Thanksgiving Dinner | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Archive for the ‘Thanksgiving Dinner’ Category

November 21st, 2020

Blog, Thanksgiving Dinner, Video & Picture Ebooks

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Fresh Cranberry Sauce and Picture Book Thanksgiving Help

Last post talked about self-empowerment and how this site can help you put together life-promoting meals, even if you’ve never cooked before, with easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipes.

I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holidays because all that is expected is having a great tasting meal with family and friends. Unfortunately, some of the “greatness” of Thanksgiving might be diminished this year due to Covid-19 restrictions. My recommendation: accentuate the positive. Enjoy Thanksgiving with those closest to you and make it as richly flavorful as you can.

One of the easiest full-on traditional Thanksgiving flavors to nail is fresh cranberry sauce. Homemade fresh cranberry sauce, with its rich sweet and sour flavor and mouth pleasing snap-pop, tastes much better than canned cranberry sauce and is literally just as easy to make as boiled water. Fresh cranberry sauce can also be made well in advance and keeps fresh for weeks in the refrigerator.

Here’s all you need to make fresh cranberry sauce. Note: you’ll see a carton of orange juice in the picture below. Cranberry sauce recipes usually call for water. Instead of water, I like using fruit juice – orange juice as shown or apple or any other juice – for added flavor.

Click any picture above for an easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe. For more stress-free Thanksgiving dinner help, click this link to the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook “Thanksgiving Help” page.

November 23rd, 2016

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Cooking Technique, How To & Tips, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Stress-Free Roast Turkey Picture Book Recipe

Years ago I put together what I thought was the most stress-free roast turkey picture book recipe available. That recipe produced terrifically tender results because it required roasting the turkey at consistently high heat (450℉/230℃) mostly with the bird in a breast-side down position. Leaving the the turkey breast-side down for most of the roasting time protects the more delicate breast meat from direct heat and also allows the fat in turkey’s legs and thighs to baste the rest of the bird naturally by gravity. That technique, though, has two significant drawbacks: high heat roasting works well only for turkeys weighing up to 15 pounds and consistent high heat roasting temperature creates a lot of smoke in the kitchen. Read more »

November 16th, 2016

Blog, Dessert, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Fresh and Easy Apple Pie Picture Book Recipe

All right! My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, is just around the corner. Friends, family, great flavors, terrific smells – and for some, a 4-day holiday!

The fresh and easy apple pie you see here goes great for dessert anytime, but particularly for Thanksgiving.

Here’s all you need to make this pie. I put the pie crust in a separate insert picture because the recipe itseslf doesn’t show how to make a pie crust, though there is a link to an easy recipe showing how to make the crust shown in that insert.

Thanksgiving Tip: Fresh or Frozen Turkey?

I’m sure you’ve seen signs in the grocery store urging you to order fresh turkeys now. But is fresh really better than frozen?

Actually, it’s really your preference because the quality of frozen and fresh turkey meat is about equal. Frozen turkeys are less expensive and can be stored in the freezer for at least a month with no loss in meat moisture and tenderness but require time to defrost. Fresh turkeys are more perishable and are therefore more expensive because of how they have to be handled to get them to market safely. Fresh turkeys should also be refrigerated until they’re ready to be prepared for roasting and should be cooked within a day or two of purchase to ensure maximum freshness. One key point: if you ordered a fresh turkey, make sure to pick it up the day BEFORE Thanksgiving at the latest as most grocery stores are closed Thanksgiving Day.

For more Thanksgiving tips and step-by-step picture book recipes designed to make your Thanksgiving as stress-free and FUN as possible, please check out the Thanksgiving Help page you can get by clicking this link or by clicking the tab as shown in the picture below.

November 28th, 2014

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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How to Remove and Store Meat From a Turkey – All in Pictures

Now that Thanksgiving’s over – great holiday! – it’s time to think about leftovers that are limited only by your tasteful imagination…after first removing the meat from the turkey body and then storing that meat properly.

Yeah, I know: I used to dislike removing meat from a turkey, but now that I know how to do it about as efficiently as possible, I don’t mind the job at all. Read more »

November 27th, 2014

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Stress-Free Turkey Roast and Easy Thanksgiving Help – All in Pictures

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving because all that’s expected is good company and a great tasting meal. At the same time, I sure understand that putting together that fantastically flavorful meal can mean a good deal of stress for those in the kitchen. To help relieve that stress, here’s the easiest, most stress-free way I know to roast a moist and tender turkey, especially one that, like the majority of turkeys available, weighs less than 15 pounds. Read more »

November 29th, 2013

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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How to Remove and Store the Meat from a Turkey

First, I hope you had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving. Yah, I know for some of you that line’ll lay a good wry smile on your face. I had a good time stretched out on my toes in the traditional Thanksgiving family picture – and just managed stand with the tallest in the group. You bet, I’m smiling! Read more »

November 28th, 2013

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Stress-Free Roast Turkey

Here’s how the 15 1/2 pound turkey I roasted last night (Thanksgiving Eve) turned out after 2 1/2 hours of high heat roasting. After misreading a recipe and making adjustments years ago, using high oven heat (450°F/230°C) at 10 minutes per pound is my favorite stress-free method for ensuring a moist and tender turkey. Read more »

November 27th, 2013

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Quickly Thawing a Frozen Turkey in Water

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Stores will be closed tomorrow. Hopefully, you’ve already bought a turkey if you plan to have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

If you bought a frozen turkey, here’s the quickest safe way to thaw it. Plan on 30 minutes thawing time per pound – about 6 hours total thawing time for a 12 pound turkey, 7 1/2 hours for a 15 pound turkey. Read more »

November 26th, 2013

Blog, Dessert, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Pie Crust: Rolled vs. Pressed

I’m fairly new to making pies but have already learned a lot regarding flavor and efficiency. Most importantly, I’ve learned NEVER to make a pie crust that’s just a bland container for a flavorful filling. No way! Here’s a picture of a crust I made recently loaded ground almond, chocolate multigrain cereal, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, shredded coconut and much more. I’ll put together a picture book recipe soon – after Thanksgiving.

I also learned very recently, after my daughter asked if we could try it, that pressing pie crust dough into a pie pan is so much easier than rolling out the dough like this: