Thanksgiving Menu

I'm working on cleaning out my recipes. I have a stack of papers that I have been saving for years that have some pretty interesting sounding recipes on them and some handouts that I've kept and some menues that I have made for Holidays. This is my menu for Thanksgiving. I want to include it here so that I have it for my Holiday planning later this year, and more years to come. And, I wanted to share my menu with you.

Thanksgiving is my most traditional holiday. We HAVE to have certain foods. It is the only holiday that I feel that way about. Strange, huh? Christmas and Easter meals can be more flexible but not Thanksgiving!

My Thanksgiving Menu

Turkey (Roasted plain. Not stuffed. Nothing inside, except salt and pepper.)
Mashed Potatoes 
Green Bean Casserole (Our Traditional Family Recipe from the back of the french fried onions can.)
Stuffing/Dressing (Grandma Blossom's Recipe)
Gravy (Yes, keep it simple.)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Cranberry Salad (Grandma Blossom's Recipe)
Cranberry Jell (Jay wants it from a can. I like to make it from scratch with fresh cranberries.)
Rolls (I usually make Grandma Irvine's Buns Recipe.)
Butter
Jams (A variety from the summer's canning.)
Pumpkin Pie (From the Betty Crocker Cookbook) (Jay makes the pie crusts. I make the fillings.)
Whipped Cream (Jay likes Cool Whip. I like fresh whipping cream with sugar.)
Mincemeat Pie (The box recipe with extra apples added.)

Pecan Pie (From the Betty Crocker Cookbook)
Blueberry Pie (From the Betty Crocker Cookbook)
Ice Cream (Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell in Texas. Vanilla Tillamook or Umpqa in Washington.)

Menu shared by Robin.

Vegan Ice Cream

This was in an email today. I wanted to save it for later.

Healthy Vegan Organifi Ice Cream 

Author: Drew Canole

Ingredients

• 3 cups canned coconut milk
• 1 cup almond milk
• ⅔ cup palm sugar
• 3 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 tspn. pink salt
• 1 Bar dark chocolate (85% cacao)
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• 1 scoop of Organifi  (green drink)

Mix it all together and freeze as ice cream.

Recipe shared by Robin.

Dill Pickle Green Beans

This is a favorite food of mine to eat with sandwiches. They seem a bit crazy but they are very good!

I have two recipes in my recipe file drawer. One is from 1992 and the other is from 1994. I remember Mom and I having a taste test but, sadly, I neglected to write on the recipe cards which one was our favorite. So, I am including both recipes and you will have to have your own taste test!

Dill Pickle Beans #1 (from 1992)

2 lbs. green beans

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

4 cloves of garlic

4 large heads of dill

2 cups water

1/4 cup salt

1 pint white vinegar

Clean the beans and place in 4 pint jars. In each pint, add 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 clove of garlic and 1 head of dill. In a saucepan, heat water, salt and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Pour over beans. Put on lids and process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Makes 4 pints.

Dill Pickle Beans #2 (from 1994)

(I really think that this was our favorite but I'm not totally sure. 

You will just need to test both of them!)

4-5 lbs. green beans

8-16 heads of dill

8 cloves of garlic

4 cups white vinegar

4 cups water

1/2 cup Kerr Pickling Salt

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Pack jars with washed  and clean green beans, dill and garlic. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, water, pickling salt and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and pour into each jar, leaving 1/2" head room. Put on lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. 

Makes 8 pints.

Recipes shared by Robin per request of Sheila Brinkerhoff.

Mustard Pickles

This recipe is from Grandma, Elpha Berla Hougland Blossom. These are delicious with a ham sandwich or with roast or meat loaf. Alison used to eat them straight out of the jar!

(The picture is from Cookies or Biscuits?)

Mustard Pickles

Vegetables:
1 quart large cucumbers, cubed
1 quart small cucumbers
1 quart small silver, skinned onions
1 quart chipped green tomatoes
2 red peppers, chopped
1 large cauliflower, broken into small pieces

Brine:
1 quart water
1/2 cup salt

Sauce:
6 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon tumeric
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
2 quarts white vinegar

Wash all vegetables, place in a large pot and cover with brine. Let stand 24 hours. Bring to a vegetables and brine to a boil. Drain throughly. Mix sauce ingredients together in a saucepan and cook until thick. Stir into vegetables. Heat thoroughly. Bottle and process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

Recipe shared by Robin (at the request of Grandma, Sheila Sarah Blossom Brinkerhoff)

Beet Relish

This is an old family favorite, Beet Relish! It is from the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning Cook Book from 1963. It is delicious with meatloaf and roasts.

Picture from culinaryginger.com

Beet Relish

3 cups drained, finely chopped or ground cooked beets
1 cup vinegar
6 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 pouches of liquid fruit pectin

Measure beets into a very large saucepan.  Add vinegar, sugar, horseradish and spices, mixing well. Bring mixture to a full boil over high heat and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and stir in the liquid pectin all at once. Skim the foam off of the top.  Ladle mixture into hot jars. Screw on the lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Remove jars from the canner.

Makes 8 half pints.

Recipe shared by Robin, per Sheila and Karen's request.

Pizza Sauce

No Cook Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon ground oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika
  1/2 T basil, 1/2 tsp sugar1/2 tsp onion powder. few shakes of red pepper flakes. 
• In a medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce and tomato
• paste until smooth. Stir in oregano, garlic, paprika, basil, 
• sugar, onion powder and red pepper flakes.
• 
  
• Recipe shared by Carolyn.
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Mediterranean Avocado Tuna Salad

Mediterranean Avocado Tuna Salad

From the Aztec Sea Salt website

Serves 2

When I first made this salad, I followed a recipe, but since then have adapted  it based on what is available at my local grocery store’s olive bar. The ingredients  here are a great guideline, but feel free to change it up — use different olives,  different kinds of peppers, or even add some feta cheese if that’s your thing.  Just don’t change the dressing ingredients; it’s what brings this salad all together  and rounds out the flavors perfectly!  Ingredients: 1 6-ounce can or jar of tuna, flaked 1/2 cup artichoke hearts 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes 1/4 cup roasted red peppers 3-4 roasted garlic cloves 1 small bunch parsley 1 small bunch mint leaves 5-6 basil leaves 1/4 cup extra-virgin avocado oil 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Aztec Sea Salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper Directions: Put the tuna in a bowl and set aside. Put the artichoke hearts, olives, sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, garlic cloves,  parsley, mint, and basil leaves in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped  (alternatively, if you want a chunkier salad, simply chop the ingredients by hand.) Add the vegetables to the bowl with the tuna and mix well. Put the avocado oil and  lemon juice in a small  jar and shake until emulsified. Pour it over the tuna salad and season liberally with  salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve this wrapped in lettuce leaves, with whole grain crackers, celery sticks, or on  a crusty baguette. Or remove the pit from half an avocado and scoop it inside. One bite and you’ll never look at lunch the same way again!

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from The Domestic Rebel. She has a very imformative posting about walnuts, along with this recipe.

We love these cookies!

{Copycat Levain Bakery} Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies & My Walnut Harvest '14 Recap with Diamond Nuts!

Author: Hayley Parker, The Domestic Rebel

Recipe type: Cookies

Prep time:  1 hour 15 mins

Cook time:  12 mins

Total time:  1 hour 27 mins

Serves: 10

 

These buttery, soft & chewy cookies are XXL-sized and packed with plenty of brown sugary & vanilla flavor, gooey semi-sweet chocolate chips, and toasted walnuts for a cookie experience you won't forget! One of my favorite cookie recipes yet!

Ingredients

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt (I recommend cutting the salt amount in half. The cookies were pretty salty.)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 1 cup Diamond of California Shelled Walnut Pieces, toasted* (Leave the walnut halves whole. Do not chop them up.)

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Lastly, beat in the cornstarch, baking soda, salt and flour until a soft dough has formed. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnut pieces gently.
2. Refrigerate the cookie dough for AT LEAST one hour, up to overnight. This is MANDATORY and chilling the dough is necessary to produce thick, fat, chewy cookies that do not spread. Don't skimp on this step! (I would recommend putting the dough on plastic wrap and covering it over, then putting it in the refrigerator. When I refrigerated it overnight in a bowl, I had a very hard time getting the dough out of the bowl. It would be so much easier if it was seperate.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with silicone liners or mist the sheets lightly with cooking spray. Portion ¼ cup sized balls of dough (or two Tablespoon-sized cookie dough scoop's worth of dough) into huge balls of dough and place them onto the baking sheet. (I measured the dough into a 1/4 cup measuring cup. I got 18 cookies.) Bake for approx. 12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time. Cookies will be lightly golden on top and may appear slightly undone; this is normal as they will continue to set up as they cool. Do NOT over-bake them! Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about 5-10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Serve cookies warm or room temperature, if desired. For the full Levain Bakery effect, serve them warm!
5. **TO TOAST WALNUTS: preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the walnut pieces on the baking sheet in an even layer. Toast for about 5-10 minutes, turning walnuts every so often, until fragrant and nutty. Keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly. Allow to cool before stirring into dough.**