holidayeats

By Megan Keller The Woman Today

Old Fashioned & Simple: Turkey, Stuffing & Gravy

Ilearned this recipe from my mother, who learned it from my grandmother. This is a very simple recipe, so if you are a first-time turkey and stuffing maker, this is a great recipe to start with, not to mention it's sort of timeless.

What you will need:

2-3 cups celery

1 onion

2 green apples

Salt Pepper

Poultry seasoning

Ground sage

Flour

15-pound turkey

8 slices each of white and wheat bread

1 stick butter, softened; divided

Chicken stock

Turkey oven bag

Step One - Make the stuffing

1. Cut bread into cubes and place onto two baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Watch carefully as they can burn quickly. I do not season, butter or spray the pans. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. You want them to have a crispy, dry feel to them. While these are cooling you can prep the rest of the stuffing.

2. Cut up celery, onion and apples into small pieces.

3. Melt ½ stick of butter in a large frying pan, add celery and onion, and saute on medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Add a generous amount of poultry seasoning, ground sage, salt and pepper. (My mother always said, “If you think you added too much seasoning, add more!” It will be worth having it very flavorful.) Once cooked, add your apples and cook for about 5 minutes.

4. In a large bowl, add dried bread cubes. Add the celery/onion/apple mixture and stir together. Add chicken stock, up to 2 cups. You will want the stuffing pieces saturated, so you may use more than 2 cups. Set aside.

Step two - Prep and cook the turkey

The turkey is raw, so be very careful to keep all surfaces clean after handling, and wash hands thoroughly. Your bird needs to be fully thawed, which takes a number of days sitting in the fridge, based on how big your turkey is. Remove the turkey from the packaging, and make sure giblets are removed (usually packaged inside the bird).

1. Rinse turkey thoroughly in the sink and pat dry with paper towels, carefully, so you don’t leave paper towel debris on the turkey. Now, it's time to stuff the turkey.

2. Get spoonfuls of stuffing and fill the cavity of the bird, being careful not to pack it too tightly. You will also pack stuffing into the neck area of the bird. You won’t use all your stuffing, so take the remaining stuffing and place into a greased casserole dish with a lid and cook at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

3. Rub ½ stick of softened butter thoroughly all over the outside of the bird. I use my hands for this but you may want to have rubber gloves on. Once the bird is fully buttered up, sprinkle with salt, pepper, ground sage and poultry seasoning, all over the bird. Place into an oven bag (make sure to add flour in the oven bag per the instructions), seal up with the tie that comes with it, cut slits over the top of the bag, and place into a large roasting pan (mine was 13-quart size). The cooking bag will come with instructions for oven temperature based on how much your turkey weighs and if it is stuffed or not. The turkey I used was 15 pounds and it took 3 hours to cook on the conventional roast setting.

4. When your turkey is done, remove from the bag and set on a large cookie sheet with sides (juices will run out of it); let rest for about 10-15 minutes.

5. While the turkey is resting, transfer the remaining juices from the roasting pan into a stove pot to make the gravy (see below).

6. Remove the stuffing from the turkey and place into a bowl, which can be served with the stuffing that was baking in the oven for the past 30-40 minutes. Once the stuffing is removed, you can carve the turkey into slices. I recommend YouTube for some great how-to videos for beginners. Or, you can wing it and just try yourself. Just be careful not to cut yourself or cut into bones on the bird.

Step three - Make the gravy

I am going to admit, gravy has never been my strong suit. It always turns out to be lumpy. Tastes great, but lumpy, and some do not care for that! My husband, who used to be a chef back in the day, helped me with the gravy. I used a roux, which is an equal combination (by volume) of melted butter and flour. Heat the turkey stock (leftover juices from the pan) to boiling, then add a little bit of the roux at a time until your desired thickness — and whisk like crazy!

This is one of those recipes that you will learn to make time and time again and add your own touches. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has for generations.

Things to remember: Always thoroughly wash your hands and clean all your surfaces with disinfectant after the turkey has touched anything. Additionally, if you have pets, do not feed your pet any bones from the turkey. Properly dispose of the carcass when you're done with it where your pets will not have access to it. D

By Kim Quinones

The Woman Today

Holiday Gathering Radish Dip/Spread

Ingredients

(1) 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

(4) Radishes, tops removed and quartered

(2) Cloves garlic, peeled Dash of freshly ground black pepper

Dash of salt

Equipment

Food processor or chopper

Knife suitable for slicing/chopping vegetables

Small spatula for scraping out food processor bowl

Place garlic cloves in a food processor/ chopper bowl and pulse until finely chopped. Add radishes into the processor/chopper bowl alongside the garlic and pulse until the radishes are finely chopped. Add the softened cream cheese to the bowl and blend the works until well combined.

Use the spatula to place dip into a serving bowl. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Great spread on cocktail bread with thinly sliced vegetables, cheese or nuts as toppings. This recipe makes enough to spread 30-40 cocktail bread slices. Rye or Pumpernickel are hearty and hold toppings well.

Or, serve as a dip alongside a variety of crackers and/or vegetables. This recipe can easily be doubled.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Radish Dip on Allrecipes

By Julie Schulz The Woman Today

Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

I’ve made this side dish many times, and one year I didn’t have oven space, so I developed a stovetop version, which yielded the same great taste, just without the fancy presentation. I’ve also used this with asparagus instead of beans. You can tailor the quantities to your needs … sometimes I just make 4-6 bundles to serve 2 people, so I just cut down on the butter/brown sugar. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 pound whole green beans, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost)

4-5 slices of bacon, each cut in half

3 Tablespoons butter, melted ¼ cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Oven Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Wrap 7-10 whole green beans with a half-slice of bacon, secure with a toothpick, and place in a 9x13 dish. Repeat with remaining beans and bacon.

3. Combine melted butter and brown sugar and pour over green bean bundles, then sprinkle with garlic powder. (Hint: I feel the butter and brown sugar is too thick to “pour,” so I usually pour the melted butter over the beans, then sprinkle the brown sugar, then sprinkle the garlic powder).

4. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until bacon crisps (or, sometimes I broil it at the end to speed it up).

Stovetop Instructions

1. Cut beans and bacon into 1-inch pieces.

2. In a cast iron skillet, cook bacon pieces about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and saute until cooked through.

3. Omit butter and simply sprinkle brown sugar and garlic powder over the beans, stirring to blend and caramelize.

By Renae Ronquist

The Woman Today

Possum Pie

Thisinterestingly named pie has become our families very favorite for the holidays. The name of this pie may not sound too appealing, but once you try it. It will be in your life forever. It was aquired while living in Arkansas. Let me tell you, those Arkansans know how to make good food!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients

½ cup powered sugar

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 box vanilla instant pudding mix*

1 box chocolate instant pudding mix*

2 ½ cups milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

Pecan halves

¼ cup pecans chopped fine 1 9-inch baked pie shell**

Directions

1. Cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese. Set aside.

2. Mix vanilla and chocolate pudding mixes with milk. 1 ¼ cup in each pudding mix.

3. Whip cream until stiff peaks. Add the sugar to the whipped cream.

4. Spread cream cheese mixture on the bottom of the cooled pie crust.

5. Sprinkle the chopped pecan on top of cream cheese mixture.

6. Layer chocolate pudding mixture on cream cheese and chopped pecans.

7. Layer vanilla pudding mixture on top of chocolate pudding.

8. Layer whipped cream topping on top of the chocolate pudding mixture.

9. Lastly add a few pecan halves on the top. I like to make sure every piece gets a pecan halve.

* 3.4 oz. box pudding mix

** I use store bought pie shells, but you can use your own homemade pie shell. If you use homemade, you can roll out your crust on top of the chopped pecan instead of sprinkling on top of the cream cheese layer.

By Ali Carlson

The Woman Today

Pumpkin Cookies

Cookie Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 15-ounce can of pumpkin

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 ½ c flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

Dash of salt

1 cup raisins (if desired)

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar.

2. Add pumpkin and blend.

3. Add eggs and vanilla and blend.

4. Combine all dry ingredients and then slowly incorporate them into the other mixture.

5. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting Ingredients

6 Tablespoons butter

6 Tablespoons milk

1 cup brown sugar

Roughly 1/3 bag powdered sugar

Directions

1. Combine butter, milk and brown sugar in a pot; melt over low heat.

2. Boil gently for 2 minutes over low/ medium heat, stirring gently.

3. Remove from heat — do not continue stirring.

4. Cool completely.

5. Add powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency.