Thanksgiving Turkey

This year I was in charge of the entire Thanksgiving dinner. This was a completely new experience for me. Thanksgiving in my home is a large family event full of traditions. This year, we created new traditions. The day before Thanksgiving, I called my mother for her recipes and wrote them down on scratch paper. So, I'm typing them here (with somewhat of a selfish motive), so next year I can get them anywhere in the world that has access to the Internet.

So here is the "basic" recipe for the turkey...
1 18-21 lb turkey
1 cube butter
1 large can chicken broth
1 onion finely chopped
celery stalks finely chopped

Seasonings to taste:
Sage
Poultry seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Clean the inside of the turkey (yuck). Tie the turkey's front drumstick legs together with string. Tie the back of the turkey together with string. Spread the butter all over the outside of the turkey. Stuff the inside of the turkey with the celery, onion, and seasoning. Also sprinkle seasonings on top of turkey. Place the large turkey in a turkey cooking bag. Pour 1 can chicken broth over the turkey, and seal the bag shut. Put the bird on a "turkey rack" (OK, I didn't realize these existed until a few years ago).

Cook the turkey at 325-350 degrees for 3-5 hours until the meatiest part of the turkey registers at 180 degrees on a cooking thermometer.

Variations on this theme: You can take the turkey out after 2 hours and baste the turkey with the sauce at the bottom of the pan.

Aunt Kaye's Thanksgiving Stuffing

Once again, here is another recipe Aunt Kaye always brings for Thanksgiving...

1/2 C butter melted
1 onion chopped finely
Several celery stalks chopped finely (depends on how much you like celery)
1 large can chicken broth
1 large bag Pepperidge Farm Stuffing

Put the dressing in a large bowl. Saute the melted butter, onion, and celery. Add chicken broth to butter mixture. Pour the mixture over dressing and toss. Add:

1 tsp sage
1 tsp poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Place stuffing in a 9x12 dish. Sprinkle the stuffing with slivered almonds. Bake the stuffing covered with tinfoil at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes.

Aunt Kaye's Thanksgiving Yams

From my first recollection of Thanksgiving, my aunt always brought her yams (which taste more like candy) to Thanksgiving. This year I made them, so here is the recipe...

6-8 sweet potatoes (steams, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch slices)
2 large cans pineapple chunks
1 12 oz. frozen orange juice

1/3 C water
3 heaping tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

1 C brown sugar (approximately)
Mini marshmallows (if you choose)

Layer the cut sweet potatoes in a 9x13 pan (like you layer cookies when you are taking them somewhere). Drain the pineapples, but save the juice. Sprinkle the pineapples over the sweet potatoes. Cook the pineapple juice and orange juice in a saucepan until warm. Combine the water, cornstarch, nutmeg and vanilla in a separate bowl to make a paste. Add the paste to the pineapple juice mixture. Add brown sugar to taste (around a cup, but this makes it quite sweet).

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If you are a marshmallow fan, add the marshmallows after yams are cooked and broil for 1-2 minutes to brown. (The yams are yummy with or without the marshmallows).