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TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING By Marilyn Moll Copyrighted 2004
Introduction:
TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING Over the years, my children and I have focused on various historical aspects of Thanksgiving traditions and used a variety of ways to focus on and enrich our celebrations. We have read lavishly illustrated living history stories about the Pilgrims' celebrating their first Thanksgiving, made colorful Pilgrim and Indian costumes and headcoverings, roasted our turkey outside on a spit over coals, and other hands-on activities to create memories. We have prepared traditional foods such as spicy pumpkin and apple pies, Indian pudding and arisen early to gather together and watch parades and football games. Children of all ages, however, can learn that Thanksgiving has a richer and deeper meaning when they are involved in all aspects of the preparations and are taught how to focus on the spiritual blessings God has bestowed on them and their family as modeled by their parents.
In our family, we don't have extended family members that live close by to celebrate with, therefore, we have had to dig deeper to create a fruitful and meaningful celebration that we eagerly anticipate each year. Although we use Thanksgiving as a time to reflect on material and financial blessings, we endeavor to take time to talk about and reflect on the spiritual blessings experienced both personally and as a family. In fact, we have found that amidst family afflictions and conflicts a quintessential opportunity presented to focus on and recognize God's abundant blessings amidst the challenges and trials incumbent in daily living. Reflection time enables us to experience deeper appreciation of God's love, His sufficiency, His great and precious promises of faithfulness, provision, mercy, goodness and the completed work of the cross. Difficulties and disappointments of life are tools that God uses to prune us so that we may bring forth more fruit in our lives. Difficulties help us to learn to count it all joy and give thanks in all circumstances. Planning the Meal Involve Your Children Making Centerpieces Practical Tips Here is the Urban Homemaker Family's Traditional Thanksgiving Menu and recipes that we have been using for nearly twenty years. Recipes follow for the * Items. Turkey, Homemade Gravy*, Herbed Stuffing* AUNT HELEN'S SWEET POTATOES 1/4 Cup butter To prepare sweet potatoes in their jackets, drop them into
boiling water to cover and cook until tender, about 25 minutes.
(I usually pressure cook the sweet potatoes in 10 minutes to save
time and money.) Peel and mash the cooked sweet potatoes and mix
with the other ingredients. Place in a shallow 11 X 7 baking dish,
bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes. Then sprinkle the topping
mixture over the sweet potatoes and bake another 15-20 minutes CRANBERRY RELISH JELLO MOLD 1. Assemble and prepare the following ingredients: 20 oz. can crushed pineapple unsweetened (drain, reserving
the juice) 2. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add lemon juice and reserved pineapple juice. 3. Chill until gelatin begins to set-up about one hour. Meanwhile, coarsely chop cranberries in blender or food processor. 4. Stir in cranberries, oranges, pineapple, celery, and pecans to the thickened gelatin. Place this mixture in holiday jello mold or attractive glass serving bowl. Chill until firm. HERBED STUFFING 1. Cut bread into crouton-size cubes, about 20 slices of toasted white or whole wheat bread OR use one large bag of Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix (For homebaked whole wheat bread use 15 thin slices.) Place in a large bowl. 2 If you are using the Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix, omit this
step. 2 tsp. salt 3. Crumble, brown, and drain the sausage. Add the sausage to the stuffing mix or bread cubes: 1/4 pound bulk turkey breakfast sausage, 4. Saute the celery and onion in 1 TB of butter: 1 cup chopped celery 5. Next, add to the bread cubes/stuffing mixture: 4 TB fresh chopped parsley 6. Combine together: 1 stick melted butter 7. Drizzle all the liquid over the other ingredients and lightly toss until well mixed. 8. Stuff the bird loosely because stuffing expands during roasting,
or place the mixture in a glass casserole dish and bake the stuffing
separately until hot. It is very hard to ruin stuffing; use the
ingredients you have and like, but don't forget the onion and
celery. I can't wait to make this right now! Ladies, don't spoil your feast by using store bought turkey gravy mix. Your guests will notice the difference and remember this delicious homemade gravy. My daughter was horrified when she was helping another family clean up the meal and all the turkey drippings had been discarded! Make lots of gravy, it is perfect for leftovers, and many turkey casserole variations. The secret to homemade gravy is to make a delicious stock/base by simmering the giblets and neck in 2-3 cups of water while the turkey roasts, and saving ALL the drippings and browned crusty bits on the bottom of the roasting pan. Canned chicken broth or commercial gravy mix is a poor substitute, so resolve not to be tempted to compromise these steps. Pour all the turkey drippings from the roasting pan into a large measuring cup (at least 2 Cup measure) and allow the grease to separate. While the drippings are separating, pour 2-3 cups of water into the roasting pan and bring it to a boil by placing the pan on two burners on your stove top. Using a wooden spoon, stir up these browned bits so they "dissolve" into the water. This step is essential to wonderful tasting, beautifully browned gravy and makes cleaning up a roasting pan a much easier task. Reserve 4-8TB (1/4- 1/2 Cup) of the turkey grease once it separates from the drippings. After the roasting pan has simmered with water and turned a deep brown color, combine this liquid with turkey drippings (not the fat) and the broth from simmering turkey giblets so that you have 5-6 Cups of liquid. I use my 6-Cup blender as a measuring cup. Then combine 1/4-1/2 Cup turkey fat (or butter) with 8-10 TB flour (whole wheat pastry preferred) until it gelatinizes, or thickens in a large sauce pan. Keep stirring over medium low heat for about one minute. Now, VERY GRADUALLY, pour the liquid from the turkey giblets and the roasting pan into the fat/flour mixture while you stir it continuously so as to not have any lumps. Stir continuously until the entire mixture thickens. Adjust the liquid if needed so you have a nice pourable gravy. Add 2-3 tsp salt or to taste, OR use 1-2 TB of Sue's Kitchen Magic for a richer/deeper flavor and for a lower sodium gravy. Save leftover gravy leftovers for future meals, open face sandwiches, etc! FANTASTIC WHOLE WHEAT ROLLS 2 1/2 Cups warm water Combine warm water, honey, powdered milk, and yeast in mixing bowl. Allow yeast to activate. Add the eggs and 3 Cups flour. Stir until thoroughly mixed; dough will resemble cake batter. Cover, let rest until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Add salt, oil, and enough of the remaining flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Be careful to not add too much flour. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes or until the gluten is developed or the dough is soft and pliable, not dry. Place the dough on a lightly greased surface. Grease the baking sheets. Pinch off small round portions of dough, and roll into an an 8-inch rope. Tie the "rope" in a single knot. Place the knots in rows on baking sheets, cover, and let rise until double. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter if desired, and remove to a cooling rack. Makes 2-3 dozen. Multi-grain variation: Substitute 1 cup of 7-Grain Mix, cracked OR 1 Cup cracked wheat for one cup of the whole wheat flour. * IF you do not have high quality fresh home milled whole wheat flour I would recommend that you use half bread flour or all-purpose flour in place of some of the whole wheat flour in order to avoid heavy, dense rolls. AMERICAN APPLE PIE 1 Double Crust Pie Recipe (use your favorite pie crust recipe
or check http://tinyurl.com/2uwal for for Never Fail Pie Crust) Place prepared bottom crust in a 9-inch pie pan. Put sliced, cored, peeled apples into a large mixing bowl and toss with lemon juice. Preheat the oven to 400° F. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle 1/4 Cup of the sugar mixture on the bottom pie crust and add the rest of the sugar mixture to the apples and stir to coat the apples. Fill the pie crust heaping full with the apple mixture. Dot with the butter. Place the top crust over the filling. Press edges together and flute. Bake about 50 minutes, until the crust is golden browned. Serve with favorite topping. Makes one pie. PECAN PIE PREHEAT OVEN TO 450° Line a 9" pie pan with single crust of pie dough (Never
Fail Pie Crust Recipe can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2uwal),
fork it all over very thoroughly to allow steam to escape and
bake it only partially, from 5 to 7 minutes. Allow it to cool.
Reduce oven heat to 375°. 3 eggs Fill the shell. Bake the pie 40 to 50 minutes at 375° or until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean. I have found that when the pie looks browned it is done. Serve warm or cold. PUMPKIN BREAD 4 1/2 C. sugar, white, brown, Sucanat, or combination Combine first eight ingredients and beat one minute. Stir together the flour, soda and baking powder, then add to wet mixture. Stir all ingredients until well-combined without overmixing. Pour batter into greased loaf pans or muffin tins. Bake in 325° F oven for 50-60 minutes (regular sized loaf pans). Decrease baking time for muffins and mini-loaves. Test for doneness, cool five minutes in pan and finish cooling on a wire rack. Wrap completely cooled product in plastic wrap or bread bags for storage. Variation: Add 1-2 C. chopped nuts and,or raisins to batter before baking. TURKEY LEFTOVER RECIPES With all those delicious turkey leftovers, here are a few recipes we look forward to each year after Thanksgiving!!! This is absolutely the best part of Thanksgiving. TURKEY CHOWDER My friend, Debi Nancarrow, shared this recipe with me in 1985
that had become not only a family favorite of theirs but also
part of their "Twelfth Night Party" Celebration tradition.
The recipe has been published in a coffee table book celebrating
Colorado Christmas traditions and it is probably in other books
as well. I guarantee this recipe is a winner for those leftover
bits of turkey. 2 C. sliced carrots Combine carrots, broth, onions, celery, broccoli, and salt.
Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer 10 minutes. Bring to
rolling boil again, and gradually stir in the oat flour, stirring
constantly. TURKEY TETRAZZINI Serves: 6-8 servings (2-1/2 qt casserole) 3 cups diced turkey pieces 1. Cook pasta according to package directions until just barely
tender or use leftover spaghetti or other pasta. Rinse, and drain. GOURMET TURKEY SANDWICH Sourdough bread, French bread or whole grain equivalent Spread cranberry sauce and cream cheese on opposite Link: |