Recipes to Make Your Holiday Special

Suggested Holiday Menu and Recipes - Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes -- Christmas Dinner Recipes - 2023

Here's the meal planning and holiday menu done for you so you can enjoy the holidays!

Turkey with Dressing
French Meat Pie
Easy Sweet Potatoes
Quick Delicious Apple-Cranberry-Walnut Salad
Homemade Cream Corn
The White Chocolate Buche de Noel

How to Thaw and Cook a Turkey - for weight and cooking-roasting times, giblets and storage requirements.

How to Brine a Turkey for a juicy and more tasty turkey

Roast Turkey

Turkey dinner

Prep Time: 30 minutes

American Cuisine

Ingredients

Turkey
Salt
Pepper
1 lb. pork sausage (optional)
1 1/2 qt. soft bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 tbsp. parsley, chopped

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes per pound.

Instructions

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Dress turkey: Rinse turkey with water inside and out. Season with salt and pepper inside and out and weight to determine cook time

Make stuffing:

Cook onion with sausage in skillet for 5 minutes, then add remaining ingredients except bacon. Moisten with a little hot water if too dry.

Place turkey in pan, cover with in foil.

Place in pre heated oven

Remove foil for last 30 min. to brown.

Test to see if done by pushing fork into a thigh and the thick part of the breast. If fork enters easily and if juice has no read tint, the bird is ready.

Test with a meat thermometer by placing it into the thichest part of the turkey breast to determine if the turkey is done, it should be at least 160 - 165 degreees

French Holiday Meat Pie (Tourtiere)

Video: How to Make French Meat Pie

Tourtiere (French Canadian Meat Pie)

You will need to make a double pie crust,or you can use or use two frozen pie crusts which have been thawed.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground pork
1 1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of pepper
One small onion finely chopped
1/3 cup water

Directions

Simmer meat, water, and onions.
Add salt and pepper.
Stir frequently to break up meat and cook until browned.
Drain off most of the juice, then place meat mixture into pie crust. Place other pie crust on top and pinch edges.
Cut slits in top crust. Roll small piece of pie dough into a round ball and set in center of top pie crust.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min then 30 more minutes at 350 degrees.

Sweet Potatoes

candied sweet potatoes

Video: How to Cook Candied Sweet Potatoes

Candied Sweet Potatoes

American Cuisine

Sweet potatoes about 1/2 for each person 1/2 cup butter or margin per 4-5 potatoes 1/4 cup maple or karo syrup per 4-5 sweet potatoes

Peel sweet potatoes (about one half potato per person).
Place potatoes in water, bring to a boil.
Then simmer until tender, about 15-20 minutes.
In fry pan melt 1/4 cup of margin or butter.
Add 1/4 cup maple (pancake) syrup and cooked sweet potatoes.
Simmer and base potatoes with butter and syrup until they candy.

Quick Delicious Apple-Cranberry-Walnut Salad

Ingredients

American Cuisine
3-5 small apples diced
1 can cranberry sauce
3/4 cup walnuts

Mix diced apples, cranberry sauce and walnuts, chill and serve

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Homemade Creamed Corn

Ingredients

American Cuisine

one small onion minced
1/2 small green pepper chopped
1 Tbl. flour
1 cup Half and Half or canned milk
2 cups corn cut off cob or 1 can whole kernel corn drained
1 1/14 stick butter or margarine
Ritz crackers

Directions

Melt 1/2 stick marguerite or butter in 2 quart pan.
Saute onion and green pepper in margarine.
Stir in 1 Tbl flour.
Add 1 cup half and half or canned milk.
Pour in can of whole kernel corn (drain off water first)
Place in greased casserole.
Add another 1/4 stick melted margarine or butter.
Crumble Ritz crackers in hands and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes.

The White Chocolate Buche de Noel

The White Chocolate Buche de Noel is known for its signature yellow sponge cake. But what makes it even tastier is the white choco on which it is rolled over and the stuffed cherry that really offers a sweet delight.

For the sponge cake, here are the ingredients:

American Cuisine
1/2 cup milk 2-3 tbsp butter (unsalted) 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup cake flour 1 tsp baking powder salt 3-5 large eggs 3-5 large egg yolks 1 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat stove at 350 degrees. Make sure that your baking pan is sprayed by coating before layering baking sheet on it. Spray once more.
2. Mix milk and butter together. Set the stove to medium heat and wait until the mixture smoothens. Stir occasionally and wait until butter is melted. Add vanilla extract. Set aside and let the mixture cool down.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.

3. For the batter, you need to mix eggs, yolks and sugar. Whip until the mixture turns fluffy. Add the sifted ingredients onto the mixture. Divide this into three smaller batches. Fold the batter after each sift ingredients are added.

4. Gently sprinkle the mixture onto the batter. Fold afterwards. Don’t hasten in pouring the liquid or else it will sink rather than getting absorbed by the batter. If this happens, your cake will have that rubbery feel. Transfer the batter to a jellyroll pan. It’s best to use an offset spatula to make sure the spread doesn’t get uneven.

5. Bake the batter for 12 minutes or until it turns golden brown.

For the whipped white chocolate ganache filling and frosting, your ingredients are the following:

one pound of white choco (chopped well)

2 cups of heavy cream

War the heavy cream over medium heat. In a large bowl, transfer the finely chopped chocolate then pour onto the cream. Stir smoothly for up to three minutes or until the mixture smoothens. Set aside to cool. Cover then keep in the refrigerator for up to six hours.

Here’s the recipe for the cherry stuff:

sour pitted cherries (as many as you want)

5 tbsp of cherry syrup,

3-5 tbsp sugar

2-3 tbsp kirschwasser liqueur.

Drain the cherries but make sure to save 3-5 tbsp of the syrup. Sweeten the syrup with sugar while heating over stove. Bring to boil then add kirschwater. Set aside for a while, then pour over cherries.

After you’ve prepared the cake, white choco and cherry filling, unroll the cake then gently spread the white chocolate buttercream followed by the cherry stuff. Roll it once again then cut off both ends diagonally.

How to Carve a Turkey

To someone who is just learning to cook, this topic may seem like one of the hardest meals you will ever have to prepare. Needless to say, if youíre having a turkey thereís usually company involved which means a number of hungry people are relying on you to prepare a great meal. This can be very intimidating. Luckily we have all the information you need, in order to ensure a great meal for you, your friends and your family.

In order to successfully carve a turkey, you will need to have the following pieces of equipment:

ï One warm serving platter
ï A pair of kitchen scissors
ï An electric knife or a large slicing knife (you may want to choose a manual knife since they provide more control than electric ones)
ï A small carving knife or fork for arranging and serving the meat

Now that you have the equipment you need to carve the turkey, follow these steps in order to become a turkey carving expert:

1. Let the turkey rest 20-30 minutes after roasting and before carving. This will make the meat moister and easier to cut.
2. After the turkey has sat for the time indicated above, transfer the turkey onto a cutting board; this is where you will begin carving the turkey.
3. Removing the Leg: Hold old the drumstick firmly with your fingers and gently pull the meat away from the body of the turkey. While doing this, cut the skin between the leg and the body. Next, cut through the joint joining the leg to the turkey body. Then remove the drumstick and thigh by cutting downwards through the joint, until the knife hits the cutting board.
4. Slicing the Drumstick (Leg): Having detached the leg from the rest of the body, slice the meat. Hold the drumstick in an upright position and turn the drumstick in a circular motion while cutting downwards. You will get tasty slices of meat which are approximately equal size.
5. Slicing the Thigh: Hold it close to the plate and secure it so it does not move When slicing thigh meat, For best results when cutting thigh meat. Make sure your knife is parallel to the bone and cut downwards towards the plate in slow, steady motions.
6. Slicing the Breast Meat: Make a deep cut into the breast of the turkey towards the body frame, as close to the wing as you can. Start towards the front of the turkey (about halfway up the breast), begin cutting downwards, parallel to the cut you made to the wing. Only cut enough meat as you think necessary for the amount of people. Uncut meat will stay fresher longer.
7. Serving the Turkey: place slices of meat on a large platter and serve to your delighted guests.

* Note: Remove stuffing from the turkey either by taking it out of the hole made where the leg was removed or by making a new hole in the neck and taking it out from there.

Happy Holidays- We hope you enjoy your traditional Thanksgiving dinner and your Christmas Turkey dinner!

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