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Super easy Thanksgiving recipes


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Sweet potatoes

 

1 large can sweet potatoes (drained)

1 large can pineapple chunks (drained)

1 pkg large marshmallows

 

Put sweet potatoes and pinapple in a baking dish. Top with marshmallows. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until marshmallows are browned.

 

For a simple, no fuss turkey, use one of those baking bags.

 

Buy rolls at the grocery store.

 

My favorite pumkin pie is on the Libby's can. Use a Pillsbury (or store brand) refrigerated crust and it's very easy.

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The day before: Homemade cranberry sauce: Follow the directions on the cranberries: sort through the berries and pick out the mushy ones, wash. Put 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar (you can do less and it still works), and cranberries into pot. Bring to boil. (I think you simmer 10 min.) It will further congeal as it cools. So good. Totally worth making it rather than buying a can (yuck)

 

pumpkin pie: make the day before: buy a crust (homemade crust is a major pain and unless you are excellent at it isn't much different than store bought. You'll find these in the freezer section of the grocery store.) Use the recipe on the can of pumpkin. (We use Libby's) It's all measure and stir. Nothing difficult about it. Just follow the baking instructions carefully (you cook it at a high heat for the first 20 min or so, then turn the oven down. Don't forget to turn it down!) If you don't want to bake your own, buy one. (I like the flavor and texture of homemade better, but certainly store-bought ones are fine.)

 

Thanksgiving Day:

 

Turkey: wash it out, pat it dry, and cook it in a plastic roasting bag. (They are sold in the section with the ziplocks, etc., but also usually are on a special display around Thanksgiving.) It only takes a couple hours in a bag.

 

I don't stuff mine because of the health hazards plus it's not very good for you plus we don't like it that much. One of my kids likes stuffing, so I buy a box of Stove Top stuffing (that's a brand name)

 

 

Mashed potatoes

 

Gravy : I make gravy by treating it like a white sauce and it's never lumpy: put turkey drippings in a measuring cup (I use one with 4 cups so I can see how much I have.) For every cup of gravy, put 1 Tablespoon of butter in the bottom of a clean sauce pan, melt over low heat. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of flour (easiest with a whisk, but you can use a spoon or fork). Let it bubble just a little. Slowly add 1 cup of turkey drippings, stirring the whole time.

 

Sweet potatoes: They are yummy baked (make a slit or two in each with a knife and stick them in the oven to bake) and served with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon as toppings. No need to serve in a casserole . (I like them with cinnamon only, personally. I don't like the super sweet casseroles.)

 

I serve a green vege that our family likes (just steamed) usually broccoli or string beans

 

Sometimes, I serve fruit salad (frozen plus some cut up apples and bananas)

 

Rolls--store bought and heated up.

Edited by Laurie4b
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To reduce the stress factor, start with making a menu. What do you want to serve. What are you comfortable tackling. Like dinner rolls. Do they have to be homemade, bakery? Whompum bisquits in the can?

 

Couple things you can do ahead and freeze. Like mashed potatoes. I know, sounds wierd....but there is a recipe that I sometimes make ahead and freeze and then just bake on the day of serving. I do have a convection/toaster oven to help with those kinds of things.

 

Gravy can be made ahead. There are recipes on line. I believe most of them will involve you buying and cooking some turkey parts for stock. Maybe you are ok with jarred gravy.

 

Cranberries are easy, truly easy, but canned is what makes my family happy.

 

Sweet potatoes can be canned, but fresh ones are so much better..and yes, they can just be baked whole and served with brown sugar and butter. You can also make those ahead of time and reheat the day of. ( I make America's test kitchen version. Diced and put in sauce pan with a tiny bit of butter and cream and let simmer on really low heat for an hour. Delicious. Mash, put in fridge and reheat in casserole the day of.

 

THe more you can do ahead the happier you will be on the big day.

Post if you want some specific recipes.

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We like a fruit bowl with fruits we don't usually have: lady apples, baby pears, baby bananas, persimmons, etc. All you do is arrange it. You don't need much fruit to make a nice centerpiece.

 

Dish of mixed nuts with the shells on says Thanksgiving to me. Make sure you have a nutcracker/nut pick set.

 

Breadbasket with purchased mini corn muffins, breadsticks, etc.

 

For sweet potatoes, we use small ones and bake (do ahead, reheat by microwaving). Then slice open and put in mixture of sour cream and miso (stir a little Japanese instant soup mix into the cream). Or let people stuff their own sweet potatoes.

 

Roast veggies -- new potatoes (cut in half) or larger potatoes (cut in quarters lengthwise), carrots (peel, cut in half across the middle, then cut in half or quarters lengthwise), shallots (peel, coat in half if very large). It's OK not to peel the potatoes. Coat with olive oil and some kosher salt. Put in a single layer in a glass bottomed baking dish. Roast at 350° for about 40 minutes, or 400° for 30 minutes, etc. -- they are pretty flexible. You can cook them halfway before turkey and then finish after turkey comes pout of the oven.

 

Roast asparagus is super easy. Get the thin stalked kind. Break off the base -- you'll feel a natural breaking point an inch or so from the bottom. Put in a glass bottomed dish drizzle with olive oil (roll the asparagus around with your hands), add kosher salt. Roast fro 15 minutes or so at 350-400°.

 

Honey onions. If you don't mind peeling onions (the small, about 1 1/2" boiler ones, not the big ones, not the itsy bitsy ones), these are great. A day ahead, pop onions into a pot of boiling water for about a minute, then peel -- outer skin should slide off. On Tday (or day before), put onions in a pan in a single layer add some chicken stock and honey. Cook till a fork can go into onions easily. Add extra stock/honey if needed. These reheat very well.

 

Green beans with tarragon cream. Parboil (that is, cook for a few minutes), dump into a colander and run cold water over. Can be done ahead. Then put beans in a pot with heavy cream and tarragon (dried is OK). Cook until beans are tender and cream reduces to coat the beans. Salt to taste. It's an old Julia Child recipe (although she never used dried tarragon).

 

The recipes on the back of Ocean Spray cranberries are good, There is a no-cook one that is simple: put cranberries and one naval orange (cut but not peeled) into a food processor with sugar (can't remember exact amount). Do a day or two ahead to let flavors ripen.

 

If your family is not adamant about having a whole turkey, you could cook one or two turkey breasts. They have a lot of meat and are less bother than a whole bird. Plus they are MUCH easier to carve!

 

Oh, and if the veggies are too work intensive, what about the gourmet frozen veggies that come with a sauce? Or, do you have a good supermarket near you that does Thanksgiving meals/dishes? Personally, after years of making homemade soup on top of everything else, I now my market do the soup making. It would be very expensive (at least at my store) to get everything there, but having someone else do a dish or two is fine, IMO. Then you can really enjoy whatever amount of cooking you decide to do.

 

ETA My last bit of advice: the first time you cook a dish is hard, IMO, requires a lot of concentration. Then it gets easier, almost automatic. So you might want to cook just a few things "from scratch" this year, so that you can enjoy Thanksgiving too!

Edited by Alessandra
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Definitely ditto the roasting bag. If you decide you really want to go wild, Walmart and Target have electric roasters right now. Mine looks something like this http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/products/kitchen-appliances-roaster-ovens.html You can put up to a 30 pound turkey in one (I've done it multiple times, hehe), and it comes out terrific. The key is to crank the unit all the way up for the first hour then, without lifting the lid, let the turkey keep cooking at the more normal temp (325, 350, whatever it is, I forget). Makes it brown and beautiful, cooks fast, and leaves your oven free to warm the rolls or whatever else you're doing.

 

I use my electric roaster other times of the year for making large batches of chili, etc.

 

Remember, a turkey is just an overgrown chicken. You can do this! :)

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Thanks for the great suggestions. I would love some stuffing recipes if anyone cares to share.

 

 

Stovetop. It's what my family likes. last year I bought some gormet stuffing mix at Costco..and the seasonings were wierd to us.

(I redeam my self by making home made bread and cheesecake. :001_smile:)

 

However, I do add sausage, celery and onions. Fry the sausage, then add in celery and onions and some butter if you need to. Fry for 5 mins or so until the celery and onions are done. Mix with the stovetop which you have made according to directions. Baked for 30-40 mins.

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Two of the dishes I make every year are super simple and very yummy.

 

Orange tapioca jello salad

 

2 boxes jello brand tapioca

 

1 3oz box orange jello

 

1 can mandarins

 

1 tub cool whip, thawed

 

 

 

Drain liquid from oranges into measuring cup. Fill to 3 cup line with water. Get this boiling on stove. Meanwhile, add jellos to bowl that's big enough to hold water and cool whip. When water boils, pour into bowl with jello powder, and stir until cool. This takes awhile. Once cool, add cool whip and oranges and fold in gently but thoroughly. Cool overnight in fridge.

 

 

Roasted root vegetables

 

Variety of root vegetables like parsnips, carrots, rutabagas, turnips OR Brussels sprouts.

 

 

 

Prepare vegetables by cutting in to bite size pieces; not too small (for Brussels sprouts, cut off woody end and remove leaves that are too loose). Add to roasting pan, hopefully in one layer. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Roast in 400 degree oven until browning and tender, about 30-40 minutes. Stir halfway through.

 

Edited by milovaný
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