Thanksgiving 2013

As a foodie, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because it involves so much preparing and cooking and baking, and ultimately ends in totally gorging yourself. It's the best. Last year, I presented you with several posts about Thanksgiving foods and drinks, to show my love for the holiday. It was six different blog posts....not that I needed to split the massive meal up or anything. But last year was a fun time of melding our two families Thanksgiving's together, for the first time. This year was a little more back to "normal" since we're in Virginia again and we had a traditional Grady Thanksgiving, whatever we consider that. And by our traditional meal I mean we ditched some favorites like broccoli casserole and instead substituted a Gouda and Bacon Mac n' Cheese. Will also chose to cook the turkey breast in a new way, which despite smoking up the whole house, turned out really well. We brought back some comfort foods like Kay's stuffing (my favorite!!!!) and Swiss Vegetable Medley. So today I will present you with only four new Thanksgiving recipes!

Now while this food appears to have turned out well, it's a little misleading. My mom's ovens decided that today of all days, they would start giving us grief. She has a bottom and top oven and the bottom oven did it's job like it was supposed to - it cooked the turkey, stuffing, and butter rolls, all correctly. The top oven, however, had a spaz attack. Everything that went in, came out burned. So we lost our Sweet Potato Gratin and lost a few of the appetizers, Jalapeno Poppers. Then the stovetop also decided it would take forever to boil anything and then when it did, it went into sudden scorch mode. We almost had a disaster on our hands with the mac n' cheese sauce and let's just say the gravy didn't quite make it to the table, due to technical difficulties. Right before we were going to stick the veggie medley and the mac n' cheese in, we pulled out a very burned potato gratin and realized we needed to change course! My mom called up her boyfriend who lives a few doors down and said "Help! We need your ovens!" Thankfully, his ham was done baking and we were able to shove our dishes in to successfully complete cooking our Thanksgiving feast. In the end, it all turned out great and we still had way more food than we ever needed! Special shoutout to my Uncle Jim's colleague who made some amazing banana nut and pumpkin nut breads. Apparently she grows her own pumpkins to make this bread each year - how awesome is that?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoying checking out some of our new recipes :)

Roasted Turkey Breast (serves 8-10)
8 lb. turkey breast
1/2 stick butter (4 tbsp), softened
1/4 cup fresh rosemary
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Allow turkey to come to room temperature by placing it on the counter an hour before it will need to begin cooking. Once it's been out for an hour, begin to preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Pat the outside and inside of the bird dry, with paper towels. Mix the butter, herbs, and S&P together in a bowl, then rub all over the inside and outside of turkey breast. Place breast in roasting pan and stick in the oven uncovered for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees, then cook for another two to two and a half hours, until the internal temperature is 170 degrees. If the skin begins to brown too much, you can tent it with tinfoil. Allow to cool before carving and serving! Gobble gobble!

Kay's Stuffing (serves an Army, or 10-12 people)
1 1/2 cups of minced onion
3 cups chopped celery
2 cups butter
16 to 18 cups bread crumbs
4 7-oz. bags of Arnold Seasoned Stuffing
6 beaten eggs
4-5 cups chicken broth (or 2 cans)
Poultry seasoning, to taste

Cook and stir onion, celery, and butter until onion is tender. Stir in 1 bag bread crumbs. Turn into a deep bowl. Slowly add all remaining ingredients, alternating between stuffing, eggs, and broth, until a chunky but not crunchy consistency is reached. Bake in a pan (or two) on 325 for 1 hour (adjust time baked based on whatever other things you have in the oven...we had one pan that only needed to go for 45 minutes this time). The stuffing can be made in advance and baked on Thanksgiving day. It can also be used stuffed in the bird - we just didn't do that this year. Enjoy!

Swiss Vegetable Medley
1 bag (16-oz.) frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower combo, thawed and drained
1 can (10 3/4-oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
4-oz. shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 can (2.8-oz.) French Fried Onions

Combine vegetables, soup, 1/2 cup cheese, sour cream, pepper, and 1/2 can french fried onions. Pour into a 1-quart casserole. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and onions and bake uncovered for 5 additional minutes.

Cooking Notes for Mac n' Cheese: The original recipe called for skim milk, but we used 1% because it's what my mom had on hand. We also retrospectively wish we had saved more bacon to sprinkle on top - the more the better! Also, our roux took forever to come together, but we'll blame the bonkers oven, not the recipe. We also eliminated the food processor for the cheese, since my mother was willing to prepare it on the cheese grater. However, Will chose to use the food processor for the bread crumbs.

Gouda Bacon Mac n' Cheese (adapted from Shugary Sweets; serves 10-12)
16-oz. elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
4 tbsp butter
2 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp worcestershire
1 lb. smoked gouda cheese, shredded
1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
5 slices bread
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

Prepare macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large pot (or the same pot), melt 4 tbsp butter over medium high heat. Add milk and bring to near boiling. Reduce heat to medium and sprinkle in flour. Whisk vigorously over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Mixture should be thick and boiling. Slowly add cream, while whisking. Add in S&P, mustard, and worcestershire sauce. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir for about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Shred the Gouda and cheddar cheese. Add to the pot, stirring until thoroughly combined. Add cooked macaroni to cheese mixture and combine. Pour in a 9x13 dish. Process the 5 slices of bread to a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and sprinkle over the macaroni. Top with crumbled bacon. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Recipe: Shugary Sweets: Gouda Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Jalapeno Poppers (serves 12)
12 mini phyllo tart shells
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce
Bacon bits

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Place phyllo cups onto a baking sheet. Stir together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, and hot sauce in a bowl. Spoon mixture into phyllo cups. Sprinkle bacon bits on top. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 or 20 minutes. Serve warm.