What to serve with the turkey

I never have the problem of not knowing what to serve with the turkey, mainly because I seldom cook a turkey! I have never really liked it, and it just isn't worth the money and time it takes to have only a few slices eaten with the rest going into the freezer and ultimately thrown out a year later. However, except for last year when I made enchiladas for Thanksgiving (and my girls thought the dinner was a total LOSER, even though thy like enchiladas), whatever I make as the replacement to the turkey needs some side dishes. OK, the enchiladas did too, but it wasn't difficult to make the spanish rice and reheat a can of refrieds.

This year, unless we head somewhere else, I am making a pork roast. It will be served with all the "normal" Thanksgiving dinner side dishes, except for the cranberry sauce. I don't know - maybe cranberries go well with pork, but I'm not going to serve it. So here are some recipes that will likely get used tomorrow, as well as a few that I have used in the past. Enjoy!


Aunt Melva's Savory Apple Stuffing

Cook 1/2 cup chopped celery and leaves, 1 cup chopped onion, and 2 Tb. parsley in 1/4 cup butter for 5 minutes. Add: 4 cups diced, peeled tart apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. each crumbled sage, marjoram, thyme, and pepper. Cook, stirring for about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 cups toasted bread crumbs. Makes about 4 cups.


Sesame Green Beans

2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tb. butter
1 Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. toasted sesame seeds*

Wash green beans. Snip ends and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch length (or you can leave them whole). Cook in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain.

In a small saucepan, combine butter, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Cook, stirring frequently over medium heat until butter is melted and sauce is hot. Pour over green beans. Serve.

*To toast sesame seeds, spread out in a small pan and place in a 350° oven for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, OR place seeds in a small skillet or saucepan and stir over medium heat until lightly browned.


Sunshine Carrots - a recipe from cousin Catherine

5 medium carrots
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tb. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tb. butter

Slice carrots crosswise on the bias, about 1" thick. Cook, covered, in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain. combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and ginger in a small saucepan. Add orange juice and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and bubbles. Simmer one minute, then stir in butter. Pour over hot carrots, tossing to coat evenly. Serve.


Sweet Potato Bake
3 lbs. yams or sweet potatoes
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup brown sugar
2½ Tb. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup crushed pineapple (or pineapple chunks or tidbits), drained
1/2 cup orange or pineapple juice
2 tsp. grated orange peel
1 cup marshmellows

Peel and quarter yams. Steam until tender. Drain and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle cranberries on the top. Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon, then sir in pineapple, orange peel, and juice. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add butter. Pour sauce over yams/cranberries. Sprinkle marshmellows on top. Bake in a 375° oven for 25 minutes.


Easy Jello Salad

1 16-oz container cottage cheese
1 sm. package Jello (any flavor works - I most often use orange or lime)
1 can mandarine oranges, drained (or other fruit, if desired)
1 carton Cool Whip, thawed

Mix the cottage cheese with the jello, stirring for at least 1 minute to incorporate the jello. The stir in the fruit and cool whip. Put in the fridge for 4 hours before serving.


Fruit Salad

1 or 2 large cans fruit coctail, drained
2 bananas, sliced
2 apples, chopped (your choice to peel or not)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped with 1/4 cup powdered sugar to stiff peaks
1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional)

Mix all ingredients and serve.


Mashed Potatoes
I am continually amazed at how many people do not know how to make mashed potatoes or prefer to make instant potatoes because they think the "scratch" method is too difficult. Well it isn't!

Peel potatoes (we LOVE our potatoes, so we always peel at least 5 pounds or more; but a good rule of thumb is to prepare 1½ potatoes per person). Rinse peeled potatoes in cool water, then quarter them. Place into a pot large enough to hold them. Add salt (five pounds of potatoes usually gets 1 tsp. of salt in my house). Add enough water to cover the potatoes, then put them on the stove over high heat. When the water begins to boil, turn down the heat to medium and put a lid on it. Potatoes should be cooked in about 15 minutes. You'll know they're done when you put a fork into them and it comes out easily. Drain, and reserve water (use it to make the gravy, or for the next time you make bread).

To mash you can do it the old fashioned way with a hand potato masher, adding a cube of butter and enough milk to make the potatoes fluffy, or you can use an electrict mixer, starting on low to crush the potatoes, and turning it to high to whip until light and fluffly. Don't forget the butter and milk! And season to taste with salt and pepper.


Gravy

After your bird is cooked, or if you cook another kind of meat (like a roast), let the drippings sit long enough so the fat will rise to the top. Skim the fat and discard. Pour the remaining drippings into a skillet or saucepan. Add the potato water (&/or broth from boiling the neck & giblets) and bring to a boil. You may need to add some bullion or a browning sauce, such as Kitchen Bouquet (about 1 tsp.), if the gravy looks too diluted. Combine 1/4 cup cornstarch (or flour) with 1 cup cold water (or milk), stirring until there are no lumps, then add all at once to the boiling drippings, stirring (I use a whisk). Reduce heat and stir until mixture is thickened. Season with salt and pepper. If you boiled the neck & giblets of the turkey, and didn't use the meat in the stuffing, you can chop the meat finely and add it to the gravy.

What to do with all these vegetables!

I participate in a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. For $15, you can get a laundry basket full of fruits and vegetables. They also offer bread/bakery items and additional produce packs each week. You never know what you will be getting in your basket, but I can tell you there is a LOT of it - enough to feed a small army! And it's usually a balance of 6 different types of fruit and 6 different types of vegetables. Participation is always voluntary - you choose how often you want to participate (every week, once a month, twice a year, try once and never do again - you get the picture).

This past week, along with my basket I ordered a "Thanksgiving Hostess Pack." Along with all the other goodies, there were 3 bunches of celery and 3 bags of carrots in the mix (some in the basket & some in the hostess pack). Add these to the 3 bunches of celery and 2 bags of carrots already in my fridge (from previous purchase through the co-op and at the grocery store), and, well... you can see that I had a great need to use some of it, and fast!

So here's what I did with half of the celery and carrots: Chopped the celery and one onion, put it all in a large pan (I'm talking 8 quart pan, which was filled to the brim!) with 1 can of chicken broth and put it on the stove to cook until semi-tender. Sliced the carrots and put them in a separate pan (my largest saucepan worked nicely) and added just enough water so they wouldn't boil dry, and cooked until semi-tender.

I have a good collection of cookbooks. While the vegies were cooking, I perused some of my valued cookbooks. Home Cooked Heritage is one of my prized possessions. It is family cookbook that I helped compile back in the 1980s. It contains lots of wonderful recipes from extended family members, many of whom are now deceased. I also have a couple of other books that were compiled in my various places of employment.

After cooking the vegies, I made what was called a "chinese casserole" (recipe to follow, along with a few other good recipes for these vegies). I didn't think it was very chinese-y, but it was still tasty. I used only a small portion of these vegies. Most of them went into the freezer for use at a later date (I saved the liquids from them to make into soup today).

One interesting "bit of tid": At one time, back in the 1930's or 40's - long before my birth, when my dad was still a youth, my grandfather was a celery farmer. I don't know how long he did this (I need to re-read his history), but it wasn't a very long time. His celery was packaged and sold under the Big D label. Some time after the family moved to Idaho, they incorporated the farm (dairy and field crops - but not celery!) and it became the Big D Ranch. Some of my fondest memories are from spending my summers with my cousins on that farm!

I digress... So what am I going to do with all the celery and carrots? Well, here are some of the recipes I will be using this week.

Chinese Casserole - recipe is from my great aunt Ida

1 lb. hamburger
1 cup celery, chopped
1 pkg. frozen peas (I used carrots intead of peas)
1 small onion soup mix
1 can mushroom soup
1 can chinese noodls or 3 cups potato chips or cornflakes
salt & pepper to taste.

Brown hamburger and drain. Season with salt and pepper. Layer peas and celery on top of hamburger in casserole. Mix soup mix, soup and noodles or chips together. Place on top of layers. Bake 1/2 hour at 375 deg. Serve with rice.

Note: I revised this a bit while cooking last night. I layered in a 9 x 13 pan the rice (I used about 6 cups cooked rice), cooked hamburger (I had about 2 pounds, which I cooked earlier in the week with some garlic, salt & pepper, and an onion), celery, carrots, mixed soup mix & 2 cans mushroom soup with 1 can water and poured it over the top, then garnished with chow mein noodles.


Cream of Celery Soup: My own recipe
1 bunch celery, washed well and chopped (okay to leave the leaves on)
1 lb. bag of carrots, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
enough chicken broth to cover the vegies (I use 2-3 cans, and then add water if needed)
1 Tb. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 cans evap. milk + 1 more can of broth
1 cup flour
1 cup margarine

Chop celery, carrots and onion. Put in a large pot and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil until celery and carrots are tender. I leave it chunky, but you can blend and strain through a sieve if you'd like (saving all liquid and discarding pulp). In a separate pan, melt margarine then add the flour, stirring to make a nice roux. Stir in seasonings, milk and last can of broth. Cook until thickened, then add to the soup base. Heat through and serve.


Chop Chop - a recipe from my sister Jeri, who got it from her mother-in-law

1 large chopped onion
3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 can bean sprouts
leftover pork roast*
soy suace
1 Tb. beaded molasses
2 Tb. cornstarch
1 chicken boullion cube disolved in 1/2 cup water
leftover drippings from pork roast, if available

* after cooking the roast, save the drippings for future use!

Take 1 Tb. of fat from roast drippings, Saute celery and onion until clear. Add meat, sprinkle with soy sauce. Cover. Let mean warm. Add bean sprouts with liquid. Cover. In a bowl, combine 2 Tb. soy sauce, molasses, cornstarch, boullion, and leftover drippings. Add enough liquid to make 1 cup. Add to the skillet and cook until gravy is clear and thick. Serve with hot rice.


Glorified Ramen Noodles: My own recipe
2 tablespoons cooking oil (canola or peanut are great!)
1 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1 cup green onion, sliced thinly, divided
3 cups celery, sliced
3 cups carrots, sliced on the diagonal or julienned
2 cups cooked shredded fatty pork, or other left-over meat
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 can chicken broth
1 Tb. corn starch
Spice packet from ramen noodle package
1 package ramen noodles, cooked and drained
1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Heat a large skillet or wok (if you have it) over medium-high heat. Add the oil and then the yellow onions. Cook until the onions start to caramelize. Add the garlic, celery, carrots, and half of the green onions. Stir until the carrots and celery becomes tender-crisp (about 5 minutes). Add the pork and heat through. Mix the soy sauce, chicken broth, spice packet, and corn starch, then add to the celery/pork mixture. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, stirring until sauce is thickened. Add the noodles to the pork and celery. Add the sesame oil and toss to combine. Garnish with remaining green onion. Serve.