Just two weeks away!
I know it seems early to be planning, but I ordered my free range turkey a couple of weeks ago, this time from Butcher Box. As I have done for several years now, I will cut the bird into pieces and dry brine it before roasting on the big day. Here a link to the recipe and method.
The turkey is absolutely delicious and a big hit with everyone (except my vegetarian grandson, of course.) I will do this again this year. It takes a much shorter time to roast, and the meat is perfectly cooked and juicy.
The first time I did this, my big worry was that I wouldn’t have the dressing from inside the bird, which I have always loved. I needn’t have worried. The dressing that I made was just as good, if not better and, since it is vegetarian, I didn’t have to make two versions. If you want to try this, here is the recipe. You can use chicken or turkey stock, if you like, but I used vegetable stock. The fresh herbs are key, and I used french bread, which gives you lots of nice crusty crunch.
Simple Is Best Dressing
Ingredients
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3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter plus more for baking dish
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1 pound good-quality day-old white bread, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 10 cups)
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2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
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1 1/2 cups 1/4-inch sliced celery
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1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
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2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
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1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
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1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
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2 teaspoons kosher salt
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1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
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2 large eggs
Recipe Preparation
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Preheat oven to 250°. Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking dish and set aside. Scatter bread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until dried out, about 1 hour. Let cool; transfer to a very large bowl.
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Meanwhile, melt 3/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onions and celery. Stir often until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add to bowl with bread; stir in herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle in 1 1/4 cups broth and toss gently. Let cool.
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Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk 1 1/4 cups broth and eggs in a small bowl. Add to bread mixture; fold gently until thoroughly combined. Transfer to prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of dressing registers 160°, about 40 minutes.
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Continue to bake dressing, uncovered, until set and top is browned and crisp, 40–45 minutes longer.
Do Ahead: Dressing can be baked (before browning) 1 day ahead. Uncover and let cool, then cover and chill. Uncover and bake until top is browned and crisp, 50–60 minutes.
I always make my own whole berry cranberry sauce, using orange juice or cider as the liquid and flavoring with orange and cinnamon. Since I use juice instead of water, I reduce the amount of sugar. Don’t forget that you can freeze cranberries just as they are in their bags from the grocery store. I still have some from last year.
This year I plan to make an old-fashioned green bean casserole (not the kind made with canned soup!)
Rather than having plain roasted butternut squash, which is a delicious side, last year I went with Oven-roasted Root Vegetables, but I omitted the potatoes because I was serving mashed potatoes:
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash, (1 1/2 to 2 pounds) halved, seeded and peeled
3 large Yukon gold potatoes (1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed
1 bunch medium beets, (about 1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed and tops trimmed
1 medium red onion
2 large parsnips (about 8 ounces), peeled
1 head garlic, cloves separated, and peeled (about 16)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Place 2 baking sheets in the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. (I used foil one-use pans.)
Cut all the vegetables into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Cut the onions through the base core to keep some of the layers in chunky pieces. Toss all the vegetables with garlic, olive oil and salt in large bowl. Season generously with pepper.
Carefully remove the heated baking sheets from the oven, brush or drizzle with olive oil. Divide the vegetables evenly between the 2 pans, spreading them out to assure they don’t steam while roasting. Roast the vegetables until tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Cook’s Note
Some very large parsnips have a pithy core, which should be trimmed before cooking.
I will also be making my usual Jiffy corn casserole, which the grandsons love, mashed potatoes, gravy, and hot rolls. I think I will try making the mashed potatoes ahead, and keeping them warm in my Instant Pot or slow cooker.
The pies will be made by my daughter and grandson, and I imagine one of them will be pumpkin! I am relaxing my low carb diet for the day, but I will be making a keto pumpkin dessert. I have a new recipe for a pumpkin dump cake that sounds good.
What are you planning this year? Any suggestions for appetizers?
Stella's Place 
Thanks for these helpful recipes, Stella. Pre-cut turkey makes a lot of sense! We usually go to our neighbors’ for a farm-style traditional dinner and bring fresh-baked dinner rolls and punpkin pie.
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ps ~ She is usually vexed because her son shows up late with the turkey, so I will share your recipe with them. Hard to change farm traditions, though. 😉
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It was a complete change for me too from the traditional, but I’m happy that I did. Faster, and better results.
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Spatchcocking is another way to cut time and get good results.
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I did the roasted root veggies last year, and they were a revelation for the guests, who had not eaten such unusual foods…. One family added them to their regular menu cycle.
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Roasted veg is dirt easy and delicious. I do it a lot.
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It’s not Thanksgiving for our family without a good sweet potato casserole. I wouldn’t eat sweet potatoes until I was in my twenties, but now I love them. I became the person who brings the huge pan of them to our big family meal long ago.
My husband’s huge extended family goes all out for the day, with all his siblings trying to show up with kids and grandkids. There may be one very elderly but super active and fit aunt to come. The members of that oldest generation are sadly almost gone.
Everyone who comes brings their specialties, and after so many years, we don’t plan a menu. We show up before noon, and there will be maybe a dozen or so sides, more than a half dozen desserts, two or three turkeys, several hams. A bouncy house in the huge yard for the kids, which makes for a much more peaceful day, and good fun all around complete the day.
I don’t have a recipe anymore, so these are approximations. You can find recipes for similar casseroles, but the topping ingredients always include flour. Don’t add flour! It ruins a good crunchy topping, makes it cakey.
About 3# sweet potatoes, half stick of butter, 3 large eggs, pinch of salt, cup of milk, quarter cup of sugar. Mix cooked sweet potatoes with all ingredients and beat well.
Mix about 1/4 cup butter, softened, one cup brown sugar, and one cup pecans into a crumbly topping and drop onto the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes until topping is browned.
I tried to reduce quantities to make a smaller, normal size casserole. To adjust according to taste, etc., don’t add all the ingredients at once. For example, start with a quarter cup of sugar, and check the tast after you mix the other ingredients in. You may want more sugar. Add milk gradually. You want the mix to be a little thicker than a pudding. If topping has too much butter, Ad a few more nuts and a little brown sugar.
You can also add vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon if you wish.
I hope you all have a wonderful few weeks getting ready for the holiday, and enjoy the preparations as much as the day!
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I love sweet potatoes just baked, with butter. Winter squash too!
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Me too, but I also like to top them with cranberries and nuts.
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My son wouldn’t eat sweet potatoes until he was about 16 even though he would try everything else. His father told him they were disgusting, because he didn’t like them. My mother baked some and sat one in front of him. She couldn’t see the face he made, but he was too polite to say anything negative. He loved it. I knew he would because he loved pumpkin pie. It was just too similar for him to not like it.
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My mother always put halved marshmallows on top before the final grilling…how could we not like it? 😉
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For Thanksgiving our appetizers are simply cream cheese/chopped green olive/chopped pecan stuffed celery sticks (cut to about 5ish inches.) Sometimes we have the whole veggie platter with carrot sticks, etc. and dip but when it’s just immediate family we stick to the stuffed celery.
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I love olive and nut spread/dip. The best.
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Have y’all ever done the cream cheese blocks with just a pepper jelly or tiger sauce poured over it? I was sure I’d hate that when it was served at a party I went to once, found out I loved it. Especially with a good pepper jelly, which I normally do not like.
Served with some good crackers, it’s an easy but delicious appetizer. And I’m currently addicted to making sourdough crackers.
Here’s another great and easy appetizer. I smoke mine, but used to do it in the over, per these directions.
https://www.savoringthegood.com/homemade-seasoned-ranch-cheese-crackers/
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Stella, I think I’m going to make that dressing with our turkey breast, a meal just for the two of us. Maybe we will have it on Wednesday before the big day.
For those who’d like to try a true Southern cornbread dressing, here’s my favorite recipe, my Aunt Gay’s dressing. She was one of the best cooks I’ve ever learned from. She loved to give out her recipes, and kept index cards with her favorites, ready to gift to anyone who asked, so unlike me, she measured!
I have a lot of her recipes, and may share more later, and at the Tree. She made the best, the most addicting Chex mix I’ve ever had. I often make a quad batch to give out during the holidays. And she gave me a cookie recipe, not originally hers, that is far and away the most delicious cookie I’ve ever tasted.
The family does some underhanded and dirty dealing to steal, yes, steal, as many of those cookies as they can. Let’s just say that you can’t turn your back on them, and not one of them can be trusted to deliver cookies to an absent friend or family member. Although they will solemnly swear to deliver them, they never do. Learned my lesson.
Aunt Gay’s Dressing
7” pone of cornbread, cooked, cooled, then crumbled one day ahead
10 biscuits, also cooked and crumbled ahead
5 slices white bread, laid out the day before. Note here, I like 3 slices thick French bread, torn in pieces, instead of white bread.
5 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (I use a lot more)
3 tsp sage, or less. I like less.
2 cups chopped celery and one cup chopped onion, sautéed in 3/4 stick butter
4 cups chicken or turkey broth
Aunt Gay notes that she used Kenner’s Mill cornmeal, which is from a local mill, and you may not need as much broth if you use a store bought brand.
Bake at 350 1.5 -2 hours until very brown. My own note here. Although she was pretty careful about measuring, you want this dressing to go in the oven sopping with the butter from the vegetables and the broth. When you assemble it all, if you don’t have broth slightly covering the cornmeal mixture, you don’t have enough.
Oh, so good with fresh turkey and cranberry sauce. I can eat dressing for days after Thanksgiving, and never get tired of it. I love both kinds, our cornbread dressing, and the wonderful bread varieties. Maybe I’ll spare some of my sourdough bread or rolls to make some this year.
I like to buy fresh sage, which I also use in the cavity of the turkey, when I cook a whole one.
Here’s to you Aunt Gay, in gratitude for all you taught me, and the wonderful recipes you left me. May you rest in peace.
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Did Aunt Gay have a recipe for easy chocolate cookies with chopped pecans? I’ve lost my family recipe and those were my favorite for years… (just plain ol’ Hershey’s cocoa and simple ingredients)
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I don’t remember one, but I’ll look. In the meantime, does this sound like it? It’s a very basic dough recipe, lots of other “double chocolate” add in chips.
https://www.food.com/recipe/hersheys-chewy-chocolate-cookies-77588
Here’s a double chocolate recipe, but you could leave the chips out. This one sounds like a good recipe.
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/double-chocolate-chip-cookies-pecans.html
When I have time to pull her cards out I’ll check and post it if she has something close.
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Looks close – I’ll try those out! Thanks Menage!
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Sounds good! I think the fresh herbs really make a big difference.
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Stella,
Is there any way to improve the flavor of dried spices?
Regrinding? Purchasing new? I’d like to try the dressing recipes, but don’t have access to them at the moment.
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I imagine you can use fresh dried spices, but if they are old and no longer potent, I don’t think there is a way to revive them. Dried sage and thyme are very good. I don’t think dried rosemary is very good, but that’s just my opinion. You could probably try poultry seasoning. Here’s a recipe for making your own, if you are interested:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/233909/homemade-poultry-seasoning/
Dried marjoram is a delicious dried herb. It’s really good on poultry. I grew it in my garden for a while, and my elderly neighbor told me that it smelled so good that you could use it as a sachet in your linens! My other favorite dried herb is tarragon. It’s great on poultry and fish. I really only use fresh herbs for certain things. Basil is one herb that has to be fresh, but you probably already know that!
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Thank you, Stella,
Our replies crossed, and I like yours better.
I’ll experiment!
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NOTE: Since dried herbs are more potent, substitute 1 teaspoon dried for 1 tablespoon chopped fresh.
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And easy as dirt to grow…
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After a brief search, “all of the above” may be the answer to the best flavor from dried spices.
Purchasing from the best supplier, rubbing spices between the palms of your hands, and adding them early can enhance their ability to flavor a dish.
Anyone have any other suggestions?
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Chess Pie Is The South’s Most Searched For Thanksgiving Pie: It’s not apple, pumpkin, or pecan.
By Lisa Cericola for “Southern Living” magazine
https://www.southernliving.com/chess-pie-favorite-thanksgiving-pie-8349850?
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This is a fun video with lots of ideas. Claire is an expert baker; she used to work for Bon Appetit.
Get the recipes: https://nyti.ms/3QSmGTn
1:12 – The menu
2:08 – Make the pie dough
6:34 – Start the stock
9:24 – Caramelized apple pie filling
14:05 – Simmer and skim the stock
17:11 – Brine the turkey
19:08 – Parbake the pumpkin pie crust
26:08 – Prepare the pecan slab pie
29:44 – Fill and bake the pumpkin pie
35:20 – Make the cranberry sauce
37:07 – Assemble the pecan slab pie
40:44 – Finish the stock and cranberry sauce
42:55 – Assemble the caramelized apple pie
46:29 – Prep the stuffing
55:35 – Prep the brussels sprouts
57:42 – Make the gravy
1:02:28 – Make the glazed shallots
1:04:51 – Cook the turkey
1:05:39 – Make the mashed potatoes
1:11:45 – One hour warning
1:13:35 – Carve the turkey
1:17:08 – Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner
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If anybody wants a particular recipe, let me know and I will supply it for you.
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Thank you, Stella for this post that you do during this time of month. It’s cool to see other peoples’ recipes that they enjoy, or have found! Thank you to the posters that share recipe/s. Lord, please bless Stella and other viewers that come to her site, I ask this in Jesus Name, Amen!
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Thank you so much for your kind words, and blessing.
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I actually have people staying at my house this year! So I have to think across the whole day from Wednesday to Saturday. Soups from the deli section at the grocery (corn and crawfish, shrimp and okra gumbo, chicken and sausage) to be warmed as people desire them. Bake pumpkin bread and buy some good bakery breads to sit out for warming or toasting with butter or cream cheese for breakfasts. Make platters of cheeses and sliced meats, veggie & fruit trays. Lay out several types of crackers. Plenty of juices and such.
We always have Thanksgiving on Friday because one member works on Thursday. It’s our holiday, so we can move it if we want.
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Oh yeah, we haven’t decided what to make the main course on Friday. Currently between Cornish Game hens and salmon. One member does not like turkey or cranberries.
This is all a little complicated because I am out of town until the Monday before Thanksgiving. Czar always ran this except desserts, which were mine. Now I see it as a group effort when it comes down to the end, which I see is how many of your families do it.
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Video of Simple Is Best Dressing.
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