Thanksgiving Traditions

I read an article today in the November 2010 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine that made me stop and think for a minute. It was about passing down traditions for the Thanksgiving meal.

The person writing the article was a male and talked about how moms pass down their recipes to their daughters not their sons, and that her holiday masterpiece would die out with her, a family heirloom gone missing..

So he asked his mom if she would teach him to make her Thanksgiving meal and although somewhat bewildered, she did happily. That next Thanksgiving he prepared her dinner for their family that she had made for years but had since passed the turkey baster on to her daugther-in-laws.

He recalls the looks on his parents faces when the meal was served and how delighted they were. Then while cleaning the old roasting pan that had been in the family for generations he asked his mom if she would leave it to him someday. Very pleased and proud that he would want to continue this tradition she said "All right, if you'd like."

So it made me think. I already have the identical roasting pan that my mom uses. Afterall her turkeys were always delicious so why make any changes now. My mom to this day, at 88 years old, makes a challah stuffing for the turkey. We have all loved her stuffing for as long as I remember and now my kids love it too. In fact, my son looks forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving meal right after we have one because of my moms stuffing. He loves what I make too but there's just something about her stuffing.

So years ago I asked my mom for the recipe which I have filed away safely. I desperately want to make it to insure I have it just right but, I don't dare take that glory away from her on Thanksgiving. I'm superstitiuous and if I made it while she was still here on earth I'm afraid I would jinx her. I'd never forgive myself.

So I'll just keep it tucked away and know that someday it will be my turn to prepare it along with all the other fixins. I hope that my kids will also want the recipe to pass down to their children along with ones that they've grown to cherish that were mine.

What recipe or recipes do you have each and every year that you'd like to be sure you get, so that you can pass down to your family for generations to come? Please share it with me and don't forget to ask for it this year. Unfortunately you never know when it will be too late.

Turkey Roulade

For those of you that don't have the time to roast an entire turkey on Thanksgiving or if your family prefers the breast meat rather than the dark meat you may want to consider roasting a turkey roulade.

What's that? It's a boneless turkey breast that's been rolled. The photo above is a boneless turkey breast with the skin left on. When you go to the store just ask the butcher if he would de-bone the turkey breast. If you like you can even ask if they will pound it so it will lay flat. However, that's simple to do yourself by just opening the breast up when you get home and laying it skin side down on a cutting board. Then cover with plastic wrap and pound with a mallet until it flattens out evenly. At this point you can put it back in the refrigerator until you are ready to stuff it.

The stuffing that I used in the photo above was a mix of about 16 ounces of mushrooms, a minced clove of garlic and a minced shallot. I sauteed these in olive oil in a skillet until the mushrooms released all their juices, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

With the turkey opened up and laying flat, skin side down on a cutting board I spread the mushroom mixture all over the meat of the turkey.

Now at this point you want to make sure you have a roll of twine to tie up the bird once you roll it.

Then simply roll your turkey from one side of the breast to the other tucking the ends in. Then cut your twine in about four 24" pieces, placing the center of each piece of twine under the seam of the turkey and tying it on top. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of twine spacing them evenly apart. Then cut a 5th piece longer than the other four to be tied the entire length of the turkey. This will insure that it will remain closed while cooking.

Place in a roasting pan. If you like add about 1/2 cup of Marsala wine and 1 cup low sodium chicken broth to the bottom of the pan. Cover and bake at 350F until the internal temperature reaches 155-160F degrees. At this point you can remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes. This will allow the juices to evenly get distributed. While resting the internal temperature of the turkey should rise to 165F-170F which is where you want it to be for eating. (Baste at least once during cooking with juices)

While the turkey is resting take 1 1/2 tbsp. of butter and melt in a saucepan. Once melted add the same amount of flour and cook with the butter until the flour reaches a golden brown. Then add the remaining liquid (Marsala Wine and chicken broth) from the turkey to the saucepan and cook over low heat until it thickens.

Slice your turkey roulade and drizzle with the marsala wine sauce. This is so delicious and moist you won't believe you made it.

Feel free to use your favorite bread stuffing or some other stuffing to roll up into the breast if you don't like mushrooms. Whatever you select it won't be wrong. That's the beauty of cooking it yourself.

If you decide to try this please let me know what you think and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me.

Of course don't forget all the wonderful sides that can go with this.

The photo above shows what the turkey looks like sliced. I didn't cover it with the sauce because then you wouldn't be able to view the inside.

Basic Ingredients needed:

1 turkey breast de-boned with skin left on (usually around 5-7 pounds)
16 oz. mushrooms-use a variety of different types
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large shallot, minced
salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup Marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth

kitchen twine

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just 17 days away. It's hard to believe it's almost here. I took my dogs for a walk yesterday at Tillis Park and they already have the lights up and ready to go for the holidays. How time flies.

Every year we always seem to have the same thing for dinner, mainly because each time I say I'm going to take something out and try something new they all say, "Oh no, don't do that, I love that dish." So low and behold we have the same thing. However, this year my husband wanted us to try a Turducken. I said oh great I'll make one. He said why bother, just buy one since I make everything anyway. So I checked out some places online and found one that was even on the Food Network called The Cajun Grocer. So it looks like in addition to the usual turkey we'll also have a Turducken. If any of you out there have had one what do you think of them? They sound extremely moist and look great. I guess we'll see. I have to order it this week so it arrives in plenty of time so that we can defrost it. It serves 30 people. Oh my goodness we are going to have enough food to feed our entire neighborhood. So come on by!

Anyway, in addition to our 2 turkeys now we'll have:

Salad with candied pecans, goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette
Popovers with Strawberry Butter because that's what my kids like with it
Macaroni and Cheese because my kids love it
My famous Sweet Potato Casserole
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Grilled Veggies
Stuffing (tons of carbs on this day)

I think that does it for the food portion. Last year I also had a Potato Casserole but everyone ate mostly the Sweet Potatoes so I'm not going to bother this year with that.


For Dessert:

Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie with cinnamon and vanilla ice cream

Then of course some sort of appetizers which right now might just be some veggies although my husband the past couple of years has decided he wanted to pick up White Castle burgers for appetizers. We'll be popping those Tums by the time dinner is over at the rate we're going. At least I'll have the veggies to offset the rest of the calories. LOL!

I'm not sure what they rest of you serve on Thanksgiving but a typical year in my home consists of low fat, low carb food. So when the holidays come we pull out all the stops and go for it. So I try to fix whatever I can that's on my families list of all time favorites, which obviously consists of lots of high fat foods and carbs. Let's face it, it tastes great!

What's on your menu? If you'd like to share your favorite Thanksgiving recipe please do. I'm always looking to try something new.