The Holidays Are Upon Us

How does it happen? The older I get, the faster the time. I would like for someone smarter than me to tell me how it happens.

As impossible as it may seem, another Thanksgiving Day is just a round the corner.

A reader asked me to make sure holiday recipes were in early this year, so she would have time to shop and plan her menu before the big day. I hope you all have other resources besides mine – just in case mine don’t work!

So, here we go together as we count the days to what I hope for all of us will be another wonderful time of food and fellowship with family and friends and all that we love about life.

Roasted Turkey in the Bag

Approx. 16 lb. Turkey
1 cup butter or margarine
Flour
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 onions
4-5 stalks of celery
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Turkey Roasting Bag

Remove giblets and neck from turkey; wash, and set aside. Wash turkey thoroughly inside and out; pat dry with paper towels. Preheat oven to 325F.
Mix about half of the butter with onion and celery and stuff into cavity of turkey. Place more butter and garlic under the skin of turkey. Bend wing tips under body, or fasten to body with poultry pins. Brush with more butter; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place turkey in roasting bag and tie, making a few small slits in top of bag to allow steam to escape. Then place in a shallow roasting pan and bake about 4 hours, or until meat thermometer registers 185F. Remove from oven and take out of bag; place on serving tray. Take the remaining juice in bag and roasting pan; heat and mix in a saucepan with a little flour until thick gravy forms.
(Directions accompanying roasting bag are similar and very easy.)

Old Fashioned Stuffing

12 cups plain dry stuffing, day-old bread or cornbread, or mixture of all
3 cups chopped onion
2 ½ cups chopped celery
½ cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. poultry seasoning
¼ cup chopped parsley

Sauté onion and celery in butter or margarine just until tender. Add to bread along with salt, poultry seasoning and parsley. Toss lightly until well mixed. (Add a little hot broth or water to moisten, if desired.)
Place in two buttered baking dishes. Bake covered, at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer. Drizzle with juices from the turkey roasting pan for additional flavor and moistness.

Baked Apple and Sweet Potato Casserole

6 sweet potatoes
3 apples
3 Tbs. melted butter-divided
2/3 cup orange juice
¼ cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. allspice
Marshmallows

Preheat to 350. Boil or steam potatoes until tender, remove skin, cut lengthwise in slices. Peel and core apples slice in rings. Butter 9x6 dish, grease with 1 tablespoon butter, alternate potato-apple layers. Add remaining ingredients with the rest of butter and pour over top. Bake 30 min. or more until liquid is mostly absorbed and top is brown and shiny. Top with marshmallows a little before done and brown.

Cranberry Fluff

A creamy cranberry salad loved by people who normally don’t like cranberries. Can be made ahead of time.

1 can cranberry whole berry sauce
8 oz. package miniature marshmallows
8 oz. pkg. lite or fat-free cream cheese
1 (20-oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained
½ cup flaked coconut
1 sliced banana
1 (8-oz.) tub lite cool whip topping

Cream together the cream cheese, cool whip. Stir in berries, pineapple, coconut and marshmallows. Just before serving stir in the sliced banana.

Frosted Pumpkin Dessert Squares

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 (16-oz.) can pumpkin or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 qt. vanilla ice cream, softened
Whipped cream
Toasted coconut

Mix crumbs with sugar and butter. Press into bottom of 9-inch square pan. Combine pumpkin with brown sugar, salt and spices. Fold in ice cream.
Pour into crumb-lined pan. Cover and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer about 20 minutes before serving. Cut into squares; top each square with whipped cream and toasted coconut. Makes about 9 (3-inch) squares.

More next week!

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