The Sensible Mom

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I hope you did, too.  I tried out several new recipes for Thanksgiving this year, and I wanted to give you an update on how they turned out.

First, I’ll start with the turkey brine.  I used Pioneer Woman’s recipe for turkey brine to brine two turkeys (one for thanksgiving and one “practice” turkey I made ahead of time).  I’ll probably use this recipe again in the future (although, I don’t know when since at the moment I am turkeyed-OUT).  The brine didn’t leave the turkey over salty, and I liked the fresh herbs and different ingredients that were incorporated in the recipe.  It’s a winner.

Next, Pumpkin Cream Pie.  This was delicious, and a nice diversion from traditional pumpkin pie.  The only problem I had with this recipe is that it didn’t “set up” like it was supposed to while chilling in the fridge.  I actually had to put it in the freezer to get it right, but overall, it was delicious.  I would totally recommend this recipe!  It’s one of Pioneer Woman’s.

Now for the Cornbread.  It was so good.  I used my favorite recipe for cornbread, and it never disappoints!  It’s a little sweet and very moist, and because I cooked it in a cast iron skillet, it had a nice little crunch on the outside.  You can get the recipe here on Allrecipes.com, and you’ll find I’m not the only one who loves it!  There’s a reason it has over 2,000 reviews.

I also made Honey Butter similarly to the recipe on Allrecipes.com except I added just a bit of vanilla to it.  It went perfectly with the cornbread.

Then there’s the Mashed Potatoes.  I used Pioneer Woman’s recipe, and I can’t recommend it enough.  The secret ingredient (cream cheese) leaves these mashed potatoes so creamy and utterly delicious.  The leftovers did not last long.

For the stuffing, I meant to use the Pioneer Woman’s recipe, but I ran out of time and had to just do something quick.  It still turned out good, but I wish I would have had time to do the recipe I had intended.  I think if I host Thanksgiving next year, I’ll do the stuffing the day before.  It always tastes better the next day anyway!

The sweet potato dish was wonderful, and it was definitely one of my favorite dishes!  I enjoyed the left overs to the last bite, too!  Even my husband, Ruben, who is one of the pickiest eaters I know, ate it and liked it.  I used another one of Pioneer Woman’s recipes, only I doubled it.  After the sweet potatoes were cooked, I had to put this dish together at lightening speed because my guests were going to be arriving very soon.  Another lesson learned if we host again next year, pushing the time back a bit.

That’s about it as far as recipes you can find online.

I followed a recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook for the turkey.  It turned out good, but after wresting to get Baby Huey into the brine and then struggling to get Baby Huey out of the brine and ready for the oven, I’m going to think twice about the size of turkey I get for next year.  Baby Huey was over 22 pounds, and because we also cooked a ham and pot roast, we simply did not need that big of a turkey.  I may even just do a couple of turkey breasts for next year instead of a whole turkey.  That sounds A LOT easier to me, and since we all like white meat anyway, we won’t miss the turkey legs.

If you are wondering how I managed to cook a turkey, ham, and pot roast with one oven, I put the turkey in the oven, the ham in a roaster my in-laws gave us, and the pot roast went into the crock pot.

I used my mom’s recipe for the potato salad, and it was delicious.  Same as I remember except without the onions.  I left those out seeing that we don’t have many onion lovers in our family.

For the deviled eggs, I used a recipe from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and they were splendid!  Too bad I forgot to take them out of the fridge before we ate.  Oops.  They ended up being an after dinner enjoyment.  I think the best part of these eggs was making them.  Isaac, our three year old, was helping me to peel the shell off the eggs.  He wanted to help in any way he could with all the thanksgiving preparations.  Anyway, he did pretty well one some of the eggs, and I was impressed.  Other eggs ended up being so “sweet and little” because he had peeled off most of the egg white with the shell!  I salvaged those pieces and used them in the potato salad where no one would notice!  My dad and I did have a laugh watching him peel those eggs, though.

I never did make any pumpkin shakes.

The corn was good.  I just used a package of frozen corn and threw it in a pyrex in the microwave with some salt, pepper, and butter and it was good to go.

I thought about making homemade dinner rolls, but since I had made the cornbread, I went with store bought.  I used the Hawaiian rolls, and they were very good.  I like the hint of sweetness in them.

And finally I went way overboard on the fruit salads.  Lesson learned!  I made two fruit salads, one traditional and one pistachio (which is basically the same as the traditional, but green because of the pistachio instant pudding mix that you add to it).  I had a lot leftover.  Too much.  Next year, if we host, one is definitely enough.

And that’s my wrap-up.  How was your Thanksgiving?  Did you find any new winning recipes?