enough salt in the sausage so I don't add any more.
Fry up the sausages and chop up into bite-sized pieces.
Now you mix the veggies and meat and nuts with the bread.
  Now moisten the stuffing with Turkey stock or broth.
Don't make it soupy but add enough to keep it nice and moist and remember some will evaporate in the oven. You don't want a dry stuffing.
I bake it in a big sheet cake pan for about 50 minutes at 350F. It isn't a think layer either. I make a lot of this stuff.
Check it from time to time. You can add some stock if you need to but remember you aren't making soup here.
You can taste it as you go when preparing to get the seasoning right.
I have sometimes added a couple of beaten eggs to the mix as well, but I don't find it necessary really.

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Ingredients:

pie crust

5 Granny  Smith Apples. Tart apples make the best apple pie.

2/3 cup of sugar

1 1/3 cups of sour cream

pix via Pillsbury

2 Teaspoons of vanilla

3 Tablespoons of flour

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp of salt.

Peel and cut the apples...Make your apples thinly sliced, they bake nicer that way.

Mix the sour cream sugar, salt eggs, vanilla and flour smoothly.

Add your apple slices and stir it to blend into the mixture.

Place this filling into the pie crust.

Now place the topping on it all:

3 Tablespoons of sweet butter. The unsalted kind is best

1/4 cups and 2 Tablespoons of sugar

1  teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of flour.

Mix these ingredients and then crumble it over the top of the pie.

Bake it for about 60 minutes in a 350 F oven.

Now if it isn't done, bake it 15 mins more but cover it with foil before you do to keep it from scorching on top. 

 Cool it down and enjoy it.

Crumbly Pumpkin Pie

You can just buy a graham cracker crust for this one but a regular pie crust will do just as nicely.

Mix 15oz of Libby's plain pumpkin with 14 oz of   SWEETENED condensed  milk.   

Add 1 egg and 1 Teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Put into the pie crust

Bake for about 15 mins at 425F but no longer

Streusel top Pumpkin but it looks like my recipe

Then reduce the heat  to 350F and add the topping

Topping:
1/2 tsp of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of flour
2 Tablespoons of cold butter
3/4 cup of walnuts or pecans.
1/4 cup of cinnamon.
Mix all the ingredients then cut in the butter until crumbly.
Stir in the nuts gently and spread over the pie when reducing the heat to 350.
Now, bake it for another 40 mins at 350F.
Test with a knife.. it should come out clean from the center.

I hope you enjoy these!