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 »
Archive for the ‘Thanksgiving Dinner’ Category
November 28th, 2013 
Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner 
Comments Off on Stress-Free Roast Turkey Stress-Free Roast Turkey
November 27th, 2013 Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Quickly Thawing a Frozen Turkey in Water 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 Comments Off on Pie Crust: Rolled vs. Pressed 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:
Here’s how I do it now – much easier:
For more practical Thanksgiving help, check out the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook Thanksgiving Help Page by clicking any picture on this page.
November 25th, 2013 Blog, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Start Now if Thawing a Frozen Thanksgiving Turkey in the Fridge Start Now if Thawing a Frozen Thanksgiving Turkey in the Fridge
If you’re planning to thaw a frozen turkey for Thanksgiving as safely as possible – no matter the size of the turkey – start thawing it now by leaving it in its original packaging, putting it on a plate to catch any condensation and putting it in the refrigerator. As you can see in the picture of the “estimated thawing time” label below, thawing a turkey in the refrigerator takes days of time. After 3 full days of thawing in the refrigerator, I checked my 15 1/2 pound turkey last night and found the bottom was still crunchy frozen.
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November 21st, 2013 Blog, How To & Tips, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Thawing a Frozen Turkey in the Refrigerator Thawing a Frozen Turkey in the Refrigerator
Just for the fun of it – this stuff is always fun – I got a 15 1/2 pound frozen turkey yesterday evening to find out how long it really takes to thaw it completely in the refrigerator as recommended on the packaging. All I did was put the rock-solid frozen turkey on a plate at 6pm and slide it onto the bottom shelf in my refrigerator, which is set pretty much right at the refrigerator manufacturer’s recommended temperature, probably about 40° F (4° C). Read more »
November 19th, 2013 Blog, How To & Tips, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Heavy Cream vs. Evaporated Milk Heavy Cream vs. Evaporated Milk
There’s just about nothing else that adds a more comforting flavor and texture to food than heavy cream. The only downside is that heavy cream can also leave you feeling excessively full – very quickly, and there are two good reasons for that as you can see in the nutrition label comparison below.
The bottom line is that heavy cream has more than twice the calories and five times the fat content of evaporated milk. The first thing to notice in the label comparison above is that the serving size for heavy cream (1 tablespoon) is half the serving size of evaporated milk (2 tablespoons). That means ounce for ounce (2 tablespoons = 1 ounce), heavy cream has 100 calories, all which are attributed to fat as follows: 10 grams total fat, 7 grams of which are saturated fat, and a cholesterol content of 40 mg. The same one ounce of evaporated milk has 40 calories, 20 calories of which are attributed to fat like this: 2 grams total fat, 1.5 grams of which are saturated fat, and 10 mg of cholesterol.
Nutritionally, the differences are significant, though I’ve found that both evaporated milk and heavy cream have similar cooking and flavor properties, especially when used in recipes like mashed potatoes, gravy, pasta al Fredo, pumpkin pie, and more. That means substituting heavy cream with evaporated milk is a great way to add comforting texture and flavor without taking on excessive calories and fat.
November 15th, 2013 Blog, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Fresh Mashed Potatoes and What’s Your Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish? Fresh Mashed Potatoes and What’s Your Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish?
Yesterday I promised today I’d ask: what’s your favorite Thanksgiving side dish? You bet I’d like to hear. But having asked, it’s only fair I lay down my cards first.
My favorite side dish is fresh mashed potatoes because they’re fantastically flavorful and comforting all on their own and do a great job blending with every other flavor on the Thanksgiving plate. As if that’s not enough, they’re also incredibly easy to make as shown in the step-by-step picture book recipe you can get here by clicking the picture above. (One quick tip: I love having ’em with skins still on both for flavor and added nutrition. Great!) The same recipe is also available in either of the complete Thanksgiving Dinner step-by-step video and picture ebooks you can check out by clicking the picture below.
