Thanksgiving Recipes

What is your menu for Thanksgiving dinner? Besides turkey and mashed potatoes, here are a few of our favorites:

Cranberry Relish

This is super easy, tastes like an amazing combination of sweet and tart, and we love to make it for my father in law who loves cranberries. I learned of this recipe two years ago and it has become a regular part of our Thanksgiving dinner.

1 bag cranberries
1 cup sugar (this year I'm using sucanat instead of white sugar)
1 orange or tangerine (do not peel)
1 cored apple

Blend all ingredients together in blender or food processor and chill.



Walnut Broccoli

This is called walnut broccoli because of the small amount of walnuts included in the topping. Their taste is barely discernible, but if you don't care for walnuts, or someone you love is allergic to them, you can just as easily leave them out and it won't alter the overall flavor. This is NOT a low-fat recipe! It contains lots of butter, which means it's really good. :-)

Grease bottom of 9x13 pan. Steam two or three (depending on size) packages of frozen broccoli and spread in greased pan. Be sure to not over-steam ~ it should be barely done. In saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Take from heat and blend in 4T flour and 1 1/2 T powdered chicken stock base. Gradually add 2 cups milk. Return to heat and cook until smooth and boiling and thickened. Pour this sauce over broccoli in 9x13 pan. In saucepan (I use the same one I just used, and I don't even rinse it out) heat 1/3 cup water and 6 T butter. Remove from heat. Add 2/3 package of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing Mix and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Stir well. Top broccoli/sauce with stuffing mixture. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes. Can be prepared ahead of time and baked just before serving. Sorry no picture, but it looks pretty and tastes even better!

Cran-Raspberry Pie

I first made this about 10 years ago after seeing it in a magazine. My goal that year was to make a really scrumptious dessert that would be like the ultimate capstone to a delicious meal. It worked!! My husband's uncle, who is very sparing with his compliments, raved about it and I decided then and there to make it every year.

Pie Crust

Use prepared crust or make your own using favorite recipe. Here's mine:

Mix 2 cups flour and 1 tsp salt. Cut into this mixture 1 cup butter until pieces are the size of small peas (I literally cut the butter in using two knives). Sprinkle 1/2 cup COLD water (must be cold!) over mixture and mix lightly with fork. Best to add a little water at a time until you've reached the 1/2 cup mark, as humidity can affect the total amount of water needed. Add a bit more if it's really dry where you live, a bit less if it's really humid. Form dough into two balls. Roll out one ball for bottom crust and one ball for top crust.

Pie Filling

In large bowl add the following ingredients:

Undrained 1 1/2 cups frozen red raspberries, thawed
1/4 cup quick cooking tapioca
1 12oz package (3 cups) cranberries. Can coarsely chop if preferred, I leave mine whole.
2 1/2 cups sugar (I add barely 2 or slightly less)
1/2 tsp almond extract

Stir till well mixed. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. I actually do this step first and then make my pie crusts while this is standing at room temp.

Pour fruit mixture into bottom pie crust. Roll out top crust and lay on top. Fold top crust under bottom crust and flute edges. Make small heat vents in top crust and brush the whole top lightly with milk. From scraps of pie crust, cut out small hearts and/or stars with cookie cutters and lay on top of crust so that each piece will have a heart or star when pie is cut. Brush cutouts with milk also. Lightly sprinkle top with sugar. Cover edges with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes more, or until top is golden and juices are clear. IMPORTANT WARNING: This pie makes LOTS of juice ~ be sure to place pie pan on cookie sheet when baking so if juices run over they won't burn on the bottom of your oven and smoke up your kitchen. Don't ask how many years it took for me to remember this.

If you look closely at this picture you can see the children are placing the heart cut-outs on top of the pie. This is VERY sweet, but the sweetness is balanced by the tartness of the cranberries, and it's a winner with anyone who loves berry pies.