Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes
Thanksgiving is a time of food. The Pilgrims worked hard to make the new world their home, and this was their celebration. The menu is usually the same. Turkey, sometimes ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls or bread, pumpkin pie and apple pie, and a variety of other trimmings adorn the holiday table. Families gather not only to celebrate the historic event, but just to catch up with everyone’s lives. The food may be similar, but Thanksgiving dinner recipes have as much variety as the colors of the leaves on the November trees.
How about this recipe for a delicious appetizer? Move the pumpkin from dessert to the start of the meal as a savory Pumpkin soup. Add butter and oil to a pan over medium heat. Add three sliced leeks (only the white) and saute until the leeks are soft. Add 15 ounces of pumpkin puree, a pinch of cloves, one tablespoon of ground cinnamon, one teaspoon of ground ginger, and a pinch of salt. After that’s all mixed, add 32 ounces of vegetable broth. Stir in one quarter cup of brown sugar. Use low heat to simmer it for 10 minutes. If desired pour a tsp or so of cream or half and half into the bowl before adding soup and a dash of cinnamon. Mmmm boy that’s delicious.
Fried turkey is also good. You may think it’s greasy but it isn’t. The oil can’t penetrate the skin after the hot oil sears it. For this task a big oil pot and propane burner are used. Turkey fryers can be found in stores like Walmart. Check the meat with a meat thermometer and the oil temperature with an oil thermometer. Hot oil may spatter so do this in an open outdoor space. Get that oil hot, up to 350F. Cook it for 3 minutes per pound, until the breast is 170F. Dressing isn’t fried inside the turkey, but spices can be injected into it.
Try hazelnut pumpkin soup or a butternut squash stuffing. Other appetizer possibilities also exist. Give cheese wrapped asparagus a try. Both sliced and spread cheese go into this one. Try slices of swiss with a blue cheese spread. Spread the soft cheese on the slices, wrap it around a few asparagus spears, then cook in a 230 degree C oven for about 15 minutes, or until the asparagus is soft. Sure wrapping cheese around asparagus turns a pretty healthy food into something a little more fattening. But Thanksgiving isn’t a time for a diet. Live a little!
The world wide web is full of many other terrific Thanksgiving dinner recipes.
