Growing up, my family's holidays were centered around a huge extended-family feast.
On Easter, it was ham baked in pineapple and brown sugar. Thanksgiving and Christmas we had a wild turkey thanks to my hunt-a-holic brothers and a store-bought turkey, each roasted to perfection. The dining room table would be piled high with side dishes galore. And the side bars were lined with pecan pie, shoo-fly pie, fruit pies, and pudding pies. Once the prayer's Amen was heard, we'd all descend on the food like we hadn't eaten in years. We'd eat, and eat, and eat some more until we were gorged to the point of unbuttoning and unzipping our pants for comfort.
If there is one tradition I have passed on to my children, it's this one - only on a smaller scale. Since we don't have a lot of extended family nearby, our feast has less variety. I admit I do miss the three different types of corn and two different stuffings. But we aren't feeding 30-40 people. (Thank goodness!)
I'm really excited to share some of our family's favorite Thanksgiving recipes. Enjoy!
Sweet Basil Rub (for the Turkey)
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Salt
1/2 tsp Granulated Garlic
1/2 tsp Granulated Onion
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Whole Basil
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mix salt, sugar, garlic, onion, paprika, and lemon juice together. Next add pepper, basil, and olive oil. Mix until well blended. Rub all over the outside and inside of turkey. Bake according to the turkey instructions. The drippings make an incredible gravy!
Great Aunt Erma's Baked Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 loaf of Bread
1/2 cup Onion
3/4 cup Celery
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
Milk (or rice milk & water)
Saute onions and celery in butter.
Grease a 9x13 casserole pan.
Break up bread into small chunks in a large mixing bowl. Add onion and celery; mix together. Sprinkle parsley, salt, and pepper on top of mixture until top is well covered; mix together.
Mix milk (about one cup), egg, and baking powder in a small bowl. There should be enough liquid to lightly moisten the bread mixture. If needed, you can add more milk. Add 1/2 to bread; stir gently. Add remaining liquid; stir gently until bread is lightly moist.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or brown on top.
Great Aunt Erma's Creamed Mushrooms
Ingredients:
1 box/container of fresh Mushrooms
3/4 cup Milk
1 Tbsp Flour
Slice mushrooms and cook in a skillet with butter until all water is cooked out.
Add milk and flour. Constantly stir until the sauce thickens. Serve hot.
Fabulous Fruit Salad
Ingredients:
1 can (29 oz.) sliced peaches, drained, with juice reserved separately from other juices
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained & juice reserved separately from other juices
1 c. mandarin oranges, drained & juice reserved separately from other juices
3 whole or 4 whole bananas, sliced
1/2 jar maraschino cherries, drained
1 whole egg
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp flour
3/4 c. peach juice (from drained canned peaches)
3/4 c. pineapple juice (from drained canned pineapple)
15 large marshmallows
1. Mix peaches, pineapple, oranges, bananas and cherries together in 1. a bowl. Set aside.
2. In saucepan, mix egg, sugar, flour, peach juice* and pineapple juice*.
3. *Add reserved mandarin orange juice, if necessary, to make 3/4 c. peach juice and 3/4 c. pineapple juice.
4. Cook until soft custard stage, stirring almost constantly.
5. Remove from heat. Add marshmallows.
6. Stir until blended. Pour dressing over fruit. Chill.
7. Store salad in refrigerator overnight.
Serve Chilled.
