Dressing, Sweet Potatoes and Pies, Oh My!

Today I'm going to give you the recipes for dressing, sweet potatoes and pies).

For the dressing, we're just going to prepare the cornbread and other dry ingredients today, then we'll mix everything together in a big bowl tomorrow and pour it into a buttered crockpot. The sweet potatoes we'll put together completely and store in the casserole dish we'll be cooking it in, so hopefully you have enough room in the fridge somewhere around that thawing turkey to put a casserole dish of pre-prepped sweet potatoes. If not, you can always cook them the night before and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes the day of (or if you're desperate you can nuke them for around 6-8 minutes, but I think the oven is better).

The Dressing

1 cup of the diced onion

1/2 cup of the diced celery

1 pan cornbread (1 box of jiffy made per package directions) 

8 slices white bread (wheat is okay, but it won't be quite as moist) 

1 1/2 tablespoons sage (or to taste...I actually taste it, even with the raw eggs. Call me crazy.) 

2 cans cream of chicken soup (actually, I like to use 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of celery)

1 32 oz carton chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 beaten eggs

Butter the crock. Mix together all ingredients and pour into the crock. Cook on high 2-3 hours or low 5-6 hours. Keep watch on this. If it appears to be too thin while cooking it on low, bump it up to high. The dressing should not be soupy, nor should it be dry, but somewhere in between, like an English pudding (sort of a cross between custard and cake).

IN MAKING AHEAD:  Prepare your cornbread. After it cools, crumble it into fine crumbs. Toast the bread and crumble into fine crumbs. Add sage, salt and pepper. Store in a large zipper bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap until ready to prepare on Thanksgiving Day.

Sweet Potato Casserole

1 40 oz can Bruce's Yams (or sweet potatoes)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup whole milk or cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Drain the potatoes, mash with a fork and whip with a mixer until smooth (or as smooth as you can get it). Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a buttered 2 quart casserole or 13 x 9 inch pan. Mix together the topping ingredients (it's easiest to add the pecans last, after mixing the sugar, flour and butter together). Spread evenly on top of the potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (in 13 x 9 inch pan) or 45 minutes (in casserole).

TO MAKE AHEAD: Prepare the potatoes and place in the preferred dish. Cover with plastic wrap or casserole lid and place in the fridge until ready to cook. Prepare the topping and place in a zipper bag or covered bowl at room temperature. Remove from fridge and allow to warm up to room temp on the counter for 30 minutes. Top with the topping mixture and bake.

Pumpkin Pie

Okay, there's no better recipe than the Libby's recipe, so here's the link. I'm not even going to bother putting a different one out there.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/

Just note, you don't have to use the evaporated milk, you can use regular milk or half milk, half cream.

Here's a photo of my last year's pumpkin pie. Buy an extra box of crusts, or make your own, and you can do the little decorations. I used my well loved mini cutters from Pampered Chef.

Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pie crust

1 C light corn syrup

1 C firmly packed brown sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 C melted butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 C pecans

Prepare your pie crust. Mix remaining ingredients and pour into the crust. Sprinkle top with pecans. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees or until the center is set (the very center, about a half dollar around, barely jiggles when you gently move the pan). Insert a toothpick in the center, and it will come our fairly clean when done. This is my dad's recipe, and he would spend tons of time arranging pecan halves in concentric rings over the top of the pie. He was very patient. Not me. Sometimes I even throw the pecans (chopped) into the batter and pour it all into the crust at once.

TIPS FOR PIES:  For crusts that don't shrink, add the filling to the crust, then refrigerate for 15 minutes before putting in the oven to bake. If your crust starts to get too brown, fold strips of foil and place over the edge of the crust. If your pumpkin pies tend to crack, bake them with a small pan of water in the oven to keep the tops moist. If you add pie crust decorations, brush them with an egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water, or some folks use milk. I've used both, and prefer the egg mixture.

The Rolls

Here's a link to one of my previous post with a quick yeast roll recipe. You can make these on Wednesday and put them in the fridge after cutting them. Then just bring them out of the fridge on Thanksgiving, allow them to rise until double somewhere warm near the oven, and bake per the recipe. You can also use this for cinnamon rolls, just roll the dough out after mixing, spread with a mixture of 1 cup brown sugar, 1 stick butter, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. roll up and slice. Place rolls in a 13 x 9 inch pan sprayed with cooking spray and place in the fridge. Let rise like the refrigerated rolls and bake per the usual directions. Top with a mixture of powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.

http://frugalmomdiner.blogspot.com/2011/09/menu-for-sunday-september-25-2011.html

Tomorrow, your turkey day prep list.