I thought I'd post this in time for everyone to give a dish a trial run before holiday dinner.

Turkey Brine:
3 quarts hot water
1 quart apple cider
1 cup sea salt
20 sage leaves (I use fresh, I'd say a tablespoon of dried would be about right)
2-6" stems of rosemary (about 2 tablespoons dried)
10 big stems of thyme (about 2 tablespoons dried)
10 stems of parsley
3 tablespoons cracked black peppercorns
2 tablespoons dehydrated garlic slices (not powder)
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion pieces (not powder)
20 Juniper berries (optional)

Combine hot water and salt, stir till salt is dissolved. Combine all other ingredients in a very large pitcher, and pour over a thawed or raw, fresh turkey. Brine should cover the turkey. Brine the turkey (refrigerated) at least overnight or preferably 24 hours. Remove from brine, pick off big chunks of herbs, wipe the salt off with a paper towel, and roast with your favorite glaze.

I put the turkey in an oven cooking bag, then into a canning kettle. I pour the brine into the bag, then seal it up. I need less brine that way, and it's easier to clean up.

This was my father's favorite. My dog got her nickname "Punkinhead" from stealing a whole piece of pie from Dad's plate when she was a puppy.


Pumpkin Pie With Pecan Glaze

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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9 inch unbaked pastry shell
1 can pumpkin -- (15 oz.)
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 T. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. ground allspice
1 pinch freshly ground pepper
1 c. whipping cream
1/3 c. milk
2 eggs -- lightly beaten
1/4 c. bourbon or rum
1 1/2 t. vanilla
Topping:
1/4 c. melted butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, if using a glass pan, 375 degrees. Make topping: In small bowl, combine all ingredients until well mixed and crumbly. Set aside.

Whisk together pumpkin, sugars, flour, salt, spices, pepper, cream, milk, eggs, spirits, and vanilla in a large bowl. Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, then sprinkle pie with topping. Bake for 20 minutes longer, until set but still slightly wobbly in center, approx. 45 minutes in all. Cool the pie on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature with sweetened whipped cream.

The best rolls I've ever made. I now make a sextuple batch for holiday dinners. Everyone asks me if you can taste the cottage cheese. For certain, you can't, or I wouldn't eat it, I hate cottage cheese.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Rosemary Satin Dinner Rolls

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2 1/2 cups all purpose flour -- (2 1/2 to 3)
1 package active dry yeast
2/3 cup cream style cottage cheese
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter (no substitutes!)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary -- crushed
1 egg
1 slightly beaten egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Stir together 3/4 cup of the flour and the yeast in a large mixing bowl; set aside. Combine cottage cheese, water, butter, onion, salt, and crushed rosemary in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until warm (120 to 130 degrees F) and butter is almost melted.

Add cottage cheese mixture to flour mixture. Add the whole egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a wooden spoon.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 - 8 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place about one hour or until about double.

Punch dough down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 12 balls. Place each in a greased muffin cup or shape into desired dinner roll shapes. Stir together the egg yolk and water, brush onto dough.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden.

Makes 12 rolls

The easiest pumpkin cake, ever. Good with cream cheese icing, or just dusted with confectioner's sugar. If you're new to baking, this is a good confidence builder. You can also bake this as cupcakes or two 9" layers, but you'll need to adjust your baking time accordingly. They also freeze well, if you want to do some of the holiday baking early.


Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 can pumpkin -- (15 ounce)
puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired, stir in some chopped nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

I think I'm going to try your Pumpkin Pie recipe. I've had a craving for about a month now, and reading that just put me over the top.

Do you stuff your turkey with anything? I usually use a simple bread stuffing, but it comes out soo good. I might post the recipe later.

-P

My mom's dressing (as we've always called "stuffing"), quite basic and easy to modify as you like:

a loaf of bread, cubed. A good idea is to save the ends of your regular loaves; this works better if the bread is a little dry... in fact, cut up the bread hours before you're ready, and occasionally toss it in the bowl

a small onion, diced

three stalks celery, cleaned and sliced. Don't discard the celery leaves (unless they're grody); that's the best part.

1/2 tablespoon of dried marjoram. If you're using fresh, triple the quantity.

1/2 teaspoon of pepper, coarsely ground

a pinch of salt
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1 stick melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
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1 stick butter, thinly sliced

combine all the ingredients above the first line and blend them well. Pour in the melted butter. Beat the eggs, add the milk and blend well. Pour the liquid stuff over the bread and mix with your hands. Wash your hands first, obviously, and you'll be in quite a hurry to wash them afterwards. You want the whole mess to be moist and a little sticky; if it is still dry add more milk in increments of 1/4 cup at a time. If it is too moist it will take longer to cook, so be careful not to overdo the liquid. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray (like Pam), put the mess in the pan, and cover with the butter pats from below both lines above.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes; test with a knife inserted into the center: if the knife comes out clean, it's done.

Now, you can top this with apple slices instead of butter pats. With the butter, it gets nice and crusty on the top. With the apples, the slices shrivel up and brown and are usually discarded, but the dressing gets all applelike and is incredibly good with pork chops. You can top this with bacon slices; just precook the bacon halfway before putting them on the top. You can stuff this inside a turkey; in this case follow the guidelines on the turkey for verifying the temperature before serving (you're probably adding about 45 minutes to the cooking time). You can add sage if you like that, or cook some wild rice and add that. This ain't very fancy stuff but it is quite tasty.

I can't approach the quality of the recipes posted by Celene. Wow. I too have been thinking about that obviously quite spicy pumpkin pie... sounds incredible.

My family likes the stuffing cooked separately, I stuff the bird with one lemon (poked over with a fork so the juices escape), one apple, a couple of onions, a handful of mixed herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, whatever looks okay in the garden that day), a head of roasted garlic, and the greens from leeks if I have any.

I will have to tell you--I've never even eaten turkey, but everyone seems to like mine. Ditto for stuffing, I have textural issues with wet bread.

simple but always a big hit

stuffed jalapeños

1 jar canned pickled jalapenos
2 packages philly cream cheese
16 oz shredded cheddar cheese

cut peppers lengthwise, remove seeds and veins with a t-spoon

mix cheeses together in a bowl

stuff peppers with cheese and broil untill cheese starts to bubble

(top with a piece of pimento for that festive look)

we have never taken these anywhere that people havent ask for the recipe

That looks awesome. Never met a hot pepper I didn't like.

I have not need for Thanksgiving recipes this year as I will be dining at the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood on a feast being prepared by my (hopefully soon to be) son-in-law who is sous chef there. Menu:



I have read the above recipes and will probably experiment with some of them during the off season and probably use some of them around the Christmas/Channuka holidiays.

Mr. Kelly, I tried your recipe, and it's fantastic. I did add a strip of veggie bacon around each pepper before broiling on the second batch, that's pretty good, too. I imagine it'd work with regular bacon as well.