Thanksgiving - Mustard Potatoes

One type of potato is never enough, especially if a key member of the family refuses to eat sweet potatoes. My mom gave me this recipe, and it's a winner.

Mustard Potatoes
Serves at least 6

Ingredients:
6 medium red potatoes, rinsed and quartered
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. Dijon/spicy mustard
1 Tbsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 and spray a baking dish. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. When potatoes are well covered with other ingredients, transfer to baking dish. Bake in oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until potatoes are fork tender.

Notes/Changes:
I cooked this dish rather inconsistently this year. The oven temperature was set for the turkey, at 325. The potatoes looked done after an hour or so, but I still found a few quarters that were not so well cooked. The ones which were cooked enough were quite tasty.

Thanksgiving - Cranberry Orange Relish

People have strong opinions about cranberry sauce and jelly. They fall into camps - those who like sauce with whole or chopped cranberries; those who like the canned jellies. Each camp insists on its own preferred cranberry concoction and feels excluded or slighted if its own concoction is missing from the table. I am a canned cranberry jelly type. I am delighted to have found organic jelly which uses sugar instead of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). Despite my own cranberry affiliation, I respect the right of others to have their own tastes. For my Thanksgiving table, I made the following "relish" for those who refuse the jelly.

Cranberry-Orange Relish
From Weight Watchers - 1 point per serving
Servings: 16

Ingredients:
12 oz cranberries, fresh
1 medium orange(s), navel, washed, unpeeled and cut into chunks
1 cup(s) sugar
1 piece(s) ginger root, fresh, peeled, about 1-inch, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions:
Put cranberries, orange, sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Scrape into a serving bowl (or a plastic container if making ahead). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Yields about 2 2/3 tablespoons per serving.

Notes
If the flavor from using the entire orange peel is too strong for you, add some fresh orange zest instead. Then remove the peel and white pith before cutting the orange into chunks.

If you want to give the relish a different spin, add chopped cilantro or mint and minced jalapeno pepper.

You can make this relish up to 5 days ahead.

This recipe is great as a spread for leftover turkey sandwiches or as an accompaniment to roast pork or chicken.

Thanksgiving - Green Beans with Mushrooms and Crisp Onion Crumbs

So many Thanksgiving foods are brown, white, or orange. I think this is why green bean casserole became a traditional food. We just wanted more color, right? The problem I have with green bean casserole is the cream of mushroom soup and I don't like it THAT much anyway. A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I saw this green bean recipe at my Weight Watchers meeting and thought it looked really good.


Not my picture - I got lazy about my picture taking as the day progressed. :) I really liked this dish and thought it was pretty easy. If you don't want to use bread crumbs, you could substitute something like crushed rice crackers or corn flakes. The flavor wouldn't be quite the same, but I bet it would be just as tasty.

Green Beans w/Mushrooms and Crisp Onion Crumbs
From Weight Watchers - 2 points per serving
Serves 8

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
3/4 cup(s) dried bread crumbs, panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes, minced
3/4 tsp table salt, divided
2 spray(s) cooking spray
1 1/2 pound(s) uncooked string beans, fresh, trimmed, cut in half
1 pound(s) button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Instructions:

To make crumb topping, in a large, deep, nonstick skillet, over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter; add bread crumbs, onion flakes and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside; carefully wipe skillet clean.

Coat skillet with cooking spray; place over high heat. Add string beans and mushrooms; sauté until lightly golden and tender, about 6 minutes.

Add green beans, remaining tablespoon of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to skillet; toss over low heat until butter is melted and mixture is heated through. Transfer to a serving platter; sprinkle with crumbs. Yields about 1 cup of vegetables and 2 tablespoons of crumbs per serving.

Thanksgiving - Butternut Squash Soup

I've posted about the butternut squash soup before. For Thanksgiving, I doubled the recipe from Whole Foods and made it on Wednesday. We reheated it in the slow cooker a few hours before our dinner time.

Instead of writing about how to make the soup, I wanted to share some pictures and ideas. Some people have told me they think cutting the butternut squash is difficult. One tip someone shared with me is to microwave the squash for a few minutes first. Not only is it easier to cut, but it's also easier to peel. I also was told to poke a few holes in the squash to prevent it from exploding in the microwave. I've never had a squash explode in my microwave when I forgot to poke the holes, but I figure it's not really worth risking -- images of Gremlins going through my mind.

Even after you microwave the squash, it's still pretty firm.


But persistence pays off.

The butternut squash pictured here gave me more than 8 cups of peeled cubed squash. I did not use all of that squash in my soup. Eventually I'll make some spiced butternut squash and onions for a side dish with what is left.

Anyway, the soup was enjoyed by all and really can make a meal unto itself. Some nice crusty bread goes quite well with it.

Thanksgiving - Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite vegetables. Aaron cannot stand them.

"They are neither sweet nor potato. They are bitter tubers." He tells me this every time the vegetable is mentioned. According to Wikipedia, sweet potatoes are "large starchy sweet tasting tuberous roots." They are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene, vitamin C and vitamin B6. In other words, sweet potatoes are good for you even if you think they are bitter tubers.

Instead of the "traditional" marshmallow sweet potato concoction or the particularly yummy one with the pecan topping, I decided to try another Weight Watchers recipe. I was really pleased with it and definitely want to do it more often. Really easy and quite tasty!

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
From Weight Watchers - 2 Points per serving
Serves 8

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potato(es), peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 2 pounds)

2 medium garlic clove(s), peeled

1/2 cup(s) plain fat-free yogurt, Greek-variety recommended

4 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp table salt, or more to taste

1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste

Instructions:

Place potatoes and garlic in a large saucepan; pour in enough water to cover potatoes. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil; boil until potatoes are fork-tender, about 8 minutes.

Drain potatoes and garlic; transfer potatoes and garlic to a large bowl. Add yogurt and sugar to bowl; mash until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Yields about 1/2 cup per serving.

Notes/Changes

I didn't have an actual bulb of garlic. I added pre-minced garlic after the potatoes boiled when I was mashing them. The yogurt makes a very creamy dish. And I do think you could add brown sugar as a topping if you want a bit more sweetness.

Thanksgiving - Stuffing with Sage and Chives

I tried a new recipe for stuffing this year. I didn't love it, but I thought I would share it because maybe someone else will have better luck with it.

Stuffing with Sage and Chives
From Weight Watchers - 2 Points per serving
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 spray(s) cooking spray

12 slice(s) whole-wheat bread, or white bread, preferably day-old, cubed

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp light butter

1 cup(s) onion(s), diced

3 medium celery, stalks, diced

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

2 cup(s) canned chicken broth

2 Tbsp chives, fresh, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 4-quart shallow baking dish with cooking spray.

Arrange bread cubes on a large ungreased baking sheet in a single layer (use 2 sheets if not enough room). Bake until lightly toasted, about 8-10 minutes. Remove bread from oven and set aside; leave oven set to 350.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil and butter together for 1 to 2 minutes. Add onion and celery; saute until soft, about 3 minutes. Add thyme, sage, salt and pepper; stir to coat. Cook until herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute.

Transfer onion mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add bread, broth and chives; toss to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish and cover with foil; bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, 15 minutes more. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Notes/Changes

I thought the stuffing was dry and not terribly flavorful. I over-toasted the bread, and the chives were not noticeable. I probably would try this again with some changes - more seasonings and maybe some other vegetables. I think I should have taken the effort to cube the bread instead of tearing it. Oh well! The rest of the meal was great!

Thanksgiving - The Turkey!

I've only roasted a turkey once or maybe twice before. I was very nervous about doing it this year. We bought our 15.5 pound turkey from the Natick Community Organic Farm. The farm is about 7 minutes down the road from our house. I am delighted to buy a turkey so very local to us when we live in the middle of suburbia. Maybe it sounds weird, but I like that I've seen the rafter of turkeys living on the farm before I bought one of them for my dinner. And yes, I looked up what a group of turkeys is called. :) On with the cooking!

First I let the turkey thaw in our refrigerator for about 4 days. On Thanksgiving, I unwrapped the bird, removed the giblets, rinsed the bird and patted it dry with paper towels. I briefly considered making gravy with the giblets, but I am a bit lazy and Aaron gets grossed out by giblets. There's always next year, right?


So here is the bird before I added any seasonings and such. I rubbed the inside and outside of the turkey with kosher salt and cracked black peppers. Then I loosened the skin around the breast so that I could tuck herbs and vegetables under the skin. I managed to make 4 cavities under the skin, and I rubbed olive oil with sage and thyme in there. Then I tucked in some fresh rosemary - our rosemary bush does not seem to mind the cold. I chopped up a couple of carrots, some celery, and about 1/4 of a medium, peeled turnip. I put the chunks of vegetables into the 2 holes. I poured a 1/2 c. of red wine and 1/2 c. water in the roasting pan.

By this point my oven was preheated to 425. I put the bird in the oven for 40 minutes. According to the farm instructions, doing this "sears" the turkey. After 40 minutes, I covered the turkey loosely with foil, turned down the temperature to 325 and set my timer for 4.5 hours. When I put the bread in the oven, I checked on the bird.


When the Patriots game ended, the turkey was done and sitting out of the oven to "let the juices resettle." I'm not sure where the juices go during a roasting, but the instructions said to do this, and I didn't want to screw up the main dish. Before I forget, the instructions said to cook the bird until the internal temperature reached 160. The thermometer instructions said roast turkey should reach 165. Mine got to 170.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the turkey, so I think I did all right!